# GPU passthrough — STAGED (Quadro 4000 -> VM 5111) — #606

Staged 2026-09-01 by crush via host ssh. Activates at the NEXT VM 5111
start (the human's pre-Friday roll). Nothing below touches the running
VM or other guests.

## What is staged

**On pfv-tsys5 (host):**

- `/etc/modprobe.d/vfio-quadro4000.conf`
  - `options vfio-pci ids=10de:06dd,10de:0be5` (GPU + HDMI audio)
  - `softdep nouveau/nvidia/snd_hda_intel pre: vfio-pci`
  - initramfs rebuilt for all kernels.
  - Result at next host boot: vfio-pci claims 03:00.0 + 03:00.1
    (IOMMU group 20, verified isolated).
- Runtime note: nouveau was unbound from 03:00.0 during staging
  (driverless until next boot — host console on that card is dark
  already; ssh/PVE web unaffected).

**On VM 5111 (pending config, live at next start):**

    hostpci0: 0000:03:00,pcie=1
    machine: q35        (was default pc/i440fx; virtio disks unaffected)

## What to expect after the roll

- Guest: `lspci -nnk -d 10de:06dd` → NVIDIA GF100GL, kernel 6.12 binds
  **nouveau** (Fermi-class). There is NO proprietary NVIDIA driver for
  Fermi on kernel 6.x — no CUDA, no NVENC. Usable for KMS display /
  capture (Sunshine KMS backend) and basic GL. Real GPU compute waits
  for the #601 hardware (new cards get their own staging pass).
- Host console: permanently headless once vfio owns the card (this box
  is ssh/PVE-web managed; console access = the pfv-tsys5 console infra).
- GPU-as-primary variant (drops std VGA): change hostpci0 to
  `0000:03:00,pcie=1,x-vga=1` — only if the guest should boot WITH the
  Quadro as its only display.

## Verify after the roll

    # host (ssh root@100.87.135.12)
    lspci -nnk -s 03:00 | grep "driver in use"   # -> vfio-pci (both fns)
    # guest
    lspci -nnk -d 10de:06dd                       # -> nouveau
    dmesg | grep -i vfio                          # assignment trace

## Revert (if the roll goes sideways)

    # host: stop claiming the card
    rm /etc/modprobe.d/vfio-quadro4000.conf && update-initramfs -u -k all
    # VM 5111: back to pre-staging machine + no passthrough
    qm set 5111 --delete hostpci0 --delete machine
    # then roll VM 5111 again; host reclaims the card at its next reboot

## Roll procedure

Same as any 5111 roll: stop crush sessions, `qm shutdown 5111`, wait,
`qm start 5111` (onboot order=10 also covers a host reboot).