Multiple Virtual Machines build advice

asillars · 17 Dec 2018 at 14:20

Hi,

Been a while since being on here and posting. But I remember the advice always being top notch.

I am building a new PC to mainly virtual machine 5-6 running at the same time (using VMware). They will be running windows 7 and the tasks involved will all be browser based running chrome on them all concurrently.

I am going with 32gb RAM and multiple SSD's. However I am struggling to decide on CPU/motherboard options which would best suit the job.
Budget wise I would like to purchase CPU/motherboard/RAM all in for around £400. I have already purchased SSD's.

I don't game at all so GPU is not important.

thanks in advance

Nikumba · 17 Dec 2018 at 16:21

I would guess something Ryzen based for high core count, but 32Gb DDR4 wont be cheap

Or look for some older Xeon kit on ebay maybe

Steveocee · 17 Dec 2018 at 18:29

I'd probably expect you to be more in the 64GB ball park to be honest. Newer kit will use less power unless older server hardware is an option with loud noise and huge power appetite?
Reason for RAM like that is Windows in general probably should get about 4GB per install and then Chrome is renowned for eating memory so 64GB will net you a fair amount per VM and then leave a little leftover for the VMWare install itself.

What kind of CPU power do you want? Threadripper is springing to mind but as @Nikumba has said, it most likely won't be in your budget.

Cromulent · 17 Dec 2018 at 21:58

I did the same thing with VMWare Workstation Pro 15 and started with 32GB of RAM but in the end, had to upgrade to 64GB of RAM because 32GB just wasn't enough.

asillars · 17 Dec 2018 at 23:24

Jesus.. 64gb ram. Budget won't go that far.

So whats important to a cpu in a virtual set up then? More cores?

Nikumba · 18 Dec 2018 at 09:21

asillars said:
Jesus.. 64gb ram. Budget won't go that far.

So whats important to a cpu in a virtual set up then? More cores?

Normally yes, as ideally you don't want to have more virtual cores than you have physical as this can lead to VM's hanging waiting for physical access to the cores

So if you have 6 VM's and two cores per VM, plus another 2 to run VMWare your going to want 14 cores ideally so look at 16 core options

Just my opinion though

Kimbie

Armageus · 18 Dec 2018 at 09:33

asillars said:
So whats important to a cpu in a virtual set up then? More cores?

Depends what those chrome web pages are actually doing?

If it's mostly static web pages e.g. wall displays or something, then you can get away with less cores. If it's something real-time/interactive e.g. games/stock trading/etc then you are going to need more cores.

Without a bit more detail as to what exactly your doing, it's hard to give accurate advise.

Depending on your actual use case, you might not even need full VM's and could get away with Docker or similar.

asillars · 18 Dec 2018 at 11:43

thanks folks

So tasks on chrome will be trading websites.

Looking at part picker filter search. I can budget for up to 8 cores on something like a Ryzen 7 1700. Unless there are any used alternatives.