[vfio-users] Questions for all who have gotten this to work

[Will Marler]

> What distro do you use?
Arch. Tried Fedora 22 first b/c I was following Alex Williamson's blog.

> What kernel are you running? Did you have to re-compile it?
Arch default. No. Heck no. Totally done with compiling my own kernels!
Modules sometimes.

> What CPU and GPUs do you use?
Intel i5-4690, Nvidia GTX 750Ti . No kernel patching required; used UEFI
mode boot. Definitely refer to the spreadsheet
<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LnGpTrXalwGVNy0PWJDURhyxa3sgqkGXmvNCIvIMenk/edit#gid=0>
for
more examples.

> What online tutorial did you use?
Primarily Alex Williamson's, but also the (now closed) Arch post & thread,
the Arch wiki

> How long have you had it going in a stable fashion?
Couple months. Certain things are not as stable as I'd like; for example,
if my host goes to sleep, the guest state is corrupted (CPU gets pegged, no
video output) and I need to force a reboot to get it back. Sometimes after
shutting the guest down normally it can't be re-started, because the
passed-through VGA card can't be initialized, and I have to reboot the
host. But other than that, when things are running, they're humming.

Zycorax:
> I take that it's recommended, in order to have other configurations
> available, such as both GPUs working in parallel on the same (host) OS,
> to avoid using both NVidia and ATI, and the graphic cards have to be the
> same model (although different OCs are theoretically allowed) in case of
> SLI.

No I don't think so. There are dozens of examples of people using one card
mfg for the host and another for the guest. In fact, it can be even easier
to have different mfgs, because then blacklisting kernel modules is simpler.
Last I checked, neither SLI nor crossfire worked on the guest with VGA
passthrough.

> I suppose that this should restrict the best choice between another 970
> and a 960

No not at all. The 970 you have would be a great candidate for passing
through to a guest. So you can get just about anything for the host -- you
could even replace your i7-5930K for a CPU with integrated Intel graphics.
This last suggestion might be the one most compatible with your "power
drain and heat generated" concerns.

Will

On Thu, Sep 3, 2015 at 8:10 AM, Zycorax Tokoroa <zycorax at phoxden.xyz> wrote:

> I hope no one minds if I add my own question at this. I'd like to hear
> suggestions on the second GPU to take, keeping an eye on the power drain
> and the heat generated.
>
> The current hardware configuration is this:
> Corsair Cx750M
> ASUS X99-Deluxe (which seems to support ACS and hence need no patch?)
> ASUS STRIX GTX 970
> Intel i7-5930K
>
> I take that it's recommended, in order to have other configurations
> available, such as both GPUs working in parallel on the same (host) OS,
> to avoid using both NVidia and ATI, and the graphic cards have to be the
> same model (although different OCs are theoretically allowed) in case of
> SLI.
>
> I suppose that this should restrict the best choice between another 970
> and a 960
>
> Thanks in advance for the suggestions.
>
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