From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Randy Broman Subject: KVM performance Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:35:59 -0800 Message-ID: <491DC50F.6080202@bayarea.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: kvm@vger.kernel.org Return-path: Received: from shell4.BAYAREA.NET ([209.128.82.1]:58850 "EHLO shell4.bayarea.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753988AbYKNSml (ORCPT ); Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:42:41 -0500 Sender: kvm-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: I am using Intel Core2 Duo E6600, Kubuntu 8.04 with kernel 2.6.24-21-generic, kvm (as in "QEMU PC emulator version 0.9.1 (kvm-62)") and a WinXP SP3 guest, with bridged networking. My start command is: sudo kvm -m 1024 -cdrom /dev/cdrom -boot c -net nic,macaddr=00:d0:13:b0:2d:32, model=rtl8139 -net tap -soundhw all -localtime /home/rbroman/windows.img All this is stable and generally works well, except that internet-based video and audio performance is poor (choppy, skips) in comparison with performance under WinXP running native on the same machine (it's a dual-boot). I would appreciate recommendations to improve video and audio performance, and have the following specific questions: -I've tried both the default Cirrus adapter and the "-std-vga" option. Which is better? I saw reference to another VMware-based adapter, but I can't figure out how to implement it - would that be better? -I notice we're up to kvm-79 vs my kvm-62. Should I move to the newer version? Do I have to custom-compile my kernel to do so, and if so what kernel version and what specific kernel options should I use? -Are there other tuning steps I could take? Please copy me directly as I'm not on this list. Thankyou