New Build - Hyper-V Server

[N31L777]

Ok...

I've done a ridiculous amount of research and now my brain is fried.

I've dumped the Bulldozer and gone back to Intel. Slightly higher priced i7 chip with all the virtualization features included, plus bigger cache.

I also found a ridiculously cheap Z68 motherboard that does exactly what I want so have put that on too.

The SSD choice is debatable, but I wanted to put something down so I then have a spec in my mind. Admittedly the M4 is more expensive (on OCUK, that is) that the OCZ offerings but meh...

Current spec is as follows.... Comments welcomed!

 

[kerrgreg]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-483-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990 would you not be better off with this motherboard and not having the hd5450? Im not up to scratch on z68 boards so maybe i am mistaken.

How about this basket save you a few ££

 

[Baggins_451]

I stuck a 2GB Radeon 6570 in my test hyper-v box last thing on Friday, the card isn't on the approved Microsoft list but option to add RemoteFX to vms was active. The event viewer also confirmed a RemoteFX connection. I'll knock up some vms and give it a go tomorrow.

 

[N31L777]

I stuck a 2GB Radeon 6570 in my test hyper-v box last thing on Friday, the card isn't on the approved Microsoft list but option to add RemoteFX to vms was active. The event viewer also confirmed a RemoteFX connection. I'll knock up some vms and give it a go tomorrow.

It should be fine mate. Most cards aren't on the approved list, and might be a pain when installing the drivers using the standard installer (especially on 2008 R2).

All you really need to do is manually point to the extracted drivers through device manager and it should pick it up and allow enabling of RemoteFX.

Official Microsoft page on it is here - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff817602(WS.10).aspx

Seems that the only requirement card-wise is that the graphics card "must support DirectX 9.0c and DirectX 10.0".

 

[MasterPlan1]

Kinda, sorta, OT... I planned on making my PC a lab\gaming machine, I noticed one thing - Virtualbox seems to "thick provision" memory - meaning my 16Gb of RAM disappears into the ether, leaving nothing for my desktop. Does hyp-v do the same, or is it more like vSphere whereby it takes what it needs, when it needs it? Just if it does, I'll reinstall my PC with 2k8r2 and tweak it to act\look more like a 7 machine.

 

[N31L777]

Update!

Ok guys. After trawling stores online I 'accidentally' purchased my CPU for this build as it was such a good deal.

I managed to pick up an i7 2600 (non-K) for £160, which isn't too shabby at all.

Also got myself an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro v2 for £15 to go with it.

In addition, the value of the Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 board for £78 is amazing, so I'm going to grab one of these as my new motherboard. Reviews seem to only have good things to say about it.

All other bits are staying the same.

 

[N31L777]

Kinda, sorta, OT... I planned on making my PC a lab\gaming machine, I noticed one thing - Virtualbox seems to "thick provision" memory - meaning my 16Gb of RAM disappears into the ether, leaving nothing for my desktop. Does hyp-v do the same, or is it more like vSphere whereby it takes what it needs, when it needs it? Just if it does, I'll reinstall my PC with 2k8r2 and tweak it to act\look more like a 7 machine.

You're allocating too much RAM to your VM, and not leaving enough for the host.

Read this guide - Link

Hyper-V will do the same if you assign too much RAM to your Guest, and don't leave enough for your Host.

With 2008 R2 SP1 Dynamic Memory was introduced for Hyper-V, which means that RAM can be allocated on an as required basis - basically you can set 'ranges' of RAM that a guest can use. Read here for more info - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff817651(WS.10).aspx

HTH

 

[Baggins_451]

Not trying to hyjack the thread but I have to say I'm very impressed with RemoteFX, didn't expect to be able to play 720p HD movies, very smooth! I got someone in another building at our site to try it and it was choppy, I guess thats the network.

Does anyone know how graphics performance scales in RemoteFX ?

I used a fairly cheap card ( Radeon 6570 ) so would I see much better performance with a better card ?

 

[N31L777]

Update for everyone - I have officially now purchased all of the individual components.


