2 vms for gaming

[Lucakro]

hello,

(little bit of backstory: my little brother currently has a cheap laptop for gaming which obviously isn't capable of 1080p 60 and I have a better somewhat proper desktop. since I am up for a new project I offered to help him out. the plan I came up with is to upgrade my desktop to the point where I can run 2 vm's of it  but I have a couple of concerns before I start spending money. I know it will be better if I spend more but I am fine with going barebones for now.)

my setup:

ryzen 5 1500x

8 gb ram

gtx 980ti

 

I know I am going to need another ssd, at least 16gb ram a r7 1700x and a second gpu, possibly a mobo upgrade

I want to put the desktop itself on the attic because of the noise since I am going to overclock it and it basically going to run almost constantly (and because after this its probably not going to look pretty anymore ) and run the hdmi and usb cables to our rooms. my two major concerns is that I have to different gpu's, my 980ti and some low-end gpu like a 1050 or 1060 for my little brother and is this even possible without linus tier hardware.

so if someone knows anything about vm's or has experience doing this, I have none so any input is appreciated 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Its probably going to be cheaper and easier to just buy a second cheap pc for him to game on. Get something like a used optiplex with a 1050 and that will be much easier and work better here. 

 

Have you worked with linux/vms much before, there can be a lot of configuring and annoyances here aswell.

[The Benjamins]

you are also going to need a easy way to pass USB ports, you will need to pass through few USB to 1 VM and get a USB card to pass through for the other VM.

Level1Tech can help you more with that kinda setup.

 

but really you are not saving much and I would recommend a better setup.

 

2700x

16-32GB of ram,

2 SSDs (boot drive)

1 HDD (shared steam drive)

2 GPUs

good enough PSU.

[Lucakro]

16 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Its probably going to be cheaper and easier to just buy a second cheap pc for him to game on. Get something like a used optiplex with a 1050 and that will be much easier and work better here. 

 

Have you worked with linux/vms much before, there can be a lot of configuring and annoyances here aswell.

thank

I was thinking of doing this as cheap as possible which from my view I am cutting out the psu case cpu and mobo I would have to get him + I want to make this as overcomplicated as I can make it for basically bragging rights and I like to play around a bit without pc's

 

Linux? cant I just do it via windows?

[Lucakro]

10 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

you are also going to need a easy way to pass USB ports, you will need to pass through few USB to 1 VM and get a USB card to pass through for the other VM.

Level1Tech can help you more with that kinda setup.

 

but really you are not saving much and I would recommend a better setup.

 

2700x

16-32GB of ram,

2 SSDs (boot drive)

1 HDD (shared steam drive)

2 GPUs 

good enough PSU. 

thanks for your response

800w is enough right?

usb ports will go via the monitor

but the question I have is do I need the same gpu or can I get 2 different gpus?

 

[Princess Luna]

If you have a good enough computer... you don't need to run a VM at all, just buy a gamepad and play a game that uses it well... you can run 2 games I done it with my brother back in the day.

 

Playing like GTA V or The Witcher 3 with the gamepad on a secondary screen like a TV, if you set it to keep running even out of focus it will keep picking up the gamepad signal and run perfectly normally on the TV while the Windows focus is on the other game like say CS:GO running on the monitor with the keyboard+mice.

[The Benjamins]

5 minutes ago, Lucakro said:

thanks for your response

800w is enough right?

usb ports will go via the monitor

but the question I have is do I need the same gpu or can I get 2 different gpus?

 

Ya I think USB hobs is a good fix, 800w sounds fine for a stock system, just wanted to make sure you had a good one.

If you are passign GPUs to VMs it does not matter what GPU you have, but one issue with ryzen is you will not have a onboard GPU for the VM hypervisor. you might have to web access it after set up.

[Lucakro]

15 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

Ya I think USB hobs is a good fix, 800w sounds fine for a stock system, just wanted to make sure you had a good one.

If you are passign GPUs to VMs it does not matter what GPU you have, but one issue with ryzen is you will not have a onboard GPU for the VM hypervisor. you might have to web access it after set up. 

okay thanks 

I can technically cram a spare Quadro in for the hypervisor thanks for your help

[HanZie82]

Maybe also want to check out the 7 gamers 1 CPU video's.
Lots of tips and tricks in there to get multiple hardware on the 1 machine.

Here's the whole list, hope it helps you a bit at least.
 

 

[Lucakro]

20 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

If you have a good enough computer... you don't need to run a VM at all, just buy a gamepad and play a game that uses it well... you can run 2 games I done it with my brother back in the day.

 

Playing like GTA V or The Witcher 3 with the gamepad on a secondary screen like a TV, if you set it to keep running even out of focus it will keep picking up the gamepad signal and run perfectly normally on the TV while the Windows focus is on the other game like say CS:GO running on the monitor with the keyboard+mice.

never heard of that ill look into it ,thanks.

[Lucakro]

Just now, HanZie82 said:

Maybe also want to check out the 7 gamers 1 CPU video's.
Lots of tips and tricks in there to get multiple hardware on the 1 machine.

ill do that thank you

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 hours ago, Lucakro said:

thanks for your response

800w is enough right?

usb ports will go via the monitor

but the question I have is do I need the same gpu or can I get 2 different gpus?

 

Well if you want gpu passthough in windows, you need windows server 2016 and above, and its much less supported than doing it on linux. Almost all the guides out there are doing this on linux.

 

THere are some multipoint sofware that lets 2 people use one pc with out using vms or adding a second gpu, but those have issues with some games, but you can give it a shot if you want.

 

 

[trevb0t]

Why not build YOURSELF a beefier build, and gift him your current one?

Then it's not just a freebie project, it's one that makes sense to invest in!

[TehPlayer14]

Using Virtualmachines and passing gpu's through is a pain... you are better off with dual booting or something