Hello, how are you?
My name is Victor I intend to buy the operating system but I have a doubt.

I have an 8GB Amd GPU
Another 4GB NVIDIA
and OnBoard

My question is, can I virtualize with all of them?

I recently gave up on passing through two separate video cards to two separate windows VMs. Tried multiple combos of Nvidia and amd. Swappef slots, switched VMs, etc. None of the nvidias worked, always gave code 43, with or without hyperv enabled. HD5450 is now passed through to win 10, worked just by checking the box in the VM config.  For the other VM I got one of these and just plug it into the USB card. All I need is a terminal at the server, not a gamer. Not sure what it's capable of outside basic desktop purposes.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HIV2XR6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_l3q4Db4CTE2PW

23 minutes ago, btrcp2000 said:

I recently gave up on passing through two separate video cards to two separate windows VMs. Tried multiple combos of Nvidia and amd. Swappef slots, switched VMs, etc. None of the nvidias worked, always gave code 43, with or without hyperv enabled. HD5450 is now passed through to win 10, worked just by checking the box in the VM config.  For the other VM I got one of these and just plug it into the USB card. All I need is a terminal at the server, not a gamer. Not sure what it's capable of outside basic desktop purposes.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HIV2XR6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_l3q4Db4CTE2PW

In my case, I would need 3 machines, 1 for video editing, 1 for audio editing and 1 for games. I have the 8GB AMD for video editing already, and will buy the 1050ti for gaming. And I will leave the integrated for audio editing, but they being NVIDIA and AMD will give a lot of headache?

I am by no means an expert, just sharing what I've gone through so hopefully someone wiser than me will chime in to help.  My final determination was that something in my system was not going to permit the passthrough of two GPUs period, regardless of manufacturer.  I battled with nvidia for months (search for code 43) before trying the HD5450 which was plug n play, just check the box in the VM config, and its still working fine right now.  A second GPU in a second windows VM would only come up as Microsoft Basic Display Driver at 800x600 resolution with no ability to adjust, Manufacturer installer programs (inside the windows VM) wouldn't recognize the hardware either, tried with 2 nvidia and 2 amd.  

 

Best advice from my limited experience is stick with AMD, as for some reason Nvidia actively disables VM passthrough if I read correctly.  Some folks here have gotten it to work, but few of those threads have any definitive solutions, at least none that worked for me.

 

If you can live with an external GPU, just plug it into onboard USB and check the box.   Plugging it into an already-passed-through usb card worked but would only allow the external to be a secondary extnded monitor, with VNC having to be primary, which made my desktop monitor useless.  There was no option to mirror the two.

Also, you mentioned virtualizing with the onboard.  I did that briefly but it caused numerous issues, although my onboard GPU is nothing to write home about anyway

2 hours ago, btrcp2000 said:

I am by no means an expert, just sharing what I've gone through so hopefully someone wiser than me will chime in to help.  My final determination was that something in my system was not going to permit the passthrough of two GPUs period, regardless of manufacturer.  I battled with nvidia for months (search for code 43) before trying the HD5450 which was plug n play, just check the box in the VM config, and its still working fine right now.  A second GPU in a second windows VM would only come up as Microsoft Basic Display Driver at 800x600 resolution with no ability to adjust, Manufacturer installer programs (inside the windows VM) wouldn't recognize the hardware either, tried with 2 nvidia and 2 amd.  

 

Best advice from my limited experience is stick with AMD, as for some reason Nvidia actively disables VM passthrough if I read correctly.  Some folks here have gotten it to work, but few of those threads have any definitive solutions, at least none that worked for me.

 

If you can live with an external GPU, just plug it into onboard USB and check the box.   Plugging it into an already-passed-through usb card worked but would only allow the external to be a secondary extnded monitor, with VNC having to be primary, which made my desktop monitor useless.  There was no option to mirror the two.

Ah, I understand, thank you very much for your report.
I hope an unraid geek comes to this post and helps us with this issue.

2 hours ago, btrcp2000 said:

Also, you mentioned virtualizing with the onboard.  I did that briefly but it caused numerous issues, although my onboard GPU is nothing to write home about anyway

I hope I can get what I have here.
tks again

6 hours ago, victorarajooj said:

Hello, how are you?
My name is Victor I intend to buy the operating system but I have a doubt.

I have an 8GB Amd GPU
Another 4GB NVIDIA
and OnBoard

My question is, can I virtualize with all of them?

Short answer is "highly likely NOT" but first I need to correct a misconception found in the replies here.

• Nvidia does not "actively disable VM passthrough" (here I'm talking about GTX / RTX cards). The right word is "discourage". What the Nvidia driver does is if it detects being run in a virtualised environment, it will error out with code 43.
• Preferring AMD over Nvidia because of error code 43 is like preferring to stand under a coconut tree instead of a durian tree for fearing of having something dropped on your head. AMD cards are not problem free - they are notorious for reset issue.
• The bottom line is you shouldn't pick a brand but rather a specific model. There are many users on here who have successfully passed through Nvidia cards and AMD cards so you might want to look around the forum for success stories and use the exact same model.

 

To reduce the chance of getting error 43 with Nvidia cards, you can follow these 3 tips:

• Boot Unraid in legacy mode (i.e. do NOT boot Unraid in UEFI)
• Do not use the to-be-passed-through GPU as your primary (i.e. what Unraid boots with) e.g. you can use the onboard as primary or buy a cheapo one to use as primary (assuming your mobo BIOS allows you to pick which slot to boot with e.g. Gigabyte X399 mobo).
• Dump your own vbios specific to your actual GPU (see SpaceInvaderOne guide on Youtube for how to do it)

You don't have to follow all 3 right off the bat but chances are if you have error code 43, you will have to end up having to do them anyway.

 

Now as to why I say "highly likely NOT" for your specific questions

• You didn't say what your exact spec is (and whether it supports IOMMU, virtualisation etc.).
• OnBoard GPU passthrough varies from hard to impossible. There's no easy way. So at the minimum, you are likely to need a 3rd GPU, even a cheapo one for the audio editing workstation - assuming you want to run 3 VMs simultaneously.

 

Last but not least, mixing brands is fine. If a card can be passed through in its current slot, it doesn't care what other card is in the other slots on the mobo.

Edited November 29, 20196 yr by testdasi