Modders figure out way to enable virtualization on NVIDIA GeForce GPUs

Posted on Monday, April 12 2021 @ 10:31 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
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Two weeks ago NVIDIA added beta support for GPU passthrough virtualization. The GeForce 465.89 WHQL driver allows Linux users to launch a Windows virtual machine and play video games, or to run test code in both Windows and Linux on a single system. This is just a limited version of the more extended virtualization support that NVIDIA offers to clients of its Quadro and datacenter GPUs. The passthrough support allows only a single virtual machine to use the GeForce GPU.

Modders hack virtualization on GeForce

But now modders have figured out a way to enable full virtualization support on GeForce cards for the first time. This primarily means hobbyists no longer need to pay extra for more expensive NVIDIA cards if they want to toy with virtualization -- most companies will still want the Quadro or datacenter cards because these come with certified drivers and better support. Tom's Hardware reports a relatively simple device ID based hack allows multiple virtual machines to share the same GPU.
The code for the vGPU unlocker is available at Github, and the principle behind it is fairly simple: it replaces the device id of a graphics card with a device id of an officially supported GPU that has the same feature set. For now, GP102, GP104, TU102, TU104, and GA102 GPUs are supported, and the capability works on Linux and with KVM virtual machine software.

New Age of Empires 4 preview

I don't want to make a separate post for it but there's new Age of Empires 4 material! Age of Empires is one of my favorites from my childhood. A new installment is finally coming out later this year and it's looking very good. There's a virtual village where you can check out all the individual content as well as a longer video that stitches it all together. Microsoft will release Age of Empires 4 in Fall 2021.



About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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