Vmware Workstation rig

lenagh · 30 Mar 2010 at 09:56

Hi chaps,

I'm trying to spec up an old machine that I have to more comfortably run a lab at home (and do a myriad of other daily tasks including video editing / photography work) and I'm just wondering if people might be able to point me in the right direction as I've been out of the hardware loop for a while.

I'm using Vmware workstation 7 at the moment to run a couple of VM's for exam work - 2 domain controllers and a client for example. I also use workstation for various bits of linux learning andto simulate a vsphere / vcentre environment.

So really its a learning tool / exam taking machine. It started off life as a gaming rig but has developed from there.

Having a number of hard disks on different channels was my first port of call.

At the moment I have a RAID 1 320gb stripe for my OS (win7) and a seperate 80GB unit for one set of VM's. I also have another 500gb unit with some more VM's on.

I/O contention is a killer on workstation I've found. (Wouldn't we all love home SAN's).

I'm also finding the 4GB ceiling of my socket 939 board and the lowly 5600+ amd dual core to be an issue.

I'm guessing the best option for me is to find a new rig with 8GB of ram and a quad core processer.

I've been having a good read around the boards the last few weeks and the toss up seems to be between the i5 and some variation of a phenom / lesser quad on the AMD side.

I must say that AMD's price point particularly with regards memory makes it very attractive.

Could anyone point me in the right direction given my use and current rig ?

5600+ amd
4GB DDR2 PC6400 memory
320GB RAID 1 Stripe sata
80gb sata drive
500gb sata drive
Socket 939 board MSI K9N neo
8800GTS graphics card
600watt psu

Many thanks in advance.

Frozennova · 30 Mar 2010 at 10:20

What sort of budget your looking to spend. The intel route will provide a much more powerful system especially for your needs however you will pay a premium.

You can also sell your current mobo/ram/cpu as Socket 939 and DDR2 prices are high at the moment

King Arthur · 30 Mar 2010 at 10:26

I woudl suggest you take a look at our Workstation Range here, im 100% sure they will suit your needs as as they support lots of memory, new fast quad core processors and have good RAID support with very nice I/O.

If you after something a bit more special, feel free to let me know and we'll talk over email

Phil

lenagh · 30 Mar 2010 at 10:52

Hi Phil / Frozennova,

Phil, we like your workstation range here and I infact purchased a verso for our web team for their video editing. Good rig.

Unfortunatley I'm on a bit of a personal quest with this one and as a result because its coming out of my own pocket I'm on a smallish budget of 3-500.

I was hoping to gut the innards of the existing box and shoehorn a new mobo, cpu and a ram in there.

Frozennova do you happen to know what the score is with AM3 and intels sockets lifespan ? I've read that the AM3 socket might have a brighter future (e.g. 6 core units etc) and that i5 or i7 (I'm not sure which) had a bit of a dead end coming to it in terms of future options ?

Frozennova · 30 Mar 2010 at 11:34

As far as socket lifespan I'm unsure. AMD have bulldozer sometime next year and intel have sandy bridge there will takeover from the K10? And nehalem architectures however bulldozer may be released on the AM3 socket.

lenagh · 30 Mar 2010 at 11:50

Thanks matey, I guess the trick I'm trying to pull of is longevity. Hence the questions re: the socket lifespan. Its always nice to have a few options with upgrades.

However in all my time of playing the hardware game I confess I've always ended up gutting a box by the time the need for an upgrade arises rather than swapping individual components.

The 5600+ is an oldish setup but unless your playing games its limitations have rarely shown up. Its only now with the extra memory requirements and the concurrent running of OSes that its starting to show its age.

Just having a look around would this arrangment be a suitable candidate ?

The GX chipset being useful for the 6GB sata and some USB 3.0 ports.

The i5 would probably be my choice otherwise, if I can clear up this socket lifespan detail.

The new i5's seem to be the inheritor of the Q6600 crown. One of my lads runs several esx white boxes on q6600 in his own lab flawlessly for several years, and they show no sign of growing old anytime soon.