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Help with ESXi build

M

mcricker

n00b
Joined
Feb 3, 2015
Messages
2
Hi all,

I'm looking to build a xeon based esxi host that with guests that include a single desktop with a gpu, sound and usb passthrough and I would appreciate any comments on my current components -
  • Asus Z10PE-D8 WS (or possibly Asus Z10PE-D16/4L)
  • Xeon e5-2630 v3 (single cpu for now)
  • 16GB ddr4 registered ecc ram x4
  • Radeon R9 290
  • 256GB ssd x2
  • 3tb hdd x4 (may increase in future)

Specifically, I would be interested in any comments regarding passthrough issues with this setup.

I would also like to make this as near to silent as possible, especially when the desktop guest is off - does anyone have any information about the power used by a gpu that is passed through to a guest that is not running? How about the fan speed when the guest is not running? I have read about zerocore on amd gpus but I can't find much about how/if this would function in an esxi guest. If the gpu only draws power and creates fan noise when the desktop vm is running then I can live with that. If not, I may have to rethink the build.

Thank you for any help/comments :)
 
I don't know why you would need an E5 and 64GB of RAM for a host but perhaps you do. My first impression is that it's way overkill. I've heard good things in regard to the Asus boards. However, I have not heard anything in regard to using them as ESXi hosts though, In regard to silent running/fan speed, just use silent fans. Don't over think it. In regard to the GPU power, if it's plugged into the power supply (and the host is turned on) you are using power. I am not able to comment on the rest.
 
OP: it would be way more helpful to explain your actual goals / use case so we can comment further.
You're probably going to run through issues passing through that GPU, but I haven't tried that particular one so it's up in the air.
I'd check the vmware harware compatibility list (HCL) to see if your intended hardware is on it or not.
 
Thanks for the replies :)

Basically I need to put together a new workstation and server for my home office and I'm trying to see if it is better (price and power efficiency) for me to build two machines or one with virtualisation. If I have a single machine then it will live in the office, if I build two then the desktop will live in the office and the server will go in the garage.

The workstation needs to be good for video editing, coding and some gaming.
The server will be used as a general server - domain controller, web host, file shares etc - it will always be on.
I also need to run video encoding jobs - it doesn't matter which machine this runs on.

My initial thought was to build two machines, an intel 5930k with 32gb ram for the desktop and a low power i5 for the server. That would mean that the encoding jobs would need to be run on the desktop machine - I would prefer to avoid that as they would take a long time to complete and would impact on the performance of the desktop.

I've also considered perhaps giving the server more power at the expense of the desktop. That would mean the encoding jobs could be passed to the server which I would prefer but it means a lower spec desktop. It would also mean passing some pretty massive files across the network.

Then I read about gpu passthrough, I've used virtualisation for a long time but never really considered that I could virtualise my desktop as the gfx performance is so poor. If I could passthrough a gpu then that would mean I could purchase a single machine that has better specs, for a better price, than two standalone machines. Encoding jobs could be setup on a vm that could be throttled whilst I was using the machine as a desktop but allowed to use more power when the desktop was not in use, more ram would be available to the machine as a whole etc. However, if I had a 24x7 machine in the house then I would want it to be silent - hence my question regarding the gpu power usage, I don't mind if it uses a low amount of power whilst the vm is off but I certainly wouldn't want the gpu fan whirring away all day long or drawing significant extra power when not in use.

Hope that makes sense - I'm open to other options if you have any.
 
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