Ryzen 9 Linux KVM Host, Windows 10 VM weighing pros and cons

[SveguS]

I am new to tinkering with Linux KVM so I wanted to ask here for advice.

 

Here is what i was hoping to achieve!

 

1 Linux Host and 1 Windows VM.

 

Asus ROG Crosshari VIII Formula or Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra S-AM4 ATX perhaps? Is there performance benefits to either option?
Ryzen 9 3900X
64GB 3000MHZ DDR4
Geforce 1070 - Windows VM
Geforce 1060 - Linux Host
1 Samsung NvME 512 GB - Windows VM
1 Samsung NvME 512 GB - Linux Host
x amount of mechanical hdds for storage, etc.
Expansion cards for USB/Sound any extra peripherals needed for the VM. (The x570 motherboards dont have a lot of expansion card slots its the two GPU slots and maybe one more. Is there options other options?)

 

Could I benefit from watercooling all this? Or would air coolers be perfectly fine. I am not looking to overclock any of the components. Squeezing fps out of the gaming experience is not what i need.

 

I run my workstation on linux, use KVM to dedicated CPU cores/threads/dies? To the Windows VM, running Win10 to game on. (I know linux gaming has come a long way but i have no great way of using my own game library on DVDs/CDs/ etc in linux so Windows is better option for me). Today I dual boot my rig with a different HDD when I want to game but instead id like to have both machines running at the same time with a dedicated Monitor and shared mouse/keyboard.

 

I work with java/html5 development, network design and support so I use my linux workstation for that. Using cores and memory available to setup test environments in Virtualbox is something i do on a daily basis.

 

When setting up Linux KVM has anyone seen if the Ryzen CPUs can be allocated like per die so the windows VM got one die and my host the other die. Would that even make things better?

 

So that was a little ramble I am just hoping to get some input from you good folks!

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 minutes ago, SveguS said:

When setting up Linux KVM has anyone seen if the Ryzen CPUs can be allocated like per die so the windows VM got one die and my host the other die. Would that even make things better?

Id probably share the resources as your probalby only using one vm at once.

 

8 minutes ago, SveguS said:

Geforce 1060 - Linux Host

Id go amd for linux if you can.

 

8 minutes ago, SveguS said:

1 Samsung NvME 512 GB - Windows VM
1 Samsung NvME 512 GB - Linux Host

Id go one bigger drive and share the space with something like a qcow or raw image file. Your probably don't need the most possible speed for a gaming vm.

 

9 minutes ago, SveguS said:

Asus ROG Crosshari VIII Formula or Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra S-AM4 ATX perhaps? Is there performance benefits to either option?

Id check others to see if it works well, some boards just don't like passthrough.

[enjin_]

For virtualization the holy trinity is core count, amount of RAM, and storage. You'll want plenty of those - more is better. Unless you are doing performance applications (gaming, for example) speeds don't matter quite so much, but you'll want the headroom to be able to run multiple threads. 

[SveguS]

Thanks @enjin_ and @Electronics Wizardy for your suggestions. I was looking for more specific suggestions on hardware and their ability to actually work with passthrough. Like you mentioned @Electronics Wizardy regarding motherbards, that led me to this video by Level1Linux.

 

 

That pretty much covered all the bases for me, with pros cons on a couple of different motherboards and their ability to passthrough different components. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!