GPU Virtualization & Partitioning

Passthrough GPU vs. virtualized GPU

Passthrough gives a single VM or container direct, exclusive access to a physical GPU, while a virtualized GPU is shared across multiple tenants through a hypervisor or partitioning layer.

Passthrough offers near-native performance with zero sharing, which is simple but wastes capacity for lightweight workloads. That tradeoff is exactly what virtualization exists to solve.

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