Windows VM memory shows up as DDR3

[shivams]

I have installed Windows 11 on my Proxmox server (PVE version 8.1.4) and using q35 machine (version 8.1). I have DDR5 RAM installed on my physical machine. And the RAM sticks do show up as DDR5 on Proxmox host. I am also passing through Nvidia GPU to Windows VM which passes through perfectly.

Now, when I was benchmarking my GPU (using 3DMark) in Windows 11 VM (which gave the same score as it would give on bare metal!), my benchmark report mentioned that my memory is DDR3. Why is that? I tried searching for it on the internet but found nothing. Does QEMU virtualizes memory as an older generation memory? Will that affect performance inside VM?

 

[LnxBil]

Does QEMU virtualizes memory as an older generation memory?

Some programs that do not know that they're virtualized need to see something, so QEMU emulates something. Does not make sense to passthrough the actual hardware data, so a general string is used.

Will that affect performance inside VM?

No.

 

[zzz09700]

Just some random background.
Q35 actually came from real world Intel platforms, like from 15 years ago. Back then a common combination was Q35 + ICH9 + LGA775, running some Core2 CPU (and those were the days when AMD CPU was something people would really think about buying, just like today)

So you know why you got DDR3 there (give history some respect kid).