I am in the market to buy a new PC since this one I've been using is getting slower on me by the day. I want to go Xeon this time around instead of what I've always bought - Core i's.
However, the problem at hand is that I am also looking to get a server to house my 4TB+ of data that Ii currently have backed up on a Core 2 Quad PC that's showing its age as well.
I've been checking around a lot (mainly Dell Servers) and found that the R520 fits really well with the secs I am looking for in a home server. The stand-outs are that it has XEON V2 support (2-12 cores), dual CPU support and 32TB support.
That being said, I don't see me having much money after either buying a new PC or buying a server first. One or the other will not be able to be upgraded as I would like since currently the price for the PC desktop (Dell Precision T1700 SFF Workstation) would be around ~$1,200 but only if Intel is coming out with more V3 versions like they have for the V2 (12+ cores) since they only have 4/8 cores right now. And the Dell server (PowerEdge R520 rack server) would be around ~$1,500. Needless to say i don't have ~$2,700+k to spend in order to get both like I would like.
So the question at hand is - if I go for the PowerEdge server then is it possible (and a good idea) to use that as well for my desktop pc? I want to run the VMWare ESXi and have about 4 Windows Server 2012 R2's running with 2 CPU's/4-8GB ram each. For the desktop portion I would have 4 CPU's and 16-24GB ram. Problem being is that I am new at the ESXi setup so I do not really know how one works all that well (aside of viewer YouTube videos of it being installed and all).
- Is this a good idea?
- Can the Xeon v3's motherboard also support V2 CPU's?
- I know I would need a long HDMI cable to go from my server to my desktop screen along with extended/repeater USB cable(s) for the keyboard/mouse/etc.
- Is it possible to view my desktop using the graphics card on the server (that's also being shared (I guess?) with the other VMs? Or can i have the other VM's share the on-board graphics card?
- Would the server take any type of "hit", slow down, screen lag (on my end) or degrade its performance overtime using it as well for a desktop instead of just a stand-alone server?
- Anything else I am missing/not thinking about (be it good or bad examples)
Any input would be great! Thanks!
More about :
workstation server choice question esxi