Can unRAID run my use case? (dual booting unRAID and Windows)

[Phillycj]

System info

unRAID 6.9 rc2

Ryzen 9 5950X  
AMD Vega 56 (current main GPU)  
RTX 3080 (Future, but can use another RX 570 now for testing purposes)  
Asus ROG STRIX X570-F (BIOS Version 3001)  
G.SkillTrident Z Neo 3600MHz CL18  
1x NVMe Gen4 SSD 1TB (hopefully a solution that involves making sure the Gen4 speeds are taken advantage of)  

1x SATA SSD 2TB  
A few hard drives  

 

Hi all, I'm planning out my new gaming/content creation/development machine with two GPUs (one AMD, one Nvidia), but while I'm waiting on the new Nvidia card to ship, I've been having some doubts about overall suitability for my use case. I've been using unRAID as a media server in a separate box primarily as a media NAS/Plex, but I'm looking at VMs now and it seems like it can solve some of my use cases, but possibly not all. I've been using the unRAID trial for this new machine for a bit, and using 1 AMD GPU manually swapping between VMs from my laptop is annoying, but doing the trick for now.

 

Use case

I want to be able to run two VMs at the same time while in unRAID with GPU passthrough for each, one for Windows, and one for Ubuntu/Pop OS. Windows would have the beefier GPU, but the VM wouldn't be running all the time, only when I want to game or do something Windows-specific. The Linux VM would be on as much as possible, and would act as my development/content creation. 

 

As far as I can tell, all of the above is possible providing I'm willing to put up with a few AMD reset bugs and things like that. This machine and the Linux VM will be running (hopefully) 99% of the time.

 

My trouble is when I want to bring this PC elsewhere (or just not have to deal with virtualization-related issues), and I want to be able to boot the same version of Windows that I have in the VM on bare-metal. The key requirement here is being able to access the same game files in both unRAID and bare-metal Windows.

I'm okay with working around this through means you suggest, such as partitioning, two minimal Windows installs that are able to access the same D: drive with my games, NVMe passthough, etc., if they're at all possible.

 

So the core requirements are:

1. Be able to run 2 GPU-powered VMs at once + Dockers/NAS when in unRAID (seems easy enough, I'm okay with the performance hits in VMs)

2. Be able to run Windows on bare metal (also easy enough)

3. Be able to access the same Windows OS in both methods (the tricky part)

 

If number 3 is completely impossible, two separate Windows installs will work. Both methods should have somewhere in the ballpark of 240GB for the C: drive, and a D: drive for game installs. The D: drive should be at least 1 TB.

I'm planning on buying another mid-range 2TB Gen 3 SSD if that helps with my use case. Maybe partitioning that with 240GB for the Windows and the rest for D: drive then passing through the NVMe controller to the VM for my D: drive might work for the two-Window workaround? Thoughts?

 

If anyone could offer a solution, or steer me away from unRAID for this, it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Edited December 31, 2020 by Phillycj
More info to body

[trurl]

 

[ledon]

Just to chime in, since I am trying to get a similar setup working for myself. I had difficulty getting two VMs with passed through GPUs (RTX 2080 / RX 580) running stable on my AMD build (had it running on an Intel Z170 / 6600K build previously without problems and wanted to upgrade). My build is based the X399 platform and a 2920X CPU though. So you may be fine, considering your components are much more recent. Good luck anyway!