Is it possible (either via the GUI or my editing the VMX file) to limit a quest's CPU usage, like one can in VirtualBox?
There are some programs that make that make the temps skyrocket (like NTlite) because they are cpu bound.
That way vmware-vmx doesn't use 80+ percent of the CPU if one doesn't want it to.
Is there a way to do this in VMware products (Fusion/Workstation)?
It can be done in ESXi (part of vSphere) but not in the desktop products like Fusion / Workstation.
Found a partial fix. Just add:
sched.cpu.min = "0"
sched.cpu.max = "x"
to the vmx file, where x is the maximum percentage of CPU you want used by the VM (0-100, 100 being default)
It won't cause the CPU usage to decrease from 100%, but it will make your fans more stable, and the host more responsive.
sched.cpu.max is the equivalent of what ESXi calls a “limit”, with the .min parameter being a “reservation” - although they’re set as MHz in the ESXi UIs.
Setting a max won’t stop your guest from requesting more CPU than you’re allowing, and therefore can restrict it’s performance.