Since almost a month I am very happy user of new hardware. Finally after 5 years my previous PC was replaced. All equipment I bought was

• Processor: Intel Core i5 4670
• Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6
• Memory: Corsair DDR3-1866 CL10 Vengeance 32GB
• GPU - Built in HD 4600
• Hard Drive: Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB

On top of it I use Windows 8 Pro which I bought as upgrade and for virtualization I use VMware Workstation 9. Windows is deployed on wickedly fast Samsung SSD (Windows boots in 4-6 seconds) and I also have other “older” HDD which later one will be used as iSCSI storage for VM’s running on storage (I will implement storage tiers(Gold, Silver, Bronze)).

Usage

Pretty simple - ESXi hosts with nested VM’s, I will use VLAN’s, I will test LACP, storage tiers, stateless ESXi, SRM and many other things.

If you are interested in any specific design or software to test just drop me email.