Intel Xeon X3440 vs Core i7-2760QM (My dilemma)

Hey guys,

I am in a quandary.

I bought a Dell Poweredge T110 a few months ago, to assist me in my research. I am interested in completing the MCITP course from microsoft so the server was purchased for me to lab on.

The processor is Xeon X3440 and it has about 8GB of DDR3 ECC RAM. Other than that, the specs are the default.

I was wondering, since i am going to purchase a sager laptop with a Core i7-2760QM, should I sell of the server, to pay for, maybe a better processor and a SSD drive?

From cpubenchmark.net, the XEON scored an average of 5290 @ 2.53Ghz, while a fairly weaker processor compared to the 2760QM (They don't have benchmarks for the 2760QM yet),the i7-2630QM scored an average of 6326 @ 2.00 Ghz.

I went to intel's site to do a comparison between the x3440 and the i7-2760QM and found very little differences between both the processors. The main difference is that the xeon supports ECC memory while the QM doesn't.

If i plan on running about 4 - 6 VMWARES @ Windows Server 2008, not on full load, just for simulating scenarios in a corporate network (Domain , DHCP , VPN etc), would the NP8150 with the i7 processor and perhaps 16GB of ram beat the xeon system?

Would it be a good idea to sell off the server?

OH, and the X3430 has 4 threads 4 cores while the 2760QM has 8 threads 4 cores.

 

I would say you are good to sell the server.

You have to remember that VMs will only eat power if you have them doing something. Sitting idle or doing DHCP etc wont really do much.

The main thing you will want is HDD space for all those images and RAM, and if going 16GB you are good.

I have servers running multiple VMs with 8GB ram and they still are idle lol. They also are on older CPUs...

In all it really depends on the tasks of the VMs. Just domain controller, DHCP, DNS and that sort of thing for you doing a lab env wont really need much CPU power. The most CPU they will use is during post ehhe
2760 should be a good bump from 2630... but like I said, CPU power is not really an issue for what you are doing.

 

That is good to know Brayanu. Like you mentioned, its going to be sitting idle most of the time as the Server is not serving anyone else except for myself.

I'll get the 16GB of RAM and a high performance HDD with a SSD in addition.

If i need extra, there is always an option of getting an external HDD. With USB3.0 / esata it shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you once again for confirming this. At least with the laptop, I could lug it around and consult my lecturers should I need to do so, rather than having the server.

 

kind of a side bar comment as you didn't ask any questions about it...

Get the Microsoft books for MCITP. Between studying the info and taking their practice tests you should fly thru the exam. I've taken several comptia and MS certifications only using their guides and practice exams and passed easily. Don't get fooled into spending lots of money on third party materials.

Good luck with the cert!

 

I don't think that is a sidebar for him, it just shows him even more how the notebook will be a much better investment, because when all is said and done he has a great machine still.

The server will be useless to you when you are done probably, so yet another reason to sell it and use money on notebook upgrades

 

That is a great piece of advice. Not really a side bar comment as it helps towards saving the cost for better specs for the laptop.

Well said. Didn't think about it but now that you've mentioned it, its better for the server to go. The laptop would still have its use after I am done with MCITP.