I also confirm that usb 2.0 is working for me after reinstalling windows 8 with EFI. Not only that, but my esata (ASMedia ASM1062) is also being properly recognized. I don't have any esata device so I can't really know if it actually works. Marvell controller is the only hardware the P9X79PRO has that can't be used with esxi, and I think it's due to hardware/firmware issues. It doesn't really matter, it's too slow anyway.

However, the lack of a free vcenter version and the deprecation of vsphere client worries me. Even if it was free, the high memory requirements could be a problem for the home user, but it would be better than not having anything at all.