I’ve watched the full documentation about virtualization, and I loved it <3. Keep up the good work!
I’m planing on starting a cyber cafe.
I’ve thought about making a optimal, but still powerful computer to support 5-man-queue.
Reason for this outraging idea: To lower the heath in the whole room + optimal spacing. (and Lit looking grid)
I wanted to go with Ryzen CPU assuming it would be best with the performance combined with AMD graphic cards to keep it simple and in the same reference. However, as we all know, Nvidia is so damn much stronger then the AMD GPU. So I decided (even if I dislike it) to go with intel/nvidia. (Wanted to boycott nvidia for error 43 ).
This is how the specs would look like: (Could not put more graphic cards because of no support on SLI).
Now there are some things I’d like your help with.
I’ve been researching a long time on what actually would be good to have. The reason of a 5 PCIE slot is so that there can be 5 people in the same “hub”. I stumbled on many problems, but came to the realization, that there is no different in x8 or x16 in the end. However, will there be a problem with 4 RAM spots vs 5xGPU? Is there any actual bi-effects on separating the ram (32gig) in 5? I think logically, and it scars me that it will actually not work at all.
Do I actually need 2x M.2? I know one is useful, but maybe go with a 1TB HDD instead? (To save all the “crap”. And M.2 1TB is Overkill I know)
The GPU I’ve chosen does not support SLI. Does this even mater in this case? I’m not going to use SLI, going to separate them in to 4 different VM’s.
To be honest, I really don’t think this set up will work. If I’m correct, I will change to AMD because it will be easier and cheaper. But will it be performance efficient enough for now days games and incoming? I do not trust VEGA to be any good, so would probably go with the Rx 950.
I’ve thought to use a “Controller” in the 5-man-boot. It be nice to get that controller to be so low cost as possible to be able to send information to the Queen computer (Cashier) and manage the others. Have not researched this yet how it would work. So if you have something in mind, please tell
Once Threadripper gets off the ground and running with Kernel 4.15, you could look into UnRAID. It’s a commercial Linux distribution that’s $90, but comes with all the virtualization stuff done for you.
I’d wait until Threadripper has it’s IOMMU situation sorted, then you can just buy Threadripper and UnRAID and be off and running. Linus Tech Tips swears by UnRAID for these scenarios so you could look into his videos for insight into this.
Don’t go for X299 cause below the 7900X, you only have 28 lanes of PCI-E which is not enough. Cost compared to Threadripper would not be competitive for it’s 64 PCI-E lanes.
I don’t think this is a compelling reason to justify the complexity of the design.
As far as power/heat goes, you can configure your computers with a short suspend timer, and they should use less than 1 Watt when not in use. If anything you might save more power by running more CPUs with lower clocks and slower fans.
Other costs include the fact that a problem with one computer takes five seats offline, and that the greater complexity has a time cost in validating, building, and maintaining the computers.
How do you plan to fit five of these into your case/motherboard? This is a two-slot card.
What are your users connecting to on the network that they would need faster than 1 Gigabit? Stick to the onboard adapter and save the cost.
Nope, it doesn’t matter.
Are you putting them in some kind of software RAID? Since a single drive would not be the only single point of failure in the system, you probably need to keep a whole spare machine to swap in for failures anyway. I would use a non-redundant drive and save the cost. If you need more space, just get a bigger drive.
Yes. I’ve taken notice in further investigation that going for Threadripper is a much better deal then to hit it with Intel. Hoping that Threadripper will drop in price is just a question of time. Thanks for the tip with the UnRaid.
Noticed the flaws in my buildup, made from scratch another one. Better?
CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor ($905.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken X52 Rev 2 73.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($134.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG Strix X399-E Gaming EATX TR4 Motherboard ($353.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($806.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($229.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($489.89 @ B&H)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($489.89 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - AX1500i 1500W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($425.59 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC - G2460PQU 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC - G2460PQU 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC - G2460PQU 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC - G2460PQU 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $4811.18
There is now only 2 GPUs
This is a true yes, but today’s idle power consumption is quit low, so the cost is added yes, but not in a huge mater.
Thanks for the information
At the moment I’m just in the planing face. So give this idea to be fulfilled about Q3 2018. At the moment I have a to bad of a computer to try this out myself. (gathering up info to actually try it out as well)
This is a interesting project.
I could see this working even with 4 GPUs.
Using a case that has a vertical mounting for a card and a extender cable.
And the board does have 4 USB controllers also.
ACS patch would be needed for now, or possibly forever, but one could dedicated USB controller to each VM.
Well, 4GPUs is no problem at all, except that OPs TR board doesn’t because of a bad slot layout.
5 GPUs is a completely different thing.
Pcie Risers won’t cut it, only single slot gpus make that possible.
And only a few boards have more then 4 pcie slots with sufficient lanes.
Most boards with more then 4 by 16 slots, have a fake by16 with like 4 lanes through the pch.
So nothing that you want to put a gpu on to.
OP is never going to get good performance with anything short of dual xeon boards in a 5-way setup. The limitation here is the memory controller. You’re going to be limited by memory access speed and the CPU will constantly be fighting the different VM’s IRQs.
You can maybe do 3 on a TR or something, but if you want decent, stutter-free performance, you’re going to have to reduce your expectations for passthrough.
Additionally, 5 users on an 8 core is not doable for games. You need a bit more than double that. 15 to 20 cores will give you enough threads for your gaming cores and IO threads to make everything smooth.
Honestly, it’s going to be cheaper to go with a Ryzen 7 and do two stations to a PC.
This doesn’t even cover the issue of USB peripherals. You’d need to get 5 different keyboards and 5 different mice for each system to make it work properly, or pass through a USB controller to each VM, which would then require 10 PCIe slots at a bare minimum to make your original plan work.
You say this, then go and pick a GPU that trades blows with an RX 480.
I’m getting the feeling that you haven’t done passthrough before. I think you should do it on your own system before you try to start a business around it.
I’m not trying to shoot down your idea. It could definitely work, but it would require a ton of effort on the management end and you’ll probably be better off just buying a bunch of Ryzen 3 systems and RX 480s. It would likely be less expensive and only put out mildly more heat.
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total (before mail-in rebates)
$836.51
Mail-in rebates
-$30.00
Total
$806.51
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-02 14:49 EST-0500
This build allows you to build 5 systems (not counting monitors) for a very similar price to your original solution, but also gives them more performance (CPU and Memory was a serious bottleneck in OP)
).
