Hi.  This is my first attempt setting up any kind of vm so please bear with me if these are noob questions or have already been beaten to death.  Planned usage for the guest is HTPC (Plex Home Theater) and remote desktop (to throw it the occasional Handbrake encoding job, etc).

 

KVM or Xen? From what I've read it sounds like KVM might be better for VGA passthrough but is that only for Windows or HVM guests or does that apply to linux and PV too?  If VGA passthrough and overall performance should be the same it looks like Xen is easier to configure so probably a better option to start with, yes?

 

Video card?  Is HD 5450 enough for smooth 1080p or to drive a 1440p monitor (if I wind up keeping it in my office and using as desktop instead)?  No gaming just HTPC and/or general desktop use.  I know it should be for bare metal but if it might not be passing through to guest vm then what else would anyone recommend w/the lowest possible power draw?  Also is it possible to assign the video card to the unRAID host just to boot and passthrough the IGP (HD 4600) instead?  (Or if not possible now is it likely to be at any point in the not too distant future?)

 

Docker or VM for Plex Server?  Was planning on Docker but are there any possible advantages to setting it up on the Ubuntu guest instead? 

 

SATA Controller?  I don't need it yet but when the time comes any controller that would work for a bare metal should also work running unRAID natively and not trying to also pass it through to any guest, right? 

 

Other HW compatibility?  This is a brand new build and I've already confirmed that mobo and cpu are VT-d enabled but is there anything else I should check while I'm still inside my return window?  I'd hate to find out later I had a problem w/the NIC or USB passthrough even though the board claims it's VT-d enabled otherwise.  Does that ever happen and if so what/how should I check for it?

 

Anything else? Remember that I'm totally new to this so don't assume I know anything even though it may seem obvious to you.  All help is appreciated.  Thanks!

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