Help me build an ESXi home lab

[Dracula28]

I want to build an ESXi lab that I can use for general testing and labbing, nothing else. The computer will sit under my TV in the living room, while I will be sitting in another room, and connect to the different VMs with Remote Desktop (they will all mostly run Windows (Win7, Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012). I'm thinking of starting off with 32GB ram, and then upgrading it to 64GB in a years time.

ESXi 5.1 will boot off from a USB 3.0 stick.

This is my setup so far, please provide critique and guidance

Case

Fractal Design Node 605

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352028&Tpk=fractal%20design%20node%20605&IsVirtualParent=1

Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UP4

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128562&Tpk=Gigabyte%20ga-x79-up4%20-%201790&IsVirtualParent=1

CPU

Intel Xeon E5-1620

Ram

Patriot Extreme Performance Viper 3 DDR3 PC12800/1600MHz 32GB (4x8GB)

Disk + Raid Controller

Not Descided yet, might perhaps go with 2x Seagate Constellation CS ST2000NC001 64MB 2TB for disk

PSU

Cooler Master Silent Pro M II 1000W

No Graphics adapter.

 

[Dracula28]

Perhaps I put this in the wrong forum?

 

[vintagedon]

If you're still looking for a solution to building your own ESXi lab, then try this http://thehomeserverblog.com/esxi/esxi-5-0-amd-whitebox-server-for-500-with-passthrough-iommu-build-2/