HP OMEN 30L (8703 motherboard) — GPU Passthrough & Game Streaming

Hardware-specific findings from a session analyzing game streaming feasibility on an HP OMEN 30L desktop with motherboard model 8703.

Hardware

Motherboard: HP 8703 (HP OMEN 30L prebuilt)
CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K (Comet Lake, 10th gen) — has Intel UHD Graphics 630
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti (11GB VRAM, Turing, NVENC H.264/HEVC/AV1)
RAM: DDR4-3200, 4 DIMM slots
OS: Ubuntu Server, headless (no monitor, no display server)

iGPU Status: DISABLED

The i7-10700K's UHD Graphics 630 does NOT appear in lspci or /sys/class/drm/. HP OMEN 30L prebuilts disable the iGPU in BIOS when a discrete GPU is installed. The 8703 motherboard has no physical video outputs for the iGPU even if enabled. The only detected GPU is the RTX 2080 Ti at card0.

IOMMU Group Layout

Group 1:
  - NVIDIA TU102 [GeForce RTX 2080 Ti] (10de:1e07)
  - NVIDIA TU102 HD Audio Controller (10de:10f7)
  - NVIDIA TU102 USB 3.1 Host Controller (10de:1ad6)
  - NVIDIA TU102 USB Type-C UCSI Controller (10de:1ad7)

The GPU is alone in its IOMMU group — no PCIe bridge, no root port, no other devices. This is ideal for VFIO passthrough. The USB controller on the GPU is the Type-C VirtualLink port — you'd pass it through with the GPU but it's rarely used.

GPU Features

NVENC: H.264, HEVC, AV1 (Turing encoder — excellent quality, ~x264 medium at 1/10th latency)
3 concurrent NVENC sessions (consumer cap, sufficient for single-stream gaming)
11 GB VRAM

Simultaneous Windows + Linux Options

Without a second GPU or enabled iGPU, here are the real options:

Option	Cost	Windows gaming	Linux GPU	Complexity
Second GPU (GT 1030 / GTX 1050)	~$40-80	Yes (2080 Ti passthrough)	Yes (second GPU)	Medium
Single GPU passthrough	Free	Yes	None	High
Proton only	Free	~85% of games	Yes (native)	Low
Dual boot	Free	Yes (native)	N/A when in Windows	Low

Second GPU (recommended)

Cheap low-power GPU for Linux host (GT 1030 ~30W, $40-80 used). RTX 2080 Ti passed to Windows VM. Linux keeps dedicated GPU for Ollama/LLM, Docker GPU, Immich ML. Both OSes run simultaneously with dedicated hardware.

The HP 8703 has at least one PCIe x16 slot (occupied by 2080 Ti) and one x4 slot (free). Verify physical space and PSU headroom — a GT 1030 draws 30W max, negligible.

Single GPU passthrough

Bind RTX 2080 Ti to VFIO at boot. Linux host loses ALL GPU: no Ollama, no Immich ML, no NVENC. When Windows VM shuts down, GPU can be rebound to nvidia driver. Fragile — reboot is cleaner. Use only if you're comfortable with kernel parameters and VFIO scripts.

Proton only

Zero cost, zero complexity. Sunshine + Moonlight on Linux. ~85% of Windows games work via Proton. Kernel anti-cheat games (Valorant, CoD, Fortnite, Destiny 2) are 0% compatible — no workaround.

VRAM Cohabitation

RTX 2080 Ti: 11 GB VRAM.

qwen2.5:14b (Q4_K_M): ~9 GB
AAA game (modern): 4-8 GB
They don't fit simultaneously. Must stop Ollama before gaming, restart after.
Socket-activated llama-server: stop model, warm-restart in 3-4 seconds when gaming ends.

Headless Setup Requirements

HDMI dummy plug (~$5-10) — essential for GPU to run at full clocks
Xorg virtual desktop on dummy display
Sunshine captures X11 via NVENC
Steam + Proton for Windows games
Lutris for non-Steam games (GOG, Epic, Battle.net)

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