Does my system plan sound like a reasonable solution?

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welchbm

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May 8, 2014
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Hi, i’m venturing into the computer hardware space as i’m trying to put together the optimal system for my work situation. I’ve been doing a lot of researching and reading, hoping to get the ideal configuring for my needs. I’d like to ping my ideas%2Fplans off those of you who are more wise than I with regards to this stuff. So here we go.

What I do:
I have a job that requires me to be fairly mobile but still demand computer power and speed for my impatience. I hate lugging around big laptops so i last opted for an ultrabook (XPS). It doesn’t have the power and speed that i desire. I don’t do media%2Fgraphic work or large rendering. Mostly business stuff (email, Word, PPT) and coding/programming and some data processing (XML, database, XSLT, etc). On my ultrabook, I currently use Windows 8.1 for business stuff and a Linux Ubuntu virtual machine set up for my programming work.

Here is my plan:
To get the power and speed that I want, I am thinking about setting up a desktop computer with 8 cores (AMD 4 Ghz), 16 RAM (does it matter if it is 2x8GB or 4x4GB?), 2 x 120GB SSD, 1 x 1TB SATA, NVIDIA GeForce 630 2GB. The plan is to run Windows 7 (yes i’m downgrading) as the main OS on 1 SSD, with the Linux virtual machine running Ubuntu set up on the other SSD, files being stored on the SATA. I plan to set up the Linux virtual machine with 4 cores and 8 GB RAM. With regards to my mobile abilities, I plan to purchase a cheap HP chromebook (~$300) and install Linux on it (google it) so i can run NoMachine from it in order to access my office desktop remotely.

Before I spend all the time and money doing this, does this sound like a reasonable approach? Am I overlooking or underestimating anything? Do you have any comments or suggestions that could improve this setup? I appreciate any insight and wisdom you can share with me!
 
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welchbm

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May 8, 2014
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Sorry the message I typed didn't carry over from the homepage into the thread like i expected. it is there now. thx!

 
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kyleh85

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It all depends on your budget. Figure out what you want to spend first and then figure out how you'll design your system. The setup you've proposed would be more than enough to do what you need to do. And if you're concerned with the cost there are ways you could easily cut down.

For years now, the new Intel processors have dominated over AMD processors. I would highly recommend going with the most recent intel i7 processors vs AMD. They have 4 cores, but due to hyperthreading they run 2 concurrent threads per core. I promise you'll get what you pay for in terms of processing power.

As far as hard drives go, your setup would work just fine, although if you wanted you could dual boot with Linux and Windows instead of running it on a Virtual Machine. If your concerned about performance on your VM this would be a way around that.

Also, make sure not to forget to factor into your cost the dvd reader/writer, motherboard, power supply unit, case, and your peripherals (monitors, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc.). Give me a call and I can help you pick out the right parts.
 
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welchbm

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May 8, 2014
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Budget not much of an issue. Essentially whatever I want if it is worth it. I'm aiming for ~$1500-$2000.

@aspire- I currently have an i7-3537U @2Ghz with 4 cores. I figured that since i want to run two machines in parallel (Win7,Linux), having 8 cores available so each could have 4 each. Does this not matter? Would i7 be better?

@Kyle- I like my Intel i7, i went with AMD bc a company i may use to build this computer only offered Intel in quad-core whereas they offer a AMD eight-core. But if Intel has hyperthreading, is it correct for my to interpret it that an intel quad-core is essentially an 8 core CPU? The reason i would like to virtualize is so that i can access both machines at the same time (dual monitors, linux on one screen and win7 on the other). Also when i am remoting into my desktop using my remote machine via NoMachine, I'm not sure if i can dual boot if i need access to both OS via my remote machine. If i can, i may consider it.

Thanks for your insight!!
 
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kyleh85

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Yes the I7 is considered to have 8 "logical" cores. So your computer will treat it as an 8 core processor. I think it would be more than enough to do what you want to do with your virtual machine. If you are only doing programming on it, you probably won't even need 4 cores, 2 would do just fine.

As far as memory goes, it just depends on what your motherboard can support and whatever is cheapest.
 
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