Cheap ESXi build that supports vSGA and/or vDGA

Jerry_03

Weaksauce
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Oct 12, 2009
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Hello I am in an undergrad research program and in my professors lab we're testing different GPU virtualization setups.

I need a cheap ESXi server build that I can do some concept tests on before I get a chance to do the real thing on a HPC later. I'll be running ESXi 5.1 on it and my professor is able to provide me with the full licensing.

My ESXi Server requirements:
-GPU that supports ESXI's vSGA and vDGA (preferably both)
-Motherboard that supports PCI-passthrough (Intel's VT-d or AMD IOMMU)

After some quick researching I found that the NVIDIA Quadro line supports vSGA and vDGA):
Quadro 2000 (only supports vDGA)
Quadro 4000 (supports both)
Quadro 5000 (supports both)
Quadro 6000 (supports both)

Is it possible for some GeForce cards to support vSGA and/or vDGA? Want to try and cut down costs.

As for the motherboard I'm not sure where to start other than it will probably be Intel and it needs to support VT-d.

Any help is appreciated.
 
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You can buy a GTX 465 for cheap and then mod the BIOS and SoftStraps so the Device ID shows up as a Quadro 4000. On that note, I have a GTX465 for sale ;-)
 
You can buy a GTX 465 for cheap and then mod the BIOS and SoftStraps so the Device ID shows up as a Quadro 4000. On that note, I have a GTX465 for sale ;-)

Does it have to be a gtx 465? Can it be any newer models?
 
It has to be a GTX 465/470/480 if you only want to do Soft Modding, ie editing the BIOS image and then working with Soft Straps. The 500 series isn't supported as the device IDs are too different and a SoftStrap won't work. The GTX 600/700 Series require hard mods in order to work, which is beyond my ability to Soldier at such a small scale as well as figuring out which resistors control the device ID.
 
Alright, thanks a lot for the information. Would you by any chance have a how to for the soft straps and bios?
 
isn't the compatibility for k2000 and or k4000 and not just 2000 or 4000?
 
isn't the compatibility for k2000 and or k4000 and not just 2000 or 4000?

This list may have changed with the introduction of Horizon 6 but this is what it was:

vSGA
Nvidia GRID K1
NvidiaGRID K2
Nvidia Quadro 4000
Nvidia Quadro 5000
Nvidia Quadro 6000
Nvidia Tesla M2070Q

vDGA
Nvidia GRID K1
Nvidia GRID K2
Nvidia Quadro K2000
Nvidia Quadro K4000
Nvidia Quadro K5000
Nvidia Quadro K6000
Nvidia Quadro 1000M
Nvidia Quadro 2000
Nvidia Quadro 3000M
Nvidia Quadro 4000
Nvidia Quadro 5000
Nvidia Quadro 6000
Nvidia Tesla M2070Q
 
So a nvidia quadro or a modded gtx 400 (or whichever is suitable) can be shared across multiple vms? I keep getting the impression that only a nvidia grid could share a single gpu across multiple guests? I'm so confused
 
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