Hello All,
I plan on setting up a virtual lab this week and hence, need your inputs please.
Judging from a plethora of information available online, i concluded that an i7 processor with a supporting motherboard and 16 GB RAM is the main criterion.
However, the purpose of setting up this lab is more of a short term goal rather than a long term. It will be used extensively till I get certified and than will be used only in scenarios where a Production environment in the office cannot be played around with.
Looking at the usage mentioned above, in my opinion, the cost of an i7 Processor is exhorbitantly high.
I have also come across information that puts more emphasize on the RAM rather than the Processor. Basically, any CPU having 6 cores should be able to do the job satisfactorily for a Home Lab environment.
With the views above in mind, can some one please let me know-
1) What is the equivalent AMD Processor of the Intel i7?
2) Will the AMD equivalent of Intel i7 atleast be 75% on par in real lab scenarios?
3) I had a pathetic experience with AMD in one of the HP DV series Notebook that I purchased in 2008, so yes, I am a little skeptical about AMD, but the cost of Intel is what is driving me away from it. So, is AMD worth having in the Virtual Lab?
4) Can you pleas suggest the Best Suitable motherboard along with the AMD Processor?
5) What make / capacity / type of Hard Disk should I purchase if I say that Solid State Devices (SSD) are expensive as well for a Lab Environment?
I plan on using this Lab extensively for the coming 3 months, along with 1 hour daily browsing, emailing, etc. I have *no plans* for Gaming. So do I need to go for a separate Graphics Card?
Pleease add any other information that you think I should know. I have read pretty much everything on the Net that is available for setting up a lab, so if you can answer *only* based on my queries above rather than pointing me to some URLs, I would greatly appreciate that.
However, if the information requested above is available on a precise URL, I would be happy to browse it again.
Thanks in anticipation.