Virtualized Windows Gaming with Vt-d

[seven_lions]

Hi Everyone, I'm finally coming back to OSX86. I've endured Windows 7's bugs and shortcomings for too long and I beleive OSX is the way forward for me. But I still want to enjoy my windows games at near native performance without having to dual boot. So I'm rebuilding my rig with this new spec:

 

i5 3570 3.4Ghz (Not the K version, so Vt-d is available)

 

Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H (I checked is fully working with 10.8.2)

 

12gb RAM

 

Vertex 4 120gb for OSX install, HDDs for VMs.

 

So I gather the Intel HD 4000 should be working well enough for the standard OSX experience, I won't need it for anything too graphics intensive.

 

I've just been looking at graphics cards for PC gaming and want to get the Radeon HD 7770. I know that card isn't currently supported in Mountain Lion but that shouldn't be a problem for Vt-d. I could go for the 6870 with higher power requirements and compatibility with OSX if needed, but it wouldn't be ideal. A side question - how likely is it looking that the 7770 will be supported in the future? I've read some conflicting past speculation.

 

I plan on trying both Parallels and Vmware for my Windows 7 VMs. Does anyone here have experience in assigning a graphics card to a VM for near native 3D gaming? I read on TomsHardware someone got this working very well on Linux (I will link if you'd like to see). If I'm not mistaken it doesn't matter whether the graphics card is compatible with the host OS or not, the Vt-d will assign the IO direct to the VM. Am I also correct in assuming no monitor needs to be attached to the graphics card directly?

 

Thanks for your expert advice! I can't wait to get started.

 

Alex