Complex requirement for new system. Recommend/Critique

[dangdang]

1) Used for:
Would like to run multiple VMs simultaneously for training purposes like SharePoint 2010 WFE, SharePoint 2010 Index, SQL 2008, Windows 2008 Active Directory Server
Light Gaming - Would like to play COD MW3 & GTA IV even thou my wife hates it :sneaky:
Encoding personal videos from MOV to AVI using mencoder

2) Budget: $1000 ~ $ 1200

3) Country: Canada maybe US (Newegg.com)

4) Brand preference: None

5) Overclocking: Little bit.

6) Resolution for gaming: 1080P.

7) Plan to build: July 2011

8) Current selection:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K

CPU HEATSINKS: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4

PSU: Corsair Professional HX750W

MOBO: ASUS P8Z68-V

RAM: 2 X G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM

Display: Dell U2311H

HD : Existing WD Black 640 GB

Questions:
Do I need i7 2600K for Hyper-V?
Different heatsink?
Is PSU good enough
RAM, is 16 GB enough or should I get 32 GB
GPU???


Upgrading from my DEC 2004 build as below
Case: Antec Sonata Quiet Chassis Atx 3x5.25 6x3.5 Piano Black 380w Truepower $128.80
Cpu: Intel Pentium 4 540 3.2ghz $296.84
Mobo: Asus P5gd1 $158.70
Gpu: Chaintech Se6600gt $279.40
Sat Card: Wintv-Nexus-S Satellite Tv Pci $225.12
Ram: Corsair Value Select Dual Channel 1024mb Kit Pc3200 Ddr $209.98
Dvd: Nec Nd-3500a Dvd+-Rw 16x4x16 Dual Layer+R $94.01
Hd: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200gb Sata Hard Drive 8mb 7200rpm 8.5ms Oem $163.30


Would I be able to use the Antec Sonata case from my old build or rather buy a new case for around $100?

 

[dma0991]

No you don't have to get the Core i7 2600K as the Core i5 2500K supports VT-x but the Core i5 2500 supports both VT-x and VT-d. :hmm:

The Hyper212+ has always been a choice for cheap cooling performance so not necessary to change it to another if aesthetics is not an important factor. The PSU is good for just about any single card single GPU solution but if you're not looking for a dual GPU or a Crossfire/SLI configuration, you could drop it to a cheaper 500-650W PSU depending on the GPU you're getting.

RAM capacity is dependent on your regular usage but I think 32GB is way overkill IMHO as I have yet to see a single 8GB RAM stick to occupy 4 DIMM slots for 32GB. A GTX570/GTX580 or HD6950/HD6970 should be sufficient for most games out there but also depends on how much you're willing to spend on a GPU. If your case supports the ATX size of the motherboard and is wide enough for the Hyper212+, you could reuse the old casing.

 

[dangdang]

Great Recommendation :thumbsup:

Q) Would the following be enough to play COD MW3 & GTA 4 or similar FPS games at 1920X1200?

XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770

Or I should get Radeon HD 6870 ~$200

Thou gaming is not very important for me.

Q) Are 34nm 120 gb Vertex 2 still available?

 

[mfenn]

You don't really need that much RAM when running lightly loaded Windows VMs under Hyper-V. Page fusion (or whatever MS's marketing word is for it) will cause the 2nd and 3rd VMs to not take that much additional memory. That being said, 16GB is so cheap that you might as well.

As for the rest of the build, you're wasting money where it doesn't matter.
- CPU: Fine
- HSF: Fine
- PSU: Way overkill. If you go with the 5770 (see below), then the 430CX is more than sufficient.
- Mobo: Unnecessary for light gaming and mild overclocking. Here's a combo deal with the i5 2500K and GA-Z68A-D3H
- RAM: No need to spend extra for DDR3 1600. Get two of these Mushkin DDR3 1333 8GB kits instead.
- Monitor: Very good
- GPU: The 5770 is fine if you're OK with turning down the detail levels
- SSD : OCZ "2" series drives are very iffy on the flash. I'd get something where it doesn't matter as much like the Intel 320

 

[dangdang]

Based on both mfenn and dma0991 recommendation, I can basically get the following

CPU + MOBO: $370 ~ $400
RAM: 16 GB $130 ~ $150

Q) Would I be able to use existing PSU, its Antec 380w Truepower (6.5 years old).

Q) Postpone SSD until its $1 per GB and more stable or get 60GB SSD for ~$120

Cheers!

 

[mfenn]

Which PSU and mobo and which RAM are you taking about?

Q1. You'd probably be fine if you get a 5770
Q2. I'd say get the SSD now. It's a nice leg up.

