iGPU Split Passthrough (Intel Integrated Graphics)¶
Introduction¶
Intel Integrated Graphics (iGPU) is a GPU that is integrated into the CPU. The GPU is a part of the CPU and is used to render graphics. Proxmox may be configured to use iGPU split passthrough to VM to allow the VM to use the iGPU for hardware acceleration for example using video encoding/decoding and Transcoding for series like Plex and Emby. This guide will show you how to configure Proxmox to use iGPU passthrough to VM.
Your mileage may vary depending on your hardware. The following guide was tested with Intel Gen8 CPU.
Supported CPUs
iGPU GVT-g Split Passthrough is supported only on Intel's 5th generation to 10th generation CPUs!
Known supported CPU families:
-
Broadwell
-
Skylake
-
Kaby Lake
-
Coffee Lake
-
Comet Lake
There are two ways to use iGPU passthrough to VM. The first way is to use the Full iGPU Passthrough to VM. The second way is to use the iGPU GVT-g technology which allows as to split the iGPU into two parts. We will be covering the Split iGPU Passthrough. If you want to use the split Full iGPU Passthrough you can find the guide here.
Proxmox Configuration for GVT-g Split Passthrough¶
The following examples uses SSH connection to the Proxmox server. The editor is nano but feel free to use any other editor. We will be editing the grub configuration file.
Edit the grub configuration file.
nano /etc/default/grub
Find the line that starts with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT by default they should look like this:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
We want to allow passthrough and Blacklists known graphics drivers to prevent proxmox from utilizing the iGPU.
Your GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT should look like this:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on i915.enable_gvt=1 iommu=pt pcie_acs_override=downstream,multifunction video=efifb:off video=vesa:off vfio_iommu_type1.allow_unsafe_interrupts=1 kvm.ignore_msrs=1 modprobe.blacklist=radeon,nouveau,nvidia,nvidiafb,nvidia-gpu"
Note
This will blacklist most of the graphics drivers from proxmox. If you have a specific driver you need to use for Proxmox Host you need to remove it from modprobe.blacklist
Save and exit the editor.
Update the grub configuration to apply the changes the next time the system boots.
update-grub
Next we need to add vfio modules to allow PCI passthrough.
Edit the /etc/modules file.
nano /etc/modules
Add the following line to the end of the file:
# Modules required for PCI passthrough
vfio
vfio_iommu_type1
vfio_pci
vfio_virqfd
# Modules required for Intel GVT-g Split
kvmgt
Save and exit the editor.
Update configuration changes made in your /etc filesystem
update-initramfs -u -k all
Reboot Proxmox to apply the changes
Verify that IOMMU is enabled
dmesg | grep -e DMAR -e IOMMU
There should be a line that looks like DMAR: IOMMU enabled. If there is no output, something is wrong.
[0.000000] Warning: PCIe ACS overrides enabled; This may allow non-IOMMU protected peer-to-peer DMA
[0.067203] DMAR: IOMMU enabled
[2.573920] pci 0000:00:00.2: AMD-Vi: IOMMU performance counters supported
[2.580393] pci 0000:00:00.2: AMD-Vi: Found IOMMU cap 0x40
[2.581776] perf/amd_iommu: Detected AMD IOMMU #0 (2 banks, 4 counters/bank).
Windows Virtual Machine iGPU Passthrough Configuration¶
For better results its recommend to use this Windwos 10/11 Virutal Machine configuration for proxmox.
Find the PCI address of the iGPU.
lspci -nnv | grep VGA
This should result in output similar to this:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation CometLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] [8086:3e92] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
If you have multiple VGA, look for the one that has the Intel in the name.
Here, the PCI address of the iGPU is 00:02.0.
For best performance the VM should be configured the Machine type to q35.
This will allow the VM to utilize PCI-Express passthrough.
Open the web gui and navigate to the Hardware tab of the VM you want to add a vGPU.
Click Add above the device list and then choose PCI Device
Open the Device dropdown and select the iGPU, which you can find using it’s PCI address. This list uses a different format for the PCI addresses id, 00:02.0 is listed as 0000:00:02.0.
Click Mdev Type, You should be presented with a list of the available split passthrough devices choose the better performing one for the vm.
Select ROM-Bar, PCI-Express and then click Add.
The Windows Virtual Machine Proxmox Setting should look like this:
Power on the Windows Virtual Machine.
Open the VM's Console. Install the latest version of Intel's Graphics Driver or use the Intel Driver & Support Assistant installer.
If all when well you should see the following output in Device Manager and GPU-Z:
That's it! You should now be able to use the iGPU for hardware acceleration inside the VM and still have proxmox's output on the screen.
Linux Virtual Machine iGPU Passthrough Configuration¶
We will be using Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS for this guide.
From Proxmox Terminal find the PCI address of the iGPU.
lspci -nnv | grep VGA
This should result in output similar to this:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation CometLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] [8086:3e92] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
If you have multiple VGA, look for the one that has the Intel in the name.
Here, the PCI address of the iGPU is 00:02.0.
VM should be configured the Machine type to i440fx.
Open the web gui and navigate to the Hardware tab of the VM you want to add a vGPU to.
Click Add above the device list and then choose PCI Device
Open the Device dropdown and select the iGPU, which you can find using it’s PCI address. This list uses a different format for the PCI addresses id, 00:02.0 is listed as 0000:00:02.0.
Click Mdev Type, You should be presented with a list of the available split passthrough devices choose the better performing one for the vm.
Select ROM-Bar, and then click Add.
The Ubuntu Virtual Machine Proxmox Setting should look like this:
Boot the VM. To test the iGPU passthrough was successful, you can use the following command:
sudo lspci -nnv | grep VGA
The output should incliude the Intel iGPU:
00:10.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 630 (Desktop) [8086:3e92] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Now we need to check if the GPU's Driver initalization is working.
cd /dev/dri && ls -la
The output should incliude the renderD128
That's it! You should now be able to use the iGPU for hardware acceleration inside the VM and still have proxmox's output on the screen.
Debug¶
Dbug Messages - Shows Hardware initialization and errors
dmesg -w
Display PCI devices information
lspci
Display Driver in use for PCI devices
lspci -k
Display IOMMU Groups the PCI devices are assigned to
#!/bin/bash
shopt -s nullglob
for g in $(find /sys/kernel/iommu_groups/* -maxdepth 0 -type d | sort -V); do
echo "IOMMU Group ${g##*/}:"
for d in $g/devices/*; do
echo -e "\t$(lspci -nns ${d##*/})"
done;
done;