Should I get this i7 build or this Q9550 build need help.

Hi I am looking at two builds. The pc is going to be a machine for hosting virtual pcs on.

The first is a Q9550 machine and the second is a i7 920 machine. Both are spec'd from Scans website.

Which one do you think I should go for? Or what parts do you think I should change?

Thanks

Q9550

PSU : 550w Corsair VX Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, 5 year Warranty £65.03

CPU : Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, Yorkfield Core, S775, 2.83GHz, 1333MHz, 12MB L2 Cache, 8.5x, 95W, Retail £169.96

COOLER : Akasa AK-965 x3 Copper Heatpipe Cooler Intel Core2Quad/Duo with 92mm side blow fan, Intel push pin £13.79

CASE : Antec Three Hundred Black Midi Tower Case w/o PSU £45.97

RAM : 2 X 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2, PC2-8500 (1066), 240Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15, EPP £98.07

GPU : 512MB Gigabyte HD 4350, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 800MHz GDDR2, GPU 650MHz, 80 Cores, D-Sub/ DL DVI-I/ HDMI £33.32

MOTHERBOARD : Biostar TPower I45, iP45, S 775, PCI-E 2.0(x16), DDR2 1066/1200(OC)/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £101.76

CD/DVD : LG GH22NS40 22x DVD±R, 16xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, OEM £16.43

HDD : 1TB Hitachi 0A38016 Deskstar 7K1000.B, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache £57.37

Total £615.34

i7 920 Build
CASE : Silverstone PS-01B-W "Precision" Mid Tower Case Black with Window Side Panel w/o PSU

COOLER : 650W NorthQ Black Magic Flex Compact Modular PSU 80%+ Eff' 135mm Ultra Silent Fan OEM

CPU : Intel Core i7 920, D0 (SLBEJ), S1366 (B), Nehalem, 2.66GHz, 8MB Cache, 20x Multiplier, 130W, Retail

MOTHERBOARD : Asus P6T Deluxe V2, Intel X58, SLi/Xfire, Sok 1366, PCI-E 2.0, DDR3 1066/1333/1600(OC), SATAII, ATX

HDD : 1TB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

RAM : 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3, PC3-12800 (1600), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 7-7-7-20 1T

Scan Black Floppy Disk +Int Combo All in 1 Card Reader Fits 3.5" Bay USB2

£662.39

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When I set up my Server 2008 w/Hyper-V system (see specs below), I found the biggest limitation setting up virtual systems was the amount of RAM I had available. Running Server 2008 and Three virtual machines (Server2k3 x 2 and XP) pretty much used up all 8GB of RAM I have installed.

It really depends on what operations your virtual machines will be performing, but I'm leaning towards the Q9550 build.

Also, your CoreI7 build is missing a power supply, graphics card, and optical drive which will increase the total cost of the build.

-Wolf sends

------------------------------ System Specs:
Gigabyte EP43-UD3L Intel Core2Quad Q8400 8 Gig RAM
NVidia Geforce 8800GTS-640/Creative X-FI Extreme Music/Dual-Boot XP-64&Server2008
Reply to Wolfshadw

I will be running Server 2008 w Hyper V and three possible VMC's.

Scans i7 Deal yesterday included all of this for a price of £603.74

CASE : Silverstone Precision PS02B Black Mid Tower Case w/o PSU

PSU : 700W Storm LPK19-35 ,120mm Silent Fan, 24pin +4 pin +12V PSU ATX 2.2

CPU Intel Core i7 920, D0 (SLBEJ), S1366 (B), Nehalem, 2.66GHz, 8MB Cache, 20x Multiplier, 130W, Retail

MB : Asus P6T, Intel X58, S1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Triple DDR3 2000(OC),
SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX

HDD : 1.5TB Samsung HD154UI EcoGreen F2 DT, SATA 3Gb/s, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

RAM : 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3, PC3-12800 (1600MHz), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24

CD/DVD : Pioneer DVR-217FBK 20x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM - Latest Model

Scan Black Floppy Disk +Int Combo All in 1 Card Reader Fits 3.5" Bay USB2

£603.74

Reply to midi25

What's the purpose of the VMCs? Are you going to be running CPU intensive applications? Are the applications memory hogs? Are they just different testing platforms? What's the purpose?

This goes a long way in determining where you need to spend your money; better CPU or more RAM.

-Wolf sends

------------------------------ System Specs:
Gigabyte EP43-UD3L Intel Core2Quad Q8400 8 Gig RAM
NVidia Geforce 8800GTS-640/Creative X-FI Extreme Music/Dual-Boot XP-64&Server2008
Reply to Wolfshadw

No wolf.

Its just for testing purposes.

I work as a sys admin and I want to build a home pc to test out some virtual pcs.

Not all of them will be running at the same time.

And there wont be a great deal of workload on them.

Its not going to be a production machine.

Thanks

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to midi25

midi25 wrote :

No wolf.

