CPU + Motherboard Advice Please

[amjedm]

Hi Everyone

I've not posted in ages (years I think...) but hope to post on a regular basis from now on...

Need some advice on upgrading a three year old computer - original thread here CPU Motherboard RAM Cooler Advice

Spec
Phenom x6 1045t
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3
16GB DDR3
Gelid Tranquillo v2
Palit NVIDIA GT 630 Graphics Card - 1GB

Current issues - a tad slow when virtualising...


Need motherboard and CPU - would an i5 be better than an AMD setup?

Budget is £300 for CPU + motherboard - suggestions please (hope to re-use existing components such as RAM, case, GPU, PSU etc.)

[abaxas]

I think you are going to have to define "a tad slow when virtualising". Loads of people use old hp microservers which are factors less powerful than this.

Where exactly is the problem?

[ASC]

I think you are going to have to define "a tad slow when virtualising". Loads of people use old hp microservers which are factors less powerful than this.

Where exactly is the problem?

Just to add that I need to run 4 virtual servers for a test lab in Hyper-V on Windows 2012 R2 with local SATA storage. As I fire up the second and third virtual servers, they become sluggish. I am planning to move to an SSD drive but would like to know if an Intel CPU will be better in this case than the old AMD one I use.

Thanks

[Bonebreaker777]

I think you are going to have to define "a tad slow when virtualising". Loads of people use old hp microservers which are factors less powerful than this.

Where exactly is the problem?

Maybe wrong configuration of the VM software, but I am curious too.

Usually more cores are better, yet again more memory is even better.

[ASC]

Maybe wrong configuration of the VM software, but I am curious too.

Usually more cores are better, yet again more memory is even better.

I am planning to double the RAM anyway but would like to buy an Intel CPU as well. Any recommendation on what Intel CPU would be good value will be appreciated.
Thanks.

[amjedm]

I think you are going to have to define "a tad slow when virtualising". Loads of people use old hp microservers which are factors less powerful than this.

Where exactly is the problem?

Maybe wrong configuration of the VM software, but I am curious too.

Usually more cores are better, yet again more memory is even better.

My brother (ASC) has replied above. It's his computer we're thinking of upgrading..

Thank you.

[DanceswithUnix]

For most VM work I would have thought that CPU would be fine. A quick look in the performance monitor will tell you if CPU, memory, hard drive or network is maxed out.

How much RAM is the machine saying it is using when you fire up all those VMs?

What are the VMs set up to do?

Is the hard disk light on all the time?

[abaxas]

I think you'll struggle to find hyper-v experts as it's not well used/liked.

Basically hyper-v is to vmware what via is to intel.

[ASC]

For most VM work I would have thought that CPU would be fine. A quick look in the performance monitor will tell you if CPU, memory, hard drive or network is maxed out.

How much RAM is the machine saying it is using when you fire up all those VMs?

What are the VMs set up to do?

Is the hard disk light on all the time?

The hard disk light is on all the time so I will try an SSD drive. The VMS are demanding e.g. SQL server which is known to use lots of RAM. I have bought more RAM as well.

[ASC]

I think you'll struggle to find hyper-v experts as it's not well used/liked.

Basically hyper-v is to vmware what via is to intel.

I take the point about VMware being a much better product so may have to forget about Hyper-V for now.