can you dynamically assign cores with fusion

[mdh95070]

I am thinking about buying Fusion (or vmware) for a 2011 macbook pro. Do i have to statically assign cores to fusion and mac os? Or can it be done dynamically? I understand you don't need to do a static disk partition for storage... wondering if you can do the same for the cpu cores. that way, it is demand driven. I have a two core system.
thanks in advance

 

[balamw]

I have a two core system.

In which case you should never want to allocate both to the VM. (Your host OS and VMWare needs one too.)

VMWare lets you change the number of cores when the VM isn't actually running, if that is dynamic enough for you. And it does let you allocate more virtual cores than you have physical ones, but performance will degrade under those conditions. Unless the load on those Virtual CPUs is quite low.

B

 

[mdh95070]

In which case you should never want to allocate both to the VM. (Your host OS and VMWare needs one too.)

VMWare lets you change the number of cores when the VM isn't actually running, if that is dynamic enough for you. And it does let you allocate more virtual cores than you have physical ones, but performance will degrade under those conditions. Unless the load on those Virtual CPUs is quite low.

B

thank you so much for responding. Can i have both the Mac OS and Windows use both cores at the same time? This allows threads to be spread based on demand, etc.

 

[Panch0]

I know it seems counter intuitive, but your VM will likely perform better if you just give it a single virtual core. It makes it easier for VMWare to schedule resources. At least that's my experience, YMMV.

I have a Win7 32bit VM running in Fusion on my 2008 MBP. I have a 2.8GHz C2D, 4GB Ram and (importantly) an SSD. I have provisioned my VM with 1 core and 1GB RAM. I have found this configuration adequate, although I do see some slowdowns on occasion - usually when the virus scanner kicks off...

I try to use my VM for as little as possible, and usually I am just running a couple IE windows, but I have had the following load running at the same time occasionally:
Visual Studio 2010
Visual Studio 2008
MS Visio
IE8
SQL Server Management Studio
SQL Server Express

I wouldn't bother trying to game on this VM, but the above set of apps run OK.