Computer Lab With VMWare

[Willdabeast314]

Hello!

I am trying to build a small computer lab for the after school program at my church. I decided to try to use a single server running 9 virtual desktops on 9 23" monitors placed around the room. I have a $7,000 budget, and threw together the following part list:

ASAP Server Parts List

 

I recently saw Linus' video where he showed that i7's were much more capable at running his video processing operation than his 22-core Xeons. I understand that one isn't simply better than the other, but I would like some feedback on this parts list. Are these Xeon processors the best processors for the job? I don't plan on doing any intensive work on any individual station: just basic flash games, web browsing, simple typing applications, and maybe Portal. However, with the other costs of making the lab, I'm pretty much out of space in the budget, so I would like to keep the price pretty much the same, if possible.

Thank you guys so much! Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

[Luc401]

What i have been experiencing with during my summer employment is using a raspberry pi to remote into a VM, ive done this through citrix and RDP. Ive only done this using Nutanix servers, but your build looks good enough. My question is how are you going to provide sound and video to all the monitors? Are you going to do one of those awful setups (IMO) that linus did in 7 gamers 1CPU?

 

I could go on for hours talking about how to do what you want to do properly, but sadly im not getting payed thousands of dollars to so theres my quick rundown.

 

GL!

[Willdabeast314]

6 minutes ago, Luc401 said:

What i have been experiencing with during my summer employment is using a raspberry pi to remote into a VM, ive done this through citrix and RDP. Ive only done this using Nutanix servers, but your build looks good enough. My question is how are you going to provide sound and video to all the monitors? Are you going to do one of those awful setups (IMO) that linus did in 7 gamers 1CPU?

 

I could go on for hours talking about how to do what you want to do properly, but sadly im not getting payed thousands of dollars to so theres my quick rundown.

 

GL!

Thanks so much for your feedback! As for the audio, I found some relatively cheap headsets that got decent reviews. The way the zero-clients work, supposedly, is by the main server pushing the desktop out through an Ethernet cable, which is split into USB, audio, and video.

[Willdabeast314]

Just now, wrathoftheturkey said:

What are the computers for?

They are for basic web-browsing, flash games, simple applications like typing programs or Rosetta Stone, and possibly a few instances of Portal.

[Willdabeast314]

Just now, wrathoftheturkey said:

Then just build separate machines m8

What are the advantages of separate machines?

[SCHISCHKA]

26 minutes ago, Willdabeast314 said:

Are these Xeon processors the best processors for the job?

As its a church lab not running a mission critical 24/7 corporate database i don't think you need a Xeon. I see you haven't gone for ECC RAM, another reason you may not need xeon.

26 minutes ago, Willdabeast314 said:

I don't plan on doing any intensive work on any individual station: just basic flash games, web browsing, simple typing applications, and maybe Portal

16 Xeon cores /9 = 1.7 cores per desk not counting server host

16GB of GPU = 1.7GB GPU RAM per desk

3.5Gb ram per desk. 

You can find cheaper keyboards.

Your base price of monitors, keyboards, mice, headphones is $2208.24

that leaves you $532 per desk to spend on your server + thin clients or 9X full computers.

I don't like the lag for office applications in thin client solutions and I wouldn't use it for gaming. IMO I don't know if you need a central server & storage

[Willdabeast314]

Just now, SCHISCHKA said:

As its a church lab not running a mission critical 24/7 corporate database i don't think you need a Xeon. I see you haven't gone for ECC RAM, another reason you may not need xeon.

16 Xeon cores /9 = 1.7 cores per desk not counting server host

16GB of GPU = 1.7GB GPU RAM per desk

3.5Gb ram per desk. 

You can find cheaper keyboards.

Your base price of monitors, keyboards, mice, headphones is $2208.24

that leaves you $532 per desk to spend on your server + thin clients or 9X full computers.

I don't like the lag for office applications in thin client solutions and I wouldn't use it for gaming. IMO I don't know if you need a central server & storage

Thank you so much for your feedback! I will definitely take this into consideration. The server solution didn't turn out to be the amazing money-saving solution I thought it would be.

[SCHISCHKA]

Have a look at using 9X raspberry pi and one or two full PCs for gaming. The current model isn't a bad little Linux based web browser and media player. raspberry pi + case + power supply + SD card can be done for under $100 each. You might find through your church you can get some of these items donated. Head over to the Raspberry pi forums, they're very friendly over there and someone will be able to tell you how they set up their school/church:

https://www.raspberrypi.org