Looking to build a Hyper-V host for labbing/home study

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HaX

HaX

HaX

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Hi all,

I'm upgrading to MCSE 2012 and am going to be involved in some Server 2012 and System Centre deployments over the next year. I need to build myself a system capable of hosting a reasonable number of client and server VMs in Hyper-V.

I need lots of RAM, 16 GB as a minimum but am considering going to 32 GB in order to future proof.

I'll be buying a 256GB SSD and using differencing disks for the majority of my VMS in order to limit my storage requirements.

CPU wise, I'd probably ideally like to go for an i5, but anything with Intel-VT or AMD-V will do.

Any suggestions for MB/CPU/Case/PSU etc?

Thanks

HaX
 
What is your budget for the system? Are you looking to do it as cheaply as possible? I had a similar set of requirements but not a lot of space, so I built a Mini-ITX system. I went for an i5-3570T and 16GB RAM on an ASRock Z77E-ITX with a 256GB SSD; I think it cost about £460 but I already had a case and PSU. If you don't need such a small system then you could get a cheaper motherboard and processor, and spend about £100 less than I did for the same performance while getting more memory capacity. I'm not sure how Haswell changes things on that front, information is hard to come by as it's only just been released.

I tend to have around three to five VMs running at a time in my test lab and the host barely goes above idle, but I'm not doing anything especially demanding at the moment (currently studying for the 70-640 Active Directory exam). When I move on to running Exchange labs I expect it will still cope, though I may not have enough RAM and I can't go above 16GB. If you go for an ATX or Micro-ATX board you'll have at least four memory sockets, and so going to 32GB will be an option.

The SSD is a good call, and well worth the investment in my opinion. I started off with a couple of 7200RPM drives, but it drove me crazy when I was doing deployments as part of studying for the "Windows 7 and Office 2010, Deploying" exam. With a decent SSD connected via SATA3 you shouldn't have any problems as long as you're not doing dozens of simultaneous deployments.

As for the case and PSU, I doubt it matters much - I have mine shoved in a crappy Mini-ITX case with a 260w PSU and it's been completely stable, so anything from a reputable brand will almost certainly be fine.
 
Thanks Saundie,

This is what I've got planned out so far. I ideally wanted to come in at <£500, however this bundle should be ~£600 inc case and PSU.

  • Intel Core i5 3330
  • Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H
  • Samsung 256GB 840 Pro SSD
  • 2x Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2)
  • AOpen ES45F Case & PSU

Would you say that it'd be safe to risk entrusting the job to the PSU which comes with the Aopen case?

Cheers

HaX
 
I would expect so; you're not going to be drawing more than 100w even at full load with that system. It turns out the PSU in mine is actually 220w (it's one of these), so I doubt you'll have any problems as long as you don't want to add a graphics card.

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you've gone for a Z77 board instead of a cheaper H77 one?
 
Saundie said:
I would expect so; you're not going to be drawing more than 100w even at full load with that system. It turns out the PSU in mine is actually 220w (it's one of these), so I doubt you'll have any problems as long as you don't want to add a graphics card.

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you've gone for a Z77 board instead of a cheaper H77 one?
Click to expand...

I didn't realise you could get a cheaper variant of the chipset, though now I do, I have my eye on a nice Asus MATX board.

Any suggestions for a cheap but half decent MATX case and a reasonably priced PSU which won't blow my components away ? :D

@HarryPainful - Thanks, looks like a good deal, though looking to go for something quiet with an SSD.
 
HaX said:
Any suggestions for a cheap but half decent MATX case and a reasonably priced PSU which won't blow my components away ? :D
Click to expand...
Personally I'd pick up the cheapest M-ATX case that doesn't look garish (a low end CoolerMaster or something) and a low end PSU from a reputable brand (this for example). You're not going to draw more than 200w even if you absolutely hammer the system, so there's no need for high end PSU; you just want something stable and relatively efficient. If you can stretch to it, a higher efficiency PSU might be worthwhile - Antec do a "platinum" rated one for £54, though I imagine it'd be a while before the electricity savings pay for the difference!
 
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