Thanks for the most elaborating post somedude1234

Some things I learned from your post regarding software (as hardware is obviously different)

1.) Is there a way you can try to see if this setup works with the latest ESXi 4.1u1 which is version: 4.1.0, 348481?

I will try and test on the version you are using, maybe it the GPU passthrough got broken somehow on the newer release...

2.) The WDDM version of your tools is also lower then the lates, I will try that as well.

3.) Did you install the windows 7 with the GPU passthrough or only added it after the OS was installed?

Regarding hardware:

As I did try a PCI video for the ESXi, I still hope I will be luckier with a different combination, so I might search for a Matrox G200 PCI although I could only see G450 available (on ebay). The Radeon 6850 is still pretty expensive for a test purpose I would buy it in a second if I was completly sure it will work, I hate good hardware just dusting up in my pile of unusable good things....

A small tip I can give regarding your storage with Nexentastore, I also tried it first, but currently it doesn't support the vmxnet3s driver for the network which limit the network interface to 1gb which is 128mbytes, which is nice..... but....

I ended up installing OpenIndiana (solaris variant) with napp-it (the gui for the storage), that suppots the vmxnet3s 10gb card (from the vmware tools).

I was pleasently surprised to get on a virtual machine with its HD attached to an NFS storage to the OpenIndiana, I got about 430mbyes read and 270mbytes write speed, I have raidz2 with 6 drives but even with less drives the 1gb ethernet limit would have been reach sooner.

When Nexenta support this driver I will probably move to it as the GUI and CLI are much more impressive.