Building a new PC Virtual Machines and Gaming

[jaywillny]

Hello everyone,

I am building a new PC. One of my biggest requirements is that I be able to setup a network of virtual machines on the PC. These VM's will represent a network of machines that I will use to practice and improve my networking and security/penetration testing skills. I also do some independent game development, gaming and video editing for my YouTube channel.

I have included a link to build here. If any of you have any ideas to improve this machine given my needs please let me know. The build does not have peripherals or a case as I will be using existing. I would like to keep this build under 2000 dollars. Thanks in advance for your help.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor ($278.60 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterAir Pro 4 66.7 CFM CPU Cooler ($72.17 @ PCM)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AX370-GAMING 5 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($141.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 1.1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($254.21 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate - Constellation ES.3 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($138.50 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card ($499.89 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg Business)
Total: $1675.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-23 17:14 EDT-0400

 

[Sam Poland]

Just curious if you are going to be doing VMWare or Hyper-V?

 

[USAFRet]

Just curious if you are going to be doing VMWare or Hyper-V?

Or VirtualBox...

 

[mdd1963]

Unless massively reduced in price, probably tough to go with the 1700X over the 2700X these days...

 

[Sam Poland]

Just curious if you are going to be doing VMWare or Hyper-V?

Or VirtualBox...

Don't forget XenServer😀

 

[Karadjgne]

For VMs usage, I'd be looking at more than 16Gb of ram, especially if planning to run 3 or more simultaneously.

 

[USAFRet]

Was just about to comment on that.
For multiple simultaneous VM's, you need more than 16GB RAM.

I have 32GB DDR3. I run several at the same time, and routinely exceed 20GB actual used RAM.

 

[USAFRet]

4 VM's, and the Host Win 10 Pro:

 

[Karadjgne]

You also run some Linux (pretty sure anyways) which is probably a little less ram abusive than running several Windows VMs. I'd be thinking @5-10Gb per VM, plus 5-10Gb for host. In this case it's better to have way too much ram and not always need most of it, than need a bunch and not have enough.

 

[USAFRet]

You also run some Linux (pretty sure anyways) which is probably a little less ram abusive than running several Windows VMs. I'd be thinking @5-10Gb per VM, plus 5-10Gb for host. In this case it's better to have way too much ram and not always need most of it, than need a bunch and not have enough.

Right.
In that pic, the left most is LinuxMint.
L->R:
LinuxMint (2GB), Win 10 Pro(4GB), Win 10 Pro(4GB), Server 2012(4GB), Win 10 Pro host(whatever).

If I was doing anything intensive with the Server2012...much more RAM for that VM.

But yes...16GB is not enough for more than one, maybe two, simultaneous VM's.

 

[jaywillny]

Just curious if you are going to be doing VMWare or Hyper-V?

Sam I am more comfortable with Virtual Box, but I am not married to it. Is this a factor?

 

[jaywillny]

Thank you for all your replies. It looks like I will be upgrading to a 2700X and adding 16GB of memory. I am curious if the memory speed is a large factor. Can I get by with a slower RAM speed.

 

[Sam Poland]

Just curious if you are going to be doing VMWare or Hyper-V?

Sam I am more comfortable with Virtual Box, but I am not married to it. Is this a factor?

It all depends on what you want to accomplish. If you use the Core (free) version of Server 2016 and learn how to configure VM's using PowerShell that is a more marketable skillset IMHO.
The speed of your RAM will be a negligible factor compared to the amount of RAM. IMHO you can get by with 16. In the future if you find that it's not enough then just buy another 16.

 

[Karadjgne]

Better off buying a full set in 1 kit, or even 2x16Gb sticks. Compatability being a definite iffy thing when adding sticks later.

As to ram speeds, Ryzen works better with faster ram. Unlike Intel that'll rarely show any difference. Just between 2133 and 3200 there's a@ 20% raise in performance, especially with some OC.

Considering just how much work the ram/cpu will be doing running 2/3/4 VM's with any sort of work actually being done, a 20% raise in IPC is going to help.

 

[jaywillny]

Just curious if you are going to be doing VMWare or Hyper-V?

Sam I am more comfortable with Virtual Box, but I am not married to it. Is this a factor?

It all depends on what you want to accomplish. If you use the Core (free) version of Server 2016 and learn how to configure VM's using PowerShell that is a more marketable skillset IMHO.
The speed of your RAM will be a negligible factor compared to the amount of RAM. IMHO you can get by with 16. In the future if you find that it's not enough then just buy another 16.

That is a interesting idea and I can see it's merits however because this machine will be multipurpose I am not sure that installing Windows Server as the base OS is feasible. If I ever take the step of setting up a rig solely for networking and penetration testing I will consider this.

 

[jaywillny]

Better off buying a full set in 1 kit, or even 2x16Gb sticks. Compatability being a definite iffy thing when adding sticks later.

As to ram speeds, Ryzen works better with faster ram. Unlike Intel that'll rarely show any difference. Just between 2133 and 3200 there's a@ 20% raise in performance, especially with some OC.

Considering just how much work the ram/cpu will be doing running 2/3/4 VM's with any sort of work actually being done, a 20% raise in IPC is going to help.

Thanks for the information I wasn't aware that Ryzen's performance had a positive correlation with RAM speeds. I would say the performance gain sounds well worth it.

 

[Sam Poland]

Just curious if you are going to be doing VMWare or Hyper-V?

Sam I am more comfortable with Virtual Box, but I am not married to it. Is this a factor?

It all depends on what you want to accomplish. If you use the Core (free) version of Server 2016 and learn how to configure VM's using PowerShell that is a more marketable skillset IMHO.
The speed of your RAM will be a negligible factor compared to the amount of RAM. IMHO you can get by with 16. In the future if you find that it's not enough then just buy another 16.

That is a interesting idea and I can see it's merits however because this machine will be multipurpose I am not sure that installing Windows Server as the base OS is feasible. If I ever take the step of setting up a rig solely for networking and penetration testing I will consider this.

No need to 'install' anything, you can just boot to a virtual hard disk that contains the OS:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/boot-to-vhd--native-boot--add-a-virtual-hard-disk-to-the-boot-menu