What's a good, cheap, no external power GPU to buy for VMs? Want to chuck a few in my Dell R730 server to make my desktop VMs more usable. Right now have an old K620 for a Windows VM, seems like 1030s are a good bet since I have a bunch of low profile slots I otherwise have no use for.
I think the best slot powered GPU you can buy right now is a second-hand RTX A2000, specifically the 6GB VRAM version. It’s too expensive brand new, especially the 12GB version. But you might be lucky enough to grab a used one on the cheap.
@TrenchcoatFullofBats I think this is the winning answer. Looks like it's about a 1060 6GB, which should be enough horsepower for several desktop VMs, and keeps open my full profile slots should I ever want to install something even more powerful in the future. vGPU support is also nice so I don't have to juggle which VM gets which GPU.
Actually I lied, according to the Dell manual the full profile slots have a connector that provides PCIe power though I'd have to buy a cable for it. Long term the answer might be to get a used V100 and dive deep into the vGPU rabbit hole (erp).
I’ve been using a Quadro P600 for encoding without issue. It seems to be able to handle everything I throw at it, though I never do any crazy multi-streams. I got it for about $80.
Edit: I was too excited to reply. I have no idea if it’s good for driving a normal desktop VM. Sorry if this isn’t helpful!
Intel arc a380 would be a good option, especially if you’re interested in av1 encoding. I know asrock recently showed off a low profile a380, don’t know if it’s available yet tho
If you are debating on eventually doing a media server, Arc 380 is small form factor, no external power, crushes all encoding benchmarks, and only $150. Plenty of good used card options from a few generations back like some mid-tier gpus, but pretty future-proof as far as server performance if you have kernel 6.3+
Edit for anyone later: ARC sucks ass right now for gaming on linux as intel devs are 90% windows focused. Don’t take this advice for a desktop GPU
@JustEnoughDucks I am planning on getting an Intel Arc for my Jellyfin server at some point. Have an old Dell SFF with a 8700 that I think I'll eventually stuff into a 2U chassis. It's probably overkill for my VM server though, since the VMs really just need to not lag in desktop application work (aka IntelliJ) and play Youtube videos without obvious framing.
1030’s can be both low profile and passively cooled. They are cheap but their performance is quite low. I think it’s slower then modern integrated graphics. 1650’s are also available without external power.
On AMD’s side you can go for either a Radeon 460 or a Radeon Pro WX 5100. I think those 4 are your best options.
Edit: I think as someone else commented the RX 6400 might be the best option nowadays.
@Nilz Do you know if the WX 5100 supports SR-VIO? Getting mixed answers about what if any AMD GPUs support it, but having VMs share a single physical GPU would be a perfect solution.
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