Opinions on Best CPU for VMware Workstation

[blckgrffn]

I always love random consumers trying to make suggestions for virtualization

Something with lots of cores. AMD FX-8350 or Sandy E 3930k 6 core 12 threads.

If you have the money grab the 3930k, if you dont have the money grab the 8350. gl

lulz

 

[tweakboy]

Those cards are junk. You should get at least 470mbps. Perks of not having a SATA 3.0 mobo.

 

[Johnny Ringo]

Throughput is immaterial (ie, SATA2 vs SATA3). VMs need IOPs. Save the money, buy a bigger/better SSD.

Is a 256GB drive that much faster than my 128GB Samsung 830? I thought that the Samsung 830 128GB was considered a pretty good all around performer?

The SSD benchmarks on Anandtech's site seem to indicate that they are close on most benchmark tests (830 128GB vs 830 256GB).

Any real-world performance comparisons???

It looks like I would have to upgrade to a Samsung 840 Pro to get a signifigant performance increase (and get a motherboard with SATA 3). At the present I have plenty of storage space on my Samsung 830 128GB's....so no need for actual additional storage space.

I prefer the peace of mind with the reliability of the Samsung drives...so want to stick with Samsung.

 

[blckgrffn]

Is a 256GB drive that much faster than my 128GB Samsung 830? I thought that the Samsung 830 128GB was considered a pretty good all around performer?

The SSD benchmarks on Anandtech's site seem to indicate that they are close on most benchmark tests (830 128GB vs 830 256GB).

Any real-world performance comparisons???

It looks like I would have to upgrade to a Samsung 840 Pro to get a signifigant performance increase (and get a motherboard with SATA 3). At the present I have plenty of storage space on my Samsung 830 128GB's....so no need for actual additional storage space.

I prefer the peace of mind with the reliability of the Samsung drives...so want to stick with Samsung.

I missed the part in your OP when you said you had an SSD for VMs - 830's are awesome. I was running a bunch of VMs against a Samsung 470 and on OCZ (shudders) Petrol 128GB and it worked very well. I just wouldn't sweat the SATA3.

 

[Zstream]

I don't think I would use a SSD for VM's. Granted it will be fast boot and launch of applications but most people are using a VM server to test or to launch a few windows OS'.

An average write is around 10GB a day, if you multiply that by x5 that is a bunch of stress to put on a consumer grade ssd.

 

[blckgrffn]

I don't think I would use a SSD for VM's. Granted it will be fast boot and launch of applications but most people are using a VM server to test or to launch a few windows OS'.

An average write is around 10GB a day, if you multiply that by x5 that is a bunch of stress to put on a consumer grade ssd.

That's the whole point in having an SSD, isn't it? To use it?

If installing the OS and configuring it is 90% of the time you spend with your VM, then an SSD makes even more sense as it might knock down install time by 50-100%. Or more.

I spend my time working with my VMs - they have databases that do large imports, have tens of thousands of rows, etc - having an SSD to make the VM(s) much more responsive is the point.

Just don't use a cheap SSD and you should be fine. And if you do use a cheap SSD, be doubly sure about your backup policy

If they wears out in a couple (5? 10?) years, I'll buy new ones. They'll be loads cheaper, bigger and faster by then.

 

[Mallibu]

Indeed. I don't think any decent SSD (Samsung 830, Crucial M4, Intel models, etc..) will have any long term problem with that writes. The whole "don't write too much on SSD's" was mostly on early SSDs, nowadays you can pretty much write whatever you want, as much as you want.

 

[Johnny Ringo]

Necro thread...

6 years later...and I am still using the same machine that I wrote about 6 years ago! I don't game (I have a PS4 for gaming), as the PC is used for general surfing, and light productivity tasks, so nothing is bogged down. This rig is almost 10 years old now, and shows no signs of slowing down for everyday tasks. I still use it for hosting small VM's as well. I also run a Plex Server on it to stream media to Roku's hooked up to 5 TV's thru the house. It just keeps chugging along.

Back in the mid to late 90's I would upgrade every 6 months. Now, I just can't justify replacing something that just works. I suspect I will be using this rig until the capacitors on the motherboard die.

I still have the 16 GB of DDR3 RAM that I bought many years ago for $25 at a Microcenter deal (I did test it out when a friend built an i5 system a few years ago). The problem is that everything new is DDR4 now!

I bought a used Dell system with a i5 3570 CPU, and 6 GB of DDR3 RAM for $60. I suspect I will put the 16 GB of ram in there at some point, and buy a few very large SSD's (the Dell is a small form factor case), and use that system until it dies. Eventually prices on 1-2 TB SSD's will be in the sub $100 range, and I can put a few of them into the Dell, whereas I would be limited to space due to the physical size of hard drives.

Until that time...the Phenom II 720 rolls onward!

The strange thing is I have alot more money to work with now and can easily afford to buy a brand new top of the line system and just choose not to, compared to 20-25 years ago (where I was young and broke)--yet still upgraded constantly.

 

[DrMrLordX]

At least it's your own thread. So yay for necroing?

The thing first to lose caps may be your PSU rather than the motherboard. But I could be wrong.

Regardless if you like VMs you have some pretty amazing options these days, should you ever change your mind about how you spend your money. I would be very disappointed if I had to use a 720 for anything other than legacy software (offline). Hell there are cell phones faster than that thing. A lot faster. A12/A12x . . . whew.