CPU for Hyper-V work, multiple machines?

[Shyatic]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of looking for a CPU/Motherboard combo that is STABLE and RELIABLE, and does Hyper-V really well. I am going to put Server 2008 on the box, and host a Win7 Media Center box that will be my DVR (combined with Ceton cards), along with a domain controller, possible SQL server and some other stuff for development/testing/learning.

I'm open to any ideas, I'm guessing I need more cores but I don't want to spend a lot of money if I don't have to.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[MisterMac]

Depends on the budget doesn't it?


I doubt any of the services listed will at any point monster drain any modern CPU.
Thus most decent cores for the price, seems best option.

Either 2600k or X6 phenom price wise.


If you want more bang you can probably get a decent X58 board and a 6 core 1366 beast (or 3930k/3960X).


If you just got thousands of dollars lying around, id get some of the cheap Westmere-EX 8 Core E7's Xeons.

Some should be fairly close to the thousand mark(3960X/980X/990X).
And if you spend that anyway, why not get some real cool punch

 

[Zstream]

I have multiple X6 CPU's in my lab. They work great and are at a very good price. Well the 1055T's that is.

 

[blckgrffn]

With the Centon do you need to get VT-D or whatever the virtualization tech is that allows you to allocate a device to a VM?

If so, stay away from the "k" series processors from Intel as the don't have it and make sure the motherboard supports it as well. AMD is nice that way, CPU support is the same across the board it just comes down to motherboard support.

And you do mean Hyper-V 2008R2 SP1, right?

 

[nenforcer]

You have to be very specific about which motherboard you purchase from Intel even after you purchase a non-K Sandy Bridge Core i7 2500 or 2600.

Since Virtualization acceleration (VT-D, TXT) is generally the domain of Intel Xeon server chips you are limited to the "Q" series of motherboards from Intel for consumer setups, i.e. Q67.

Do your homework before making any purchases.

 

[GDoes]

With the Centon do you need to get VT-D or whatever the virtualization tech is that allows you to allocate a device to a VM?

If so, stay away from the "k" series processors from Intel as the don't have it and make sure the motherboard supports it as well. AMD is nice that way, CPU support is the same across the board it just comes down to motherboard support.

And you do mean Hyper-V 2008R2 SP1, right?

That is not correct:

The “K” designation of the chip means that its core multiplier is unlocked, and can thus be overclocked.

http://ark.intel.com/products/63697/Intel-Core-i7-3930K-Processor-%2812M-Cache-3_20-GHz)

The i7-3930K includes both:

A. Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
B. Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

 

[blckgrffn]

That is not correct:

The “K” designation of the chip means that its core multiplier is unlocked, and can thus be overclocked.

http://ark.intel.com/products/63697/Intel-Core-i7-3930K-Processor-%2812M-Cache-3_20-GHz)

The i7-3930K includes both:

A. Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
B. Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Hah, jokes on you, first spin of SB-E doesn't have VT-d enabled due to a silicon bug

That the K designation means that they have a upwards unlocked multiplier is totally irrelevant to the topic.

And on regular SB, the K series doesn't have VT-D where as the non-k versions do. So... yeah... as of right now, I am in the clear with a correct answer

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?277027-SB-E-Broken-VT-d-in-C1-stepping <-- first google result for me.

 

[mrjoltcola]

Actually, believe it or not, Intel is telling customers that even first stepping of SB-E does have VT-d capability, and just needs a BIOS update to use correctly. This goes for 3930K and 3960X. The 2500k and 2600K chips do not have the capability period.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Hah, jokes on you, first spin of SB-E doesn't have VT-d enabled due to a silicon bug

That the K designation means that they have a upwards unlocked multiplier is totally irrelevant to the topic.

And on regular SB, the K series doesn't have VT-D where as the non-k versions do. So... yeah... as of right now, I am in the clear with a correct answer

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?277027-SB-E-Broken-VT-d-in-C1-stepping <-- first google result for me.

OUCH! :thumbsup:

 

[blckgrffn]

Actually, believe it or not, Intel is telling customers that even first stepping of SB-E does have VT-d capability, and just needs a BIOS update to use correctly. This goes for 3930K and 3960X. The 2500k and 2600K chips do not have the capability period.

Nifty... well, that would be pretty nice. The x79 platform is pretty disappointing anyway so it's nice to know that isn't hanging over their heads as well.

Not saying SB-E processors are anything less than beastly, but the chipset and its lack of RST, all native SATA 3 ports, lack of native USB 3, etc. seems a little lacking in a flagship chipset. Especially when Z68 has some of these things - and value AMD have most of the features as well.

I mean, you can basically get the same thing with a Westmere-EP Xeon (BLCK OC versus multiplier ratcheting) on 1366... they didn't even need x79 IMHO - maybe X58 should have supported 48GB of ram out of the gate and it wouldn't have even been an issue.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819117252 <-- Example bad boy 1366 CPU. I know its older (tock verus tick)... but it seems like launching with IVB-E out of the gate the same way that 1366 came out would have been preferable to this situation. I am just saying there are CPUs to bridge the gap already anyway.

But when has Intel ever seen rapidly changing sockets and chip sets as a bad thing! Suck it up and buy the newest stuff

I do think its actually pretty cool that you could have conceivably bought a 1366 mobo years ago and could drop in the processor linked to above today. Now it would have been gamble for BIOS support, but it looks like EVGAs at least support that thing. I guess it is the same as a i7-970...

 

[jsedlak]

X79, wait for 8 core chips or IB-E if you can. Though investing now doesn't seem like too bad of an idea.

 

[tynopik]

if you're going to be hosting multiple VMs on one machine, the most important constraint is MEMORY

Hence x79 boards with 8 slots look mighty appealing

 

[Ayah]

SB-E is pretty awesome for people doing memory-intensive applications. photochop/craploads of VMs, etc, etc.

Nothing like assigning 128GB of memory to a socket.

If you go dual-socket, you could probably have a ramdisk larger than the majority of SSD's sold and still have an abundance of memory.
You may need to sell an organ to pay for that many 16GB dimms though.

 

[Shyatic]

Okay, let's clarify... I want to stay pretty cheap. I figure if I have 24GB RAM TOTAL, that would be pretty good for my needs. My Windows 7 box won't need a hell of a lot, Exchange might need 8, and even then it's not online 24/7.

If I can get a non-server CPU that has 8 cores, I think it will do me just fine. What say all of you? I don't mind waiting, I'm not in any rush, and I don't want to spend an arm and a leg if I don't have to. Something cheap, simple, and reliable. That's it. Doesn't have to be fast, and doesn't have to play Crysis. Just decode bluray in a VM and that's probably the MOST I'd do.

 

[tynopik]

possibly an x58 system

$55 AR 6x4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600

$140 AR EVGA 131-GT-E767-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58

$550 i7-960