AMD Phenom II x6 processor?

[Bryce_Stenberg]

Hi,

Just in process of ordering a new desktop machine.

Since in a year or two we will probably be moving our servers to ESXi I thought I would try installing it to my new desktop machine and run my 'pc' in a virtual machine so I can get familiar with the product. I'll also be running up a couple of virtual servers to try out stuff on this machine.

The pc I thought I'd like uses an 'AMD Phenom II X6 1090T' processor (nice price versus performance with 6 cores) but I can't find if this will work with ESX.

Does anyone know?

Or is it a bad idea to use ESX on ones desktop?

Thanks, Bryce.

[AntonVZhbankov]

It will work. The main problem to run ESX/ESXi on desktop is to find supported NIC and RAID.

---

MCSA, MCTS Hyper-V, VCP 3/4, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[AdvancedMachine]

I have buit whiteboxes in the past with the phenum II x4 that are working great. Basically you need a supported network adapter (like intel e1000) and supported raid/ide/sata/sas adapter (or motherboard.)

I currently am building a esxi whitebox using the (Thuban) x6 Phenum II

processor (1090T)

I'm currently experiencing an issue installing ESXi on my 1090T (has a Biostar TA880G Board)

But im tracking it down to a cpu scheduling / BIOS issue.

[weinstein5]

It is not a bad idea but you will need another machine to manage your installation of ESXi as well to be able to access your Virtual Machine that you want to use as a desktop - you can access a VM o/s directly from the console of the ESXi server -

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[AntonVZhbankov]

you can access a VM o/s directly from the console of the ESXi server

You can NOT, of course. Just correcting a typo.

---

MCSA, MCTS Hyper-V, VCP 3/4, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[weinstein5 · Accepted solution]

Thanks Anton - that is correct!

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful

[Bryce_Stenberg]

Thanks for all your replies.

Looks like my plans are halted straight away since I can't also access my virtual machine from the ESX console.

I may have to bring up the virtual machines using vmware workstation or server within windows 7 on my new pc. Playing with ESX will have to wait for now.

Regards,

Bryce.

[ajf]

Just reading this thread as I am looking to do exactly the same thing.

In terms of LAN and RAID, are most onboard solutions supported or this again a problem area?

I am not sure what RAID chips are used with AMD but the network cards seem to be Realtek models.

On Intel systems, are the standard inbuilt RAID solutions supported?

Thanks

Andrew

[LukeWarmwater]

Im also leaning towards this processor for my own whitebox. Is there any disadvantage in using an AMD desktop proc rather then AMD server one?

[AntonVZhbankov]

Luke, desktop processors are usually equipped with smaller cache, so there would be lower performance under heavy load.

---

MCSA, MCTS Hyper-V, VCP 3/4, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[LukeWarmwater]

Thanks, Is ist just the cache that different? or are there some vituaisation features missing in the desktop proc?

[ericgc]

Did anyone end up using this processor for Workstation stuff? i am trying to get my Workstation test environment setup and have loaded ESX 4.1 but when I try to create a VM under the 4.1 server it tells me that my processor isnt 64bit capable which makes no sense as I have loaded 2 64bit OS's on it.

[LukeWarmwater]

I am using this processor on a whitebox using ESXi 4.1 sucessfully. Are you trying to install ESXi as a guest on vmware workstation? Your post is not clear.

[ericgc]

Yes, I have installed ESX 4.1 on a guest in workstation successfully. The problem is when I try to create a VM inside that 4.1 installation I get the attached error message.

[ericgc]

I have been doing some reading and it looks like installing 64bit OS as a "nested" VM is not supported through a workstation/esx installation. Is this true? anyway around this? So obviously I wouldn't be able to run a small lab inside of workstation then since i can't install vCenter as it needs a 64bit OS?

[Julio_Ortiz]

I am planning on purchasing this CPU + Gigabyte mobo + 16Gb RAM for my personal lab.

I plan on getting a server NIC (e1000, etc). 1 x SSD drive for Sphere 4.1, 1 x 1TB drive for VMs, 1 x 1TB drive for file sharing/storage

Is there any configuration I must use (RAID) in order to get this install up and running? I really don't want to have a RAID unless nescessary at all.

Since I will have another drive with W7 for HTPC/Gaming... it will have an Nvidia GTX470 video card... will this card be an issue? (usually you don't install drivers)