HVM Graphics Card benefit?

[dustpig]

n00b question. Recently built a unraid server from an old PC:

 

Intel i7 2600K

16GBRAM

Nvidia 960

Nvidia 1060 

 

I was keen on utilising my extra GPU to do passthrough to my Windows 10 VM, but have since learnt that the "k" edition CPUs do not support VT-d. This means no IOMMU for me.

 

Am I right in thinking that there is no benefit to having the extra GPU in the system if I can only run my VM with KVM and no passthough?

 

 

 

[codefaux]

Depends on the GPU, and your needs.

 

If you install a custom kernel -- which means some support issues might wind up being "can't help, custom kernel" but not many -- you can use multiple cards to do media transcoding in things like Plex and Emby, or use them for AI workloads in Docker containers and the like. You could run a container with Steam, and use it for Remote Play. If you're interested in looking into that, check here but be prepared for any potential issues, because this is not an officially approved Limetech tool etc etc you know the drill.

 

 

 

Without a custom kernel or passthrough, you are correct -- there is to my knowledge no benefit to either GPU in that system, aside from being able to see the console.

[John_M]

You don't need a custom kernel, just the Nvidia driver plugin, to use either of the cards with docker containers.

[codefaux]

3 hours ago, John_M said:

You don't need a custom kernel

As of/if you're able to use Unraid 6.9+ this is true, I forgot.

 

However, it's ALSO worth noting that Unraid 6.9+ suffers a critical kernel panic bug if containers are using macvlan, which is quite common in media server/transcoder setups, so users might wish to consider staying on Unraid 6.8.3 in this case.

[dustpig]

Thanks for the responses.

 

Nvidia driver plugin installed and configured HW transcoding with Plex. Followed this guide for assistance. No issues so far....

 

[John_M]

@codefaux In the absence of diagnostics or an indication to the contrary in the question I assume the OP is running the current stable release. Macvlan-related call traces are not specific to Unraid 6.9. If you search back you'll see reports from at least two years ago. Here's one.

 

[codefaux]

9 hours ago, John_M said:

I assume the OP is running the current stable release

I can understand that, but I assume the OP isn't the only one who will ever read the thread, and maybe someone else might find some help. Regarding macvlan traces, I'm aware of this, but on 6.9+ it started causing hard crashes instead of just random traces, for me at absolute minimum, and seemingly for more than only myself, so I felt it deserved a footnote.