Quiet SFF for Virtual Server use
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Quiet SFF for Virtual Server use
Looking to build something easily made quiet for use as a home lab in a box - will run Virtual Server and in that, 3 servers or so and 3-4 PC's...
So, I've been thinking about a SFF case, Intel Core 2 Duo or AM2 AMD64 cpu (both support Virtualization Tech), and a MB that supports 4 sticks of RAM to allow relatively inexpensive 4GB of RAM configs. Onboard video is fine, and a single hard drive to start with room for 2 would be nice.
Any thoughts?
A starting place:
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Antec Minuet 300 Black/Silver Steel/Plastic MicroATX Slim Case Computer Case 300W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail
Model #: MINUET 300
Item #: N82E16811129013
In Stock
$76.99 $76.99
1 ASUS P5B-VM Socket T (LGA 775) Intel G965 Express Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: P5B-VM
Item #: N82E16813131043
In Stock
$132.99 $132.99
1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail
Model #: BX80557E6300
Item #: N82E16819115005
In Stock
$180.00 $180.00
2 CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) System Memory Model VS2GBKIT667D2 - Retail
Model #: VS2GBKIT667D2
Item #: N82E16820145098
In Stock
$229.99 -$15.00 Instant $429.98
1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD2500JS
Item #: N82E16822144417
In Stock
$67.99 $67.99
1 NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Silver IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM
Model #: ND-3550A SV OEM
Item #: N82E16827152060
In Stock
$32.99 $32.99
Subtotal: $920.94
So, I've been thinking about a SFF case, Intel Core 2 Duo or AM2 AMD64 cpu (both support Virtualization Tech), and a MB that supports 4 sticks of RAM to allow relatively inexpensive 4GB of RAM configs. Onboard video is fine, and a single hard drive to start with room for 2 would be nice.
Any thoughts?
A starting place:
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Antec Minuet 300 Black/Silver Steel/Plastic MicroATX Slim Case Computer Case 300W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail
Model #: MINUET 300
Item #: N82E16811129013
In Stock
$76.99 $76.99
1 ASUS P5B-VM Socket T (LGA 775) Intel G965 Express Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: P5B-VM
Item #: N82E16813131043
In Stock
$132.99 $132.99
1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail
Model #: BX80557E6300
Item #: N82E16819115005
In Stock
$180.00 $180.00
2 CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) System Memory Model VS2GBKIT667D2 - Retail
Model #: VS2GBKIT667D2
Item #: N82E16820145098
In Stock
$229.99 -$15.00 Instant $429.98
1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD2500JS
Item #: N82E16822144417
In Stock
$67.99 $67.99
1 NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Silver IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM
Model #: ND-3550A SV OEM
Item #: N82E16827152060
In Stock
$32.99 $32.99
Subtotal: $920.94
Quick question...
Are you using MS Virtual Server?
Does that support Intel VT (Virtualization Technology)
or AMD's SVM (Secure Virtual Machine Technology)?
So far, I know:
* VMware Server supports Intel VT. (no AMD SVM yet)
* Parallels Workstation 2.2...Supports both Intel VT and AMD SVM.
* Xen. (Supports both Intel VT and AMD SVM, as both companies contribute to this open-source project)...XenSource is the commercial variant.
Are you using MS Virtual Server?
Does that support Intel VT (Virtualization Technology)
or AMD's SVM (Secure Virtual Machine Technology)?
So far, I know:
* VMware Server supports Intel VT. (no AMD SVM yet)
* Parallels Workstation 2.2...Supports both Intel VT and AMD SVM.
* Xen. (Supports both Intel VT and AMD SVM, as both companies contribute to this open-source project)...XenSource is the commercial variant.
Not true, unless you install a beta service pack.Bootay wrote:Yes, using Virtual Server.
Yes, Virtual Server supports AMD and Intel VM tech.
And btw Vmware published a white paper showing that hardware assisted virtualisation with the current technologies (vanderpool) offer little to no performance improvements over software and can even be performance degrading. Intel has acknowledged this and stated that in this first generation they just wanted to build a "correct" model and didn't focus on performance. So don't get too hung up about it.
I'm running the Beta service pack - so full name is Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Enterprise Edition R2 SP1 - quite a mouthful. No problems at all, although my cpu (opteron 275) doesn't have the virtualisation stuff. And I have both VMWare Server and MS VS running simultaneously - no problems providing you don't attempt to install the remote management stuff in VMware. You might be able to do this if your host is 2003 - I think it's down to the one-website limitation of IIS in XP.
If you want to run all those VMs simultaneously then I think 4GB might be a bit small. I have 8GB on my desktop, and run a 2GB Windows Server 2003 VM along with generally 2-3 XP VMs at the same time, and often have resource hungry apps on the host (stuff like Photoshop).
If you want to run all those VMs simultaneously then I think 4GB might be a bit small. I have 8GB on my desktop, and run a 2GB Windows Server 2003 VM along with generally 2-3 XP VMs at the same time, and often have resource hungry apps on the host (stuff like Photoshop).