Virtualisation Question

[tezza192]

Im a bit of a noob but I want to start running some Virtual Machines and tinker just to try and learn more. I have a question I havent really been able to find a definitive answer, If I install a VM - will the VM have direct access to my hardware - say the graphics card for example or is it virtual through software?

 

Hope that makes sense - I have a 5820K and GTX 1070 if thats important. Any TIps would be muchly appreciated. 

Edited February 8, 2017 by tezza192
spelling

[The Sloth]

depends what you want to do with a vm and what vm software you use 

[tezza192]

I dont want to do anything specific just get some experience using - that shouldn't matter given what my question is - I have no specific software in mind but looking for hardware level access so any suggestions

[Mira Yurizaki]

12 minutes ago, tezza192 said:

Im a bit of a noob but I want to start running some Virtual Machines and tinker just to try and learn more. I have a question I havent really been able to find a definitive answer, If I install a VM - will the VM have direct access to my hardware - say the graphics card for example or is it virtual through software?

 

Hope that makes sense - I have a 5820K and GTX 1070 if thats important. Any TIps would be muchly appreciated. 

It depends on where the VM manager sits. If you are running a VM manager through Windows, the most a VM will have "direct access" to is the CPU. Windows does not provide GPU virtualization. I'm not sure if Linux of macOS provide GPU virtualization either. If you want that, you're going to have to get a "bare metal" hypervisor.