Another 2020 GPU passthrough build

Hardware Build a PC
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G’Day Guys,

After a solid 8-10 years with a minor mid-life GPU refresh, my dear old workhorse gaming PC is due for upgrade!

I love running Linux on my laptop, it’s so much more pleasant to work with. But Gaming, always the sticky point, means I have to have Windows on my PC.

After seeing Wendell passthrough a GPU to a Windows VM to play GTA5 back in the day though, I’ve started to get a bit hyped toward this direction of solution (until Linux eventually properly takes over of course).

To that end, I’ve done some scouring and found this page:
https://passthroughpo.st/vfio-increments/
From which I’ve picked a selection of parts that roughly match the price range I’m going for. I’m not very hardware-savvy though, so I’d really appreciate any insights you fine folks might have with an eye on what I’d be using it for.

Partpicker version of the parts I’ve selected, plus the general ‘plan’ I followed taking them from the site
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/VpQxx6
Revised list from comments: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/QJ99Rk

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Questions from the Guidelines

Budget. How much are you willing to spend?

2 to 3k AUD (1.5 to 2k USD)

Where do you live (what country, don’t post specific details), and what currency do you use?

NSW, Australia. Dollaryoos :wink:

Is there a retailer you prefer?

Not really, but I’ve had good dealings with Scorptec in the past.

Do you need or already have peripherals? (this can add to costs)

Already have peripherals.
Das Keyboard 5Q, 2 BENQ 27" BL2706HT Monitors, one of the Razor Gaming mice (can’t find the specific version anymore, it’s many years old)

What will you be using your Glorious computer for? Gaming? Rendering? Mix of both? Or is this a home media PC or Steam Box?

Planning to run an Arch-based Host (I use Manjaro on my Laptop, but I hear something more purely Arch like Antergos would be better for this use case) for web browsing, office-ing, and some video streaming off the NAS as well. Basically everything except gaming. Running that off Integrated Graphics.
Then have a Windows VM atop that, with GPU passthrough. On which I install nothing but games (and Steam and whatnot).
I’d also ideally like it to last me another good long while before a total upgrade.

Do you overclock or want to get into overclocking?

No way. I live in Australia and have no aircon. Originally my PC came with a pre-overclocked GPU and I didn’t realise. Would constantly overheat and shutdown the PC. Very aggravating.
K.I.S.S.

Do you plan on going for custom water-cooling now, or in the future?

I’m open to water-cooling if it’s plug’n’play, not sure about custom.

Operating System. Do you need a new one?

Nah, I’ve got all my OS’ sorted.

Gaming Questions

What kind of settings do you like or what FPS do you want to play at?

I like high quality and responsive FPS (30+)

What resolution will you be playing at? //or would like to play at.

1920x1080

What kind of games do you like to play?

Nothing super intense, no CoD or anything like that. Probably the most intense games I’d want to play are things like Outer Worlds/Fallout/Assassins Creed.
Everything else is just stuff like Rimworld, Evil Genius 2 (hype!), Minecraft, that sort of thing.

2 Likes
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The PCPP list seems reasonable.

Depending on how you want to run the windows VM, it may make more sense to buy two SSDs, one for linux, and one to passthrough to the windows VM. You get better disk performance with disk passthrough, but lose snapshots/rollbacks that running from an image can have.

As a small addon, you may want a PCIe USB card that is passed through to the guest. This allows for hotpugging USB devices to the guest.

I presume that the 2070 is for the guest, and the Intel iGPU for the host?

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If you don’t plan to overclock, you don’t need a ‘K’ version CPU or a Z390 board. You could save some dollaryoos by going with a non-K and a B360 board.

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A dedicated SSD for the Guest is a great idea, I’m definitely going to give that a go. Was thinking of swapping out the 6TB HDD for a second (or bigger first) SDD anyways since my NAS has plenty.

I’m thinking a USB Switch is how I’ll be passing my Keyboard and Mouse through. I haven’t thought that part of it through though so I’m open to suggestions. Would passthrough of USB be helpful in that regard? I wouldn’t otherwise pass any USB through at all.

The integrated is for the host yes. I’m contemplating figuring out a way to share the dedicated graphics to the host when the guest isn’t running though.

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Love to save some dollarydoos, but I’m wary of swapping out those parts, my understanding is that passthrough requires highly specific and not well identified features to be available. I’d really want to stick to parts that have been tested with and known to work for this sort of thing.

Also, the only B360 I can find on that page is the GIGABYTE B360M DS3H which is from the ‘Bargain Bin’ section. The Motherboard in particular is a part that I wouldn’t want to replace anytime soon, so I’m not sure how I’d feel about getting a cheap one.

Open to the idea of course, but not yet sold on it.

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An add-in USB card can always be purchased later, so go ahead and try passing through the individual devices. USB passthrough is a thing, so it should work. It’s just if you have other USB devices is when passing an entire controller through is useful.

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Revised list available: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/QJ99Rk

Swapped out the cooling, swapped out the HDD for an SDD, and somewhat-randomly replaced the other parts with no listed pricing.

I’d really love to save some dollarydoos now that it’s +3,000, but I’m still not sure if I want to risk chopping and changing too many of the core components from the tried and tested list.
That, and ultimately I’m hoping it’ll last me another decade, so I wouldn’t mind the price-hit as much if I can be confident of a nice degree of future-proofing, which I’m getting a good feeling about from the price!

I’m planning to go ahead with the purchase in the near future (week or two) if I don’t hear any screaming about how crazy I am or how I could so something better from you guys (NB: Actual screams optional).

Let me know, otherwise I’ll keep you posted!
Thanks for all your feedback and help :slight_smile:

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Looks good. I will be watching this thread with interest given I am doing pretty much the same thing - only difference being I am going AMD.

Please post pics of build, and also updates on how the installation side of things goes.

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