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CPU for Virtualization

H

Hijazs

n00b
Joined
Sep 28, 2015
Messages
1
Hello People

I am planning to buy a Laptop for virtualization purpose. I was thinking on whether buying a laptop which is a quad core i7 or a dual core i7.

Which do you think will have better performance the older Quad Core (2nd or 3rd Gen) ones or the latest 4th Gen Dual Core i7?

Currently I am looking at the 4500u and hows the performance of that processor for my purpose. Hows that processor?.

And what do you say about INTEL VT-D. Do i really need it in my CPU?

Please help me guyz
Thank You
 
Quad is almost always going to be better than dual for VMs. Hyperthreading is really mixed on impact on VM performance, it can help in some cases, but often has no impact. also, make sure you have plenty of ram 16gb min, but you will probably want 32 or even more depending on your needs. You could even go AMD for VM as the performance for VM purposes is reportedly good. I think the processor VT extensions are required by some of the newer versions of VM software like VM ware, but you don't need VT-D.. The 4500u is ok, but I think you would be better off with a true quad core (or maybe 6 or 8 if possible) chip, but it really all depends on what your VM requirements are. What will you be running on the VM?

You will also want an SSD that can handle alot of write activity like the Samsung Pro series, or even an enterprise class SSD.

P.S.: I run VM's on the rig in my sig. One requires at least 12GB of ram and 3 virtual processors for good performance, another is fine with a single virtual processor and 4 gig of ram.
 
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VT-d is only necessary if are doing passthrough - since you have a laptop that's not likely.

Are you going Type-1 or Type-2 hypervisor?

How many VMs?
 
Only my 2520m (2C/4T) laptop I can run a DC, 2 Windows VMs, a VC server, 2 ESXi hosts, a work VM and my normal OS items without an issue. Now keep in mind I have 16GB RAM and 2x SSDs; 1 for OS and the other for storage and all VMs.
 
it all depends on the VM you use, on free VM usually there is no VTd support.
 
sblantipodi said:
it all depends on the VM you use, on free VM usually there is no VTd support.
Click to expand...

Actually, what you will most likely WANT is Hyper-V (a superset of VT-x) which has followed VT-x into ubiquity. Hyper-V support in portable computing has gotten pretty darn ubiquitous - any Core i-series in a portable SHOULD support it (unless specifically blocked in the system settings or in the OS - Windows 10 Home does not support Hyper-V, for example, but Windows 10 Pro does). The same, of course, applies to AIOs.

VT-d (Virtualization with Directed I/O support) is a hyperniche form of virtualization - not only is support for it uncommon in terms of portables, it's equally uncommon in even the workstation space. (Only the Intel C2xx series of workstation chipsets supports VT-d at all, and it's not always present even there, and where it is, BOHICA in terms of price.)

There is yet another reason for graduating from VT-x to Hyper-V - the Visual Studio Emulator for Android. Why would I push what sounds like a development tool with a two-ton price tag? Sensible question, and here's the answer - Visual Studio 2015 Community - add-ons and all - costs a grand total of nothing. (Nothing as in zip - nada - freer than root beer.) The requirements for Visual Studio 2015 Community are easily met - Windows 8 Pro OR Windows Server 2008 or later. (The reason for that requirement is the required support for Hyper-V.) In short - NO price tag.

What about Genymotion (which requires Oracle VirtualBox)? That is indeed part of the problem I HAVE with Genymotion (and Oracle VirtualBox, for that matter) - both are third-party; Hyper-V is built in. Further, the Visual Studio Emulator for Android has seen some serious improvements.

1. It interfaces with the Android SDK and AVD Manager and lets you create VMs by feature support (including all the popular tablets and smartphones) or by API. Say you want to be sure that your tablet - or smartphone - will have complete app compatibility after you upgrade; you can now test it out before you upgrade your real hardware. The same applies if you intend on replacing your tablet (or smartphone). All at a cost of absolutely nothing.

2. Better graphical leverage. One thing that the previous emulation tech included with Hyper-V was (rightly) whacked for was poor-to-downright-AWFUL graphics performance. This got seriously overhauled in Hyper-V Generation 2 - even better, it is applicable to MOBILE graphical emulation as well.

3. NO migration curve from Genymotion. Okay - Genymotion does not include the Play Store or Google Apps; however, it supports drag-and-drop deployment of the packages. Good news - so does the VSE. Not a similar process - the SAME process. If you're used to Genymotion, you have no migration curve using VSE instead.
 
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