Single PC, Multiple Users

bulletbutter · August 13, 2018

I am tired of my desk being a clutter, so after a failed "PC in Desk" workshop project I decided that I need to look more towards reducing desk clutter, heat generation and noise by putting all my PC's into a single case. I have been building gaming PC's since back when the AMD Athlon XP was released (2003ish?). While I have missed the infancy stage of pc building, I have built a gaming PC once about every 2-3 years since that time. I feel confident with putting the thing together but its more of an implementation issue I am having. I have no problems doing the research and getting what I want to work. I just don't want to buy hardware that can not support what I am trying to do with it. While I have a general understanding of the capabilities of the hardware I choose, I lack a deeper understanding of the limits of said hardware.

So without further ado....here are the things that I need this machine to do.

Depending on price, I am ok with just sticking with 2 users, but it would be better if I could have at least 4.
2-4 users need to be able to have their own desktop with their OS of choice. So, 1-2 monitors per desktop, each desktop have their own keyboard/mouse/headphones.
Each desktop needs to be able to function independently of each other
At least 2 of the 4 desktops will be used for gaming. 1 desktop needs VR capability while the others can simply achieve 60fps at 1080p. At most 1 will simply be used for watching youtube/facebook and emails.
1 of the computers needs to be able to utilize BOTH windows (for gaming) and Linux simultaneously.
Media should be able to be shared freely among ALL desktops, but at the same time I need to be able to decide which media is shared and to which desktop.

My research, thus far, has lead me to believe that all this can be achieved through virtualization. I have an idea that was brought to my attention by one of Linus videos (youtube video). You basically set up a single PC with the capable hardware, run some virtualization on it, pass through the necessary hardware and boom! Hopefully, what I am needing can be achieved. So my question is, what type of hardware am I looking at?

Should I just go with the as many cores as possible for CPU? Am I going to need a dedicated GPU passthrough for each "desktop"? How would doing something like this affect the overall performance of the machine? Is this even possible?

aezakmi · August 13, 2018

tbh from what I know it'll be easier to build 4 different slim mATX or ITX computers

having 4 graphics card in a single board could be a disaster

bulletbutter · August 13, 2018

5 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

tbh from what I know it'll be easier to build 4 different slim mATX or ITX computers

having 4 graphics card in a single board could be a disaster

But where is the fun in that? I currently have 2 somewhat beefy PC's and a third mATX machine and need to add a fourth. The thought of having another tower in this room of mine drives me nuts. Not to mention, physical space is becoming a premium in this room of mine.

D3addr0p · August 13, 2018

21 minutes ago, bulletbutter said:

I am tired of my desk being a clutter, so after a failed "PC in Desk" workshop project I decided that I need to look more towards reducing desk clutter, heat generation and noise by putting all my PC's into a single case. I have been building gaming PC's since back when the AMD Athlon XP was released (2003ish?). While I have missed the infancy stage of pc building, I have built a gaming PC once about every 2-3 years since that time. I feel confident with putting the thing together but its more of an implementation issue I am having. I have no problems doing the research and getting what I want to work. I just don't want to buy hardware that can not support what I am trying to do with it. While I have a general understanding of the capabilities of the hardware I choose, I lack a deeper understanding of the limits of said hardware.

So without further ado....here are the things that I need this machine to do.

Depending on price, I am ok with just sticking with 2 users, but it would be better if I could have at least 4.

2-4 users need to be able to have their own desktop with their OS of choice. So, 1-2 monitors per desktop, each desktop have their own keyboard/mouse/headphones.

Each desktop needs to be able to function independently of each other

At least 2 of the 4 desktops will be used for gaming. 1 desktop needs VR capability while the others can simply achieve 60fps at 1080p. At most 1 will simply be used for watching youtube/facebook and emails.

1 of the computers needs to be able to utilize BOTH windows (for gaming) and Linux simultaneously.

Media should be able to be shared freely among ALL desktops, but at the same time I need to be able to decide which media is shared and to which desktop.

My research, thus far, has lead me to believe that all this can be achieved through virtualization. I have an idea that was brought to my attention by one of Linus videos (youtube video). You basically set up a single PC with the capable hardware, run some virtualization on it, pass through the necessary hardware and boom! Hopefully, what I am needing can be achieved. So my question is, what type of hardware am I looking at?

Should I just go with the as many cores as possible for CPU? Am I going to need a dedicated GPU passthrough for each "desktop"? How would doing something like this affect the overall performance of the machine? Is this even possible?

I have not been long in the game, but from what you mention it does peak my curiosity, I have multiple ideas that might, might not work.

2 X399 PC's with a NAS. Reason for this would be because of hardware limitations and ease, dedicated GPU's for each virtual machine is a must. X399 because of multiple cores. It would be fairly easy to set up. 2 users for each machine otherwise you will start to lose performance.
A more expensive option is a server, this one probably will break the bank, but one server might be able to handle 4 GPU's and more than 4 users but again cost will be a major factor here not that the above build will be cheap.
Probably the cheapest option is going with 4 mini-ITX builds and stacking them + the NAS.
Intel's gaming NUC, will run most games and can be mounted under a desk with a very light footprint.