Hey all,
I've been dwelling on this scenario for a while and have begun thinking about it more as-of late. Here's my scenario and the option I'm considering:
I have a gaming PC (i7, 32GB RAM, GTX 1080, etc.) that I use less and less now
I have an unRAID server (i5, 16GB RAM, no GPU, lots of HDDs) that is always-on and serving up lots of content/media
I am gaming less and less now as I grow older
I began thinking about consolidating these two machines into one unRAID server
The trigger for this was that I recently re-did my home office and because of the design choices, I didn't want to setup my gaming PC in the new room (too many cables, hardware, KVMs, etc.) so I left it alone for a while. Recently I setup the gaming PC in a spare room and have been using it as a headless PC. I've been trying out some casual gaming using Nvidia Gamestream and Moonlight and it's been working quite well. So, with that in mind the option I am considering is:
Convert my gaming PC into the unRAID server
Migrate storage drives from previous unRAID server into new server
Setup a Windows 10 VM for desktop and gaming use
I think in general this idea makes sense. This is without knowing of motherboard limitations for IOMMU/GPU pass through (assuming it works). It's a Gigabye Z170X-UD5.
In general, any feedback on this approach? I know I've heard of some bugs/hiccups when people go this route. Is there any way to validate that the mobo supports IOMMU virtualization?
Anyway, appreciate any feedback and discussion on this. Thanks!