Hardware spec to run Qubes-whonix

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by hdwydgw534, Jan 6, 2019.

  1. guest

    guest Guest

    Hi,

    For those running Qubes (with or without whonix) , what are your hardware spec to run it comfortably (means without visible slowdown, etc...) with let say 5-6 active domains?

    Thx.
     
  2. NiteRanger

    NiteRanger Registered Member

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  3. __Nikopol

    __Nikopol Registered Member

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    Damn it! No first gen i3 support in Qubes :(
     
  4. guest

    guest Guest

  5. Balthazar

    Balthazar Registered Member

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    Hello,
    the CPU should be enough performance wise (I didn't check the compatibility with Qubes-4).
    I am using an old T420 thinkpad with an SSD and 16GB of RAM. I am completely satisfied especially with the noise emission. It is silent most of the time. I used a W510 before and that sounded like a steamboat. That's not compatible with Qubes 4 anymore.

    I guess it could work with 6GB of RAM if you don't use many different apps at the same time and maybe adjust memory usage manually. Just search the list for memory, RAM and similar topics like this:
    https://groups.google.com/forum/#!s...ort:date/qubes-users/y6zQb8thTKk/dYkLcFuYCAAJ

    I usually use about 6 apps at the same time (not including sys-net and sys-firewall). I tried to use as little RAM as possible with Qubes 3.2 and the Mirage Firewall but I don't know if it's working with Qubes 4. I guess not.
    The allotted memory amounts to about 11 GB but that is flexible with Qubes and like I said not all is needed.

    I don't know how much memory you can use. A lot of the older Thinkpads max out at 16GB which is more than enough in my experience.
    Depending on how serious you are on using Qubes as an everyday system I would make myself familiar with the OS and try if you can live with 6GB of RAM.
     
  6. guest

    guest Guest

    @Balthazar thank you, i guess I will throw the live version first.
     
  7. shmu26

    shmu26 Registered Member

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    Let us know.
     
  8. BoerenkoolMetWorst

    BoerenkoolMetWorst Registered Member

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    I have a 2nd gen i5 dual core with a SATA SSD and RAM upgraded to 16GB, and it runs well. More powerfull CPU would be nice, but it is sufficient. 6GB is on the low side, not sure if that would work, but on the other hand with my 16GB, I can run 14 active domains comfortably(incl ServiceVM's like sys-net, but also including 2 heavy Windows VM's.) So 6GB might be enough for you. Memory is assigned to VM's dynamically, and will change depending on the number of running domains and free memory. Even if little memory is free, you can still start multiple domains because of the dynamic assigning.

    Note that the Live version is outdated and still Alpha, so it's not representable for a normal install.
     
  9. guest

    guest Guest

    Thanks, I would probably have 2-3 domains open at max, and surely one windows VM (for MS Office).
    I plan to use Whonix on it but no idea if it is heavy or not.
     
  10. shmu26

    shmu26 Registered Member

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    May the Windows VM use a bridged network connection?
     
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