building a pc to study for MCSA and other certs

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AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8350FRHKBOXModel #:FD8350FRHKBOXItem #:N82E16819113284Return Policy:CPU Replacement Only Return PolicyIn Stock
$199.99

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ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOSModel #:M5A97 R2.0Item #:N82E16813131873Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn Stock
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G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL10Q-32GBXLModel #:F3-12800CL10Q-32GBXLItem #:N82E16820231490Return Policy:Memory Standard Return PolicyIn Stock
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Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)Model #:SV300S37A/120GItem #:N82E16820721107Return Policy:Limited Replacement Only Return PolicyIn Stock
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Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare DriveModel #:ST1000DM003Item #:N82E16822148840Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn Stock
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COOLER MASTER Elite 431 Plus RC-431P-KWN2 Black Steel Body (0.5mm SECC), ABS plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer CaseModel #:RC-431P-KWN2Item #:N82E16811119256Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn Stock
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CORSAIR CX750M 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power SupplyModel #:CP-9020061-NAItem #:N82E16817139051Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn StockMail in Rebate Card

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LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEMModel #:iHAS124-04Item #:N82E16827106289Return Policy:Standard Return PolicyIn Stock
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$932.91

the above is the pc i am looking to build to be able to handle all the VMs and everything i will need. It will stricly run VMs and the base os will be either Windows7 64 pro or server 2008 R2. any reccomendations would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

Krunchi

Looks fine the CPU support's Virtualization add a video card and you have a decent gaming setup.

Only thing I would do is add maybe one more SSD I have found on my VM's that running anything over 2 or 3 VM's and you see a little performance hit. If you add another SSD you free up some I/O on the drives and get better performance other than that it looks solid.

whotime

krunchi

thank you on that i will look at adding a second ssd. would i raid those? on the video card i already have a current one but i play zero games so not to worried about graphics.

cruwl

32Gb of ram maybe over kill, but thats up to you lol. Other then that it looks pretty good. Is this stricly going to be for labbing? or will it also be your desk top?

if its only for labbing you might as well just install server 2k8 r2 and run hyper-v. Thats what I did. That way you get more hands on with server 2k8. My lab box is a phenom II x4 at 3.2, with 8 Gb of ram, its run every lab I throw at it. Yours should have no problem I would think.

whotime

cruwl,

how many vms can you run simutanuosly?

ptilsen

It will definitely get the job done. However, IMO you have overkill on RAM and PSU and that money would be better spent on more SSD storage. If you're using on-board video and only a couple drives, 750W is a lot. You could get by on 400W, easily. At full load that system will probably not exceed 300W.

For labbing, you're unlikely to use more than 100GB or so of storage. Even if you lab everything and keep all your VMs, you're looking at maybe 200GB over a long period of time. What I would do is save $50 on the PSU, save $150 on the two TB drives, save $120 on RAM, and pick up a larger or 2nd SSD. You'll have money left over and a significantly faster lab system. You can always add in more RAM if you actually hit a limit. Those TB drives and PSU will be wasted money from the start.

The only other thing I will add is that if you're going AMD at all, shop around for something cheaper. I just put together a Core i5 system for about the same CPU/motherboard cost, and it will be faster that that. The extra physical cores are nice for labbing lots of VMs simultaneously, but realistically a Core i5 or i7 is going to be a lot faster even for most labbing. That's not to say AMD is bad or that you shouldn't use it, just that I wouldn't spend $300 on a current-gen AMD CPU & board. The only good reason to use an AMD system with the current (and last) generation is if it's a budget build, and right now this is not a budget build.

