Rig to run VMs

P

phreak0ut

Disciple
Hello All,

This will be a strange request and a bit crazy for me to be so demanding. Let's see if it is really possible to this kind of configuration for requirements.

Q: What is your budget?
35K-40k Max

Q: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
N/A

Q: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
HDD-1 WD 320GB and 1 160GB Seage
Optical drives - Moser Baer DVD writer
Keyboard and mouse

Q: Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
Need your help in this section. Would be needing 8GB RAM min. A full HD 22" monitor

Q: Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
Yes, will upgrade the following 3-4 years
Q: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
Bangalore

Q: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
No

Q: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
Browsing
Desktop Processing
Download rig, 24x7 operation
Watching HD movies

Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
I don't like Transcend(for now).
For monitor, I would prefer Dell, Samsung and BenQ(based on your personal and very honest reviews :) )

Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
No. Will be buying a PS3 for this

Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
Desktop - 1440x900

Q: Are you looking to overclock?
Yes

Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
Windows 7 64 bit
Linux - Latest distros

Only the monitor will be purchased in 2 weeks. The rest of the components in maybe 3-4 months

Thank you all in advance. I hope you don't throw stuff at me for asking this crazy question :p
 
Components Description Price (INR)
Processor AMD Phenom II X6 1090T BE 10600
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H 8200
RAM Corsair 2x4GB RAM XMS3 1600MHz 4800
GPU OnBoard HD4290 -
Monitor Benq G2220HD/Samsung B2230 7800/8000
Cabinet NZXT Gamma 2200
PSU/SMPS Corsair VX 450 3500
Speakers Altec Lansing 2.1 VS2621 1650
Total 38750/38950

Since you want to OC go with a 1090T BE as it has unlocked multi and six cores :D

I have recommended a 890G mobo since you had the budget. If you are want a cheaper alternative then go for the Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H ~ 4.8k/ MSI 880GMA-E45 ~ 5.1k/ M4A88T M/USB3 ~ 5.6k. All these three has 4 DIMM slots (max 16GB RAM), USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps ports :)

Edit: Just noticed that you will purchase only in 3-4 months. Revive this thread then because new processor line up from might be released or components pricing and availabilty would have changed.
 
For the "for VMs" part, I guess you're already considering what kind of workloads those VMs will be running, and how many at the same time, to decide what you spend more on, whether its beefy CPU (for cpu intensive workloads or many VMs simultaneously), extra RAM (for memory intensive VMs), and if you have disk bound workloads then you could get multiple HDDs for performance boost there...
 
@DarkAngel-Thank you very much for the quick response. You are so darn active here on the forum and know almost EVERY piece of hardware there! :) I forgot to mention that an HDMI port is must for my monitor. I'm also considering Dell now since I just got to know that I might get a discount. Is the 450W PSU enough? I might add my XFX 8600GT XXX.

@Vishal-That's a good consideration which you have thought about. I will mainly be running CPU or RAM intensive VMs. HDs will be only to store them :)
 
phreak0ut said:
@DarkAngel-Thank you very much for the quick response. You are so darn active here on the forum and know almost EVERY piece of hardware there! :) I forgot to mention that an HDMI port is must for my monitor. I'm also considering Dell now since I just got to know that I might get a discount. Is the 450W PSU enough? I might add my XFX 8600GT XXX.

@Vishal-That's a good consideration which you have thought about. I will mainly be running CPU or RAM intensive VMs. HDs will be only to store them :)
Click to expand...
The Motherboard that DA has suggested has HDMI port... And VX450 can easily support the 8600GT GPU...
 
phreak0ut said:
@DarkAngel-Thank you very much for the quick response. You are so darn active here on the forum and know almost EVERY piece of hardware there! :) I forgot to mention that an HDMI port is must for my monitor. I'm also considering Dell now since I just got to know that I might get a discount. Is the 450W PSU enough? I might add my XFX 8600GT XXX.

@Vishal-That's a good consideration which you have thought about. I will mainly be running CPU or RAM intensive VMs. HDs will be only to store them :)
Click to expand...
:) All motherboards that i have recommended has a HDMI port.

The VX450 can easily handle even a Nvidia GTS 450/ AMD Raedon HD6850 with your config. :) So problems handling a XFX 8600 XXX. Plus it has 6 SATA power connectors. So you can add more HDD's in the future without a worry.
 
I'm asking for an HDMI port on the monitor because I'll be using it for playing games with the PS3 as well :D

EDIT-Just checked the cabinet. Specs are impressive! But, are there alternatives for this? This looks like a pregnant lady :p
 
phreak0ut said:
I'm asking for an HDMI port on the monitor because I'll be using it for playing games with the PS3 as well :D

EDIT-Just checked the cabinet. Specs are impressive! But, are there alternatives for this? This looks like a pregnant lady :p
Click to expand...
The monitors that DA has suggested dont have HDMI port... If u r looking for a monitor wid HDMI port then buy Dell ST2220
 
Hades. said:
The monitors that DA has suggested dont have HDMI port... If u r looking for monitor wid HDMI port then buy Dell ST2220
Click to expand...
:lol: Yeah i read that as mobo :ashamed: This dell is a good buy for ~8.6k.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---
phreak0ut said:
I'm asking for an HDMI port on the monitor because I'll be using it for playing games with the PS3 as well :D

EDIT-Just checked the cabinet. Specs are impressive! But, are there alternatives for this? This looks like a pregnant lady :p
Click to expand...
If you discount the looks its the Gamma is the best sub 3k cabby in the market IMO.

You can consider the CM Elite 430 ~ 2.6k. But has very little cable management.
 
