Does virtualization consume an entire CPU "core"?

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
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I'm wondering if by leaving a virtual machine running all the time, I am monopolizing one of my cores and thus losing its functionality for anything else I do. Does this actually happen?

Say, for example, I have a virtual machine using 10% of the "core" I have assigned to it. Will I be able to use that remaining 90% for other applications on the host machine?

TIA
 

Crusty

Lifer
Sep 30, 2001
12,684
2
81
Absolutely, whatever process is executing the virtual machine will still be subjected to the process scheduler in windows.
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
0
0
VMs are essentially no different than normal processes to the host, so yes you still get normal usage of that core. CPU usage is sort of a misnomer anyway because only 1 process can execute on a core at once, but the OS switches tasks so many times a second (I can't remember what the default quanta in Windows is right now) that it looks like more than one process is running at once and that percentage is really just a running average of usage over a fraction of a second.
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
Thanks very much for the info guys. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Windows 7 runs quite nicely in Virtualbox under Ubuntu.