This may be a bit of a newb question, but I'm trying to use some form of Linux as my main OS. I'm building a new PC, just waiting on Ryzen to come out. I've already got 2 RX480s and 2 SSDs which I plan on using for this system.
I'd have my main OS be Fedora or Ubuntu or some other Linux OS that I can reliably use on a daily basis. I also want to have Windows available for when I want to play Windows-only games or use Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. Since I have 2 SSDs I'd like to install Linux on one and Windows on the other.
Here's the catch: I'd like to virtualize Windows and pass one of the RX480s through to it while keeping the other one for my main Linux installation.
I've seen a lot of information about using KVM and QEMU to do this sort of thing, but I've heard it can run into problems when you have more than one of the same graphics card. I've seen Linus's videos where he has these insane systems like "7 gamers, 1 CPU" where he uses unRAID as a virtualization host for the different gaming VMs.
My question boils down to this:
KVM and QEMU on a Linux host vs. unRAID Which solution would work best for a relatively inexperienced user like myself? I don't want to compromise on performance, nor do I want to dual boot. I'm willing to learn about how all this works, but I don't want to mess anything up too badly. I'm also willing to experiment since it will be a brand-new clean-slate PC. Only once I know what I'm doing enough to have a stable system for my needs will I actually install and configure everything completely.
unRAID is KVM/QEMU on a Linux host. It just provides you with a nice web frontend and does not necessitate you to do everything via command line.
The trial version of unRAID is free and you can extend the trail period 2 times before you have to pony up 59$ for the basic version. There are other platforms available like Promox that do not charge you for the software itself but instead for any support plan you might want to sign up to. VMWare has the vSphere hypervisor available for free. There are tutorials for all three solutions on the internet.
My best solution for you would be: -install a Linux distro on the bare metal -install a virtualisation tool (KVM for example) -pass through your GPU then
Ah. I didn't realize that unRAID was KVM/QEMU (at least for their virtualization hosting features). Do you have any guides you recommend reading through for this, or will the top couple of things that come up on Google suffice? Also, thanks for mentioning vSphere and Proxmox. I'll look into those too, but I'm likely going to go with KVM/QEMU on a Linux host. edit: Proxmox is also KVM on a Linux host. I'll give it a closer look and try it out when my PC is built.
You are planning to buy bleeding edge hardware. There is always some latency with support for very new hardware in Linux, i.e.: it will take a couple of weeks until the support is completely there. You'd probably be best of dual booting the first time and then doing your "virtualize windows" project in the second half of the year. Because you'd be one of the first to try virtualization with a polaris GPU and Ryzen under Linux.