GTX 1080 Benchmarks

I received dual GTX 1080s this morning and ran Fire Strike 1.1 to see how it performed. The results are in the link below:

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8643594

The GPU performed great in the benchmark and Overwatch is running at ~100fps. However, I was rather surprised with how poorly my CPU performed. I have an Intel 5820k with 6 cores assigned to each VM and no overclocking. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

<domain type='kvm' id='4'>
  <name>Win10_David</name>
  <uuid>7a2547f2-c271-1f62-b694-c14a8175acf4</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Windows 10" icon="windows.png" os="windows10"/>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit='KiB'>14680064</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>14680064</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
    <locked/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>6</vcpu>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='1'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='2'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='6'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='4' cpuset='7'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='5' cpuset='8'/>
  </cputune>
  <resource>
    <partition>/machine</partition>
  </resource>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.5'>hvm</type>
    <loader readonly='yes' type='pflash'>/usr/share/qemu/ovmf-x64/OVMF_CODE-pure-efi.fd</loader>
    <nvram>/etc/libvirt/qemu/nvram/7a2547f2-c271-1f62-b694-c14a8175acf4_VARS-pure-efi.fd</nvram>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <hyperv>
      <relaxed state='on'/>
      <vapic state='on'/>
      <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/>
      <vendor id='none'/>
    </hyperv>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough'>
    <topology sockets='1' cores='3' threads='2'/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset='localtime'>
    <timer name='hypervclock' present='yes'/>
    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/local/sbin/qemu</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>
      <source file='/mnt/user/vdisks/Win10_David/vdisk1.img'/>
      <backingStore/>
      <target dev='hdc' bus='virtio'/>
      <boot order='1'/>
      <alias name='virtio-disk2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x7'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='4'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'>
      <alias name='pci.0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
      <alias name='virtio-serial0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:df:d9:03'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <target dev='vnet1'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <alias name='net0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/2'/>
      <target port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/2'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/2'/>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </console>
    <channel type='unix'>
      <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/domain-Win10_David/org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0' state='disconnected'/>
      <alias name='channel0'/>
      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </channel>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x1'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x093a'/>
        <product id='0x2521'/>
        <address bus='3' device='20'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev2'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x2433'/>
        <product id='0xb200'/>
        <address bus='3' device='6'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev3'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x258a'/>
        <product id='0x0001'/>
        <address bus='3' device='19'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev4'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <address bus='3' device='8'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev5'/>
    </hostdev>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <alias name='balloon0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x08' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain>

[quote name="dmwilson1990" post="474563" timestamp="1464736799"]
I received dual GTX 1080s this morning and ran Fire Strike 1.1 to see how it performed. The results are in the link below:

[url=http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8643594]http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8643594[/url]

The GPU performed great in the benchmark and Overwatch is running at ~100fps. However, I was rather surprised with how poorly my CPU performed. I have an Intel 5820k with 6 cores assigned to each VM and no overclocking. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
...
[/quote]

For comparison to throw a data point into the ring: http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/8643594/fs/8638558

I'm currently running a single xeon e5-2670 @ 3Ghz with 7 cores and hyper threading passed through to my windows 10 vm (1 core+HT left to Unraid). My Physics score was ~50% higher which would suggest your cpu score is a bit low? Not sure how much one extra core of mine would make. Doubt it would be 50%.

So I've done some tweaking...

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/12264175?

I followed the guide below and "pinned" my CPU's to the two VM's which resulted in slightly better scores. However, overclocking to 4GHz made a bigger difference. My issue now is some games do not see the CPU properly (Heroes of the Storm and Bioshock Infinite so far) and disable physics. You can force Bioshock to offload physics to the GPU but in Heroes any options related to the CPU are in red and can not be enabled at all. Are the games angry at the vCPU or am I taking a huge performance hit still?

