Home VMWare platform spec

[EvilRob]

I'm building a machine as a home vmware ESXi platform.

The platform would ideally be capable of running a mix of 8-10 W2003 server/linux VMs with very low load (this is a test platform only).

Grateful if anyone can offer a sanity check

Here is the spec I'm looking at:

Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £157.99
(£131.66) £157.99
(£131.66)
2x GeIL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP38GB1600C9DC) GeIL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP38GB1600C9DC) £87.98
(£73.32) £175.96
(£146.64)
Asus P7H55-M Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard Asus P7H55-M Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £67.99
(£56.66) £67.99
(£56.66)
2x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £32.99
(£27.49) £65.98
(£54.98)
OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) £21.98
(£18.32) £21.98

The case is just going to be stuck in the garage so does not need to be anything pretty. This one is so cheap and includes 500W PSU, am I missing something?

Gone for the older mobo/CPU as this mobo is known to work out of the box with ESXi with the addition of an Intel PCI network adaptor. I've got a graphics card I can stick in just for the ESXi install.

Any recommendation on what would do for a stock CPU cooler? I don't plan to OC this.

Cheers!

Rob

 

[EvilRob]

Hi mate,

Yeah compatibility is an issue because ESXi is "bare metal" and only ships with drivers for very few network and HDD controllers (it's designed to operate on datacentre server level equipment). It's quite complicated to add additional drivers (have to hack the ISO)

As far as I know no 67 series mobos have been tested for compatibility yet

Gone for the 760 over the 650 for 2 reasons:
1. Display is only used during ESXi install. After that you're forced to connect from a different machine using a client to manage the platform anyway.
2. Don't believe hyperthreading is supported by ESXi so don't think a 2 core CPU is ideal. Prob better to have a CPU with 4 real cores.

Thanks for the recommendation about the case and PSU, I'll do that. Hopefully a higher quality PSU would be more power efficient as well (the rig will be on 24/7)?

Cheers!

Rob

 

[EvilRob]

Hmm just been reading most mobos won't POST without a graphics card...maybe a cheap PCI is in order