System to run ~13-14 virtual machines

[Bradderz_]

Hey!!

 

So I'm currently working on a project and need a system that I'll be able to run upwards of 14 ish VMs on! Each VM will be using the internet - nothing too intensive - no gaming or anything like that. If budget is a bit too high may be able to do with 6 or 7 minimum but preferably have the 14 ish on one. 

Budget & location:

Budget is around £1600 ish hopefully including monitors but only if possible. Will be buying in Uk. 

Aim: 

Be able so smoothly run around 13-14 VMs that will all just be running internet browsers with nothing too intensive on them. 

Monitors:

At minimum 2 monitors, but 3 would be preferred  No preference for screen res size etc

Peripherals:

Sorted for peripherals

 

 

If if you need any more info feel free to ask but any help is appreciated!

[Simon771]

1'600 or 16'000?

I don't think you can get what you want for 1600 only.

[datho]

Wait for ryzen

 

[Bradderz_]

1 minute ago, Simon771 said:

1'600 or 16'000?

I don't think you can get what you want for 1600 only.

Well was hoping £1600 heard it should be feasible had one quote already but not too sure 

[Bradderz_]

1 minute ago, datho said:

Wait for ryzen

 

Well I wanted to order it within the next week as need it asap

 

[datho]

2 minutes ago, Bradderz_ said:

Well I wanted to order it within the next week as need it asap

 

I'm not VM expert but you would need an x99 mobo and in my opinion 6900k or better.

ryzen will be much cheaper

[Simon771]

1 minute ago, Bradderz_ said:

Well was hoping £1600 heard it should be feasible had one quote already but not too sure 

Well for that price you would probbably use some i7 CPU which only have 8 threads. And when you set 1 thread for each VM, you are already in a huge lack of CPU power.

I think you could maybe pull of 4 VMs for that budget.

[Guest]

Obviously sounds like it would be a pretty powerful server. Which OSes in particular are you looking to run? 

[Simon771]

1 minute ago, datho said:

I'm not VM expert but you would need an x99 mobo and in my opinion 6900k or better

Motherboard 200€, 6900k 1000€

Not to mention other components + monitors.

[Bradderz_]

1 minute ago, IAmLamp said:

Obviously sounds like it would be a pretty powerful server. Which OSes in particular are you looking to run? 

No preference really. More familiar with Windows but others are fine as long as each can just run a browser that's about it

[datho]

1 minute ago, Simon771 said:

Motherboard 200€, 6900k 1000€

Not to mention other components + monitors.

I agree with you that with that budget he can't achieve 8 VM's. In my opinion Ryzen is your best bet

[Bradderz_]

3 minutes ago, datho said:

I'm not VM expert but you would need an x99 mobo and in my opinion 6900k or better.

ryzen will be much cheaper

Well can't say I'm much of an expert on this actually never really worked with this kind of stuff. I've got one quote that reckon they can do it for about £1600 atm

[Guest]

For monitors, it sounds like for work/basic production so something like the IPS spec seems out of the view/scope. 

 

For that many VMs I would definatley recommend going with some kind of Xeon or two. 

[Cyracus]

sounds like you need a second hand dual xeon build. that's about all I can see doing this for ya

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Cyracus said:

sounds like you need a second hand dual xeon build. that's about all I can see doing this for ya

That's what I would be thinking as well, for something new it seems out of the question, but if I'm wrong feel free to correct me. 

[Bradderz_]

1 minute ago, IAmLamp said:

That's what I would be thinking as well, for something new it seems out of the question, but if I'm wrong feel free to correct me. 

 What about if I just wanted to do 6 or 7? What kind of stuff would I need for that?

[zMeul]

14VMs - you would need one core / VM; you could go with one thread / VM since you say nothing intensive, so HyperThreading can be considered

plus at least 1 CPU core for the base OS

 

not many CPUs can fit the bill

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Bradderz_ said:

 What about if I just wanted to do 6 or 7? What kind of stuff would I need for that?

Would still recommend a Xeon even for that many. Are you looking for a rackmount or just a standard PC case? 

[Bradderz_]

On another forum I've just been told this could work:

2x Xeon x5680 (£210 w hyper threading for 24 cores)

1x Intel server board S5520HC (£125)

12x 8GB ddr3 ECC £175

12x 16Gb ddr3 £350

and then 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/pfPDf8

for new parts

[Bradderz_]

2 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

Would still recommend a Xeon even for that many. Are you looking for a rackmount or just a standard PC case? 

Ideally just in a standard case but always open to suggestions aha

[NinJake]

I also say either wait for Ryzen or get a dual xeon server.

[Guest]

I'm not sure if you would need a graphics card for that many VMs or not, I'm not very well with this material. Hopefully someone else can clear that up a bit. (I'm also interested in seeing/knowing if a dedicated GPU would be necessary)

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, zMeul said:

14VMs - you would need one core / VM; you could go with one thread / VM since you say nothing intensive, so HyperThreading can be considered

plus at least 1 CPU core for the base OS

 

not many CPUs can fit the bill

Thats not how vm's work. Its just anouther process managed by the scheduler, you can run this all on one core if you want.

[Guest]

What's the maximum RAM each application/environment would take up? I'm trying to think either 16, 32, 64, or even 128

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

I'm not sure if you would need a graphics card for that many VMs or not, I'm not very well with this material. Hopefully someone else can clear that up a bit. (I'm also interested in seeing/knowing if a dedicated GPU would be necessary)

Most of the time it won't help at all. The virtual gpu for the vm's is done on the cpu.