Need mobo/CPU/memory combination for virtualizaton

[jemcoNY]

Hi,
Can somebody tell me what motherboards are good for virtualization?

This is for a home PC, but trying to finish my masters in computer science.
My final project is in cloud computing, so virtualization is important. For this reason, I think that I will want to run two, three, or even four virtual machines on this computer.
I have always had entry level budget PCs. My job is system administrator and I have decided that it is time I purchased something that is a bit future proof and has some of today's features.
I have been thinking that maybe my general purpose operating system may be a virtual machine, so that I can keep a copy of it, in case of corruption. I do not know if I will go with Xen, or something else right now.

I have read all about the Sandy Bridge debacle and even though I probably will only use one or two disks, I am not sure I would want a mobo with a problem like that. I recently read about other people saying that the x58 is somehow better than the p67. I decided to post this request to see if someone can help me to find a mobo / CPU combination which is best for performance and virtualization.

Also, I read somewhere that the memory speed works with one of the CPU speeds and it works best if chosen correctly. Can someone please explain this too?

Thank you in advance,
Joe

 

[BoT]

AMD might also be a good option.
do you have a budget or budget limit in mind?

 

[alaricljs]

Let's start with: there is nothing future-proof in computer hardware.

If you want to run a number of VMs then in my opinion the best choice right now (for cheap) is an AMD X6 processor, like the 1100T which is on a special (see the Hot Deals forum) at TigerDirect. You get 6 cores, so there's more to spread around with your VMs.

If you want to go crazy and have the cash (it's alot of cash) then go with a nice Supermicro MB like the X8DT3-F ($400) and 1 or 2 6core Intel CPUs like the X5670 (at $1500 each) and a stack of RAM to match (more piles of cash).

I did something similar quite a while back and ended up with a cheaper single socket Supermicro board and a Q6600. I'll probably be upgrading this year tho.

 

[jemcoNY]

I think about $200 for the motherboard and $200 for the CPU is reasonable.
If they are less, then great.

I will look into the AMD X6 1100T and see how it looks and if I can match it up with a baseboard.

 

[alaricljs]

I've not run an AMD board in a long time, so can't give advice there. But the 1100T special is $200 shipped


Good luck

 

[eddietandy]

Sounds like you're wanting to setup a hypervisor? You should consider that the Sandy Bridge 'k' chips don't support VT-d.

If you are just wanting some extra VM's, I can tell you it works just fine for me on Sandy Bridge and Win 7 64 bit. So far I have VMware Player setup with 5 vm's: Win XP Pro SP3, Win 2008 Server R2, Fedora 14, Ubuntu 10.10, and OpenBSD 3.8. All of them run off a separate drive from my host OS. My Visual Studio and dev stuff is in the Win 2008 vm.

An Intel Xeon X3440 would be a solid choice to build around, imo. $240 with hyperthreading. You could opt for a Xeon server board or a regular LGA 1156 board.

 

[BoT]

you will also need plenty of memory. minimum 8gb, i would rather go for 12gb and up