Low budget upgrade options

[craig.warrender]

I started using VirtualBox on my current system and need to run 3 or 4 machines but I have noticed that my system ain't up to the task and slows to a crawl.

System: B250 Mortar - i3 7100 - 8Gb vengeance RAM - 256 Crucial SSD

Do I need to upgrade everything or will incremental upgrade path be OK?

TIA

 

[zero_l0gic]

yea that i3 is little underpowerd for few VBs. but it depends what you do on those VBs. easy answer more cores it will be better i5 or i7 or xeon even better.

 

[craig.warrender]

On close inspection of performance, it seems that Virtualbox is maxing out RAM, CPU and HDD (VM's are on my second disk due to SSD size limitation).

 

[mgallo848]

You'll need something like an i7 7700 to handle 4 VB's and possibly 8GB or available ram for each VB machine. (ie: 4 VB's= 32GB of ram)

 

[geofelt]

8gb seems to me to be a bit small for several Virtual machines.
I don't know about how low of a budget you have.

If you want 16gb, consider.


Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards, can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.
That is why ram vendors will NOT support ram that is not bought in one kit.

If you do buy more disparate sticks, they must be the same speed, voltage and cas numbers.
Even then your chances of working are less than 100%

What is your plan "B" if the new stick/s do not work?

Sometimes increasing the ram voltage in the bios will make things work.

If you want 16gb, my suggestion is to buy a 2 x 8gb kit that matches your current specs.
Then, try adding in your old 8gb,
If it works, good; you now have extra ram.
If not, sell the old ram or keep it as a spare.

 

[dontlistentome]

This is not a low budget situation. If you 'need' to run multiple virtual machines, then it's going to cost you. I'd start with the CPU and ram upgrades, then see what performance is like.