I am planning to build a unraid server to run two OS, One for me and one for my son. I am at the point where I am looking at video Cards, But I do not want to spend $400 + on a single video card. I want HDMI so that I can pass sound alone to new monitors I plan to purchase but am not sure if some of the less video cards (under $200) will work with UnRaid virtualization and still allow for HDMI to pass sound thru. Has anyone used a less card and had luck with these cards and what models? Did you have to make any adjustments to make them work?

 

 

Thanks

 

The Nvidia GT720 and GT730 works very well and doesn't break the bank. There are small tweaks needed, but nothing overly difficult (enable MSI interrupts mainly).

Others have had good luck with older cards, AMD 5450 & 6450, however the 5450 I tested with was always problematic.

 

A lot of cards work very well, and if you're not using it for gaming there is no reason to spend a lot. All of the cards I listed do hardware acceleration for video playback.

Most newer cards should work. I use an ati r7 370 and an hd6450 and sound works fine with both. Personally I would use an ati card as there can be issues with nvidea cards and hdmi sound.

Also if you use nvidea you need to have onboard graphics aswell as the nvidea card will not passthough as the only gpu in the system.

An ati card doesnt seem to have this problem

Not meaning to hijack, but can the onboard video be used for passthrough.?

Most newer cards should work. I use an ati r7 370 and an hd6450 and sound works fine with both. Personally I would use an ati card as there can be issues with nvidea cards and hdmi sound.

Also if you use nvidea you need to have onboard graphics aswell as the nvidea card will not passthough as the only gpu in the system.

An ati card doesnt seem to have this problem

They both have there issues, and both can also be successful.

There are some ATI cards that have reset issues with virtualization (important) and can be a real pain if you chose one of those (don't have the list off hand, search for Alex Williamson and this issue on the vfio users list if you are interested enough to find it).

Also some others have had problems with TrueHD and DTS-HD with the ATI cards, specifically in Linux (uncertain of Windows).

If you have onboard video (as many CPU's/boards do) I'd choose an Nvidia card, but I also have an AMD card (R260X) that works fantastically.

Cards to avoid that I personally had issues with (tested in 3 different hardware configurations) G210, and Asus 5450HD (others have had good success with other makes of 5450).

 

If you get a card that has reset issues, you will want to pull out your hair!

Symptoms - Installing the driver and the VM freezing, or complete lockup of the server. Or after shutdown of the VM it will not come back up until a reboot of the server.

Also some cards even when passed through and seem okay will have noticeable lag/delay when using the VM.

Not meaning to hijack, but can the onboard video be used for passthrough.?

At this time, no.