PC and Mac

 Looking into getting a WHS build but unsure if what specs I should be looking at.


Basically I want the following
*NAS/Backup
*VM ability for development purposes
*To feel cool when I say "Let me just log into my server"


But yeah mainly it will be to host my HDD's as the two slots in my HTPC is beginning to limit me and to run my TV server (4therecord Argus)

Alternatively I could upgrade my desktop and use current one for server it's current specs are:
E6750
6GB
8800GTX  

The processor will be the single biggest consideration. Two cores at least, four or more if you can. Obviously, plenty of RAM. Fast hard drives. It's really not that different from planning a desktop build. WHS can run very light if you want it to, though the VMs are going to hit you harder than if you were going for a standard setup. I run mine off a 1.6ghz Atom-based board that draws some ridiculously low amount of power (~5w iirc).

Since you'll be running VMs, I'd recommend getting at least a quad core, nothing less. Depending on how many VMs you want to run, and how much money you want to spend, you should have at least 4 GB of memory. The only issue here is that Windows Home Server only supports 4 GB of memory, so you will be limited in that respect to how many VMs you can run. If you have your heart set on WHS, you might want to wait until Microsoft releases the next version of it, which should have a 64-bit version.

Cheers, oh and my bad when I said WHS I really meant 2k8 r2 standard which will do up to 32gb