Virtual PC

[botat29]

I want to build a PC with Windows 7 or Windows 2008 r2 just to run VMware Workstation 7, it's for install guess OS ( mainly linux ) for play with them, I already have a ESXi Server and a XenServer, so this one wil l be different.

here what I think

MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3 AMD 890FX ( own)
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (own)
8 gb of DDR3 ( may be 16 )
HD ...? if I put a 500 Gb Black , can I use a 2 Tb Green for install my VM on it ? ot I'm better to install 2 x 640 Gb Black for Better performances


Another option will be to use a i7-920 I have already, but unless it will really outperform the 1090t I will prefer use the AMD one

[dma0991]

WD Green will be too slow to put your Guest OS files into it. I suggest getting a Samsung F4EG 2TB, Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB or a WD Blue 1TB would be a better choice. The F4EG is almost similar to the WD Green but it is a lot better and I am using one as well. The F3 and the Blue has good performance for its price and capacity.

[botat29]

Originally Posted by dma0991

WD Green will be too slow to put your Guest OS files into it. I suggest getting a Samsung F4EG 2TB, Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB or a WD Blue 1TB would be a better choice. The F4EG is almost similar to the WD Green but it is a lot better and I am using one as well. The F3 and the Blue has good performance for its price and capacity.

Thanks for the reply. So I will use 2 x 640 black since I have them already. I may put them in raid 0, lost the Guess OS in case of HD failure is not so important and it give another opportunity to experiment reinstall, after all it's not a production PC

[JD]

I'd probably go with 16GB of RAM since it's so cheap these days. Can never have too much RAM with VM's.

And yeah, 2x640GB in RAID0 would probably be the most ideal, but obviously back things up if you need 'em.

[botat29]

Actually I change the board and CPU; Yesterday I install Win 7 and VMware on the MSI AMD board and I fire a Windows 7 and Linux Mint as VM , and the sound was working great in the virtual Win 7 but not on Linux one, after some Google, I found the sound card do not work in VM ware and Linux. But it know it work well on my old and trusty Rampage and my i7-965, so I will go with this one for my VM and it have already 12 Gb of ram. Pair with a 4890, I think I have a good build.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by botat29

Actually I change the board and CPU; Yesterday I install Win 7 and VMware on the MSI AMD board and I fire a Windows 7 and Linux Mint as VM , and the sound was working great in the virtual Win 7 but not on Linux one, after some Google, I found the sound card do not work in VM ware and Linux. But it know it work well on my old and trusty Rampage and my i7-965, so I will go with this one for my VM and it have already 12 Gb of ram. Pair with a 4890, I think I have a good build.

Unless its some obscure soundcard I'd be surprised if it didn't work. You may need to make a custom kernel for it to work.

[botat29]

Originally Posted by enaberif

Unless its some obscure soundcard I'd be surprised if it didn't work. You may need to make a custom kernel for it to work.

from what I read it's something about Mint using ALSA for sound and VMware is using OSS and the Realtek onboard card is not list on the website os ALSA as compatible, mainly all sound card are except this Realtek, anyway it work well on my Asus board so I'm not looking more far. As for making a Kernel, well I build this thing to learn Linux, my knowledge is not to this level yet