Fusion and Computer Hardware

[VaRanger]

Could someone discuss if Fusion recognizes and uses the specific hardware in the mac computer?  The reason for the question is that I have an Imac Pro with a fast SSD, fast processor, fast ram, fast graphics card, etc., yet running Windows 7 in Fusion is simply slow.  It seems like the software is not taking advantage of the capabilities of the system's hardware.  Is there some settings that maybe I am missing?

Some help understanding how Fusion works in this regards would be appreciated, or maybe a pointer to a document that discusses this.

(My operating system is Catalina 10.15.2 and Fusion 11.5.0)

Thanks

[Mikero]

Hi there,

Fusion does a few things in this regard.

Firstly, we pass CPU instructions from the VM to the physical CPU, sort of bypassing the host OS in the process (they're 'scheduled' independently).

So for CPU, we're using the 'real' CPU, according to however many cores you have assigned. You get the full throttle of each assigned core, assuming the CPU isn't being throttled for some external reason.

Similarly, with RAM we allocate however much your VM is asking for when it boots, and that memory is isolated from other processes on the host OS.

I.e. Your VM gets real RAM, not some virtual ram layer.

For graphics we present a 'virtual' graphics card to Windows that is NOT the one from the Host Mac.

Host Mac = AMD Radeon Pro Vega II

Guest VM = VMware SVGA II

So we have code that translates guest graphics calls to the host graphics adapter, and that code lives in the virtual device and the graphics drivers in Windows.

There's a performance hit there, but on an iMac Pro with a Windows 7 guest it should be STUPID fast. I am typing on one right now at the office, and I have one at home as well.

Slowness can manifest in a few ways. Disk, Memory, Graphics and CPU are the driving forces.

There is always a balance between taking what the guest needs vs. leaving enough for the host to use.

That being said, how would you describe the slowness? ("it's slow", while accurate, isn't descriptive enough to know which of those above mentioned resources are bottlenecking)

What resources is the VM configured with?

What view mode are you using? (Single Window, Full Screen, or Unity?)

Also, did you to install VMware Tools?

[Leksyc]

Sad that the display driver locked at 60 Hz. System feels super slow. 

[Technogeezer]

If you're experiencing "super slow", you might want to start a new topic and provide details on both your hardware, macOS version, Fusion version and virtual machine configurations and what. exactly is "slow". 

Limiting the monitor to 60Hz refresh rate is in most cases not a cause in and of itself for "super slow". 

[Puero]

I mean exactly the limited refresh rate as "super slow" feeling's cause. It is just 0.5x slower in mouse & keyboard input response on a screen, compared to 120Hz.

[Technogeezer]

You wouldn't happen to be running games, would you?

[ColoradoMarmot]

There are other things that can cause this:

What's the host hardware and OS?  Is it a supported stack (e.g. not opencore)?

What's the guest RAM and CPU configuration?

Running in full screen or windowed mode, at what resolution?

[Puero]

No, I am not about games.

Scrolling, windows movements, UI animations etc.