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I'm building a new PC. I want windows for gaming and some C++ work targeting the hololens. However, my primary development machine would be linux.

I have 32Gb ram, 2 x 1tb m.2 memory, one 3080 and no integrated graphics.

I would rather not dual boot as then I need to restart whenever I want to game and potentially get hit with lengthy windows updates. A VM is attractive as it would let me switch quickly between the 2 workflows.

I want the best performance I can get. Is a VM with GPU passthrough and a dedicated drive a good alternative to dual booting? If so, how do I set up the VM (specifically so it has sole access to the drive and GPU)?

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  • @Ramhound would I be able to reclaim the GPU on the linux install once I exit out of the VM?
    – Edward
    Commented Jul 26, 2021 at 20:52
  • @Ramhound there are some guys on reddit suggesting that I need to play with the xserver to make that happen. I've set up headless installs before for embedded devices but the purpose of those was to have GPU acceleration on a headless device. This is all pretty new to me. You're the first person I've seen saying this would leave me with a headless linux install. I was under the impression linux would stop acting as an OS if I were to use KVM.
    – Edward
    Commented Jul 26, 2021 at 20:57
  • @Ramhound leave this as an answer and I'll accept it, thank you!
    – Edward
    Commented Jul 26, 2021 at 21:09

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The VM is an alternative, but it's impossible to tell which solution will be the best for performance, at least not without doing a benchmark. I don't think that a dedicated drive is a must.

You can find the details on doing so under Ubuntu in the article
Beginner friendly guide to windows virtual machines with GPU passthrough on Ubuntu 18.04.

You should check well all the requirements of such a setup. You would also be unable to use the passed GPU in the host, so the computer will need to have at least two GPUs.

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