Hi guys,

I have an HTPC with windows 8.1 for KODI, torrents, emule and a NAS with unraid 6.

I'd like to merge the two PCs into one...I was thinking in a virtual machine with openelec and docker for deluge and amule....or maybe a windows virtual machine with kodi and all the other software.

I'm totally new to virtualization and I was wondering what hardware do I need to set things up.

I really appreciate any help you can provide

 

You will need a machine capable of passing hardware (GPU/Audio) through to your virtual machine.  This means your motherboard and processor must both support IOMMU, called VTd in the intel world.  You can find processors that support this via Intel's website and their filters.  For the motherboard you'll need to consult manuals and/or search for examples proving it works.  You'll want to search the forums and wiki for info on this, there's tons out there and no point rehashing it all here.  Also read up on GPU passthrough using KVM, and pick an suitable known-working GPU based on this.

 

I'm doing basically what you propose.  I have the server and dockers running most of my applications, although I haven't finished setting up the HTPC VM yet.  The GPU passthrough seems to work but I haven't completely tested everything.  The VM more of a project than a requirement for me so it's not really a rush.  Here's my build for a reference point:

 

- Case: Fractal Design Node 304

- MB: Gigabyte H97N-WIFI (6 SATA ports)

- PROC: Intel i5-4590

- RAM: 16GB patriot something or other

- 3x 3TB Seagate drives (they were cheap and my storage needs are modest compared to most here)

- 250GB Crucial SSD for docker appdata, VM vdisks, etc.

- AMD 6540 video card passed through to the VM.

 

Note that some Microsoft wireless keyboards don't play nicely with USB device passthrough on unraid at the moment and require passing a whole controller through.  this is the reason I haven't completed my testing, because I'm having difficulty finding the right combination of bios settings to get the USB controllers to enumerate individually so they can be passed through.

Thank you for your reply.

Do you think an I5 with a dedicated gpu is really necessary?

Isn't it possible to go with a less powerfull (cheaper) cpu and using the integrated gpu?

My setup is overpowered for sure.  That said, two things to keep in mind - in order to pass through a GPU you need VTd (or the AMD equivalent) technology in your processor, and you need a dedicated GPU because it's currently (maybe ever?) not possible to pass through integrated graphics to a VM. 

 

For intel processors, VTd support starts somewhere in the i5 range and somewhere in the Xeon e3 range, and I have no clue for AMD. 

...it's currently (maybe ever?) not possible to pass through integrated graphics to a VM.

 

I was planning to combine the two machines mainly to reduce power consumption.

The NAS is a c60 apu and the htpc is a e350 apu...upgrading to an I5+dedicated GPU solution (and the hassle to get everytihng up and running smoothly) maybe isn't a good idea.

I think I'll wait my next workstation upgrade to try virtualization on unraid.

 

Thank you again for your suggestions

I have not setup a HTPC / NAS however during testing I successfully managed the following:

 

Setup GPU pass through, USB controller pass through and created a fully functional Win8.1 workstation with the following hardware:

 

Intel DQ45CB Sckt775 workstation motherboard, Intel E5400, 3gb DDR2 RAM and an AMD x1650 pro.

 

All of these bits were the cheapest most useless bits from my parts bin, probably could buy them on eBay for less than £50.

 

My point is you don't need to go out and purchase a new Xeon processor to achieve your goal. On the whole, AMD provide the most features for the least money. Just need to research the components fully before purchase.

You will need a basic GPU card to pass through as integrated graphics cannot be passed to a VM. I use an old AMD Radeon HD 5450 I had laying around, some people prefer Nvidia cards.

 

I'm running unRAID 6.0.1 with a Kodibuntu VM (going to switch to the OE VM when I go up to unRAID 6.1 and upgrade my two other Kodi installations to 15.x). It also houses my mariaDB, and Logitech Media Server dockers.