Hi,
I would like to know if somebody measured performance between "kext" 6.1.x and "no kext" 7.0.x version of VirtualBox. I have seen some videos on YT showing W10 booting time. It was very similar for both versions 7.0 and 6.1.
Maybe month ago I upgraded to Ventura and tried 7.0.2 with W10 guest. I had a personal feeling that my W10 guest with same configuration in VB 7.0.2 was slower. When I worked for example inside Visual Studio, it was not as responsive as before (maybe two times slower)...
After a week I decided to downgrade my mac back to Monterey and installed VirtualBox 6.1.38. In my opinion guest performance came back and from that moment I am satisfied with my old configuration.
I know that time for upgrade to Ventura will come, but I am afraid to do it.
I did not do any regular performance tests. So I am curious if somebody did.
Did somebody compare guest performance with 6.1.x and 7.0.x ?
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mpack
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Re: Did somebody compare guest performance with 6.1.x and 7.0.x ?
To what end? Kexts are ruled out by Apple. The performance after that is what it is.riso wrote:I would like to know if somebody measured performance between "kext" 6.1.x and "no kext" 7.0.x version of VirtualBox.
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multiOS
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Re: Did somebody compare guest performance with 6.1.x and 7.0.x ?
@riso
It's not just the change from using to not using Kexts alone that can impact on performance. There's also the fact that, with the upgrade to Ventura, Virtualisation apps (including VirtualBox) can no longer directly access the hardware virtualisation capabilities of the Mac hardware, but now have to work through Apple's Hypervisor Platform, which will probably present a similar challenge for the developers to getting the best performance possible on a Windows computer with Hyper-V enabled. With Ventura, Mac users do not have the option of disabling Apple's Hypervisor Platform to make VT-x access directly available to other Hypervisors, so performance will be dependent on optimisation using the API Apple provides.
The desktop 'comparison' I've been able to do with a more recent MacBook Pro 2019 (Intel i7) with a VirtualBox 7.0.4 installation has shown no apparent deterioration in performance (with the software I want/need to use), unless I install the matching 7.0.4 Guest Additions which then appears to result in a general slowdown and/or stability problems. With the Guest Additions from 6.1.40 everything appears to return to normal. I have experienced a similar outcome when using an older MacBook Pro (2013 Intel i7) running Big Sur (the last MacOS Version officially supported by this model), but there do seem to be some additional glitches, e.g. I can enable TPM 2.0 emulation but am unable to enable Secure Boot for a Windows 11 VM). On both computers my Linux VMs seem to have presented less issues than Windows 10/11 VMs.
But to answer your question with greater certainty, not only would you need to hear from a Mac User with the same Mac hardware you are using, but also one using the same VM OS and running the same installed software.
It's not just the change from using to not using Kexts alone that can impact on performance. There's also the fact that, with the upgrade to Ventura, Virtualisation apps (including VirtualBox) can no longer directly access the hardware virtualisation capabilities of the Mac hardware, but now have to work through Apple's Hypervisor Platform, which will probably present a similar challenge for the developers to getting the best performance possible on a Windows computer with Hyper-V enabled. With Ventura, Mac users do not have the option of disabling Apple's Hypervisor Platform to make VT-x access directly available to other Hypervisors, so performance will be dependent on optimisation using the API Apple provides.
The desktop 'comparison' I've been able to do with a more recent MacBook Pro 2019 (Intel i7) with a VirtualBox 7.0.4 installation has shown no apparent deterioration in performance (with the software I want/need to use), unless I install the matching 7.0.4 Guest Additions which then appears to result in a general slowdown and/or stability problems. With the Guest Additions from 6.1.40 everything appears to return to normal. I have experienced a similar outcome when using an older MacBook Pro (2013 Intel i7) running Big Sur (the last MacOS Version officially supported by this model), but there do seem to be some additional glitches, e.g. I can enable TPM 2.0 emulation but am unable to enable Secure Boot for a Windows 11 VM). On both computers my Linux VMs seem to have presented less issues than Windows 10/11 VMs.
But to answer your question with greater certainty, not only would you need to hear from a Mac User with the same Mac hardware you are using, but also one using the same VM OS and running the same installed software.
Re: Did somebody compare guest performance with 6.1.x and 7.0.x ?
Thank for your posts.
Very good point with GA @multiOS. I did not try to use older one, because I thought that GA have to be paired with VB core version.
My hardware is MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), 2,4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB. VM has 13504MB base memory and 6 CPUs, Video memory 256MB, 3D is off.
Now I additionally remember that when I started virtual machine my CPU fans were louder in Ventura with 7.0.2 It was so disturbing to me. Now with Monterey and 6.1.40 my fans are quiet. I can hear them only when I recompile some big project or when I do some CPU intensive tasks inside VM.
So my resume is: I will hold on with Monterey and VB 6.x as long as possible.
Very good point with GA @multiOS. I did not try to use older one, because I thought that GA have to be paired with VB core version.
My hardware is MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), 2,4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB. VM has 13504MB base memory and 6 CPUs, Video memory 256MB, 3D is off.
Now I additionally remember that when I started virtual machine my CPU fans were louder in Ventura with 7.0.2 It was so disturbing to me. Now with Monterey and 6.1.40 my fans are quiet. I can hear them only when I recompile some big project or when I do some CPU intensive tasks inside VM.
So my resume is: I will hold on with Monterey and VB 6.x as long as possible.