Edit: My own build is a six-core AMD with 16GB of RAM and SSDs. I have run around ten on it simultaneously without problems. I used to leave three or four running while gaming, because I would forget they were even running. The SSD is the biggest part. Any concurrent I/O will bring hard disk performance down very quickly. A good SSD can handle it very well.

whotime

ptilsen,

i agree the guys helping put this system together are my gamin coworkers.

do you have a list of what you built for that I5? also i will probably go with 16gb of memory with the option to upgrade later. if you get a chance will you post up your combo for me to look at it and see what other options there are.

just saw your edit. can you post your system configuration for me?

cruwl

My system runs 2 DCs constantly for my home domain as VMs, in addition to those ive has as many as 12 VMs running at the same time with 256-512 ram. Remember these are "LABS", not production systems. You dont need them to be given resources like a production system would.

My system also servers as my DHCP, DNS, DC, Hyper-v, Media server, File server back up server ect.
It has a 90Gb SSD for primary OS and some lab systems. The rest of the labs are on other normal 1Tb+ drives.

ptilsen

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K - Newegg.com
ASRock H77M Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

Not saying that's the best for your purposes, but just an example. I might still go AMD for a lab system, but I'd keep the cost down. I tend to look for high-rating motherboards with few reports of DoA or instability. Since it's strictly a lab system, I wouldn't even look at anything but that, SATA 3 support, onboard video, and support for 32GB in case you do upgrade down the road. You don't need overclocking or every possible port imaginable.

My specs are pretty much what I posted. I built that over a year ago, maybe two, so it's not current. The specifics don't matter too much. It comes down to 6-8 cores (AMD) or threads (Intel), 16GB of RAM, fast SSD. You could get by with even less for MCSA, maybe 8GB, four-core or even less, a single hard disk. Sticking all the extra power in there is really just to give you flexibility. I mean, I made it through my AAS and MCSA 2003 labbing 2-3 server 2003/XP instances on a Vista Core 2 Duo laptop with 4GB of RAM. It sucked compared to what a cheap desktop can do today, but it was doable.

whotime

cruwl very nice, i would be interested in seeing your setup, i am serious about building one of these systems. so you installed server 2008 r2.

cruwl

Most of the Labs in the books dont use more then 4 VMs for any practice. Its when you break away from those labs and start figuring things on on your own that you really start using more then that. Example one of my labs had 5 DCs, and additional 3 DNS servers once I got it all working they were all deleted and I start playing with other LABS i created my self.

whotime

ptilsen,

thank you i will be looking into changing my system configuration around. the cheaper i can build it would be better.

ptilsen

If I were to build a lab desktop today, I probably would use this:
AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8120FRGUBOX - Newegg.com

Core i5 will again perform better for a few VMs, but the flexibility of all those cheap AMD cores would be nice for larger MCSE Server Inf. labs.

whotime

ok that sounds like a winner, do you have a reccomended motherboard?

Krunchi

If you going to use it for just labbing just get a Dell 1950 off of Ebay like this one and you would be set at 1/2 to 1/3 of the price comes with X2 Xeons up to 96 Gigs of memory and you have plenty of room for expanding later if you need to.

I just picked up one from Craig s list X2 Xeon 4 core, 8 Gigs of ram and two 73 gig SAS drives for 200.00

whotime

hmmm krunchi, i like that idea but where would i put it? i dont have an actual rack this would go in my house

Krunchi

If you have room for a Rack you can get one that would work I picked up my Rack for $25 full Rack with Glass door fans and power strips just have to keep your eyes open and the wife happy mine was not to happy when I pulled into the driveway with it in the back of my truck she was trying to tell me other people don't have stuff like that in their house I just took her here to the CCNA forums and showed here the thread on pictures of lab setups argument was over pretty fast.

You can place it just about anywhere just keep a Temp of 65-75 and a Network connection to your LAN just RDP in and your set.

whotime

That would be a big fight for space in my house but a very interesting idea

ptilsen

Used servers can definitely be the way to go, if you have the space house them. They tend to use more power, but not enough to make up for the price difference. It's definitely something to think about.

crrussell3

Another thing to consider with used servers is the noise. If you plan on putting it in a more "common room", be prepared for your significant other to complain. You can spend a few bucks after the fact and get very quiet fans to replace them though.

whotime

Yeah I done got vetoed on the server and the space I was gonna use for it
got to love marriage