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=49051.0

Syslinux Configuration

default /syslinux/menu.c32
menu title Lime Technology, Inc.
prompt 0
timeout 50
label unRAID OS
  menu default
  kernel /bzimage
  append isolcpus=1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11 initrd=/bzroot
label unRAID OS GUI Mode
  kernel /bzimage
  append initrd=/bzroot,/bzroot-gui
label unRAID OS Safe Mode (no plugins, no GUI)
  kernel /bzimage
  append initrd=/bzroot unraidsafemode
label Memtest86+
  kernel /memtest

VM1 XML

<domain type='kvm' id='2'>
  <name>Win10_David</name>
  <uuid>7a2547f2-c271-1f62-b694-c14a8175acf4</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Windows 10" icon="windows.png" os="windows10"/>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit='KiB'>14680064</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>14680064</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
    <locked/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>6</vcpu>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='1'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='2'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='3'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='7'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='4' cpuset='8'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='5' cpuset='9'/>
    <emulatorpin cpuset='0,6'/>
  </cputune>
  <resource>
    <partition>/machine</partition>
  </resource>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.5'>hvm</type>
    <loader readonly='yes' type='pflash'>/usr/share/qemu/ovmf-x64/OVMF_CODE-pure-efi.fd</loader>
    <nvram>/etc/libvirt/qemu/nvram/7a2547f2-c271-1f62-b694-c14a8175acf4_VARS-pure-efi.fd</nvram>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <hyperv>
      <relaxed state='on'/>
      <vapic state='on'/>
      <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/>
      <vendor id='none'/>
    </hyperv>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough'>
    <topology sockets='1' cores='3' threads='2'/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset='localtime'>
    <timer name='hypervclock' present='yes'/>
    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/local/sbin/qemu</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>
      <source file='/mnt/user/vdisks/Win10_David/vdisk1.img'/>
      <backingStore/>
      <target dev='hdc' bus='virtio'/>
      <boot order='1'/>
      <alias name='virtio-disk2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x7'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='4'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'>
      <alias name='pci.0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
      <alias name='virtio-serial0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:df:d9:03'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <target dev='vnet0'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <alias name='net0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/1'/>
      <target port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/1'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/1'/>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </console>
    <channel type='unix'>
      <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/domain-Win10_David/org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0' state='disconnected'/>
      <alias name='channel0'/>
      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </channel>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x1'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x093a'/>
        <product id='0x2521'/>
        <address bus='3' device='7'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev2'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x2433'/>
        <product id='0xb200'/>
        <address bus='3' device='6'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev3'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x258a'/>
        <product id='0x0001'/>
        <address bus='3' device='9'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev4'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <address bus='3' device='8'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev5'/>
    </hostdev>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <alias name='balloon0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x08' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain>

VM2 XML

<domain type='kvm' id='6'>
  <name>Win10_Andy</name>
  <uuid>5845b0c1-8778-cd44-0744-75ae9fde3c6a</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Windows 10" icon="windows.png" os="windows10"/>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit='KiB'>14680064</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>14680064</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
    <locked/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>4</vcpu>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='4'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='5'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='10'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='11'/>
    <emulatorpin cpuset='0,6'/>
  </cputune>
  <resource>
    <partition>/machine</partition>
  </resource>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.5'>hvm</type>
    <loader readonly='yes' type='pflash'>/usr/share/qemu/ovmf-x64/OVMF_CODE-pure-efi.fd</loader>
    <nvram>/etc/libvirt/qemu/nvram/5845b0c1-8778-cd44-0744-75ae9fde3c6a_VARS-pure-efi.fd</nvram>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <hyperv>
      <relaxed state='on'/>
      <vapic state='on'/>
      <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/>
      <vendor id='none'/>
    </hyperv>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough'>
    <topology sockets='1' cores='2' threads='2'/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset='localtime'>
    <timer name='hypervclock' present='yes'/>
    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/local/sbin/qemu</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>
      <source file='/mnt/user/vdisks/Win10_Andy/vdisk1.img'/>
      <backingStore/>
      <target dev='hdc' bus='virtio'/>
      <boot order='1'/>
      <alias name='virtio-disk2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x7'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='4'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'>
      <alias name='pci.0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
      <alias name='virtio-serial0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:36:0f:8f'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <target dev='vnet1'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <alias name='net0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/2'/>
      <target port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/2'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/2'/>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </console>
    <channel type='unix'>
      <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/domain-Win10_Andy/org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0' state='disconnected'/>
      <alias name='channel0'/>
      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </channel>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x01' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x01' slot='0x00' function='0x1'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x1532'/>
        <product id='0x001c'/>
        <address bus='3' device='4'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev2'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x1532'/>
        <product id='0x0202'/>
        <address bus='3' device='10'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev3'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <address bus='3' device='3'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev4'/>
    </hostdev>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <alias name='balloon0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x08' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain>

with your cpu having 6 cores 12 threads i would do the following.

