Best budget CPU for virtualization

[nry]

Im looking at rebuilding my server into something that can run VMs (its currently a T5500 CPU or similar which dosent even do VMs)

Home servers purpose:

• Downloading
• Video encoding (speed isnt an issue here, as long as it gets done one day)
• Home automation
• DNS (might move this to pfsense box)
• Testing web development projects

I also want to be able to setup multiple instances of say database servers to trial clustering/master slave setups (need to learn this!!)
Basically its a mini test lab for me, so I can practice my sys admin skills, it will occasionally have multiple users so not really mission critical

I really could do with it being as low power as possible as electricity prices are ridiculous here in the UK.

I have been thinking of 12-16GB DDR3, maybe an AMD x6 processor but these seem a bit power hungry. Any suggestions?

Dont have an exact budget in mind, what ever seems good value for money really

 

[nry]

My current spec list is looking like:

Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 £55
16GB DDR3 1333-1600Mhz - around the £50 mark seems to be a good going rate for 4x 4GB sticks
And toying with a AMD FX-6100

 

[dashpuppy]

esxi or hyper v ?

 

[DuronClocker]

Can we have a rough budget to work with? "Good value for money" can be found at $500 for $5000.

I'm sure you could find an older Xeon setup cheaply. I had a couple old dual Netburst Xeon setups that I started with. From there I went to an AM3/Phenom II X4 setup that didn't get much use (I just didn't have the time while I had that machine with us getting ready to move cross-country). Now I've got an i5-2400 setup that works great.

You don't need much to get your feet wet with it. A quad-core Phenom or i5 (even a C2Q, but DDR2 is expensive) would probably be the way to go.

 

[dashpuppy]

You don't need much to get your feet wet with it. A quad-core Phenom or i5 (even a C2Q, but DDR2 is expensive) would probably be the way to go.

Yeah wtf is with that, DDR2 is $$$ but the new DDR3 is cheap as dirt..

 

[ziggo0]

Supply/Demand. Not really being produced anymore, DDR3 production in full swing. You can find a P45 board that supports DDR3.

 

[CEpeep]

If you want a platform that supports IOMMU/VT-d, the x6 is one of the best values.

 

[RavinDJ]

esxi or hyper v ?

Not to thread jack, but I wanna get into basic/beginner VM's as well

I have a Dell T410 tower... with 8GB of RAM, but soon to be 24

But esxi or Hyper V??? Thanks!!

[edit]It's a Xeon 3430 CPU, I think [/edit]

Also, to contribute instead of just asking questions

NewEgg has a CPU search:
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=343&name=Processors-Desktops
Virtualization Technology Support: YES or NO

So, pick YES and go shopping

 

[CEpeep]

Also, to contribute instead of just asking questions

NewEgg has a CPU search:
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=343&name=Processors-Desktops
Virtualization Technology Support: YES or NO

So, pick YES and go shopping

Unfortunately that only shows you VT-x/AMD-V support, not VT-d/IOMMU support. If you want to do passthrough of PCI-e devices, you will need both technologies.