I understand now that a Type 2 (or hosted) hypervisor is the same as using VMware or VirtualBox within an existing operating system, so I want Type 1.
Using a Type 1 (or native, bare metal) hypervisor runs one or more operating systems at the same time, without running one inside the other.
Would VMware ESX (or ESXi) run both Windows 7 and Ubuntu simultaneously and support DirectX, Direct3D and hardware acceleration using my graphics card drivers properly?
Best Answer
Yep but nope!
ESX does support some graphics and you will be able to use Direct3D, however, it is in no way that good.
ESX is designed for headless servers (with the rare connection from an admin). It is not designed for desktop usage (which it sounds like you want).
It will not be able to utilize your graphics card.
I recommend you look at dual booting - or, VMWare Workstation (on a modern computer, it can be near native performance... but, still won't be that good at gaming).