Comments on: Building a Workstation for SQL Server 2012 Development and Testing

By: gidz

gidz — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 09:24:48 +0000

Looks like i will be needing some upgrading ( Spectra ) replacing my old unit.

By: Glenn Berry

Glenn Berry — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 21:15:15 +0000

In reply to Kai. I am a little confused about what your question is. If you are just doing non-production, development and test work on the machine, you should use SQL Server 2012 Developer Edition. If the machine is being used for Production, then you would need SQL Server 2012 Standard Edition. I would not recommend that you use a desktop machine for production SQL Server usage, though.

By: Kai

Kai — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 20:29:01 +0000

Hi, great article but I am even more confused now (but I am reading all day already…) Can you please let me know how many cores I have in total for this intel i7 3770 CPU? I want to run either Micorsoft SQL server 2008 or 2012 on this machine and their licensing model (2012) is based on cores.

And maybe you can help me with this as well: should I install the 2008 Standard or the 2012 Standard? I just want to run one DB and I need to overcome the Express restriction of 10GB. That is the only reason why I am considering the upgrade.

Thanks
Kai

By: Glenn Berry

Glenn Berry — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:07:18 +0000

In reply to Kamlesh. VT-d support will give you better I/O performance from your virtual machines. How important that really is would depend on your workload. If you run your VMs from a fast SSD, that will make more difference than whether or not you have VT-d support or not. You can check the Intel ARK database for the processor that you choose to see whether it has VT-d support or not. The motherboard does not control that.

By: Kamlesh

Kamlesh — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 04:54:08 +0000

In reply to Glenn Berry.

I want to build such a configuration for SharePoint+SQL+Win8Phone development(virtual machines). I am confused with VT-d support. How important is this for virtualization?

I do not want to end up with surprised results from coreinfo -v after purchase.

Can you guide me decide on Motherboard/Processor that will support 32GB RAM with virtualization (on Win8Pro HyperV)

By: staggerlee

staggerlee — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:21:27 +0000

Excellent read as always… any chance you will do a similar post on laptops?

By: Glenn Berry

Glenn Berry — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:40:12 +0000

In reply to yup.

If you are going to buy/build a two-socket Socket 2011 system (with Xeon E5-26xx processors), you might want to take a look at the Dell Outlet store. They sell basically new (but not legally new) systems at a huge discount. You just have to browse their inventory (which changes daily), and find something you like. You can usually find some great deals by going that route.

http://www.dell.com/us/dfh/p/?dgc=ST&cid=257870&lid=4605723

By: yup

yup — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:13:37 +0000

I’m also gathering heart to build a dual socket box with E5-2643, 64 GB on a Asus Z9PE-D8 WS.
In case I bet & buy stuff from the open market the cost is coming around $7k, while I got a quote from fujitsu thats going to $12k.
For now I’m doing my home work for in case I’ve not missed anything.

By: emmett childress

emmett childress — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:27:28 +0000

Excellent article. I live near two micro center stores! This article just helped persuade me to build another desktop. I have been using the caviar blacks for about two years now and can say that they are an excellent choice. This is going to be a fun build!

By: Glenn Berry

Glenn Berry — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 15:40:10 +0000

In reply to ayesamson. Intel desktop processors (like the Core i7) are single processor only. You can get a Socket 2011, Core i7-38xx series processor and motherboard (Sandy Bridge-E) that will support 64GB of RAM. You could also get a dual-socket, Socket 2011 motherboard with two Intel Xeon E5-2600 series processors, and have a lot more than 64GB of RAM. That will be quite a bit more expensive...