I am currently looking to buy some hardware, maybe two computers that I can serve to have a home lab to virtualize, test applications and various operating systems, ie testing with XenServer, Proxmox-VE, OpenVZ, VMware (why not ?), have my own lab migration from Microsoft services such as Exchange, Active Directory to OpenSource alternatives, perhaps to test compilation of programs without having to do it on my personal computer and especially to test clustering.
I need to be well cheap (maybe less than $300), but also the best quality/price ratio (also not to buy the cheapest and that is of poor quality), I need to have the highest level of processing as usually going to have some tests virtual machines (not in production) and neither have a lot of RAM, but if the opportunity to expand if necessary, need not hard disk because I have a couple of laptops hard drives that do not I can use or PXE loading operating system or through a USB and have the disks of virtual machines on my desktop computer, and a small case so as to allow me to mobilize the laboratory where a customer or any talk.
I’ve put together this combo for $229.20, even though the case does not seem small enough, I’d like one type iStarUSA D-118-ITX/1U180FX1 1U mini-ITX Rackmount, but this does not work for a micro-ATX motherboard:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eu1o
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eu1o/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eu1o/benchmarks/CPU: AMD A8-3870K 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($86.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-A55M-DS2 Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard ($57.23 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Xion XON-720P_RD MicroATX Slim Case w/300W Power Supply ($34.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $229.20 (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-08 12:38 EDT-0400)
[info]Got a better recommendation? want to save before it messes up? your comments are welcome.[/info]