Thin Client thoughts?

[Rand__]

Still I'd say to get the 7100 working outside the chassis to establish it s principal functionality (or not),
I assuem you tried all those tricks like using vnc and disabling the SVGA monitor and such before connecting?

Unfortunately I never got a a vdga compatible card (grid too expensive, all others too weak 3d perf/too expensive too) so no experience there.

 

[grobba]

Still I'd say to get the 7100 working outside the chassis to establish it s principal functionality (or not),
I assuem you tried all those tricks like using vnc and disabling the SVGA monitor and such before connecting?

Unfortunately I never got a a vdga compatible card (grid too expensive, all others too weak 3d perf/too expensive too) so no experience there.

I'm not familiar with all the tips and tricks unfortunately, being somewhat new to this! but... I did think I was making some progress today (still with V5800), you mentioned disabling the SVGA, not sure if you meant in ESXI hardware settings or in the VM.
However, (and for future reference) I did notice on one VM that there was 2 displays indicated, which I could never set to 1. In another VM the display is set to 1, I found I could pass through the V5800, and log into this VM from P45 no problem, but as soon as the graphics drivers were installed on the VM, it would not connect, uninstalling the drivers meant it would connect again.
Also, uninstalling the AMD drivers on the original VM (2 display) allowed connection from the P45, so perhaps nothing to do with the 1 or 2 display setting and down to the drivers? It's too early in the day for me to understand what all that means. Should I have some kinda VIB with drivers installed?

I also wonder if I could still try the W7100 without the power connection, i.e. just in the PCIE slot to test for functionality?

Thanks again for all the input.

 

[Rand__]

This thread Troubleshooting GPU passthrough ESXi 6.5 was coping with GPU passthrough (consumer level), there might be a few applicable pointers.
This contains the idea to use vnc to connect to the vm and to disable the svga vmware display.


Re driver vib on ESX level - there are such for nvidia but I never delved into why I'd need one for which type of passthrough, so no help from me for this.

 

[grobba]

A quick update - after losing some hair trying to get the W7100 to work (which I thought it would as its Tonga, same as the S7150's) I spotted a cheap(ish) S7150 and went for it. I have since learned a lot more about Vcenter, how to install, configure and add plug in's for Radeon Pro.
I'd only ever used the ESXI web client before, so at the end of the day some valuable learning time, if a bit frustrating.

Anyways, I now have the ability to assign a GPU to several VM's (I've got 2 Win 10 for CAD use with MxGPU and one Win10 for general purpose with SVGA) and can manipulate large 3D CAD models smoothly, I think I still need to fine tune something somewhere as realistic rendering time is not great, might have to assign more CPU to the VM? also live video streaming via Synology Surveillance station is poor and drags the system down, but the cameras streaming direct to a browser is fine...

The one caveat is the power that the S7150 uses while assigned to VM's it'll use an extra 50-100W whilst assigned to a couple VM's, I'm hoping with some further investigation there might be a way to control power usage better. It also runs quite hot with an outer surface temp of 70+DegC, this is with a Gentle Typhoon blowing along it.
So, ultimately only a minor improvement on total power usage, with the Workstation being relegated to a corner of the room, but a much tidier desk!

At some point I may try to re-visit the W7100 when I feel the need of a challenge again! It just did not want to work with Horizon view for some reason, passing through to the VM always worked.

BTW I managed to get round the fan wall problem (luckily it was only fixed in with screws, so could re-position it approx. 20mm from the rear of the card.

Thanks to all who provided some pointers...

 

[Rand__]

At least some progress