- Joined
- Mar 11, 2007
- Messages
- 702 (0.11/day)
Processor | Intel Core i5 4690K |
---|---|
Motherboard | AsRock Z97 Extreme4 |
Cooling | Hyper 212 Evo |
Memory | 16GB |
Video Card(s) | R9 Nano |
Storage | 256GB SATA SSD 2TB WD Blue |
Display(s) | 1920x1080 |
Case | Cooler Master Elite 130 |
Power Supply | CX650M |
Software | Argh, Windows 10. I hated Windows 7. I hate Windows 10 more. Give me back XP!!! |
Heres the situation.
I've been tasked by a local accounting company to build a VM server.
They have multiple accountants out at customer's locations.
Right now each person has a desktop at the central office, and a laptop used solely to remote into their desktop at the office.
They spent most of their time at customer's locations doing accounting work, but they use their laptop to remote into their desktop at the office and do all their work on the desktop in the office.
They have to do this because the accounting software they use to do tax returns and such resides on the server in the office, they also store all the excel spreadsheets and word document work on the server at the office as well, they don't want any customer financial data stored on the laptops for security reasons.
So the laptops are only used as a portal to connect to their desktops.
However, they spend almost no time actually at the central office on their desktops.
When I came in to take over the IT work for this company I told them this is a very inefficient way to do things.
They basically have a bunch of desktops around the office that are sitting there running when they don't need them, a VM server running multiple VMs that each person logs into would be a much better option.
That way, even when they are at the central office sitting at their desk, they still remote into their VM using the laptop.
They also plan to expand hiring a new accountant about every 6 months.
I know it is a long explanation for a short question, sorry.
Anyway, the basic build I'm doing for them will be:
Intel i7 5820k
AsRock x99 Extreme4
32GB RAM
3x480GB SSD RAID5
The important thing is expandability as they add more people.
Each VM I want to have 120GB of SSD space and 4GB of RAM.
Right now they have 4 accountants, but by the end of this year they want to have 6, and by the end of next year 8, then 10 the year after that, and so on.
They want to have about 20-25 people in the end using this machine, so 20-25 VMs.
I know I can add SSDs as needed, so no problem there.
I know the processor is a little under-powered for 20+ VMs with only 12 threads, but they don't want to spend $1,000 on a 10-core Xeon right now.
My hope is that by the time they need more than 12-threads, that broadwell-e Xeons will be out, and I can pick up a used 10-core haswell-e on ebay for cheaper than $1,000.
Or who knows, the 12-threads and high clock speed of the i7 might be enough, they are just largely doing data entry into a program, the program does a little number crunching but nothing crazy, but if the CPU isn't up to the task, we'll address that issue when needed.
I might even do a conservative overclock on the i7 to 4.0ghz, hoping that might help when the number of VMs gets higher.
But with RAM, I want to be able to go up to 128GB in the end.
So I want to start with 32GB but only two sticks.
Then when needed add another 2 sticks to bump up to 64GB next year.
But the question is, when I add those two sticks to the two sticks already in the server next year will Quad-Channel work?
I'm hoping to buy the same brand and model of RAM so everything should match.
TL;DR I want to start with 2 16GB sticks then add 2 16GB sticks later and finally 4 more 16GB sticks laterer.
Will quad-channel work when I add the extra RAM?
I've been tasked by a local accounting company to build a VM server.
They have multiple accountants out at customer's locations.
Right now each person has a desktop at the central office, and a laptop used solely to remote into their desktop at the office.
They spent most of their time at customer's locations doing accounting work, but they use their laptop to remote into their desktop at the office and do all their work on the desktop in the office.
They have to do this because the accounting software they use to do tax returns and such resides on the server in the office, they also store all the excel spreadsheets and word document work on the server at the office as well, they don't want any customer financial data stored on the laptops for security reasons.
So the laptops are only used as a portal to connect to their desktops.
However, they spend almost no time actually at the central office on their desktops.
When I came in to take over the IT work for this company I told them this is a very inefficient way to do things.
They basically have a bunch of desktops around the office that are sitting there running when they don't need them, a VM server running multiple VMs that each person logs into would be a much better option.
That way, even when they are at the central office sitting at their desk, they still remote into their VM using the laptop.
They also plan to expand hiring a new accountant about every 6 months.
I know it is a long explanation for a short question, sorry.
Anyway, the basic build I'm doing for them will be:
Intel i7 5820k
AsRock x99 Extreme4
32GB RAM
3x480GB SSD RAID5
The important thing is expandability as they add more people.
Each VM I want to have 120GB of SSD space and 4GB of RAM.
Right now they have 4 accountants, but by the end of this year they want to have 6, and by the end of next year 8, then 10 the year after that, and so on.
They want to have about 20-25 people in the end using this machine, so 20-25 VMs.
I know I can add SSDs as needed, so no problem there.
I know the processor is a little under-powered for 20+ VMs with only 12 threads, but they don't want to spend $1,000 on a 10-core Xeon right now.
My hope is that by the time they need more than 12-threads, that broadwell-e Xeons will be out, and I can pick up a used 10-core haswell-e on ebay for cheaper than $1,000.
Or who knows, the 12-threads and high clock speed of the i7 might be enough, they are just largely doing data entry into a program, the program does a little number crunching but nothing crazy, but if the CPU isn't up to the task, we'll address that issue when needed.
I might even do a conservative overclock on the i7 to 4.0ghz, hoping that might help when the number of VMs gets higher.
But with RAM, I want to be able to go up to 128GB in the end.
So I want to start with 32GB but only two sticks.
Then when needed add another 2 sticks to bump up to 64GB next year.
But the question is, when I add those two sticks to the two sticks already in the server next year will Quad-Channel work?
I'm hoping to buy the same brand and model of RAM so everything should match.
TL;DR I want to start with 2 16GB sticks then add 2 16GB sticks later and finally 4 more 16GB sticks laterer.
Will quad-channel work when I add the extra RAM?