How much would you spend on a test/dev server?

[yasockie]

HI.

I'm building a server that I will use to host dev and test instances of some client deliverables (more specifically host VMs with these).
I'm a geek at heart and I am tempted to spend a bit more than I need to - get more RAM, faster CPU, more storage - all these things will probably be useful, but not essential.
How much would you spend on such a machine - is 1k reasonable?

[amcdonald]

Something like an HP microserver is good enough usually, just put in more memory depending on your usage especially if you're going to put Hyper-V manager on first

When then have a deal on around £200 quid then probably £30-40 for memory

[stek]

HI.

I'm building a server that I will use to host dev and test instances of some client deliverables (more specifically host VMs with these).
I'm a geek at heart and I am tempted to spend a bit more than I need to - get more RAM, faster CPU, more storage - all these things will probably be useful, but not essential.
How much would you spend on such a machine - is 1k reasonable?

Just bought an X4600M2, with stuff I got lying around it will have 8 dual core procs (looking for some quads now) and 256gb ram, cost me 450 quid so far...

[The Spartan]

Just bought an X4600M2, with stuff I got lying around it will have 8 dual core procs (looking for some quads now) and 256gb ram, cost me 450 quid so far...

Nice I'm going to have to look into purchasing some kit before long

[doodab]

Depends what you really need it to do.

If you just need something that is always on the microserver route is a good one, if you need CPU / RAM / IO capacity then upgrading your existing laptop or desktop with maximum RAM & an SSD or two might be a more cost effective way to spend the same amount of money, at least until you're into the £1000+ bracket or need a lot of memory / CPU, in which case 2nd hand bargains are available.

[yasockie]

Depends what you really need it to do.

If you just need something that is always on the microserver route is a good one, if you need CPU / RAM / IO capacity then upgrading your existing laptop or desktop with maximum RAM & an SSD or two might be a more cost effective way to spend the same amount of money, at least until you're into the £1000+ bracket or need a lot of memory / CPU, in which case 2nd hand bargains are available.

Microserver and its puny atom/amd CPU won't do. I'll have SSDs in it - contributing almost a third of the price.
I don't have a desktop so nothing to upgrade, it needs to be plugged in 24/7 so can't be my laptop. No five nines needed but I've put some accommodations for availability with Raid-1 and backup schedule.
Also no cloud bs, just have a look at the cheapest EC2 instances with 16 or 32GB ram and you'll understand 1000 is very quickly amortised...

[yasockie]

Just bought an X4600M2, with stuff I got lying around it will have 8 dual core procs (looking for some quads now) and 256gb ram, cost me 450 quid so far...

Interesting, and nicely redundant w 4 PSUs, but a bit loud isn't?
Also 1700W will probably help with heating the house in the winter???

[doodab]

Microserver and its puny atom/amd CPU won't do. I'll have SSDs in it - contributing almost a third of the price.
I don't have a desktop so nothing to upgrade, it needs to be plugged in 24/7 so can't be my laptop. No five nines needed but I've put some accommodations for availability with Raid-1 and backup schedule.
Also no cloud bs, just have a look at the cheapest EC2 instances with 16 or 32GB ram and you'll understand 1000 is very quickly amortised...

In which case either self build a desktop machine or look for a 2nd hand proper server. A basic QC box with 32GB is fairly cheap to build though personally I'd look at the 6 core i7 as they will also support 64GB RAM. You can also pick up a 2nd hand server such as HP DL380 G6 or 385 for a reasonable price though you will need to add the cost of your SSDs to that, and upgrading the RAM in the future will be relatively costly.

I'd budget more than a grand if you want 32GB & a pair or more of SSDs though.

Also, I'd check out the HCL for VMWare ESXi if you plan to use it, as not all motherboards (particularly on board NICs) are supported. A supported Intel NIC is fairly cheap though.

[doodab]

Here you go. 16 cores, 64GB, 16 x 146GB SAS disks, £1200.

HP DL580 G5 4x 2.93GHz Quad Core E7350, 64GB RAM, 16x 146GB P400 P800 883585246915 | eBay

Or this one half the price cos it has less disks.

HP DL580 G5 4x 2.93GHz Quad Core E7350, 64GB RAM, 3x 72GB P400 Rails 883585246915 | eBay

[eek]

To a certain extent it depends on what you want to do with it.

If you want to run virtual machines on esxi you are probably best building your own machine following a guide to get the correct components because its a pig to get working if you get components that are not supported.

My machine came to I think £700 all in with a decent i7 quad-core processor when I bought it last year.