You will never notice HA running on a machine like that.
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I really dislike docker on Windows.
It doesn’t run natively, and when you install it will run an Ubuntu VM in hyper-v. The problem I have comes from the networking stack and the lack of USB pass through.
I would rather run virtual box or VMware and build my own VM if a Windows machine was all I had.
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Who mentioned windows?
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97% of all “gaming machines” are running Windows. Triple A titles aren’t available on Linux
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I can get longwinded so I decided to keep my original post brief to avoid reading fatigue. 
Yes, it runs Windows 10, an AMD Ryzen 2600X, Nvidia GTX 1080, 16gb RAM, 1TB SSD, and an Oculus Rift VR headset.
That’s what I was thinking… theoretically. 
So you would recommend running docker on a Linux Virtual Box image, rather than just Docker on Windows?
Yes. Docker on Windows will require hyper-v which will not allow USB pass through should you ever need it.
How often do you reboot it? Your home assistant machine shouldn’t need to be rebooted because windows done an update. I know windows is getting more stable, but IMHO it hasn’t caught up to linux yet.
TL:DR get a small low power PC for your home assistant machine.
Haha. If only I could prevent Windows 10 machines from rebooting whenever the F they felt the need.
I upgraded to an old laptop after starting on a Raspberry Pi. But I love the performance boost I got so I don’t think I could ever go back to a Pi.
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Hmmm… but yeah, that’s a good point. Maybe the laptop just needs a new hard drive. If I can fix it that way that would be ideal.
Get a cheap SSD and it’ll run faster too. You don’t need many GB to run HA.
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Thank you @nickrout and @flamingm0e for helping me think this one through. I hadn’t thought about how often a windows update (or game crash) could bring down my Home Automations. I definitely don’t want to put the family though any more downtime. Especially since I feel like I finally hit my Home Automation stride.
I’m thinking of getting one of those small mint boxes or another linux box for around a hundred bucks so I have real hardware instead of worrying when the sd card will fail next.
Update: I have got the laptop back up and running for around $50. I picked up an SSD from Amazon and after a day of restoring too many files from my backup, which screwed up my configs, I got it working again.
It has been running well for a couple of hours now… I think it may have just been a failing hard drive.
I am just listening to a program about zero waste. Well done on keeping the laptop out of the waste bin.
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Thank you, this made me decide against running HA on my $2K+ VR rig.
I have an old mac mini, and like you, it’s harddrive is dead. Installing a new one, and running virtual box on it is the new plan.
Anyone know what issues I’ll have with virtualbox and USB sticks?
Why not run linux on it?