Recommend upgrade to get maximum juice / value from my AMD system

[p1tin]

Please recommend Possible upgrades to get maximum juice of this system.
Gonna purchase in USA (only via online and can't do in-store purchase) within next 2 days.
Purpose:
Will be running 2-3 OS in VMWARE workstation, Cisco UCS Simulator, GNS3 software ( not simultaneously though)
[For those who do not know GNS3 - it is a simulator for Cisco Routers used for doing practice labs for Cisco Networking Examination at Expert level.
Running 2-3 instances of router on GNS3 / Dynamips/Dynagen demands CPU cycles 'horsepower' ]

If you think it is not worth spending money on upgrading this please recommend what is the best that I can do with this sys?

Budget
Max $150-$200


My current Hardware:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 - 3.1GHz. (done coreunlocker - running as X3 as X4 is unstable and gives boot issues)
RAM: 4GB (DRAM Frequency-666.7 Mhz).
Mobo: ASUS M4A88T-M LE ( 880G chipset= HD4250). with PCI e 2.0
PSU: seasonic s12ii 520
GPU: ATI/AMD Radeon HD 7770/R7 250X
HDD : 128GB SSD (kingston) + 2 * 1TB WD blue drives

Question:

1. Should I upgrade max RAM supported to 8GB or not to bother with it and upgrade the CPU, MOBO & RAM?
2. What is the best possible CPU ( within the budget) that I can go for , in this mobo?

I request you recommendation.

 

[mxnerd]

16GB is the minimum if you run VMs. Once you run one or two VM, you will run more.

CPU should be OK since most of the time your VMs will be in idle state.

Put your often used VMs on SSD and other less used VMs on HDD and you should be fine.

 

[p1tin]

Thanks mxnerd! but just now found from Asus support site of this mobo, that max supported RAM is 8GB only :-( :-(...also I edited my post . Any new ideas are welcome!!

 

[mxnerd]

There is no way it only support 8GB unless it's hardwired to only 8GB.

I think ASUS put 8GB maximum on it is because they don't have 8GB RAM module to test it when the motherboard was released. Many motherboard vendors do this.

You either email ASUS or Google to find out the real maximum.

 

[Ken g6]

2. What is the best possible CPU ( within the budget) that I can go for , in this mobo?

Have you tried the "Core Unlocker" feature of your motherboard? You have 4 cores in your CPU; at least two of them are good.

 

[p1tin]

Yes, I have tried CoreUnlocker. Recently I had to remove BIOS battery and it has changed to default. So yes, please consider this is running as X3 and not X2.. I tried X4 but it is unstable...does not boot with Win8.1 and some strange stuff happens .so running as Tri core.
Thanks for pointing this out. I will edit my post with this detail as well.

 

[Ken g6]

Thanks mxnerd! but just now found from Asus support site of this mobo, that max supported RAM is 8GB only :-( :-(

I see, that's confusing. Newegg says 8GB; Geeks.com says 16. Looking at the ASUS page, it says:

2 x DIMM, Max. 8GB, DDR3...

I think they mean max. 8GB per DIMM.

 

[p1tin]

I checked Asus QVL ...it says 4GB per slot;
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A88TM_LE/HelpDesk_QVL/

 

[mxnerd]

I checked Asus QVL ...it says 4GB per slot;
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A88TM_LE/HelpDesk_QVL/

Your info is 2010

The newest 2015 update on that page shows many 8GB module http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM3+/M5A78L-M_LX3/M5A78L-M_LX_report_150727.pdf

The DRAM compatibility file is for M5A78L-M LX, which use an older 760G chipset.

880G chipset is newer and ASUS use the same file for DRAM compatibility.

Choose what you believe. Don't kill me if I'm wrong.

You can always purchase a new motherboard anyway if not compatible.

 

[TheELF]

16GB is the minimum if you run VMs. Once you run one or two VM, you will run more.

CPU should be OK since most of the time your VMs will be in idle state.

Put your often used VMs on SSD and other less used VMs on HDD and you should be fine.

About the RAM, I guess you are thinking about windows inside the VMs,does anyone actually have any experience in running the cisco OS or whatever it is?It might not need much mem at all,I have no idea.

CPU could be ok but then again OSes inside VMs need according VM tools to actually get idle otherwise they run 100% all the time,again I have no idea what this cisco stuff will do.

+1 for the SSD that's like the only thing that will give you a boost no matter what.
(unless the cisco stuff is small in file size)

 

[mxnerd]

Yes, I assume OP is running Windows VM. VM eats up memory quickly.

RAM is the most critical components in virtual environment. You will regret if you don't have enough memory and the system have to swap to disk.

DRAM is damn cheap now, don't skim on it.

 

[zir_blazer]

Possibily anything based on K10 45nm (Including Denebs C2) should be able to work with 8 GB DDR3 modules and achieve 32 GB with 4 * 8 GB. It worked for me.

A platform which was limited to 4 GBit DRAM ICs was Nehalem. Every now and then I see a Thread with someone having trouble using 8 GB DDR3 modules in it, and that also includes 4 GB Single Sided modules since these also uses 4 GBit ICs.