I am looking for some assistance in trying to figure this out while on trial key. I just built a new PC to replace my old underpowered unRaid server. I decided to buy components to attempt to dual purpose this PC into replacing my old 7 year old gaming pc and underpowered unRaid PC. I went with the Intel Core Ultra 265k, because it has 8 P-Cores and 12 E-Cores. I figured i could game on the isolated 8 P-Cores and leave the 12 E-Cores to unRaid.

 

Intel Core Ultra 265k/64Gb Ram/RTX3080/2TB Samsung 990 Pro (Windows 11)/500GB Samsung 970 Pro (unRaid cache drive)

 

I have figured out how to create the VM with windows 11, passing through the NVME controller of the SSD that has the Windows 11 installed from baremetal. I also passed through the GPU and onboard Audio. 

 

Issue: My VM is just overall sluggish. There is a slight delay in everything and anything i do in the VM spikes all the cores to 100% no matter how little it is, ie. example clicking the start menu spikes all the cores to 100% momentarily. I can open the video game i play primarly successfully, but its slow to start and load with around 30-40% of the FPS of baremetal. 

 

On Bare Metal: Path of Exile Performance: Ultra everything 4k w/60fps target. The game is super snappy, loads near instantly and fps is locked on 60fps and barely dips into the low 50's on extremely juiced content. Built in game stat overlay shows CPU 3-5ms/GPU 7-12ms latency. CPU's mostly chill in the 30-40's on the first 8 cores and occasionally spike into the 90's on really juiced maps. GPU sits around 40% usage

 

On VM: Path of Exile Performance: Ultra everything 4k w/60fps target. The game is ok, not very snappy, takes about 30 seconds to start the game and loading content is not instant with loading times between 10-20seconds. The fps is low, 20-30s with the target set at 60fps. Walking into an area with lots of content stutters the game down into single digits fps. Built in game stat overlay shows CPU 35-50ms/GPU 10-15ms latency. CPU's mostly sit in the 90's on all 16 cores and spikes to 100% constantly making the game stutter. GPU sits around 17-20% usage

 

I would really like to figure this out. i would be happy with 95% of bare metal performance. Just was really in hopes i could dual purpose this as both a new gaming PC and overpowered unRaid server. I travel often, so was in hopes of this also acting as replacement for my remote gaming. Previously used GeforceNow, but they recently added 100hr limit per month and quickly hit that when you have nothing else better to do in the hotel. 

 

VM XML:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<domain type='kvm' id='10'>
  <name>Windows 11 v2</name>
  <uuid>e1d7b2c4-ade6-ad66-7d28-06f41e29a6eb</uuid>
  <description>Gaming VM</description>
  <metadata>
    <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Windows 11" icon="windows11.png" os="windowstpm" webui="" storage="default"/>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit='KiB'>33030144</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>33030144</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>16</vcpu>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='1'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='2'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='3'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='4' cpuset='4'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='5' cpuset='5'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='6' cpuset='6'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='7' cpuset='7'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='8' cpuset='8'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='9' cpuset='9'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='10' cpuset='10'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='11' cpuset='11'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='12' cpuset='12'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='13' cpuset='13'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='14' cpuset='14'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='15' cpuset='15'/>
  </cputune>
  <resource>
    <partition>/machine</partition>
  </resource>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-q35-9.2'>hvm</type>
    <loader readonly='yes' type='pflash' format='raw'>/usr/share/qemu/ovmf-x64/OVMF_CODE-pure-efi-tpm.fd</loader>
    <nvram format='raw'>/etc/libvirt/qemu/nvram/e1d7b2c4-ade6-ad66-7d28-06f41e29a6eb_VARS-pure-efi-tpm.fd</nvram>
    <boot dev='hd'/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <hyperv mode='custom'>
      <relaxed state='on'/>
      <vapic state='on'/>
      <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/>
      <vpindex state='on'/>
      <synic state='on'/>
      <stimer state='on'/>
      <vendor_id state='on' value='none'/>
    </hyperv>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough' check='none' migratable='on'>
    <topology sockets='1' dies='1' clusters='1' cores='16' threads='1'/>
    <cache mode='passthrough'/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset='localtime'>
    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>
    <timer name='hypervclock' present='yes'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/local/sbin/qemu</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
      <source file='/mnt/user/isos/virtio-win-0.1.271-1.iso' index='1'/>
      <backingStore/>
      <target dev='hdb' bus='sata'/>
      <readonly/>
      <alias name='sata0-0-1'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pcie-root'>
      <alias name='pcie.0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='1' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='1' port='0x8'/>
      <alias name='pci.1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='2' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='2' port='0x9'/>
      <alias name='pci.2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='3' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='3' port='0xa'/>
      <alias name='pci.3'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='4' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='4' port='0xb'/>
      <alias name='pci.4'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x3'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='5' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='5' port='0xc'/>
      <alias name='pci.5'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x4'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='6' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='6' port='0xd'/>
      <alias name='pci.6'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x5'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='7' model='pcie-to-pci-bridge'>
      <model name='pcie-pci-bridge'/>
      <alias name='pci.7'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x01' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
      <alias name='virtio-serial0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='sata' index='0'>
      <alias name='ide'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x1f' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x7'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='4'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:f9:2d:ab'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <target dev='vnet9'/>
      <model type='virtio-net'/>
      <alias name='net0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x03' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/0'/>
      <target type='isa-serial' port='0'>
        <model name='isa-serial'/>
      </target>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/0'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/0'/>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </console>
    <channel type='unix'>
      <source mode='bind' path='/run/libvirt/qemu/channel/10-Windows 11 v2/org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0' state='disconnected'/>
      <alias name='channel0'/>
      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </channel>
    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'>
      <alias name='input0'/>
    </input>
    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'>
      <alias name='input1'/>
    </input>
    <tpm model='tpm-tis'>
      <backend type='emulator' version='2.0' persistent_state='yes'/>
      <alias name='tpm0'/>
    </tpm>
    <audio id='1' type='none'/>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x04' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x80' slot='0x1f' function='0x3'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x07' slot='0x01' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x01' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x05' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source startupPolicy='optional'>
        <vendor id='0x046d'/>
        <product id='0xc07d'/>
        <address bus='3' device='2'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev3'/>
      <address type='usb' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source startupPolicy='optional'>
        <vendor id='0x28da'/>
        <product id='0x1101'/>
        <address bus='3' device='5'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev4'/>
      <address type='usb' bus='0' port='2'/>
    </hostdev>
    <watchdog model='itco' action='reset'>
      <alias name='watchdog0'/>
    </watchdog>
    <memballoon model='none'/>
  </devices>
  <seclabel type='dynamic' model='dac' relabel='yes'>
    <label>+0:+100</label>
    <imagelabel>+0:+100</imagelabel>
  </seclabel>
</domain>

 

Crystal Disk Mark:

 

CPU's while gaming in VM:

 

HTOP;

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 20251 yr by Storx

Any assistance?

 

Did you ever resolve this? I found this thread while looking for information on pinning VM CPUs and I see that you have pinned CPU 0/1 to your VM. Everything I read says that you should not pin these, but you should ISOLATE these cores so that Unraid can use them exclusively for system management.