What videocards for GPU passthrough to a Windows VM from a PopOS host?
I'm considering getting a System76 Thelio Major with a 3990X. I've always wanted a Linux machine, but in the past have always run into a hardware issue here or there with my various systems that ended up preventing me from keeping it as a primary OS. (I don't mind the learning process; I just don't have a lot of time for it these days.)
To avoid having to make changes after-the-fact, is there a recommended/preferred GPU configuration for setting up GPU passthrough under PopOS? (What GPU for the host, and what GPU to pass-through to the VM?)
And for those who have such a setup running, what sort of percentage of overhead/performance loss can typically be expected for CPU/GPU/IO?
Posted Feb 9, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC
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I use vfio/gpu passthrough. The performance loss is minimal. If I was to build a new machine to do it, I would use AMD GPU's. Just make sure they don't have the reset bug my RX 590 works great. NVIDIA actively tries to prevent use in VM. There is a simple work around but I'm against it on principle. I'd rather just use AMD since they dont block it on purpose.
For now at least though - unless/until "big Navi" delivers - nVidia has the best-performing cards, and I need something at the 2080 level.
What is the workaround?
Just an extra line in the XML config file for qemu. Its in most guides.