System Build Question

[Jwoolington]

I'm in a bind and don't know what the best solution would be. Need some help deciding. I'm on a budget and would like to go to cheapest and best possible route for what I want to do. I won't be gaming at all. Mostly web browsing, remote desktop, and networking with some virtualization via VMware. I want to accomplish a 3 monitor set up. Here's what I have drawn up:

System A
CPU - Intel Xeon E3 1231 v3
MOBO - Asus z97 e
Video Card - SAPPHIRE FleX Radeon HD 6450 or MSI GeForce GT 720

System B
CPU - Intel Xeon E3 1246 v3
MOBO - Asus z97 e
No video card as the 1246 have P4600 Integrated Graphics

System C
CPU - Intel i7 4790
MOBO - Asus z97 e

I was thinking that if I went with options B or C that I could use a DVI Splitter or an HDMI to VGA/DVI cable to accomplish 3 monitors.

What do you guys think?

 

[sadams04]

MB - Look toward the H97 chipset since you won't be overclocking. Boards like the ASUS H97-Plus can run three monitors using the onboard GPU. https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/H97PLUS/
CPU - If you are on a strict budget, the i5-4590 has a good clock and turbo speed. A minor notch down from that is the i5-4460. The hyperthreading on the Xeon is nice to have, but when dealing with VMs, a hyperthread is NOT a core (you aren't getting an "8-core" CPU with the Xeon or i7). The i5 can handle a few VMs... I run three or more on my non-overclocked Ivy Bridge i5 regularly and rarely find the CPU lacking. If you are only talking about two VMs, the i5 is a good option.
HD - No more than three VMs per disk or performance starts to suffer. Maybe one or two if the OS is installed on the same HD...
SSD - ...a great investment for your VMs being much much faster than a HD with better sequential read performance. Run five VMs with good performance.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($276.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $611.95

 

[Jwoolington]

MB - Look toward the H97 chipset since you won't be overclocking. Boards like the ASUS H97-Plus can run three monitors using the onboard GPU. https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/H97PLUS/
CPU - If you are on a strict budget, the i5-4590 has a good clock and turbo speed. A minor notch down from that is the i5-4460. The hyperthreading on the Xeon is nice to have, but when dealing with VMs, a hyperthread is NOT a core (you aren't getting an "8-core" CPU with the Xeon or i7). The i5 can handle a few VMs... I run three or more on my non-overclocked Ivy Bridge i5 regularly and rarely find the CPU lacking. If you are only talking about two VMs, the i5 is a good option.
HD - No more than three VMs per disk or performance starts to suffer. Maybe one or two if the OS is installed on the same HD...
SSD - ...a great investment for your VMs being much much faster than a HD with better sequential read performance. Run five VMs with good performance.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($276.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $611.95

Well seeing at how I can get the Z97 E cheaper, I will go with the Z series in case I ever get an unlocked processor. Storage is not a problem. I already have 2 SSDs on a RAID 1 and an 1TB HDD locally connected.
And no hyperthreading isn't a "physcial" core but it is a logical core that acts as a thread which allows more execution(processing) to occur. The 4590 is definitely a good processor, but I am leaning more towards Hyperthreading technology.

I'm just so indecisive and if I were to ask any of my friends, they would look at me like I'm crazy, not knowing what language I'm even speaking in.:lol: