Build for Virtualization Testing - Advice needed

P

Penz

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 7, 2003
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Hello everyone. I am looking at a budget build to install Windows Hyper-V on and running at least 2 Virtual sessions on top of it. I am looking at running...
1 - Server 08, maybe 2.
1 - Windows 7



1) What will you be doing with this PC?
Testing new software such as Hyper-V, Server 08, Windows 7.
Down the road... Exchange 07, SQL 05

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I will like to try and stay under $600.

3) Where do you live?
OH

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
- CPU
- Motherboard
- RAM (I'm thinking 4 or 8 GB?)
- PSU
- Video Card
- Hard Drive (3)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Case - Antec 1080 SOHO and a DVD drive.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
17"

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Later this month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Raid 0,1, and 5.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
- Yep

UPDATED Build

AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Quad-Core Processor

GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Some have expressed the need for more memory. I would really like 8GB, but not sure yet if I am going to order it.

2 - WD Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB I decieded to change from 3 - 160GBs to 2 of the faster WD blacks in favor of better performance. I will probably order a 3rd drive down the road just so I can do some messing around with RAID 5.

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W

Total: $532 before shipping cost.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.
 
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You haven't mentioned gaming at all so I don't see a need for that particular video card.

Also why three drives? Are you doing a RAID 5 setup from the get-go? Are you actually putting host OS on the RAID 5 array?

Oh and you can get a better quality PSU for the same price:
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
 
e6300 doesn't support visualization.

Athlon x4 620 is better option with SB750 board.
 
The E6300 does support virtualization.

But I agree with lt_shiro that the Athlon II X4 620 would be a better choice for a processor. In fact, you can go with the following:

$199 - AMD Athlon II X4 620 & Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H combo deal
$71 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3 1333 CL9 dual channel kit

You would also save some money since the above three items have free shipping and the motherboard comes with onboard video. (You don't need fancy heatspreaders on memory for a virtualization server that won't be overclocked.) You would benefit from having 8GB of RAM in your system, but buy the second 4GB kit only if you're able to afford it.
 
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gwarren007 said:
Will you be upgrading the monitor?
Click to expand...

Not anytime soon. If I did, it would not be until next spring.

Danny Bui said:
You haven't mentioned gaming at all so I don't see a need for that particular video card.

Also why three drives? Are you doing a RAID 5 setup from the get-go? Are you actually putting host OS on the RAID 5 array?

Oh and you can get a better quality PSU for the same price:
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
Click to expand...

Nope, I will not be using the system for gaming, but i thought by spending a little more on a graphics card I would get better performance out of windows 7.

I wanted three so that I could setup a RAID 5 since I have never done it before. More then likely the long term setup would be a Raid 1 with the third drive as misc. storage.

Thanks for the suggestions on the power supply. I will look into that.

tiraides said:
The E6300 does support virtualization.

But I agree with lt_shiro that the Athlon II X4 620 would be a better choice for a processor. In fact, you can go with the following:

$199 - AMD Athlon II X4 620 & Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H combo deal
$71 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3 1333 CL9 dual channel kit

You would also save some money since the above three items have free shipping and the motherboard comes with onboard video. (You don't need fancy heatspreaders on memory for a virtualization server that won't be overclocked.) You would benefit from having 8GB of RAM in your system, but buy the second 4GB kit only if you're able to afford it.
Click to expand...

Like you said, the E6300 does support virtualization, but i do like the recommendation on the athlon II and gigabyte board. I will take a look!
Do you think running on board video will hinder windows 7 performance to the point I would notice in day to day tasks?

Thanks a lot for the suggestions so far.
 
How many VMs will you be running concurrently? I run a couple different VMs on Optimus prime in my sig, and I have issues at times bottlenecking the Hard drive. I would really recommend running a minimum of 2 fast drives in RAID 0 (so, WD Black drives, or something similar.)

If you are going to be running multiple VMs concurrently (say, a Server 08 and the Win7, with Server08 running Exchange2010) you'll want at least a quad core processor, and a minimum of 6GB ram (I routinely use all of my RAM running VMs. I really need to up my RAM to 12GB). So 8 GB on an AMD platform would be good.

Since you are trying to keep the cost down, I would really recommend an AMD platform. Graphics card is irrelevant, as long as you have onboard, in this situation you would be perfectly ok. No overclocking, so the board and type of ram is less of a concern, buy the most you can afford.

If you need any help with setting things up, or questions about virtualization, let me know.
 
jrdonnaruma said:
How many VMs will you be running concurrently? I run a couple different VMs on Optimus prime in my sig, and I have issues at times bottlenecking the Hard drive. I would really recommend running a minimum of 2 fast drives in RAID 0 (so, WD Black drives, or something similar.)

If you are going to be running multiple VMs concurrently (say, a Server 08 and the Win7, with Server08 running Exchange2010) you'll want at least a quad core processor, and a minimum of 6GB ram (I routinely use all of my RAM running VMs. I really need to up my RAM to 12GB). So 8 GB on an AMD platform would be good.

Since you are trying to keep the cost down, I would really recommend an AMD platform. Graphics card is irrelevant, as long as you have onboard, in this situation you would be perfectly ok. No overclocking, so the board and type of ram is less of a concern, buy the most you can afford.

If you need any help with setting things up, or questions about virtualization, let me know.
Click to expand...

I went with some of the suggestions in the thread and with yours. I changed quit a few things and updated my orginial post to reflect that.
I changed the drives from 3 WD 160Gb to 2 of the WD Black 500's because I felt i would rather have the better performance then worrying about messing with RAID 5.

As far as concurrent Vms, I would like to have at least 2 but I may see how much memory it takes up before ordering 4 more gig. If I run into any problems setting it up, I will let you know.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions as they have been very helpful.
 
The Samsung F3 and Seagate 7200.12 drives would be faster since they use a single 500GB platter (assuming the cavBlack still uses smaller platters).
 
Both drives are cheaper, too.

$55 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB HDD (free shipping)
$55 - Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB HDD

Swapping out the two WD Caviar Black HDDs with, say, two 7200.12 HDDs, should enable you to buy a second 2x2GB set of RAM and keep everything under $600 shipped....

$199 - AMD Athlon II X4 620 & Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H combo deal
$142 - Two 2x2GB sets (8GB total) G.Skill DDR3 1333 RAM (@ $71 each)
$110 - Two Seagate 7200.12 500GB HDDs (@ $55 each)
$50 - Corsair CX400 400W PSU
=====
$501 - Subtotal (free shipping on all items, not including taxes or rebates)

Then again, the Caviar Blacks are only $30 more, provided that you buy the processor and motherboard together in the combo deal. But as enginurd mentioned earlier, the Seagate 7200.12 and Samsung F3 drives both use the faster 500GB single drive platter.
 
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