MacPro & GPU virtualization

[Mark]

Does anybody know what is the status of GPU Virtualization in new Mac Pro systems (Penryn+PCI E2.0) under
Parallels or VM Ware? Is it still emulated?

From what I understand, Penryn processors used with PCI Express boards suppose to allow for full hardware virtualization. (almost native speed for 3D Windows graphics in Virtual Machines).


Mark

[linathael]

Does anybody know what is the status of GPU Virtualization in new Mac Pro systems (Penryn+PCI E2.0) under
Parallels or VM Ware? Is it still emulated?

From what I understand, Penryn processors used with PCI Express boards suppose to allow for full hardware virtualization. (almost native speed for 3D Windows graphics in Virtual Machines).


Mark

I can not answer right now, however I think that Parallels and VMWare will have to be updated to take advantage of such hardware changes, if they really allow almost native performance.

[cheerful]

Does anybody know what is the status of GPU Virtualization in new Mac Pro systems (Penryn+PCI E2.0) under
Parallels or VM Ware? Is it still emulated? (nb: it apparently isn't emulated as long as you are running the supported versions of Fusion or Parallels, read below for details)

From what I understand, Penryn processors used with PCI Express boards suppose to allow for full hardware virtualization. (almost native speed for 3D Windows graphics in Virtual Machines).


Mark

i'm not certain about "Penryn+PCI E2.0" but this is what's listed on VM Fusion's page --- VMware Fusion offers experimental support for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics in Windows XP virtual machines, making it possible to run DirectX 9.0 applications and play select 3D games on your Mac.

from what i recall, native or close to native 3d acceleration was promised quite sometime back (even before the latest Penryn adoption by Apple).

as for Parallels, this is what i found with our trusted search engine, Google. the quick word from Parallel's site is that with version 3.0 ... Read here, direct from the horses mouth.

Sidetrack a little to the CPU instead of just the GPU ...
i quote from Arstechnica --- Penryn boosts virtualization ... performance of its virtual machine (VM) exit and VM entry instructions has been boosted so that VM transition times decrease by an average of 25 to 75 percent. (nb: Read more by clicking the Arstechnica's link above)

[Mark]

Here is a quote from more then one year ago:

" January 20, 2007

How PCI Express 2.0 Impacts Virtualization

Recently, the member organizations of the PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) ratified the new PCI Express 2.0 standard specifications. The new standard introduces a dramatic speed increase with the interconnection rate on the bus doubling from the current 2.5GT/s to 5GT/s.
In addition to pure speed, the new standard also introduces a feature called input/output virtualization. The new feature will be key in allowing virtual machines to communicate directly with the physical components located on the PCI Express 2.0 bus.
Doing so could mean that the guest operating system would then be able to finally recognize and communicate with the 3D processor on the physical graphics card. Finally, virtual machines would be able to run 3D applications, demanding front ends such as Vista's Aero, and yes, even the important things like 3D gaming."

[cheerful]

Since we're on the topic of Virtualization, here's something I saw on AppleTell ...
Link

In short running Mac OS 1.x - 7.x on your Intel mac.