recommendation: virtualization-heavy

[Goosemaster]

Trying to see if I can get something comparable to the pcs listed below.

1. Use

Education: I will need to run a variety of windows and linux VMs, in addition to VS2008 and SQL Management Studio 2008 (vista as host). I would expect to use at least 6GB (8 preferred) of Ram at peak but not all the time.

2. budget

Trying to see what I can do for $500.

3. Where:

US

4. brand preference


Intel for CPU, and video can be integrated.

5. current parts

Antec P180 Case w/o PSU

6. No overclocking planned. I might add a custom video card later. I do want it to be as quiet as possible though.

6. build date

1-2 weeks



Trying to see how well I can compete with a Dell since I haven't bought custom consumer pc hardware in ages.

Right now ebay can gibe me:

1. Dell Optiplex 960 Tower Core 2 Quad Q9550 4 Gb 1 Tb - for $670

2. OPTIPLEX 960 CORE2 DUO (3GHz) 160GB HD 4GB RAM - for $600

3. Gateway Quad Core Q9300 4GB RAM 640GB, 9800gt - for $530

(using BIN as a ballpark reference only)

Thanks

 

[somethingsketchy]

Go for the Dell Optiplex with the Core 2 Quad Q9550. It has 12MB of L2 cache which is very, very helpful when running virtual machines. The Q9300 has very little cache (3-4MB L2) so when running a lot of virtual machines the processor will be crippled. Not sure which model you have (of the three) is a prebuilt refurb, but I would go with the 1st build option you have.

1 TB for storage is nice, but a good amount of RAM will help (a lot) when you're running many VMs with 512MB each. You can always upgrade to 8GB for cheap.