[SOLVED] Easiest GPU for PCIe passthrough

[vale.maio2]

Hello all, if the title seems something like a newbie would ask, it's because it is...
I'm in need to add a graphics card to my ProxMox 7.2-11 installation, so I can pass it to a Windows 10 VM. It doesn't need to be anything special, I simply need OpenGL support for a few programs running under W10 (the most important one being Ultimaker Cura 5.1.1); the bare metal should be able to accept anything I throw at it (Dell T710), so that shouldn't be an issue.

Having said that, would anyone please have suggestions on a graphics card that would increase my chances of success? Again, not looking for the latest and greatest; if it were Windows 10 on a desktop PC, I would use something like a GTX 650Ti.

Thank you all.

TL;DR: Got an Nvidia GT710, worked just fine. Any Nvidia GPU supporting driver 465.89 or newer should work.

 

[leesteken]

Radeon HD7750 but I have no idea if Windows 10 supports it.

 

[vale.maio2]

Radeon HD7750 but I have no idea if Windows 10 supports it.

Thank you. It should be compatible through legacy drivers, but I can't find one for a decent price (not going to spend £100 on it...). I'll keep an eye for one.

 

[toomanylogins]

I use GT 730 ddr5 version no problems. I pass through two of them.

 

[vale.maio2]

I use GT 730 ddr5 version no problems. I pass through two of them.

That sounds good, I could get a GT730 1GB for £15, thank you.

 

[LnxBil]

The main problem I encountered is not only the PCEe card, it's the rest of the system that may have problems with passthrough in general. Newer cards work better and also more expensive cards.

 

[vale.maio2]

I've actually remembered that I have a GT9500 at home. Quite ancient I know, but it was there already, so I'll try it following the PCI passthrough guide on the PVE website, and see if that works. If it doesn't I'll try a GT730, given the low price.

 

[Dunuin]

Also try to shutdown the VM and then start it again without doing a host reboot in between to verify that the GPU resets properly.

 

[vale.maio2]

I use GT 730 ddr5 version no problems. I pass through two of them.

Can I ask you, is your VM running Windows or any Linux flavour? I'd you're running Windows, did you have any issues getting it to recognize it without the dreaded error 43?

 

[Dunuin]

Got a GT710 that runs fine. But I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than getting a HMDI output and hardware accelerated video decoding. But for that it runs great (except it can't decode codecs newer than h264) with low power consumption and fitting in any case (1x slot, low profile, single slot, passive)

 

[vale.maio2]

Got a GT710 that runs fine. But I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than getting a HMDI output and hardware accelerated video decoding. But for that it runs great (except it can't decode codecs newer than h264) with low power consumption and fitting in any case (1x slot, low profile, single slot, passive)

Is that on a Windows or Linux VM?

 

[Dunuin]

Is that on a Windows or Linux VM?

Win10.

 

[Docop2]

The whole Quadro lineup are dedicated for vm since long time as fully compliant with vmware.

 

[vale.maio2]

Got a GT710 that runs fine. But I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than getting a HMDI output and hardware accelerated video decoding. But for that it runs great (except it can't decode codecs newer than h264) with low power consumption and fitting in any case (1x slot, low profile, single slot, passive)

Thanks for the suggestion. I've now got a GT710, it gets recognized just fine, and OpenGL programs open without any issues. I could also have gone for a Quadro K2000D which sells for £27. It seems to boil down to what driver version the GPU supports; apparently, Nvidia unlocked VM support for the home market GPUs on driver version 465.89, so in theory anything supporting that driver or newer should work fine in passthrough.