Short GPU for VMWare passthrough?

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altano

Active Member
Sep 3, 2011
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Los Angeles, CA
I'm creating a VMWare VM that will do basic tasks while streaming the VM to my friends so I'm on the market for a GPU that will fit these requirements:
  1. Can be passed-through to a VM in VMWare ESXi
  2. Can play 1080p video or extremely basic, low-resolution games like Myst, Minecraft, and To The Moon
  3. Can do those things while streaming the VM over Parsec to a remote computer (i.e. has to support hardware video encoding, e.g. NVIDIA NVENC).
  4. Is shorter than 17cm (6.7in) so as to not interfere with the SAS ports on my motherboard:
I went to go stick an Nvidia GTX 970 in there when I realized that even right-angle SAS cables would be too tall for the card as the card runs DIRECTLY over the SAS ports. Any card I use will just need to be <17cm in length to avoid the SAS ports completely.

The motherboard is a Supermicro X10SDV-7tp4f Xeon D and the slot is PCIE 3 x8.

Anyone know anything that meets these unusual requirements?
 
Last edited:

mbosma

Member
Dec 4, 2018
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How about this one:
EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 2GB GAMING
There's also a Ti 4gb version available.
 

marcoi

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2013
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Gotha Florida
I have a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card for sale inthe FS section.
Based on specs its 6.77inch.
It doesnt need any additional power supply.
  1. Can be passed-through to a VM in VMWare ESXi - Should be able too with some fine tuning. Nvidia cards arent the easiest to get working under ESXI due to Nvidia drivers, etc.
  2. Can play 1080p video or extremely basic, low-resolution games like Myst, Minecraft, and To The Moon - Not an issue
  3. Can do those things while streaming the VM over Parsec to a remote computer (i.e. has to support hardware video encoding, e.g. NVIDIA NVENC). Not really sure about this?
  4. Is shorter than 17cm (6.7in) so as to not interfere with the SAS ports on my motherboard As mentioned above it 6.77 so should fit without an issue but always good to double check on clearance.
 

altano

Active Member
Sep 3, 2011
280
159
43
Los Angeles, CA
Unfortunately 6.77 inches is 17.2cm and definitely just a little too long :(. Thanks for posting though!

I’m going to pull the trigger on a Quadro P400 which I think meets all my criteria.
 
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herby

Active Member
Aug 18, 2013
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I've been watching for a Radeon Pro WX 4100 on eBay for a little bit to use for a VM. Slightly weaker that an RX560 but super tiny. I've seen some okay deals over the past couple months; but I'm not a motivated buyer just casually interested at the moment.
 
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