VMWare ESXi hardware compatability questions

[ajf]

I am looking at building a machine specifically for installing the free VMWare ESXi 3.5 software on so I can set up a test virtual network.

Can anyone confirm which processors are actually supported?
I was considering using either a Core 2 Quad Q8400 or on of the AMD Phenom II X4 955 or X6 1005T.

Will most motherboards be supported? Needs onboard graphics.

Probably go with 4 of 8Gb memory and a couple of striped 1Tb disks.

 

[ajf]

Thanks both.
The list is really helpful. I might look at the ML115 option too. There are a couple of specced up ones on auction at the moment too complete with hardware RAID cards.
I guess I don't NEED RAID, I just understand that the faster speeds of striping would help performance.

With multiple seperate SATA disks I assume I can just set them as different ' storage pools' - is that the correct term?

Andrew

P.S One slightly off topic question, but how do SAS and SATA differentiate? I understood that SATA can be used on a SAS interface?