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Gaming on Xen.

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prodnix

New Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2012
Hi all, Ive been working on something for a while now and thought id start showing to others.

Check out my video and the discription. Beats the crap out of Wine anyways :D


Sorry about the video quality. Dont forget to like and subscribe for more of my work.
 
The next generation of computing is here. I'm just waiting for intel to jump in on this. When the fastest proc architecture can do this, I'll be buying into it. Right now, intel's the fastest and unfortunately they don't support it. I'd almost be tempted to get me an amd box... but that's 500$ I don't have atm.

I definitely want to see baremetal vs Xen performance. I personally can't wait... for your results, and for this to be viable on most platforms.
 
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Thank you Aynjell.

Depending on your Intel system, this may all be possible. You just need to check if your mobo/cpu support VT-d. On the other hand, you will need to build the system/software from the ground up.

I'm spending a lot of time now thinking about how I'm gonna go about doing a xen/baremetal test. For instance I still cant think how I'm gonna setup the memory so that they are the same in xen/baremetal without going out and buying a set of memory just for the test.
In xen some memory is needed for the underlying Debian OS(Dom0) and cores, I'm currently only using 1GB and 2 cores for the Dom0. Leaving me with 7GB and 6 cores for 1 VM. So i was thinking maybe that would be acceptable to test, Xen with 7GB and baremetal with 8GB?

To get equal amount of cores I'm going to get the new BIOS for my board so I can disable 2 cores for the baremetal test.

Also Im not sure whether i should overclock my CPU for both tests. I already have enough to do to get this test done.
 
Very cool.

Glad to see this is making headway. IT sucks intel does not support Vt-D on ll their products yet (apparently some Z68 boards do... just need a 2600 (nonK) CPU to go along with it...)
 
Im really happy with my bulldozer, its quite a powerhouse. As you can see in my video, Arma2 twice is no easy task.
 
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This is definitely something that I'm interested in. I'm continuing to find that there really is NOTHING that I can do under Windows that I can't also do under linux. I'm cool with tinkering on the system itself, but when it comes down to the very limited amount of time I have to sit down and game, I don't want to have to fiddle and tweak all sorts of stuff just to get it to maybe work. I look forward to the day that I can just vm Windows and play that way. Or the less likely alternative that linux get's native ports of everything...
 
For, that's silly that the K version doesn't have the feature.

Just a clarification, most i7's support vt-d and many other's do too. Including nearly all xeons. The 2600k most defiantly does. It's also not tied to any motherboard but solely to the cpu.
 
I'm sorry but I'm going to correct you and point out the most annoying typo on the internet. The 2600K DEFINITELY does NOT support VT-D, and more appropriately you could say it DEFIANTLY does not support it out of sheer audacity, seeing as how the 2500 and 2600 NON K processors DO, while the K processors do not. It's supposedly intel's way of differentiating their products. You get overclocking or VT awesomeness. :3

If you do not believe me:

2600K
http://ark.intel.com/products/52214
2600
http://ark.intel.com/products/52213

Notice what's wrong with the picture here? It specifically states that it does NOT support VT-D. Same thing for the 2500 series.

2500K
http://ark.intel.com/products/52210
2500
http://ark.intel.com/products/52209

If you're going to correct somebody, proper form is to do so by providing proof, correcting somebody when you're wrong with invalid information and without sources is just silly. This is also a part of the reason left for a while, I could prove I was right, and people would still believe seniors instead of me.
 
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Just a clarification, most i7's support vt-d and many other's do too. Including nearly all xeons. The 2600k most defiantly does. It's also not tied to any motherboard but solely to the cpu.

You are thinking of Vt-X (CPU virtualizationn)

Vt-d is IOMMU, or Memory virtualization and is required for video card emulation to work properly.

It is enabled in only non-K chips and on certain chipsets only. Furthermore it is up to the motherboard vendor whether they want to apply it or not.

MSI and Asrock I believe support Vt-d on Z68 series, ASUS does not.

Or all Q67 or c200 series workstation boards support it as well. Still need a CPU that allows it though.
 
You are thinking of Vt-X (CPU virtualizationn)

Vt-d is IOMMU, or Memory virtualization and is required for video card emulation to work properly.

It is enabled in only non-K chips and on certain chipsets only. Furthermore it is up to the motherboard vendor whether they want to apply it or not.

MSI and Asrock I believe support Vt-d on Z68 series, ASUS does not.

Or all Q67 or c200 series workstation boards support it as well. Still need a CPU that allows it though.

Well this is defiantly a weird one because in my bios (ASRock P67 Extreme 4 Gen 3) I have the option for Vt-d, It was enabled by default too. I have disabled simply because of possible stability issues when oc'ed. I'll grab a shot of the option and I'll enable it and post up cat /proc/cpuinfo.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone, and it clearly is stated on the Intel website, but I do indeed have this option.

IMG_20120209_064658.jpg
 
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On this Intel site the list the following as supported chipsets

The following Intel® Desktop Boards support Intel VT with Directed I/O:
Chipset Desktop Board
Q67 DQ67EP; DQ67OW; DQ67SW
Q57 DQ57TM; DQ57TML
Q45 DQ45CB; DQ45EK
Q35 DQ35JO; DQ35MP

just for reference
 
Well this is defiantly a weird one because in my bios (ASRock P67 Extreme 4 Gen 3) I have the option for Vt-d, It was enabled by default too. I have disabled simply because of possible stability issues when oc'ed. I'll grab a shot of the option and I'll enable it and post up cat /proc/cpuinfo.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone, and it clearly is stated on the Intel website, but I do indeed have this option.

View attachment 105123

The board may support it, but your chip certainly does not unless you're running a non-k processor.
 
Im back with a new video, its by no means entertaining! just screenshots of benchmark results. I have tryed to make it fair but was stuck on the RAM issue.

Can i add that my old i7 920 supported VT-d although it was not noted on intel arch. Things may have changed now but maybe somebody with the hardware could bring some light on this subject.
 
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