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Build Advice VM and Game Machine

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by staggerlee, 27 Nov 2011.

  1. staggerlee

    staggerlee What's a Dremel?

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    Hi all,

    Hoping to build a good VM machine that can run 2-6 virtual machines.. and play games on it (Skyrim, Starcraft etc)

    Build ive come up with is:

    Pro: Intel Core i7 2700K 3.50GHz
    Mobo: Asus Sabertooth X58 Socket 1366 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
    Mem: Corsair Vengeance 24GB DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 1.5V Non-ECC Unbuffered
    HDD 1: OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III
    HDD 2: OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III
    HDD 3: Seagate 500GB Hybrid SSD/HDD SATA-II
    Power: Corsair 750W HX Modular PSU
    Case: Fractal Design Define R3
    CPU-Cooler: Be quiet DARK ROCK PRO
    GPU: Asus GTX 560Ti 1GB GDDR5


    I have just noticed the OCZ 1TB PCI-E card that i could replace the SSD and hybrid with.. But guess any kind of separation of load if a good thing?

    So yeah.. looking to spend 1k-1.5k Im getting a new monitor tomorrow so can post specs of that when i have it :) (getting it from a friend so spec im not sure on)

    Any advice would be great :)

    S
     
  2. Jackg

    Jackg What's a Dremel?

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    Do not get that motherboard with that cpu. Its the wrong socket

    You need to get a socket 1155 board such as this if you want all the features money can buy for that processor.

    Also most Sandy Bridge motherboards only have 4 Ram slots, so the maximum would be 16GB ram using 4GB modules or 32 if you can find 8GB modules
     
  3. staggerlee

    staggerlee What's a Dremel?

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    Hi Jackg

    Yeah i was told i put in wrong a mobo.. :(

    Trying to find a 6 slot 1155 seems rather impossible :/

    Only things im actively searching for is several sata 3 6gb ports for multi hdds usb 3 for my external storage and 6 mem slots..

    Any suggestions?

    Thanks
     
  4. thetrashcanman

    thetrashcanman Angel headed hipsters

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    As above you can't use an 1366 motherboard with a 1155 CPU, and I'm assuming your needing a lot of ram for the VM part of the machine?

    You will only get 4 slots for ram on 1155 board's, as it's dual channel, the 6 slots on the 1366 board you picked out is because it has triple channel memory, but you can install up to 32Gb on an 1155 board with the 4 Dimm slots

    If you need more than the 32Gb however you'd need to Up your budget quite considerably and go with and Lga 2011 build, which means you can have the possibility to have up to 64Gb of Ram or later on when the sticks are available, up to 128Gb on some boards I believe.

    Other option is to go with the 1366 setup, which is still more than adequate for gaming stick in a 950 or something like that for about £90 and your away
     
  5. MightyBenihana

    MightyBenihana Do or do not, there is no try

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    Just to mention that the 2600k doesn't support vt-d, I think this is only really a problem if you are running ESX or ESXi. You probably know more about this than me, not really my area of expertise.

    Just thought it was worth pointing out, maybe someone a little more knowledgeable will be able to shed some more light on this.
     
  6. IvanIvanovich

    IvanIvanovich будет глотать вашу душу.

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    Or... you could step into server boards like AMD G34 platform though you loose some cpu performance that route. Most have 8 ddr3 slots. Some of the nicer boards have 6gbps sas. Not cheap though.
     
  7. staggerlee

    staggerlee What's a Dremel?

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    AlphaAngel! yee gods.. excellent point! I just thought every cpu would have necessary things for virtual machines...

    Well that courses a few problems.. Any suggestions for a cpu that works with virtual.

    Intel wise. it looks like going to i5-2500k is the best they offer which has vt-d.

    But again its a 1155 socket which means 4 memory slots so 16gb max mem..


    Lysol,

    Not really looked into server gear. Id prefer to keep to pc specs so it doesnt play up with games and other apps (Guessing it wouldnt but guess it might?)


    The VM software that i was looking to use is VMWare Workstation 8.

    Thanks for the help! :)
     
  8. Tangster

    Tangster Butt-kicking for goodness!

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    HarHarHar, nope, the i7 2600 has all the virtualisation features, but the K version has them disabled, intel probably assumed anyone needing that much power for VM's would have a huge wad of cash to spend on 2011.
     
  9. thetrashcanman

    thetrashcanman Angel headed hipsters

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    32Gb is the maximum amount of ram for 1155
     
  10. staggerlee

    staggerlee What's a Dremel?

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    Intel sight is helpful :/

    depending on where you look on the site sometimes it says cpus have it others it doesnt.

    checking out what vmware expects though! as i say i just expected all that side of things to work..
     
  11. IvanIvanovich

    IvanIvanovich будет глотать вашу душу.

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    You know, with the budget you have, have you considered building 2 machines? You could build a standard i5 gaming rig, and another cheaper one for all of your vm / server role. That way it would be a lot more flexible. You get to separate the 2 and not have vms and gaming interfering with each other. it would also greatly simplify your hardware selection, at least on the gaming side.
     
  12. staggerlee

    staggerlee What's a Dremel?

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    i know what your saying lysol, but space noise and my gf will really not permit me to play that game :(

    the only mobo that give more than 4 slots to memory seem to be 1366/2011 which is ultra new i7s and old (seem to score rather badly against 2600s i7)

    The cheapest solution seems to be a Intel Core I7-3930K + a msi 8d which would give 8 memory slots but comes to a combined 700 odd instead of a 2600 and 4 memory slot rig which would be 400 odd..

    so i guess it comes down to how often i would use more than 16gb of ram vs the cost..

    For the VMware situation (If anyone cares to know more) it seems that VMWare Workstation 8 will work with a cpu/mobo that doesnt have vt-x but you can only run 32bit systems not 64.

    If you go to Intels sight and look at full descriptions of all the second gen i7 it seems they all have VT-X and most have VT-D (can anyone confirm this?)

    As for mobo is there anything i should be ensuring is on them?

    Thanks for all the help! stopped some rather nasty mistakes!

    ref: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/ws7_performance.pdf
    http://communities.vmware.com/thread/337198?tstart=60
     
  13. scott_chegg

    scott_chegg Minimodder

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    Correct on x64 restrictions without virtualisation hardware assist. My 2500k has vt-x but vt-d is locked out. I can run x64 vm's in workstation with just the one feature enabled.
     
  14. Jester_612

    Jester_612 "Jammy..."

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    I've been waiting for my 10th post to just to say "ITX". So 6 little things screwed up the wall won't cut in either then?

    If you're anything like me you'll just want the vm's just for the hell of it though.

    Some difficulties (like ram, VM Ware license) go away with a set of them, and when you consider that the processing power of a single powerful CPU has to divided between the whatever is asking to use it, then there shouldn't be too much difference in performance.


    Consider storage IOps, with several vm's going... well just imagine trying to use windows with a hdd of 1/6th performance:grr:. But onboard controllers may not suit your demands, instead there are plenty of threads around talking about expansion raid cards.

    Not knowing VMware, but maybe you could mitigate the effect by using dedicated drives for each vm instance. I just expect that it's optimised for use with SAN's though.

    I'd like to see your result in any event, and after seeing a cluster of ITX machines I've become a bit fond of the little sweethearts;).
     

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