[CentOS] Bare Metal vs virtualization

Fri Oct 9 19:21:20 UTC 2009
Ray Van Dolson <rayvd at bludgeon.org>

On Fri, Oct 09, 2009 at 03:18:45PM -0400, Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> Hello to all:
> 
> I know this list is generally Linux-only, but I figured I'd try to
> gain wisdom from those with hard-core Windows needs, too.
> 
> I was recently pricing out a high-end desktop system for a user who
> will doing a lot of CAD, Matlab, SolidWorks, and other apps that will
> utilize a lot of number crunching and video.
> 
> The quote for the desktop (64-bit Vista is likely), which included 12
> GB RAM, two 1 TB SATA hard drives, a high-end NVidia 3D video card,
> and two Intel quad-core 3.3 Ghz processors, was about $15k.
> 
> An approval manager asked if the money could be better spent towards a
> cluster for others to use.
> 
> This user's needs are for Windows-based apps.    The open question,
> then, is can the results the user needs be derived from a high-end
> Windows cluster or virtual environment that is multi-user capable and
> runs Windows-based apps, or do they need bare metal for true results
> and performance?   I awaiting an answer on this from the user.
> 
> In the meantime, for those who may have been faced with this, too,
> what have you discovered/learned?

Virtual Desktops and Thin Clients can do quite a bit these days, but
anything requiring a lot of 3D is probably still best served by local
hardware.

Ray