0,6    core1      unraid os prefers the first core for some reason

1,7    core2      use second core to pin the emulatorpin cpuset

2,8    core3      use last 4 cores for the vms

3,9    core4

4,10  core5

5,11  core6

isocpu 2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11

leaving 0,6,1,7 for unraid. I would use 1 core for the emulator pin thats not being used by any other process.

I know if you are running 2 vms at once they will only have 2 cores each but i think they may run better that way.

I dont know alot about games, but i have heard that some games will run only on quad core cpus, not dual core. The most cores you have pinned to your vms is three in vm 1 and two in vm 2. So if any of those games wants 4 cores neither vm has that amount so you would need to give vm1 4 cores (8 threads). Maybe im wrong but worth a try.

1,7    core2      use second core to pin the emulatorpin cpuset

 

...leaving 0,6,1,7 for unraid. I would use 1 core for the emulator pin thats not being used by any other process.

Hi GridRunner. For the benefit of myself and others not familiar with cpupinning, can you explain this part.

I thought you could basically just put unraid on core 0,6 (physical core 1) and then dedicate any remaining cores to virtual machines. What is the function of having a dedicated core and hyper thread for emulatorpin?

1,7    core2      use second core to pin the emulatorpin cpuset

 

...leaving 0,6,1,7 for unraid. I would use 1 core for the emulator pin thats not being used by any other process.

 

Hi GridRunner. For the benefit of myself and others not familiar with cpupinning, can you explain this part.

 

I thought you could basically just put unraid on core 0,6 (physical core 1) and then dedicate any remaining cores to virtual machines. What is the function of having a dedicated core and hyper thread for emulatorpin?

You might want to read this excellent post that explains it very well http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=49051.0

Basically keeping the emulator calls onto a separate core will give the VM the best performance it can. Especially if you are running two vms together.

Remember that if you only have physical core 1 for unraid, your dockers and emulatorpin then this isn't much resources. Remember if you isolated your remaining 5 cores then unraid or dockers(well dockers could use them but you have to pin them to the docker, else unraid will just use "its" core/cores) will not use them so you are putting alot of potential processes on one core.

Sent from my SGP612 using Tapatalk

So ideally I'd have my system configured as follows? I don't quite understand why you said I only have 2 cores attached to one and 3 cores attached to the other? How would your recommended configuration give each VM four cores? Also, I do not have any docker instances.

Limetech's physics benchmark is so much better than mine for hardware that should not be as good. Not quite sure why...

http://lime-technology.com/gaming-on-a-nas-you-better-believe-it/

Syslinux Configuration

label unRAID OS
  menu default
  kernel /bzimage
  append isolcpus=2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11 initrd=/bzroot

VM1 XML

<cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='2'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='3'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='8'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='9'/>
    <emulatorpin cpuset='1,7'/>
  </cputune>

VM2 XML

<cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='4'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='5'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='10'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='11'/>
    <emulatorpin cpuset='1,7'/>
  </cputune>

Dave,

One thing worth noting as a difference between my testing (and the scores in the blog) and yours is that I didn't have two VMs running at the same time.  The extra overhead associated with a second VM and context switching may be causing your physics scores to drop a bit.  If you run only ONE VM (leaving the other off), what scores do you get?

I've done quite a few tests now that I'm home from work and can't seem to make any real improvement.

It does not make a difference if one or both of the VMs are powered on. Below are some of the tests I've done using CPU-Z's benchmarking feature. It's also worth noting that CPU-Z see's my CPU as a Xenon E5 and not a 5820K.

4 Cores 2 Threads:  1679(single)  3886(multi)

4 Cores 1 Thread:    1690(s)     3863(m)

2 Core 2 Threads:    1623(s)     3914(m)

2 Core 2 Threads

(w/o emulator pin):  1650(s)     3858(m)

3 Cores 2 Threads:  1670(s)     5284(m)

3 Cores 2 Threads

(w/o isolcpus):        1646(s)     5284(m)

So that was weird...

I changed the processor type to QEMU64 and my physics score in Fire Strike jumped to almost 10,000. Why?

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8656019

CPU-Z and Fire Strike both detect that I'm using a Intel Pentium II processor.

So that was weird...

 

I changed the processor type to QEMU64 and my physics score in Fire Strike jumped to almost 10,000. Why?

 

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8656019

 

CPU-Z and Fire Strike both detect that I'm using a Intel Pentium II processor.

It may be that QEMU is lacking some optimizations for your actual processor.  That's the only wildcard in this because we don't have the exact same CPU as you.