Windows PRO is my driving system. As a hipervisor I use VMWare Workstation. VMware is my choice because it nicely coexists with the ESXi (obviously).
One note: I dont play with the passthrough of any kind.
I personally do not care much about linux gaming. I mainly consume triple-A industry games and those only run on linux in 0.01% of cases. My suggestion would be to do temporary tests with linux (on separate drive/dual booting) before you commit to games on linux - chances are you will be very disappointed.
My suggestions would be to do the list of must-haves and nice-haves, or even rank the needs from 1-10 (also if it is permanent or just for play) . E.g.
must/10: Windows workstation (VM or baremetal) for work (permanent)
nice/3: linux gaming (temporary)
must/nice/8? windows gaming (permanent)
Then decide what is the best OS for that and would it better in VM or on host OS.
Going back to your original list (+ my random comments):
1440p Gaming
definitely Windows
you could do it in VM, but do you want to hassle with additional layer of potential issues on top of usuall issues when I just want to play.
Valve Index VR Gaming
the same as above
Beginning Video editing (Premiere Elements atm)
only windows / max OS (linux??)
does seems that it might work well in VM but, GPU acceleration would go into the same bucket as games - additional layer of potential issues
Beginning Audio Editing (Hindenburg)
just googled, seems to be only Windows or MacOS
but I assume it would excel on VM as well as on bare metal
MSSQL Server / Beginning ML
that again strongly suggests Windows OS
but it would be better in VM/container
Home Lab/Virtualization
You do not seems to be limited here by the host OS (not counting bere metal hypervisors e.g. ESXi).
I doubt any pass-through is currently possible with Windows as a host.
So in general, it seems for me that:
It seems for me like you are bound to MS platform as me. And it should be Windows host.
you want to play with Linux - VMs would be perfect for that (excluding games)
for linux games - well MS do not like dual boot. In fact MS don’t like you to even easily boot to save mode when nothing else works). So… what is your priority for linux gaming?
I had heard some interesting things about that Valve Photon which made me interested in Linux gaming, but you’re right. I could actually just offload Linux gaming tests to my current computer (i7-970 12GB Ram).
So that puts me at W10 Pro (Will W10 Workstation benefit me in your opinion?)on bare metal.
VMWare Workstation Player to spool up a Linux desktop for exploration (non-gaming).
Docker Desktop to kick off any development tools that can be offloaded.
It looks like VMWare workstation will only let me run 1 VM at a time unless I spring for the paid version. Does this mean I can have many images, but only have 1 running at a time?
W10 Workstation - no there is nothing really interesting in here (just ReFS without StorageSpaces, Persistent Memory NVDIMM-N, and better utilization of better NICs) .
VMWare workstation will only let me run 1 VM
I do not know of free Workstation version. And Player is much more less interesting.
For a Hypervisor on W10, check Hyper-V first. In general it should be OK. VMWare is just more mature and more enterprise accepted (also because not locked to specific host vendors). VirtualBox is not bad either. To be honest VirtualBox can be more popular among developers of different kinds as you can have it on Windows and Linux host alike.
It sounds actually like you will be able to figure the best hypervisor for you later after trying each of them and learning in the process.
I actually wanted to have 12 core CPU (moving from 8 core). But I could not bare the limitation of the X570 in respect to the PCIe lanes (here is my previous MB: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/X99E_WS/gallery/)
The lowest count of PCIe lanes was 8x. And it is not about having 4 slots capable of doing 16x. It is about:
having 6+ slots
having not to worry about physical slot size
not putting 4x/8x controller card in - the only free - 1x slot.
not playing twister game with PCIe extentions.
I’m still disappointment with TRX40 mobos (at least those that were available 1 month ago). The reason is that manufactures go so much into dedicated M.2 slots completely forgetting that PCIe slot that takes the same amount of place is more flexible.
Available lanes and slots, and the flexibility there in, is what pushed me to TRX40. I wish manufacturers had dropped the m.2 on the board and added more PCIe slots and just let you use card adapters (up to 4 m.2s depending on the slot’s transfer rate) for storage.
My original build plan had assumed that they would still release a third generation $1k 16 core ThreadRipper and I would have gone with that. 24 cores is more than I need, even 16 is some overkill.
Sadly, I haven’t found a board with more than 4 slots for TR, but with the Designaire I get 4 slots (16/8/16/8) with 2 slot spacing for each one. Multiple boxes is an option, but I don’t have the room for them, and my rack is nearly full. I have maybe 3U free after I rack up my current computer (I put it in a 4U case When I swapped the CPU and AIO last time.)
