VMware Virtualization With OpenGL Still Smacks Oracle VirtualBox

[Michael]

i agree, we need some native performance as well for comparison

As said in the article, it's coming in a later article.

did vmware lift their 'thou shall not publish benchmarks' law?

Nope :P But they seem fine with me running VMware benchmarks; they already tweeted the article from their account plus contacted me to say they liked the article and to work on testing something new.

[liam]

Phoronix: VMware Virtualization With OpenGL Still Smacks Oracle VirtualBox

Earlier this year I said VMware's virtual GPU driver was running fast for Linux -- in comparison to Oracle's VM VirtualBox 3D guest acceleration support. This continues to be the case with VMware's OpenGL stack leading the way with superior support and performance. Recently I ran some desktop virtualization tests under VMware Fusion 4.1.3 and Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.1.18 from the Retina MacBook Pro with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion host. Even with the OS X host, VMware's 3D support exposed to the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS virtualized guest was much faster.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=17720

Michael,

Any chance you could throw in kvm and xen passthrough for comparison? I've seen kvm numbers for Lost Planet compared to bare metal and kvm performed upwards of 90%. I'd expect xen to perform similarly. I've no idea how vmwf compares.

[srg_13]

Since when is playing stupid games a reason for using a virtual machine??!?!?
Virtual machines only have rudimentary GL support for the purpose of supporting composited desktops and other light loads. NOT GAMES.

Wrong. I need decent OpenGL acceleration to use CAD applications in virtual machines for work. VirtualBox isn't sufficient for this unfortunately but VMWare is.

[ArchLinux]

When it comes to the different virtualization choices for Linux desktop use, VMware continues to be my best recommendation. While it's not free [...]

Wrong: http://www.vmware.com/products/player/overview.html

It's not free for Mac but it _is_ for Linux.

[alcalde]

Since when is playing stupid games a reason for using a virtual machine??!?!?
Virtual machines only have rudimentary GL support for the purpose of supporting composited desktops and other light loads. NOT GAMES.

I play The Sims 1 in Virtualbox. :-) Playing "stupid games" would be a huge boon for VM software.

Am I correct in understanding two things:

1) VMWare has OpenGL acceleration of a Linux guest, but can't accelerate Direct3D in a Windows guest?

2) This "Xen passthrough" stuff I keep hearing about could only be used with a second graphics card for accelerating graphics?

[liam]

If xen passthrough works like kvm then you should be able to share a single card.

[KameZero]

I play The Sims 1 in Virtualbox. :-) Playing "stupid games" would be a huge boon for VM software.

Am I correct in understanding two things:

1) VMWare has OpenGL acceleration of a Linux guest, but can't accelerate Direct3D in a Windows guest?

2) This "Xen passthrough" stuff I keep hearing about could only be used with a second graphics card for accelerating graphics?

1) No, VMWare can do directx in windows guests

2)Not exactly, you can do it with one card but basically only one OS at a time will be able to actually use the card for 3d