Cheap VM server thing?

[Tmt97]

I could use some advice. I'm trying to come up with a build that can run 4 VMs capable of basic desktop applications, web browsing, checking emails, ect... Not gaming or anything like that. I was thinking of doing something like  cross between Linus's $150 budget 8 core CPU/Motherboard build, and his 7 gamers 1 cpu build. Think that's feasible? Can I do it for relatively cheap? What should I do for video cards? Any other thoughts?

[spellmanuk]

budget?

[Tmt97]

1 minute ago, peej said:

budget?

Well I have no idea what this would cost lol. I'd like to keep it cheap as possible, but I'm not completely sure whats realistic for this, hence why I didn't give a budget. I'm open to buying used parts if that helps.

[spellmanuk]

1 minute ago, Tmt97 said:

Well I have no idea what this would cost lol. I'd like to keep it cheap as possible, but I'm not completely sure whats realistic for this, hence why I didn't give a budget. I'm open to buying used parts if that helps.

your not fussed if AMD or Intel CPU either? ill try throw a pc part picker list together 

[Tmt97]

Just now, peej said:

your not fussed if AMD or Intel CPU either? ill try throw a pc part picker list together 

Nope, AMD is fine lol.

[JefferyD90]

11 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

I could use some advice. I'm trying to come up with a build that can run 4 VMs capable of basic desktop applications, web browsing, checking emails, ect... Not gaming or anything like that. I was thinking of doing something like  cross between Linus's $150 budget 8 core CPU/Motherboard build, and his 7 gamers 1 cpu build. Think that's feasible? Can I do it for relatively cheap? What should I do for video cards? Any other thoughts?

With that kind of build grab a FX-8370/8350 and 32GB of RAM and you're off to the races.

[Tmt97]

Just now, JefferyD90 said:

With that kind of build grab a FX-8370/8350 and 32GB of RAM and you're off to the races.

So you don't think the budget dual xeon thing Linus did would help? Like I said, I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible. Also, I'm probably going for 16gigs of ram. Like I said each VM is for email, web browsing, maybe using Word. Nothing that needs 8 gigs.

[JefferyD90]

Just now, Tmt97 said:

So you don't think the budget dual xeon thing Linus did would help? Like I said, I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible. Also, I'm probably going for 16gigs of ram. Like I said each VM is for email, web browsing, maybe using Word. Nothing that needs 8 gigs.

Well 4 machines using 4GB each would be 16GB but then your original system has no memory.  So you'd have to limit each VM to 3GB each (which I guess is enough but like...  meehh).  And I don't know of any cheaper way to get as good of performance out of a sub $400 setup.

[spellmanuk]

Just now, Tmt97 said:

So you don't think the budget dual xeon thing Linus did would help? Like I said, I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible. Also, I'm probably going for 16gigs of ram. Like I said each VM is for email, web browsing, maybe using Word. Nothing that needs 8 gigs.

dule xeons for email lol youd do fine with an 8 core AMD 32gb of ram (to be on the safe side) and a couple of 750ti's at most probably like $800 ish if you wanted evething new 

[KuJoe]

For your needs you can get by with a $300 budget. Go grab a Dell CS-24 off eBay for ~$200 (less depending on the drives) and any cheap video card(s) and you're good to go. You can even skip the video cards if you don't mind using a thin client like a Raspberry Pi or something cheap.

 

If $300 is too high for you then I'd recommend grabbing 4 VPSs for a few dollars a year (more if you need to have Windows) and do it that way.

[Tmt97]

4 minutes ago, peej said:

dule xeons for email lol youd do fine with an 8 core AMD 32gb of ram (to be on the safe side) and a couple of 750ti's at most probably like $800 ish if you wanted evething new 

When I said dual xeons I meant this:

 

8 core AMD is $130 on its own without the motherboard. Something like this is $150 for both.

[spellmanuk]

Just now, Tmt97 said:

When I said dual xeons I meant this:

 

8 core AMD is $130 on its own without the motherboard. Something like this is $150 for both.

oh oh oh okay yeah i thought you were on about 8 gamers 1 cpu (cough 2) style 

[brob]

You may need a larger ssd. Don't bother with discreet gpu if gaming is not involved.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($329.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H170M-PLUS/CSM Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Directron)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($194.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($127.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($43.26 @ Mac Mall)
Total: $796.12
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-20 22:25 EST-0500

[Tmt97]

27 minutes ago, brob said:

You may need a larger ssd. Don't bother with discreet gpu if gaming is not involved.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($329.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H170M-PLUS/CSM Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Directron)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($194.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($127.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($43.26 @ Mac Mall)
Total: $796.12
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-20 22:25 EST-0500

Holy shit dude $796? It was mentioned above that I could get an 8 core AMD cpu for $130, and if I went the intel route I could get used dual quad core xeons and a motherboard for $120, but your suggesting a cpu for $329??? Then 32gigs of ram(8 gigs per person)? And a SSD for over $100? You did read my post in which I explained that this needs to be a budget build and each VM would only be used for web browsing, checking email, and maybe word processing right? Please explain yourself lol. If you really think I need this expensive of hardware to do such simple tasks then I'd really like to know why, because it might seriously change my plans if your right.

[brob]

4 hours ago, Tmt97 said:

Holy shit dude $796? It was mentioned above that I could get an 8 core AMD cpu for $130, and if I went the intel route I could get used dual quad core xeons and a motherboard for $120, but your suggesting a cpu for $329??? Then 32gigs of ram(8 gigs per person)? And a SSD for over $100? You did read my post in which I explained that this needs to be a budget build and each VM would only be used for web browsing, checking email, and maybe word processing right? Please explain yourself lol. If you really think I need this expensive of hardware to do such simple tasks then I'd really like to know why, because it might seriously change my plans if your right.

I did read the OP. I just think it is unrealistic to expect to build a usable system based on the outline. CPU is rarely a bottleneck in vm environments, especially as described in the OP. In fact I suspect that the i7 could be dropped to an i5 without significantly impacting the user experience. The true bottlenecks tend to be memory and storage bandwidth. I know 32GB is overkill. (But it is not 8GB per vm. One does have to allow a certain amount of memory for the supervisor environment.) The problem is that 16GB is, IMO borderline. What I suggested works out to less than $200 per vm. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

 

What you might do is setup some vm on your desktop. See what performance is like.