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ricky89

New Member
Mar 28, 2017
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hi!

I'm making a quote for me a server computer, here are the components:

Motherboard: Intel S1200SPSR
HDD: 4TB
Video card: Nvidia P2000 framework
RAM: 16 or 32GB DDR4
PSU: I don't know give me advice
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1270 v6
Sound Card: I need to buy an internal or external USB sound card, which do you recommend?

Is this computer suitable for vmware and Esxi virtualization?
Thank you and I await answers.
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
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Why do you need a gpu and soundcard if you want to use it as server?
Harddrive might be too slow for multiple vms.

Psu depends on the chassis that you are going to use.

Id recommend to describe the planned usage in more detail for better feedback.

P.s. welcome:)
 
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ricky89

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Mar 28, 2017
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Why do you need a gpu and soundcard if you want to use it as server?
Harddrive might be too slow for multiple vms.

Psu depends on the chassis that you are going to use.

Id recommend to describe the planned usage in more detail for better feedback.

P.s. welcome:)

I'd like to work in the virtual world I don't do too many jobs I do video editing normal level no advanced so for my needs a normal hard disk is just fine.
Of course if I have more complex and heavy jobs I have to buy a SAS hard drive.
 

Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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Ok,
So you want to pass through the gpu and soundcard to a vm for editing.
E3v6 only has 4 cores/8 threads so make sure that is sufficient, else the newer 21xx line might be better.

How do you plan to access the editing vm /gpu?
Remotely or directly attached monitor, mouse etc?
 
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ricky89

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Mar 28, 2017
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Ok,
So you want to pass through the gpu and soundcard to a vm for editing.
E3v6 only has 4 cores/8 threads so make sure that is sufficient, else the newer 21xx line might be better.

How do you plan to access the editing vm /gpu?
Remotely or directly attached monitor, mouse etc?
yes
use with keyboard is mouse and monitor
then the gpu with passthrough, then I use my server remotely via tablet
 

Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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If you want direct access to the vm you also need a separate usb controller that you pass through.
If you only want to control esxi via monitor/keyboard youdont need that, but then remote management might be better.

I assume you want the former though.

When accessing via tablet (assuming vnc/rdp) you will have limited graphics/sound capabilities
 

ttabbal

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Mar 10, 2016
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Do some reading on hardware passthrough / VT-d. It can be somewhat complex with the IOMMU groups and such. Even BIOS versions matter. I know it's not ESXI, but check the VFIO reddit group for some information to get a feel for it. I do this at home with a Linux/VFIO setup for a Windows VM. It works well, but there are a lot of possible pitfalls. I've had better luck with very recent hardware, on the consumer side anyway. Server boards might be better here.

What works well for me..
Threadripper 1920x
ASRock Taichi

This board even has multiple USB controllers in independent IOMMU groups, so you can pass through some of the ports on the board. So I send a GPU and a USB controller to the VM and Windows gets full control of those devices, along with any USB devices I plug into those 2 ports. I've also considered sending the onboard sound over, but I think I'll just use a cheap USB device instead.

If anything else is going to be running on this machine with the video editing VM, you are likely to want more cores and RAM. Keep in mind that the host OS, while lightweight, does need some resources as well. You should probably leave at least one core for the host.

I've found nomachine works better for what I do. It has better support for 3D and sound. Parsec worked pretty well too, but it was a little too "play games over the internet" focused, and a few more "business" type things didn't work as well as I wanted. Both need a fairly good network connection though. I could certainly tell the difference using wired vs wifi, and the host is on 10Gbe. :) I did it mostly for 3D CAD/CAM for CNC and 3D Printing.
 
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