AMD Ryzen - Virtual Machines

[RhinomanWC]

Hi, I have a question regarding what AMD Ryzen performance is like using Virtual Machines while also doing other tasks. I'm specifically looking at 6 and 8 core processors. I currently have an AMD 8350 with 8GB of RAM and on a quiet work day can play a game like Star Wars Battlefront 2 while running a single virtual machine and also having Chrome open with several tabs for work. The game will have some slight stuttering at times but otherwise runs well (GPU is an RX580 8GB). I allocate 2 cores and 4GB of RAM to the virtual machine using Virtualbox. I plan on upgrading in the next few months but with the huge price gap between a 5600x and a 5800x I'm unsure if a 5600x is going to be sufficient. I am aware it is much more powerful than my 8350, but if you have experience with a similar workload to what I mentioned I would really appreciate your feedback. I've checked reviews and forums online but nobody really measures this kind of workload. I've seen some benchmarks measuring virtual machine performance, but no details were provided for the tests and the tests were not done while a game was running. Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

Hi, I have a question regarding what AMD Ryzen performance is like using Virtual Machines while also doing other tasks. I'm specifically looking at 6 and 8 core processors. I currently have an AMD 8350 with 8GB of RAM and on a quiet work day can play a game like Star Wars Battlefront 2 while running a single virtual machine and also having Chrome open with several tabs for work. The game will have some slight stuttering at times but otherwise runs well (GPU is an RX580 8GB). I allocate 2 cores and 4GB of RAM to the virtual machine using Virtualbox. I plan on upgrading in the next few months but with the huge price gap between a 5600x and a 5800x I'm unsure if a 5600x is going to be sufficient. I am aware it is much more powerful than my 8350, but if you have experience with a similar workload to what I mentioned I would really appreciate your feedback. I've checked reviews and forums online but nobody really measures this kind of workload. I've seen some benchmarks measuring virtual machine performance, but no details were provided for the tests and the tests were not done while a game was running. Thanks in advance for your replies.

I'll check for you.
Does this VM do anything specific while you are gaming?

Reply to this message on Sunday to remind me.

 

[Sinbad]

You need more ram Imho

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

You need more ram Imho

Seconding this. I think windows sucks up like 4GB for itself. Then you've got 4GB going to the VM, leaving nothing for the game.. Double your RAM before buying a CPU.

 

[RhinomanWC]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I agree that I need more RAM. Do you guys think that a 5600x / 3600x / 3600 with 32GB of RAM would have enough cores to run all these tasks at once, or would I have to step up to 8 cores? Pity the price difference between a 5600x and 5800x is so huge.

 

[RhinomanWC]

I'll check for you.
Does this VM do anything specific while you are gaming?

Reply to this message on Sunday to remind me.

I run light applications, one is an XML Generator and the other is a work related website in Chrome. I also run OneDrive to download certain files on occasion within the Virtual Machine. Most of the time the VM sits idle but needs to be open so that I can run uploads or tasks in the XML Generator. Sorry about replying early, I'm unavailable this Sunday.

 

[Sinbad]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I agree that I need more RAM. Do you guys think that a 5600x / 3600x / 3600 with 32GB of RAM would have enough cores to run all these tasks at once, or would I have to step up to 8 cores? Pity the price difference between a 5600x and 5800x is so huge.

Should be enough cores.

 

[longboy]

I would buy another machine to use for gaming and your porn downloads.

 

[HavocXphere]

8350 is a different socket so you need a new mobo...and mem too. At which point you're almost at a headless server for the VM stuff anyway...

All that VM stuff sounds super light though so will be fine regardless of what you pick frankly

 

[shooter_za]

I got a 1700 with 16GB of CL14 3200MHZ RAM and whether the VM (Ubuntu allocated 4 cores, 8GB) is doing stuff vs not, I can't tell the difference. Current games don't use that many cores. RAM might become an issue one of these days, but I've never run out. GFX cards on the other hand with current pricing...

 

[Mystic Twilight]

You should decrease your core count for the vm for such light loads, you take a performance penalty for the cpu scheduler when using more than one core on the vm.

 

[RhinomanWC]

You should decrease your core count for the vm for such light loads, you take a performance penalty for the cpu scheduler when using more than one core on the vm.

Good point, thanks for pointing it out. I added a second core and extra ram initially to make the virtual machine smoother to work on. I've reduced both and there isn't much of a difference in how smooth the VM runs now. Thanks again for pointing this out.

 

[RhinomanWC]

Just as an update, I added in another 8GB of RAM and have 16GB's now. The host machine and games in general are running noticeably smoother, and when the Virtual Machines are running I don't feel any impact on the host. With processor and other component prices being so high at the moment I'm going to stick with what I have until prices come back down to earth. Thanks everyone for your assistance.