In your opinion, is it worth while to drop an extra 200 bucks for dual Intel 10gig onboard so I don’t need to use a PCIe slot later on if I need it? I am looking to add a FreeNAS at some point, but 10Gig may not be widely deployed at home in the next 8 years. although I know 2.5 and 5 are becoming more popular. I already have Cat6A Screened Foiled twisted pair runs around the house. Obviously it is entirely unnecessary to keep up with the internet speed unless something miraculous happens.
Edit: After lurking on the FreeNas forums for over a year I now have the opinion that Realtek is worthless, and Aquantia is questionable at best. Intel is apparently the only way to fly. Although people on that forum are kind of intimidating.
It is as you mentioned in edit. I personally only consider Intel NICs/LANs.
Most (probably all) other brands do following:
it is a cheap alternative, so some hardware functions are moved/available in software (this does not mean much for home use).
it is a cheap alternative, so drivers are only available for windows and linux
most likely forget about support for BSD (and everything based on it), bare metal hypervisors, …
Yea, I manage by installing some additional drives to introduce Realtake NIC to my ESXi I had installed some time ago. It worked till next ESXi upgrade.
Roughly two months ago when I was selecting the TRX40 board, I’ve checked the reputation of Aquantia - drivers only for win/linux (if I remember correctly) - reputation: - shit as hell (mostly about drivers).
I went for dual 10gigs, I know that within next 2 years I will be doing upgrade of the switch. It does not need to be 10G, but sure the dual 2.5G connections will be nice to my NAS.
That means I’ll need to upgrade from the Designare to the Aorus Xtreme, which is unfortunately out of stock in the USA due to “Human Malware”. So I guess I am in a holding pattern for now. I have no idea when they will restock, I may not be able to do this build until after Zen3 and GeForce 3000 series arrive.
And yes I will be water cooling. I’ve had my eye on the Heatkiller blocks since Gen1 ThreadRipper.
Video card would be anything reference at the selected chipset, with preference being EVGA. I’ve been through 4 of their cards, and even had to RMA one once and they’ve been good to me.
Aorus Xtreme is a XL-ATX/E-ATX board. It is both wider than ATX and longer (in last 2 weeks GamerNexus did video about the general mess around E-ATX “standard”).
The length
The mobo’s last PCIe slot is in the facto 8th position of extension sockets on PC cases. You have the clearance inside - since I see the PSU is on the back - but any card in there will be just hanging in the air.
Do not forget that in any case you would like to put there a GPU - for whatever reason - you actually need also 9th slot in the case.
The width
All the cutouts for the cables on the right from the 3 most right ATX screw places will be covered by the mobo. Check the photos of the mobo (the screw placements) and compare them with the photos of the PC case.
The back armor
This mobo has also a “armor” on the back - so you need to make sure that PC case do not have rivets in the motherboard plate. And any overlapping with the mobo rubber cover in the motherboard plate will need to be removed as well (that rubber in my PC case sticks out 3-4mm above the plate.
I’ve seen the Designare in the O11D-XL, and it is just about the same size as the xtreme, but I forgot about the backplate on the xtreme! Are you using the xtreme? If so what case is it in? Alternatively off the top of your head, am I missing a motherboard with dual intel NICs > 1Gig?
Yes I have the extreme mobo, The photo is actually of my PC inside.
I’ve just look at the shop I use for browsing, and I see the same positions as two months ago.
Here is the build that actually got me interested me in the Extreme board (at that point I’ve saw that it had the NICs I’m looking for):
Thermaltake is on my ‘naughty’ (gross understatement edited for language) list for the copy of CaseLabs, I know it isn’t that simple, but I need someone to be mad at about CaseLabs.
I know the Designaire can be fit into the O11D-XL without any trouble, I sent a message to the thread starter for that link you shared regarding his experience with the case/board combo.
Someone managed to snap up the last Aorus trx40 Xtreme at my local MicroCenter before I got it. (Sadly it was in store only, and probably at least a 2 hour (6 mile) walk one way). I’m not too hopeful Gigabyte will tool up their production line to run off more of a ‘halo’ product this late in the cycle. I guess we will see. Should have tried hoofing it instead of waiting for a ride.
and those only run on linux in 0.01% of cases. My suggestion would be to do temporary tests with linux (on separate drive/dual booting) before you commit to games on linux - chances are you will be very disappointed.