 

[pitz]

Sounds just fine. You might want to get one of the Asus Q67 motherboards (ie: P8Q67) simply to get VT-d capability (might be useful for future VM work), and the Intel NIC (for VMware...). And of course a non-K CPU (though you will have to give up overclocking)

Especially since you have that PCI sat TV tuner, which may not work too well in a virtualized environment unless it has direct VT-d hardware mapping.

BTW, in Canada, what exactly do you use the DVB sat card for? Can you receive free TV channels on it from sattelite?

 

[dangdang]

Thanks everyone.

Yes, I used to get Sat channels before Bell/DishNetwork Nagra 3 encryption just as a hobby. It was more pain to get it working than actually enjoying the channels. Now I just share :sneaky:

I am unable to finalize on MOBO and SSD.

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K (Finalized)
RAM: 2 X Mushkin DDR3 1333 8GB kits (Finalized)
HSF: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4
MOBO: Z68 with Intel NIC??
SSD: ??

 

[mfenn]

This Intel BOXDZ68DB has an 82579V, which isn't half bad. As for the SSD, if you're looking in the $120 range, consider the 60GB Agility 3.

 

[dangdang]

Awesome :thumbsup:

Can't wait to have the new PC

 

[Wanescotting]

1) Used for:
Would like to run multiple VMs simultaneously for training purposes like SharePoint 2010 WFE, SharePoint 2010 Index, SQL 2008, Windows 2008 Active Directory Server
Light Gaming - Would like to play COD MW3 & GTA IV even thou my wife hates it :sneaky:
Encoding personal videos from MOV to AVI using mencoder

2) Budget: $1000 ~ $ 1200

3) Country: Canada maybe US (Newegg.com)

4) Brand preference: None

5) Overclocking: Little bit.

6) Resolution for gaming: 1080P.

7) Plan to build: July 2011

8) Current selection:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K

CPU HEATSINKS: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4

PSU: Corsair Professional HX750W

MOBO: ASUS P8Z68-V

RAM: 2 X G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM

Display: Dell U2311H

HD : Existing WD Black 640 GB

Questions:
Do I need i7 2600K for Hyper-V?
Different heatsink?
Is PSU good enough
RAM, is 16 GB enough or should I get 32 GB
GPU???


Upgrading from my DEC 2004 build as below
Case: Antec Sonata Quiet Chassis Atx 3x5.25 6x3.5 Piano Black 380w Truepower $128.80
Cpu: Intel Pentium 4 540 3.2ghz $296.84
Mobo: Asus P5gd1 $158.70
Gpu: Chaintech Se6600gt $279.40
Sat Card: Wintv-Nexus-S Satellite Tv Pci $225.12
Ram: Corsair Value Select Dual Channel 1024mb Kit Pc3200 Ddr $209.98
Dvd: Nec Nd-3500a Dvd+-Rw 16x4x16 Dual Layer+R $94.01
Hd: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200gb Sata Hard Drive 8mb 7200rpm 8.5ms Oem $163.30


Would I be able to use the Antec Sonata case from my old build or rather buy a new case for around $100?

I have that same corsair psu.......it is nice

 

[Ghiddy]

At a minimum I would get at least a big enough SSD to house the host OS and VM software installation. Plus any common apps like internet browsers, office apps, etc. If you could afford it, SSD for the guest VM data files too, but I don't think that's in your budget so I'd put the VM data files onto cheaper spindle disks.

 

[dangdang]

I would get 60 GB now for $120. Once SSD is $1 per GB then add 60 GB more and then keep on adding SSD storage as needed. :thumbsup:

 

[dclive]

I would break this up.

I would get a cheap whitebox PC with 8 or 16GB of RAM, slap ESXi on there, and go to town with VMs. It's all free (speaking of the ESXi side) and very easy to set up.

Then you'll never worry about hurting your VMs when you change your gaming PC, and you can do nice things like running Windows Home Server on the ESXi box and back up (and restore) the gaming PC if you ever needed to do so, from bare metal.

Then get a gaming PC separately. I'd get a basic motherboard, 8GB or so of RAM, an nVidia 460 1GB, 400W or so PSU, and you're off to the races. Spending more, aside from on the graphics card, usually hits diminishing returns very, very quickly.

 

[Ghiddy]

What is meant by backing up "from bare metal"?

 

[dclive]

What is meant by backing up "from bare metal"?

More 'restore from bare metal' - in other words, if your hard drive dies, then just slap a new one in and then you can restore from there via a boot CD - you don't need to install an OS first ,then install a backup program, THEN do the restore.