Running multiple VMs and playing games

[cablechewer2]

I can work from home a couple days per week. However when I do I need a machine that can handle running 3-10 Windows Server VMs (it varies with the course I am teaching and the scenarios I need to repro). In my spare time I like to play games (most are older, but there are 2 DX9 titles coming out next year I have my eye on).

I had been hoping that RAM capacity/dollar and motherboard RAM capacities would have grown more than they have. A quick search of the internet shows that the largest economical modules are still only 1GB. Most motherboards have only 4 DIMM slots (with a max of 4 or 8GB).

My current home lab is an Athlon 3500+ (939) with 4GB of RAM and it crawls when I get the 5th or 6th VM started. This system was meant to be a temporary bandaid to get me through until I could get something with more RAM and multiple cores.

At work I use up to 5 lab machines (3 of them dual core) and at home I try to get by with just one.

Does anyone have any recommendations on the best way to improve my situation? I can still get a 939 dual-core, but I am not sure it will do enough because my biggest shortage is RAM.

My budget is only about $2000 plus the video card (where I plan to spend $300-500 to get something I can use for several years).

Should I plan on buying 2 lesser systems or waiting for the quad-cores and RAM to come down in price? If I wait 6 months I anticipate my budget growing by about $1000. Of course the boss isn't willing to help by letting me expense any of this because working from home is a priviledge, not an official company benefit. I definitely do not have the budget to get real server hardware for this.


Thanks

Cablechewer

BTW, I can't keep the existing 3500+ machine forever. I have promised I would give it to my Aunt for her and her kids (she is a single mother) so I can only keep it until August 07 (at the latest)

 

[Melodramen]

Why recreate at home what you already have at work? Get some used Sonicwalls or equivalent, or the software openVPN, and setup a vpn to your work computers. Remote in using VNC or whatever VM console program you have. As long as you have a decent internet connection at both ends, and you're not trying to watch video on the remote computers, you should be fine.

Then use your money to get a kick ass gaming system now and give your old one to your grateful aunt/cousins.

Let me know if you need any help with the VPN setup or firewall issues.

 

[derek2006]

2 lesser systems would probable be better. Get one that can do your future DX9 games and some VM's and then another one that would be just VM. Like one would have integrated graphics and the other a good graphics card.

 

[elpresidente2075]

I agree with the vpn idea. Just make sure to have a decent amount of upload bandwidth from home. It'll be difficult to do the work you need to do with 256k up or less.

Then, of course, buy yourself a decent gaming system. Nothing too fancy, you only have a grand, and then give the old compy to your aunt.

BTW, August 07 was more than a month ago...

 

[derek2006]

BTW, August 07 was more than a month ago...

I'm pretty sure it's still 2006.

 

[elpresidente2075]

Sorry, my bad... I was thinking August 07, 2006... I guess I wasn't paying attention too closely...

In that case, the OP could wait a few (read 10) months to make a decision on hardware, as the current crop will be a long way gone, and the new generation will be here. 1000 bucks will go a lot farther then rather than now.

 

[cablechewer2]

Thanks everyone.

Yes the extra budget will go farther in 10 months than it will today. You just have to avoid getting trapped in waiting for those 10 months to arrive or you never upgrade anything because the money always goes farther in another 10 months

The VPN is semi-practical. I can already VPN to those boxes that are on the corporate net from my laptop. I can't do it from my desktop machine because it can't pass the corporate security checks (it doesn't have a machine account in the domain, run the specified A-V and I won't allow my IT department to run their scripts on it).

I have never worked with professional firewalls (just the small residential ones). Without knowing more about them my first concern is that the IT department might view them as violating security. I assume they would also need their own connection to the internet, but that is not a possibility because the IT department controls all phone and network connections. That ground isn't worth treading.

I think my best bets are patience (not something I am always good at) and seeing what deals I can get on a couple of lesser systems over the next 1-2 months.


Cablechewer

 

[Naw-yi]

this could be the cpu to start a new build:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819117071