Minimum Win10 VM for driver pass through?

[btrcp2000]

New server is in my signature. I will need to set up a minimal Win10 VM (,y first ever of any OS) to pass through a Colossus, run Playon, and Chrome for remote desktop purposes. How many cores and how much RAM should it get?

At some point I will also set up another Win10 VM that will be a daily driver in the kitchen, so i need to make sure i leave resources. Unraid will run Sage, Unifi, Plex, DuckDNS, etc.

[BobPhoenix]

My encoding Windows 7 x64 server I gave 1 core on ESXi. Works great so far only a single bad recording out of several hundred.

For unRAID which allocates CPU resources differently I would assign 1 core and it's hyper threaded pair. If the VM is going to do more then just provide an encoding server for your Colossus then I would add more. With a Dual x5 Xeon processor you should have plenty of cores to burn. But as I said if it's only going to be an encoding server for the Colossus you don't need much. Also for unRAID leave core 0 and it's matching pair only for unRAID itself.

[btrcp2000]

If I find I have underpowered it is it as simple as shutting down the VM and then adding more cores or making whatever other changes and then restarting?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by btrcp2000

If I find I have underpowered it is it as simple as shutting down the VM and then adding more cores or making whatever other changes and then restarting?

Yes. It is possible you may have to reactivate it - don't know how likely with Windows 10. But usually it takes more than just a change in core count for that to happen. If you were to switch the chipset (i440FX to Q35) at the same time for instance it would be more likely - but still not guaranteed to cause reactivation.

[egeller]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Yes. It is possible you may have to reactivate it - don't know how likely with Windows 10.

I have Win 7, 8 and 10 VMs each defined on my Unraid server. Changing the number of cores is trivial and I did not need to reactivate the Windows instance when changing the allocated cores. I have manipulated cores a number of times.

Since you did not ask:
Playon seems to like Win 10 better than Win 8, so my Win 8 VM is not running.
Windows Media Center runs on the Win 7 VM, but I could only get it to serve extenders, not an on-board / passthru GPU. The premium channels did not work. WMC Extenders are a problem with Comcast moving to H.264 - premium / copy-once HD channels don't work on WMC extenders, so I have to run WMC on a stand-alone physical machine.