So I’ve been looking into moving back entirely to Linux, but I play a lot of games so would likely need access to windows. I’m considering using KVM as dualbooting isn’t really something I’d want. I’ve some questions I don’t really get from how this setup would work:

  • I have 3 monitors. I have 1 Nvidia 2060. I imagine I might have to get a cheap-ish 2nd video card for Linux as the 2060 would have to be passed through to the guest (windows) VM… right? (I have integrated graphics, but not enough connections for the 3 monitors on it)
  • how do you switch between playing on the host and playing on the guest? I.e. if a game runs fine native on Linux, I’d want to use that instead of the windows vm. Is it possible to use the Nvidia card I’d normally pass through on the host? The only thing I can think of here is to run a Linux VM on the Linux host so the card can be passed through to it…? Or is it just not worth it and better to stick to just playing on the windows VM?
  • how do multiple monitors behave in this? E.g. I connect the 2 monitors on the left/right to the weak card which I dont have yet. I connect the middle monitor to both cards. Once I launch the VM I change the input on the main monitor to the connection with the Nvidia card. How will my monitors behave (and will I have any control over it)? E.g. will I be able to move the cursor across from the left monitor through the middle monitor and to the right or would they act more like 2 different PCs?
  • how do other things work, like microphone? E.g. can I have discord running on Linux and talk in voice chat, while also using the microphone to talk in game chat in the windows VM?

Answering any of them is useful, thanks in advance. Also if I misunderstood how this setup is meant to work, feel free to correct me.

  • MrScruff
    3·
    23 hours ago

    I did this for a while with a 3080 and a a770. It works well, but after a while (and new Nvidia drivers) I switched fully to Linux.

    • yes the GPU needs to be unused by Linux to allow for passthrough. There are some guides for making single GPU passthrough work but I never went down that road.

    • see first response, making the Nvidia card available to both Linux and the VM is a hassle I never did. I would just game on Linux with the a770

    • two separate PCs for the most part. I used udev rules to have Ctrl L + Ctrl R switch my input between devices

    • pipe wire and udev rules. However audio is painful I actually used a USB physical switch to pass through things from host or VM. I would just pass through a USB controller to the VM and those USB ports on the back would be exclusively for the vm