VM Server (Haswell or wait for Broadwell)?

[Ncage]

Hi everyone, i'm having a dilemma. My vm server (hyper-v) is currently running a i7-920 (OC @ 3.8GHZ). Running current version of chrome on this machine (vm has 2 vCPU & 4GB) spikes the cpu between 60-80% (the vm is running win 8.1 enteprise). The vm server has three other vms that do next to nothing. For example i have one running server core and use it as an AD server but since i'm the only one that logs in it shouldn't be much of an issue .

Anyways i didn't think the i7-920 was that old and i should have that bad of performance but apparently its getting old in the tooth I can't blame it on hyper-v because about 8 months ago i was using esxi 5.x and i had similar problems.

So it looks like in the need for a hardware upgrade. I was looking into broadwell. It looks like there won't be much probably in performance improvements but the two things it probably will have is lower power requirements (somewhat useful) & more cores (very useful for a vm server). I'm trying to decide if i should just go haswell now (i7-4771) or wait for broadwell. I've tried look at some of the most recent broadwell news and it looks like it will be released from Mid-2014 to Early-2015. It also looks like it will require all new components (DDR4 & New Chipset) which kind of kills any upgrade potential if i buy haswell now. Just trying to decide what i should do. Any advice would be appreciated.

thanks,
Ncage

 

[falkenbd]

There are some other options, ive seen cheaper x5650s (its the same socket at your 920) ~170$ on the FS/FT forums, that would give you alot more cpu power for not alot of cash, 6 cores and a higher clock etc. Might tide you over for a while.

 

[somebrains]

I'm outgrowing 32gb on an E3-1270 Xeon.
You may want to consider core and ram sizing for the future, based on what you can get out of socket 2011 now.