Piece of advice.. if you intend to use Linux as the host OS, then only add NVIDIA card.. ATI has huge headaches with Linux.. Only Ubuntu & out-of-date "stable" versions are supported.. No support for Fedora, Arch, Gentoo etc via the proprietary drivers.. Also, the NVIDIA card will make use of the VDPAU library which will use the graphics card for decoding HD videos so that your processor remains free.. There is no such feature on the ATI side..
 
hellknight_mnd said:
Piece of advice.. if you intend to use Linux as the host OS, then only add NVIDIA card.. ATI has huge headaches with Linux.. Only Ubuntu & out-of-date "stable" versions are supported.. No support for Fedora, Arch, Gentoo etc via the proprietary drivers.. Also, the NVIDIA card will make use of the VDPAU library which will use the graphics card for decoding HD videos so that your processor remains free.. There is no such feature on the ATI side..
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice mate. Been through the ordeal when I was running my old machine with the on-board Radeon Express(MSI RS-480M2 mobo). I intend to run the base OS with Windows XP(if it supports the processor and the motherboard) or Win 7. All my linux and *nix based distros will be running as VMs. One small doubt. Aren't there any good motherboards as the one mentioned with nVidia chipset and do you guys think it would be wise to go for a Core i7 if it falls under my budget?
 
Nvidia has left the chipset business, so it wouldn't be wise to go for NVIDIA now.. Regarding Core i7, it has 4 cores & 4 threads, but a REAL core is better than a logical core. So it would be better if you stick to AMD Phenom II X6 processor. You can virtualize upto 5 VMs at a time on that processor. Regarding Windows XP, its highly outdated & some of the feature of VirtualBox (if you intend to use it) like Seamless mode etc will not work properly on it. I've tried VMWare Workstation (the latest edition) demo. It had full hardware acceleration for Windows 7, something which VirtualBox doesn't offers. But as you intend to use Windows 7 as a host OS, I don't think that you'll need VirtualBox.

If I were in your boots right now, I would've installed Arch Linux as the host OS with Window manager or LXDE and then virtualize. Also, at the Linux front there is Xem, KVM, Qemu etc etc which are not present in Windows. But do let us know about your adventures.. Have fun..
 
hellknight_mnd said:
Regarding Windows XP, its highly outdated & some of the feature of VirtualBox (if you intend to use it) like Seamless mode etc will not work properly on it. I've tried VMWare Workstation (the latest edition) demo. It had full hardware acceleration for Windows 7, something which VirtualBox doesn't offers. But as you intend to use Windows 7 as a host OS, I don't think that you'll need VirtualBox.

If I were in your boots right now, I would've installed Arch Linux as the host OS with Window manager or LXDE and then virtualize. Also, at the Linux front there is Xem, KVM, Qemu etc etc which are not present in Windows. But do let us know about your adventures.. Have fun..
Click to expand...
I intended to use XP to keep the RAM usage down. But I read in bits that XP acts up on the latest processors and motherboards. It's been a long itch to try Arch. Let's see how it goes. Dropped the idea of going for a PS3 and might end up buying the rig sooner than I thought. Any chances of prices falling this month(Feb)?
 
Better stick wid corsair xms3 1600MHz CL9 2x4GB kit... U wont see much difference in performance between G.Skill 8Gb kit and xms3 8gb kit... So theres no point in buying ripjaws kit which costs more than xms3 kit...
 
^

Yeah the Corsair XMS 3 is overall a better choice for you, buy 2*4GB ~ 2.5K/ per stick <Golccha Computers, Bangalore>.
 
hellknight_mnd said:
Nvidia has left the chipset business, so it wouldn't be wise to go for NVIDIA now.. Regarding Core i7, it has 4 cores & 4 threads, but a REAL core is better than a logical core. So it would be better if you stick to AMD Phenom II X6 processor. You can virtualize upto 5 VMs at a time on that processor. Regarding Windows XP, its highly outdated & some of the feature of VirtualBox (if you intend to use it) like Seamless mode etc will not work properly on it. I've tried VMWare Workstation (the latest edition) demo. It had full hardware acceleration for Windows 7, something which VirtualBox doesn't offers. But as you intend to use Windows 7 as a host OS, I don't think that you'll need VirtualBox.

If I were in your boots right now, I would've installed Arch Linux as the host OS with Window manager or LXDE and then visualize. Also, at the Linux front there is Xem, KVM, Qemu etc etc which are not present in Windows. But do let us know about your adventures.. Have fun..
Click to expand...
@Hell

Well I do not agree full with you... to some extent the Physical cores are better still the Diff is negligible... but if OT can purchase the Core i7 920/930/950 he will be on edge over AMD as all these proccy has got 4 Cores and 2 threads each to it doubles to 8 Logical Cores... and if OT uses VMWare as the Hypervisor or any other out in the market then it can utilise the Logical Cores and he can host simultaneously upto 4 VMs of 2 cores each or 7VMs of 1 core each (I will have to left 1 Core for the Host OS). AMD on this part lags on Cores.. as On VMWare the logical core count matters.. Won't discuss details.. I am on VMWare with 4 VMs simultaneously of SAP.. Whoahh!!!

@OT

One thing to add try to get Windows 7 instead of Windows XP as XP doesnot have support for Intel VTx or AMD-V but Windows 7 has. This is also an edge over XP as you can practically utilize the Proccy's Hypervisor's functionality though VMWare or others has much more functionality.

RAM: Stick to Corsair XMS3 as recently GSkill has high failure rates..not exactly sure of current scenario...

If possible get more RAMs as this time they are cheap but after Chinese New Year the price will BUMP up.
 
Thanks for the reply thunder.dragon. How much will an i7 and a good motherboard cost? I'll go for it, only if both of them fall in my budget.
 
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