Its just for testing purposes.

I work as a sys admin and I want to build a home pc to test out some virtual pcs.

Not all of them will be running at the same time.

And there wont be a great deal of workload on them.

Its not going to be a production machine.

Thanks

I happen to do the same thing and my system runs wmware and multiple machines just fine. even vista and win 7 guests. Either one will work great in your case. Get at least 8 gig so as to leave enough ram for your hosts and guests if you want to use vista on either, 8 gigs made a notable difference in running a guest because it could have 4 gigs for itself and run almost native speed. :pt1cable:

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by royalcrown on 06-29-2009 at 11:19:35 PM

------------------------------ E8500,GA-EP45-UD3R, 8 GIG MUSHKIN, XFX 4890 , ASUS 22", WD 640 X 2, CM 532, CM 650TX
Reply to royalcrown

I will speak to Scan and see if they can do this deal for the same price as advertised on thier site the other day. At least this way I can up the ram to 12gb if needed.

Scans i7 Deal yesterday included all of this for a price of £603.74

CASE : Silverstone Precision PS02B Black Mid Tower Case w/o PSU

PSU : 700W Storm LPK19-35 ,120mm Silent Fan, 24pin +4 pin +12V PSU ATX 2.2

CPU Intel Core i7 920, D0 (SLBEJ), S1366 (B), Nehalem, 2.66GHz, 8MB Cache, 20x Multiplier, 130W, Retail

MB : Asus P6T, Intel X58, S1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Triple DDR3 2000(OC),
SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX

HDD : 1.5TB Samsung HD154UI EcoGreen F2 DT, SATA 3Gb/s, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

RAM : 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3, PC3-12800 (1600MHz), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24

CD/DVD : Pioneer DVR-217FBK 20x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM - Latest Model

Scan Black Floppy Disk +Int Combo All in 1 Card Reader Fits 3.5" Bay USB2

Reply to midi25

midi25 wrote :

No wolf.

Its just for testing purposes.

I work as a sys admin and I want to build a home pc to test out some virtual pcs.

Not all of them will be running at the same time.

And there wont be a great deal of workload on them.

Its not going to be a production machine.

Thanks

That's what I was going for. :sol:

At this point, I'd say it doesn't really matter which build you get. Get whichever you have the budget for. My system is a dual-boot setup (Win2k8 / XP-64). The Win2k8 server is running two Win2k3 VMs (SQL and IIS) and an XP client VM. It's running without a hiccup. The processor I'm running is a step or two below the Q9550. 8 Gig of RAM lets me allocate 2GB to each VM (keeping 2GB available for the host), which is more than enough for what I'm doing (small development platform).

-Wolf sends

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ System Specs:
Gigabyte EP43-UD3L Intel Core2Quad Q8400 8 Gig RAM
NVidia Geforce 8800GTS-640/Creative X-FI Extreme Music/Dual-Boot XP-64&Server2008
Reply to Wolfshadw

Wolf...check your PM plz

------------------------------ "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliott
Reply to leo2kp

Wolfshadw wrote :

That's what I was going for. :sol:

At this point, I'd say it doesn't really matter which build you get. Get whichever you have the budget for. My system is a dual-boot setup (Win2k8 / XP-64). The Win2k8 server is running two Win2k3 VMs (SQL and IIS) and an XP client VM. It's running without a hiccup. The processor I'm running is a step or two below the Q9550. 8 Gig of RAM lets me allocate 2GB to each VM (keeping 2GB available for the host), which is more than enough for what I'm doing (small development platform).

-Wolf sends

Thanks Wolf.

I,ll go for the deal thats make the cheapest sense.

I will be running W2K8 and Exchange x64 on the host and VMCs so will need about 8-12gb min.

Thanks

Reply to midi25

royalcrown wrote :

I happen to do the same thing and my system runs wmware and multiple machines just fine. even vista and win 7 guests. Either one will work great in your case. Get at least 8 gig so as to leave enough ram for your hosts and guests if you want to use vista on either, 8 gigs made a notable difference in running a guest because it could have 4 gigs for itself and run almost native speed. :pt1cable:

Hi Royal I just ordered this spec

Just ordered the following spec

550w Corsair VX Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, 5 year Warranty

512MB Gigabyte HD 4350, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 800MHz GDDR2, GPU 650MHz, 80 Cores, D-Sub/ DL DVI-I/ HDMI

Intel i7 920, S 1366(B), Nehalem, 2.66GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, Cache 8MB, 20x Ratio, 130W, Retail, (SLBEJ)

Asus P6T SE, Intel X58, Sok 1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 2000/1866/1800, SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX

Antec Three Hundred Black Midi Tower Case w/o PSU

LG GH22NS40 22x DVD±R, 16xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, OEM

1TB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3, PC3-12800 (1600MHz), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24

Total £665.40

Reply to midi25

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Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - Should I get this i7 build or this Q9550 build need help.