Final Spec (and costs) is as follows:-

CPU - Intel i7 2600 = £160

A bargain at this price, I don't want to overclock, and it contains ALL the extra bells and whistles when it comes to virtualization (VT-D, Hyper-Threading etc) which the K version doesn't.

Motherboard - Gigabyte Z68X-UD3P = £85

Another bargain. I spent a long time deciding the best way to go with this. This board was very cheap for the spec, and had all of the components I wanted (including more SATA-3 ports than other models in this price range), without any of the extra fluff (e.g. VGA/DVI/HDMI outputs). It's got some drawbacks (no full UEFI) but meh, that's not important to me. Plus it looks sexy as hell in black.

RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 1600Mhz x 4 = £48 x 4 = £192

I bit the bullet and got the full 32GB. Is it overkill? Maybe, but I don't think so. At such a good price from OCUK, it just means I can allocate more RAM to my VMs, which can only be a good thing. Plus it's black, and will go fantastically with the motherboard.

HDD - Crucial M4 SSD 256GB = £250

Yep - I went full SSD, and saved a bit of money off the RRP in the process. I finally chose 256GB as I don't have to worry (too much) about the size of the VMs. No RAID, so I have TRIM etc, and this got decent reviews. A bit of a luxury, but I'll be FAR happier knowing I have large VMs that boot in seconds rather than minutes.

Case & PSU - Cooler Master Silencio RC-550 Silent Tower Case and GX 650W Power Supply = £100

Seemed a good deal from OCUK. Was originally going to get the 550W, but then this came on deal of the week for the same price. Looks lovely, silenced, understated. Free fans too.

CPU Cooler - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 = £17

As I bought the CPU OEM there was no stock heatsink/fan, so I picked this up. Everyone raves about it, so I thought it was about time I saw what all the fuss was about. Cheap too.

Optical Drive - Samsung SH-S222AL/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter = £18

Was on deal of the week last week for a fair prce, so picked one up. I probably won't use the lightscribe feature, but for £1/2 more than a standard DVD writer, I just thought why not?

Total = £822



Extra bits / Bits that I might get

Mouse - My G5 is shot, so I picked up a Logitech G400. Got one for £25 ish, even though it's now on deal of the week this week! Ack

Keyboard - So damn tempted to get a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard, but I'm resisting my urges.

USB 3.0 Flash Drive - To get full use out of my new USB 3.0 slots.


Most bits I got from OCUK, expected delivery is tomorrow which is great. If I could get a component elsewhere for a noticable difference then I did. No point in spending extra for the same thing right?

I'll update again once the beast arrives, maybe even take some photos.

 

[MasterPlan1]

RAM is deffo not overkill, it's enough to work without lag. Nice box, definately envious.

 

[Saundie]

Good call on the RAM and SSD, it should make the virtual machines perform almost as smoothly as real ones. I went x79 for the potential to upgrade to 64GB, but of course that's just my own craving for obscene hardware talking

 

[waso_dude]

people saying the RAM is over kill are wrong, def what I would have done for on this. VMs love memory, more you can give them the better.

Good buy, glad you got the i7 the increase is big, only thing i might have said was try and budget for a 2011 socket system, but thats adding a lot ot the budget.

 

[N31L777]

Good call on the RAM and SSD, it should make the virtual machines perform almost as smoothly as real ones. I went x79 for the potential to upgrade to 64GB, but of course that's just my own craving for obscene hardware talking

Cheers - I thought so. It's going to last me a while, and at the end of the day it's an investment in my career.

If I had the cash Saundie - I would. I just can't justify spending that much on a CPU

 

[N31L777]

people saying the RAM is over kill are wrong, def what I would have done for on this. VMs love memory, more you can give them the better.

Good buy, glad you got the i7 the increase is big, only thing i might have said was try and budget for a 2011 socket system, but thats adding a lot ot the budget.

I was very much in the "do I get K or not" ship, but for the performance and price I can't complain. Stupidly, I'm now annoyed that I got a case with no window as this stuff will look really, really nice.

Overall system cost was cheaper than what I originally specced out and I got a better chip, motherboard, an ssd, and twice as much RAM - so I am happy with it.

To go 2011... the motherboard wouldn't have been the problem, spending a silly amount on the chip would have.