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.

  • thejevans@lemmy.ml
    1·
    2 months ago

    I used to do something similar. Passing GPU between host and VM without rebooting is a major pain in the ass. What I did instead was had a Linux hypervisor and 3 VMs (Linux, Windows, and MacOS). I would swap between the 3 VMs, and they each had access to my GPU. It was fun to set up and somewhat convenient, but got really annoying as it was my only workstation at the time.

    I would highly suggest to just accept dual-booting and if it takes too long, get a faster SSD and/or faster RAM.

    I’ve since gone Linux full-time, and I have no complaints. None of the games I can no longer play would be worth having Windows to deal with. I thought I would miss them at first, but I’m happy playing what’s available.