> der.hans wrote:
> > I'm wanting to do some virtual machine testing.
> [snip]
>
> > With this box, though, I'd like something that'll handle well for
> > virtualization stuff, but not be a power hog.
> >
> > I would generally prefer something from AMD. Would the Intel quad core
> > CPUs make a huge difference?
>
> You just said one of the (very few) magic words that can actually be
> used to justify a quad-core CPU -- virtualization. Quad-core chips are
> massive (mostly unused) overkill for 99% of the people who get them, but
> for those that have CPU bound apps, they can be a boon.
>
> This, of course, is assuming that you will be doing mostly CPU intensive
> stuff in the VMs. VMs are pretty poor at I/O bound usage patterns, in
> any event.
>
> Quad-core CPUs also excel at development. I was doing a bit of
> development on a quad-CPU system (pre "core" CPUs) for a while and was
> in heaven very time I did a compile.
>
> To skew this a bit closer to reality, though, you might want to consider
> just how many VMs you will be running simultaneously. If it's only one,
> then quad-core isn't worth it. Go with a faster dual-core for the same
> money... it'll be far more useful.
>
> One final thing: while I completely understand the urge to go with AMD
> vs Intel (I have the same tendency), I don't know that it's easy to
> justify that right now. The Intel Core2 chips are amazingly fast for
> about the same price as the AMD chips. They whip even the latest and
> greatest AMD chips on not only the top-end, but bang for the buck.
Yeah.. Up until last year I was an AMD fanboy.. but they've lost it
recently. And the Phenom Quad-Core is a POS (the other kind). It
specifically has a horrible bug that makes it super sucky for running
64bit VMs. Unfortunately, its Intel all the way for the short term
future.
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