Dedicated videocard for multiple users on virtualized desktops or IGP

[proxbox]

I want to run multiple virtualized operating systems on a proxmox server and use them as remote desktops.

The graphical desktop environment of an guest operating system uses the host videocard I assume?
What if there are multiple guest operating systems each with a graphical environment. Can they coexist and share the same videocard of the host machine simultaneously?

Would an IGP be powerful enough to have multiple users each on a thin-client log on to their own remote desktop or should I use a dedicated videocard instead?

 

[leesteken]

I want to run multiple virtualized operating systems on a proxmox server and use them as remote desktops.

The graphical desktop environment of an guest operating system uses the host videocard I assume?

Not necessarily. You could use Spice or other software rendering, depending on your graphical needs. If you CPU has enough cores, it will work for normal desktop usage.

What if there are multiple guest operating systems each with a graphical environment. Can they coexist and share the same videocard of the host machine simultaneously?

Only if you buy very expensive workstation/server videocards like AMD Radeon Pro or Nvidia Quadro (and not all of them work on Linux), if you want serious graphical performance.

Would an IGP be powerful enough to have multiple users each on a thin-client log on to their own remote desktop or should I use a dedicated videocard instead?

If you have a new enough Intel iGPU with GVT-g, it can work to share it with multiple VMs for normal desktop usage. Make sure the motherboard also supports it.

 

[proxbox]

Not necessarily. You could use Spice or other software rendering, depending on your graphical needs. If you CPU has enough cores, it will work for normal desktop usage.

Now I am confused. Does SPICE use the host videocard / IGP or the client videocard / IGP for rendering the GUI?

If you have a new enough Intel iGPU with GVT-g, it can work to share it with multiple VMs for normal desktop usage. Make sure the motherboard also supports it.

I intend to buy a Intel i3 or i5 from the 9th generation for this server. It is not explicitly mentioned here but I assume all Intel i3 and i5 CPUs since the Broadwell architecture have it?

What should I look for when selecting a motherboard? How can I know if a motherboard has GVT-g support?

 

[leesteken]

Now I am confused. Does SPICE use the host videocard / IGP or the client videocard / IGP for rendering the GUI?

No it does not use a videocard (iGPU or otherwise) because it does it all in software on (the CPU part of) the CPU.
Although you cannot connect a physical display to such a VM, you can run hundreds of them (on a large CPU) and use remote desktop software to use their graphical desktops.

I intend to buy a Intel i3 or i5 from the 9th generation for this server. It is not explicitly mentioned here but I assume all Intel i3 and i5 CPUs since the Broadwell architecture have it?

What should I look for when selecting a motherboard? How can I know if a motherboard has GVT-g support?

I don't have any experience with this, sorry. Maybe search this forum and the internet for other people's success stories with GVT-g?