RAM CL9 vs CL7 - Laptop virtualization

[Nergal]

Hello techpowerup,

I have a lirrle question concering Laptop server virtualization.

Currently I started a 3 year course where working with servers, etc will be included

So I bought myself a K53Sv ASUS

http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/Versatile_Performance/K53SV/#specifications

the 2410M version (i5)

it has 2 ram slots, and 1 is occupied with Hynix PC10700 4GB

since running win7 OS + VMware 2* win server 2008 R2 + GNS3 is a bit heavy, my ram is completely spent on running this.

I reserved 1GB for each win 2008 server, but it doesnt run that smoothly

my CPU goes into turbo mode (becuase of the GNS3) with an idly load of 25% (at 2.8GHZ)
and using 3GB ram in total

So my question to you is:

- Is the "problem" the size of the allocated ram? And is getting more ram (and allocating 2GB for each server) a complete solution?

- Is my CPU powerfull enough on the long term? (adding more and more roles to each server will take its toll I presume?).

- The fact that my cpu is running in turbo-mode means it is only using 1 core. Isn´t this bad on the overall performance of my servers?

- IF I buy extra ram, should I get 1x 4GB CL9, OR, 2x 4GB CL7?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

If your doing all that server work, its always a good idea to have more ram, since the laptop came with 4Gb im guessing you OS is 64bit which shouldnt be a problem if you want to up it to 8Gb.

If you could spare the money you could have gone for the quad core version of the K53SV

---

Also go for the CL9, it should be cheaper. CL7 only makes a real difference in gaming or benchmarking.

 

[micropage7]

agree better adding ram
tighter cl will be better but if you do benchmark or overclocking it
and usually ram with tight timing is more expensive than normal timing

 

[Mussels]

the hard drive is probably the bottleneck, even with low MB/s throughput, you'd be doing lots of small read and write ops all the time.


its expensive, but an SSD may be what you need if you're doing all this on a laptop.

 

[phanbuey]

I have to agree with mussels, although the fact that your laptop is running in turbo is a clear sign that virtual servers are misconfigured.

I know that its usually not the 'best' practice for VMware workstation, but have you tried assigning more than 1 logical cpu to the servers?

The CL latency difference in ram will make little difference...

 

[Nergal]

Thanks for the fast replays.

Its clear that I need more RAM, and that it doesnt need to be CL7 (I´m not going to OC, laptop OCing is in my eyes not the smartest thing)

extra 4GB will cost me 20euros

The problem with the CPU running in turbo mode is also fixed, was a misconfiguration of the GNS3 (am new to this). SImply adding an idle-PC command was enough. (idle CPU usage now 3% without turbo mode on)

an SSD + optibay isnt going to be cheap thou, so I leave that option for in the future

even then I will still try out using ESXi (vSPhere) to do my stuff before doing larger expenses


as for my cpu and VMware

I know tht its a dual-core, but it uses hypertreading, so windows should recognise 4(?)

Is it then best to select 1CPU + 2cores
OR
2CPU + 1 core?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Optibay is only compatible with Macbook. Unless im wrong, but thats all i can see on the requirements

 

[Nergal]

optibay = drive caddy

but thats beside the point
just looked and indeed, a nice 120GB SSD kingston with 500/500 read/write is 150euros (2gheter with the drive caddy it will come close to 200)

if you can point me 2wards something thats a 3th of that, I´ll be intrested ^^

 

[FreedomEclipse]

you dont need the drive caddy. replace your current hard drive with the SSD.

 

[Disparia]

That extra 4GB should provide a noticeable difference in performance. I usually set my 2008 R2 VM's to 2GB, even for simple testing.

No doubt that an SSD would provide even more of a benefit, but performance may be tolerable with just the additional RAM. So I'd get that first, and evaluate the purchase of a new drive afterwards.

If the VM's are set to boot with the OS, make sure their bootup is staggered, and the first one starts a couple minutes after Windows boots.

If not constraining to your training, use a Core installation of Server for your second VM. It's less resource hungry and supports the following roles:

Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS)
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS)
DHCP Server
DNS Server
File Services
Print Services
Streaming Media Services
Internet Information Services (IIS)
Hyper-V

 

[Nergal]

I will get the RAM soon, but the SSD will have to wait. Afterall I found most "payable" SSD´s just not large enough in terms of GB so that will be my last resort

thanks again for the answers!

 

[johnspack]

I would also choose more ram over faster cas. I have done many tests, and found more ram = faster performance over faster cas. If you run out of ram, and have to start swapping, cas6 isnt going to help you.

 

[Nergal]

Just wanted to give a last update
(in case people with similar problems look up through google and find this page or the like)

The 8GB RAM IS A MUST

I now use 5GB in total, and everything runs smoothly. I even run WCG with GNS3, 2 win 2k8 r2 and 2 xp clients, all on my win 7 OS.

surfing, etc while doing this is also no problem.

The servers themselves are working great and without delay. Quite amazing really.

You can easly see that my 4GB was the problem, since my system actually needed at least 5 the run everything