new virtual dedicated systems

[driz 2626]

hey guys, i like sharing my projects so here is the latest.

Issue: I have two little girls who like to play games on the PC. They both currently share a single laptop since I'm trying to sell my other two systems. They would both like to play together though. I wanted to come up with a cost effective, space saving, and bad-ass way to let them do this. Obviously buying 2 shitty toshiba's is the cheapest way to accomplish this since 2 laptops would run about 5-600. It didn't meet the criterion of being bad-ass though.

Resolution: http://amzn.com/w/D53QCR5ETJCRUsing this build i will install ESXi 6 on the machine. I will create two virtual machines running windows 10. Each virtual machine will have 50% of the SSD assigned and 50% of the HDD assigned. PCI pass-thru will be used for 2-4 USB ports and 1 video card to each virtual machine. This means each virtual machine has DEDICATED hard drive space on SSD and HDD, dedicated USB ports, and a dedicated graphics card. Using the KVM over Cat5e devices, i will keep the PC downstairs in the data closet (controlled HVAC and UPS power), 2 cat5e gigabit lines will run upstairs to an office where the 2 kvm over cat5e devices are located. There will be 2 sets of keyboards, mice, and monitors up there which link back to a dedicated virtual machine. If i need to add additional seats, I can simply add another video card in and buy another kvm over cat5e and run the monitor/kb/mouse anywhere in the house. (obv i would have to rework the storage to split it 3 ways, but no problem). As this is virtualization, the cores of the cpu and the memory will be shared between the systems.

this accomplishes my goal, meets all my criterion, and offers the ability to add additional users easily.

[Swed 2651]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

 

Is there any issue with length of the cable vs quality of the picture? I know HDMI has an effective range of about 25ft of cable before quality drops, how does cat5e fair with respect to the KVM?

 

Just reading this website (Link), they say they push 1280x1024 at up to 50m (which is just under 165 feet). This is obviously proprietary, but is there a generic limit of length of these cables?

[driz 2626]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

 

Is there any issue with length of the cable vs quality of the picture? I know HDMI has an effective range of about 25ft of cable before quality drops, how does cat5e fair with respect to the KVM?

 

Just reading this website (Link), they say they push 1280x1024 at up to 50m (which is just under 165 feet). This is obviously proprietary, but is there a generic limit of length of these cables?

i would never use hdmi for computing. displayport is significantly superior that being said, this kvm is vga and the kvm boosts the signal. gigE is faster than usb or the bw that dvi/vga/hdmi can carry, so it should't pose any issues at all.

[MOFLSTOMP 899]

 

Should be exaclty what you're looking for, albeit with way more badass hardware

[driz 2626]

holy shit, nice link! although, mine is tiny.. i'm not into these gigantic boxes for no reason.. it's kind of stupid/ugly

god this one is expensive, good thing cooler master paid eh

i need to check out the virtualization shit they used.. never heard of it.

[Gerald 1371]

I think you need to beat that one. You can afford it!

[driz 2626]

lol dude my girls play on nickjr.com there's no point

[Moose 4890]

lol dude my girls play on nickjr.com there's no point

 

 

It didn't meet the criterion of being bad-ass though.

 

This, is a perfectly valid reason.

[driz 2626]

This, is a perfectly valid reason.

hmm good point

[Moose 4890]

Although, this is coming from a guy who just had his PSU die and said "screw it, building a whole new rig".... lol

[Swed 2651]

i would never use hdmi for computing. displayport is significantly superior that being said, this kvm is vga and the kvm boosts the signal. gigE is faster than usb or the bw that dvi/vga/hdmi can carry, so it should't pose any issues at all.

 

Ok, thanks! I'm somewhat interested in networking as part of my compSci studies