Advice for Virtualizing System

[pepebuho]

Hi
Currently I have a system based on an Intel DG31PR mobo + Intel Dual core 7800 CPU. I run Linux as a host and frequently I run WinXP as a guest using VirtualBox. In general, the performance of WinXP is fine, browsing and running most programs is ok.
Nevertheless MS Excel performance was kind of poor on a very large and ugly spreadsheet that also ran kind of slow at the office on a Win7, Core 2 Duo 7500

What would a good Motherboard+CPU combo be for a home system with good virtual pc performance?

Is there anything additional I should think about?

Thanks

 

[sadams04]

In a more demanding environment (running several VMs at once) we get into things like understanding that Intel hyperthreads are not cores so don't assign them as such, and reducing your disk bottleneck by keeping the number of VMs per hard drive (spindle drive not SSD) to no more than a few (I stick to no more than three per HD). Misallocating resources is a killer, but it seems you are looking at a single VM guest. Any new system you build would be fine... My only advice would be to be realistic about the speed of the CPU you need, and to load up on memory now. Yes, an Intel CPU is faster clock-for-clock, but would an eight core AMD CPU still fit your needs while also giving you flexibility to grow your virtual environment further than a quad-core i5? If you want a proposed build, check out the link below and be VERY specific on the intended use in regards to host and guest roles. The forum should be able to get a few different build options together for you.
How to ask for new build advise