2500k or 1055t for ESXi server

[PurduEE]

I currently have an AMD 9350e (65w quad core) based ESXi system, running both WHS and SBS 2003 R2. This system runs ESXi 3.5 and I want to upgrade to 4, but I figure I might as well update the hardware along with the software. I'll be moving from SBS 2003 R2 to SBS 2011 essentials, but the WHS install will remain. I had initially planned to go from a 8GB, 4-core system to a 16GB, 6-core system. However, SB prices are pretty close the price of a 1055t system, so I wanted to see if there would be any benefit of a 2500k system that would make up for less cores. It seems to me that a 6-core AMD CPU would be a better fit for a virtualization box than a 4 core Intel, but I thought I'd get some thoughts from the members of the forum. I figure I could go either way for about the same price.

Thanks.

 

[Vengance_01]

In this case I would go with the AMD as more cores are better in your case.

 

[diizzy]

Although VT-d support might be of interest and I would expect a Q67-based motherboard to be compatible (since its all Intel) compared to ATi chipset and Realtek LAN (in most cases). IOMMU is also supported on AMDs 890FX if I'm not mistaken but seems to work poor at best in most cases. Have in mind that the "K"-CPUs are no go if you want VT-d.
Just some thoughts, I've not done any deep research of what hardware ESXi supports.

//Danne