Nvidia finally switches on GeForce GPU Passthrough | TechRadar If you have a Nvidia GPU, you'll now be able to use GeForce GPU Passthrough when running virtual machines on Windows.
While the feature has been used for a while now, the company didn't officially support the technology in the past but this has changed with the announcement that GeForce GPU Passthrough for Windows Virtual Machine is now in beta. GeForce desktop graphics cards that are based on the Kepler, Maxwell or Pascal architectures or newer will be able to take advantage of GPU passthrough when running a virtual machine on Windows. Users that want to leverage GPU passthrough on a laptop though will need a GPU based on the Maxwell architecture or newer.
By using GPU passthrough, developers can use virtual machines to test software and even games on different operating systems while only using one machine. Linux users on the other hand will be able to play Windows-based games using a virtual machine with GPU passthrough enabled. In order to start using GeForce GPU Passthrough on your system, you'll need to ensure that you have the R465 driver installed.
While GPU passthrough could be a godsend for developers that want to test code in both Windows and Linux on one machine, there are some limitations.
For instance, Nvidia's GeForce GPU Passthrough technology only allows for one virtual machine to access the host machine's GPU. If you need to run multiple virtual machines using a single GPU, the company's GeForce graphics cards won't suffice. Instead you'll need to upgrade to either a Tesla or Quadro graphics card.
Now that Nvidia officially supports GPU passthrough, we'll likely see further enhancements and features that leverage the technology in the future.
A very positive accomplishment for anyone using Virtual Machines.