Create a Gaming HVM

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I just got an HVM to display GNOME on my external GPU :+1:

I did that (I’ll try again from a cleaner environment to get a more reproducible guide)

  • hide the pci devices (there is no IOMMU on the external GPU, except with the AMD card but it’s super clear to see the AMD VGA and AMD audio are part of the same group)
  • pass the devices to an HVM
  • use the qube provided kernel
  • use X :1 -configure to generate an xorg.conf file, then remove all extra in it to just keep the screen/monitor/device related to the VGA card itself was good enough, check you are using nvidia for NVIDIA cards and amdgpu for AMD cards
  • move that file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-xorg.conf, and start your display manager, e.g. systemctl start gdm.service

Tested on OpenSUSE tumbleweed with an AMD RX 480 and NVIDIA 1060 :ok_hand:
Tested on OpenSUSE tumbleweed with an NVIDIA 1060 but in discrete mode (display in dom0 but uses the GPU) :ok_hand:

Tested on Debian 12 using the template with an NVIDIA 1060 :ok_hand:

I used a Razer Core X external GPU case connected in thunderbolt 3 on a Lenovo T470, unfortunately it’s almost useless in this case because the CPU is way too slow to do anything meaningful with a GPU in Qubes OS :smiley:

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