Recommend desktop computer setup please

I've been out of hardware for a while and a lot of things have changed. I was thinking of getting a laptop to do this but it will be expensive. I generally use a tablet around the house so a laptop would be unnecessary for this.

Basically I want a desktop that I can use for MCSA and Cisco study and labing. I also want to use it for recording music (me and my guitar) and gaming. I would like two or three big monitors. What do you all recommend and where do I get it? Thanks!

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Asif Dasl

Yeah I'll be honest with you, it might not run at the highest detail for games. It's an entry-level gaming laptop. I just play a little Battlefield 4 every now and then which runs fine for me (it's smooth @ 1080) but there are higher GPU's available but obviously that will push the price up a lot on a laptop.

As for battery life it's a gaming laptop, so they all have a low battery life (only about 3 hours) and you can't game while on the battery because it'll use the Intel GPU instead of the NVidia GPU for gaming. But yeah it'll be fine for VMs and Packet Tracer/GNS3.

About the price, it was usually selling for $1300 so it's in or around the same price as it was when I last checked the US price.

jem7sk

Very cool Asif! Battlefield is actually my favorite game! I am personal friends with the guy who helped makeEA Sports what it is today... He gets me the games for free

I am sure it will run the game better than the xBox 360? If I would have gone the PC route four years ago instead of the xBox 360 route I would have been better off.

Asif Dasl

I hope he didn't give you C&C 4 that's all I'll say!! lol

I've no idea if games will run better than the Xbox 360 - I'm not much of a gamer and when I do it's usually on the PC. But if BF4 runs fine then I think you will be OK for most new games for a little while. Here is some frame rates for the GTX 860M.

jem7sk

Looks good enough to me

jem7sk

Asif Dasl wrote: »

I hope he didn't give you C&C 4 that's all I'll say!! lol

I don't know what C&C is?

Will I need to get Windows 8.1 Pro if I am going to run a separate server with Hyper-V 2012 R2?

Asif Dasl

Nevermind, I was only messing about - C&C 4 was just a crap EA game, I was just saying I hope he didn't give it to you. Which he probably didn't since you don't know what it is. So nevermind.

The version of Windows you get is Windows 8.1, NOT the Pro version with Hyper-V. You can upgrade to the Pro version if you want afterwards but you could use VirtualBox (which is free) for labbing Server 2012 or you could buy VMware Workstation instead. It really depends on what you want to do. I prefer VMware Workstation but that's because I use it for ESXi.

jem7sk

Asif Dasl wrote: »

Nevermind, I was only messing about - C&C 4 was just a crap EA game, I was just saying I hope he didn't give it to you. Which he probably didn't since you don't know what it is. So nevermind.

The version of Windows you get is Windows 8.1, NOT the Pro version with Hyper-V. You can upgrade to the Pro version if you want afterwards but you could use VirtualBox (which is free) for labbing Server 2012 or you could buy VMware Workstation instead. It really depends on what you want to do. I prefer VMware Workstation but that's because I use it for ESXi.

You seem to be the man when it comes to certs especially... I see you posting great info all over this site. What would you do in my place? I have the 5 year old T100 PowerEdge server that I posted above. I just put Hyper-V R2 on it but really need the client to manage it. I could put ESXi on it as well... it seems to be the same kind of Virtual Server. My goal is to get my MCSA/MCSE and then get CCENT/CCNA. I want to have the best lab possible. Having a great Virtual lab would be the greatest as I will not have to buy expensive gear that takes up a lot of space and power. So virtual switches and routers would be great for MCSE track and later the Cisco track. I did get in on the $25 GNS3 deal last year but haven't used it yet and don't really know how. I have worked with Packet Tracer before... but it doesn't let you use "Real" virtual servers on the network.

I just want to lab and learn as much as I can about MS and Cisco.

Asif Dasl

jem7sk wrote: »

You seem to be the man when it comes to certs especially... I see you posting great info all over this site.

It's nice of you to say but I could learn a thing or two even with the certs I have, which is why I tend to stick around here. Great experience and members here!

I would put the free ESXi version or the free HyperV-2012 on the server, put your VMs on the local storage and use the laptop to control the lot. If you have the money I would get VMware Workstation for the laptop (version 11 should be out soon - in the next month or two) but if you want to get a start now you could use VirtualBox until Workstation 11 is available.

There are plenty of GNS3 tutorials on YouTube but I would worry about the CCNA when you get to that. You'll get a ton of help in the CCNA forum, some great network guys over there.

What job are you looking to get in to? System Admin, Network Engineer or a little of both for now or still just working it out?

jem7sk

A little of both for now but my ultimate goal is Network Engineer. I think that is where the future is just as Cisco preaches a network of everything.. everything will be networked soon and I want to be a networking guru

However, I work in a MS/Cisco environment now and I need to brush up on my MS skills... they are more needed for the job at the time so I am going that route first as duty calls

Just curious why you prefer VM Workstation? How will it help me better?

Asif Dasl

Yeah this is where you could have a fork in the road so to speak. VMware are doing a lot of exciting things in the datacenter and they will be up against Cisco in some of what they are implementing, so it's not unusual to see higher Cisco techs with VMware certs.

So if you could learn the basics of ESXi using the free edition (which is a type-1 hypervisor) it will help you later should you go the Cisco route because there are virtual routers in use with VMware. VMware Workstation is the best type-2 hypervisor that can virtualize ESXi - I've heard you can do it on Hyper-V but I haven't tried it yet! And of course Workstation does a good job of virtualizing Windows/Linux as well, so that's why I would spend the money once version 11 is available. It'll aid with your learning.

Being multi-skilled at first is beneficial but at some stage you need to specialize in one area. Work that one out later!

jem7sk

Very cool.. Thanks!

Asif Dasl

Anytime.

nachodba

You should always purchase as much RAM as your budget will allow.

jem7sk

nachodba wrote: »

You should always purchase as much RAM as your budget will allow.

Thanks.. I am going to put my power system recommendation on hold. Everyone gave great advice but I need to do more research before I drop that kind of coin

What would you all recommend I do for now? Just upgrade the Dell PowerEdge T100 and use it only or also get a less expensive workstation/server to use with it to create a nice lab environment? I do have a six year old Dell Inspiron laptop with Vista on it too and 2GB of RAM.

tpatt100

SSD would be at the bottom of my list when it comes to prioritizing where your money goes if you are going for a desktop. I have SSD in both my desktop computers but if you are heavy into gaming I wouldn't get anything lower than a 240 GB SSD and even then use a SATa drive and move your Documents, Video, Music libraries to that drive.

As long as you don't have a ton of stuff in start up the boot times aren't that big of a deal and I rarely reboot my desktops anymore unless a patch or driver update requires it, I just put my gaming machine into sleep mode when I am done using it.