[vfio-users] Minimal host with desktop guest and gaming guest. Is this possible?

[almer]

Hi,

my motivation: wattage concerns and not utilizing my hardware to the
fullest. My setup is pretty much historically grown to 3 computers now. one
for gaming (win10), one for storage/backup (debian stable) and one for
desktop (latest xubuntu). And the desktop hardware is quite old and weak,
so it bugs me that the good hardware is "wasted" on a windows system for
games only.
also with the next hardware purchase I would have to buy win10 because the
free w10 upgrade from w7 will break. the short version: I won't buy w10 and
have decided to switch to wine/steam-OS gaming. ditching windows
completely, nearly all games that I play, run out of the box in wine/steam
anyway.

I've read that some setups utilize two graphics cards or IGP with a
graphics card. Now I was wondering if both setups could be combined. A
minimal stable distribution host for storage and providing what ever is
needed for the guests on the IGP. first guest stable desktop for daily
desktop needs and work with a passive graphics card for example a GT 710
passed through. second guest a more current distribution as wine/steam
gaming guest with a more beefy graphics card passed through.

Is this even possible? besides audio and mic config witch could get tricky
I presume and keyboard+mouse for 3 systems.

My hardware pick so far:
- i5-7600k; mainly because of IGP, providing the 3. graphics card for the
host.
- ASUS Nvidia passive GT 710 and ASUS Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti STRIX for the two
guests; Nvidia because I read that AMD has PCIE reset issues and I would
like to stop and start guests with the PCIE cards more freely, without host
reboots.
- ASRock z270 Taichi; provides enough sata and usb for the storage/backup
needs.


So before I commit to this I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

regards,
Almer
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