Budget PC Build for Proxmox + CVI42 VM (with GPU Passthrough)

[veryotaku]

Hi everyone,
I need advice for building a PC to install Proxmox. The goal is to use it as a server where I can run a Windows virtual machine to install the cardioimaging software CVI42 (https://www.circlecvi.com/docs/product-support/cvi42_System_Requirements_5.14.pdf).


I’m looking for a PC that can run the software smoothly, trying to get the best performance for the lowest possible cost, and I need the components to support GPU passthrough.


Ideally, the system should have two hard drive slots, so I can use the second one for work and retrogaming as well.


If there's a pre-built PC that fits these requirements, that would be perfect — but if I need to buy the parts and build it myself, that's totally fine too.


My budget is around €500 to €1000.


Thanks a lot, everyone!

 

[UdoB]

The goal is to use it as a server where I can run a Windows virtual machine to install the cardioimaging software CVI42

If that is your only goal then skip virtualization and install bare metal!

If you want to run several VMs then sum up the RAM requirements and add 4 to 8 GiB for the OS and cache. Then double that resulting number ;-)

Given that that software requires 16+8 GiB for server+client 32 GiB Ram would be the minimum to start with --> try to get 64 GiB!

(( Try to get a system with ECC. This is a general recommendation, most Mini-PC do not offer this option. ))

Ideally, the system should have two hard drive slots, so I can use the second one for work and retrogaming as well.

If you do anything valuable you might consider "one disk for this, one disk for that" and go for redundancy. While this won't count as a backup it makes losing data much harder.

Go for two "Enterprise Class" (with PLP!) SSD/NVMe and select "ZFS mirror" during installation.


Just my 2 €¢...

 

[veryotaku]

Thank you for your reply!
I need to create multiple virtual machines so that other colleagues can access the server, so I need to virtualize. Any pre-built systems you’d recommend that support GPU passthrough?

 

[news]

please tell us you budget, can you manage a $5k Server 24/7?

 

[news]

you need a backup solution, e.x. Proxmox Backup server on a 2nd server and 1-2 USV Power Backup for you servers.

 

[veryotaku]

please tell us you budget, can you manage a $5k Server 24/7?

I don’t want to spend more than 1k, mainly because this is equipment for work, not for personal use (unless I add a second hard drive for occasional gaming). The server doesn’t need to be running 24/7 — probably just one day a week at most

 

[news]

do you have access to micro center in the usa?
If yes, i would ask the for some advice.

if you use ZFS the think of many SATA3 Ports 6-8 and ex. 2x NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 or PCIe 4.0 x4.
Will you go with Intel LGA 1700, LGA 1851 or AMD AM4 or AM5?

What are your CPU, Ram, SSDs, HDDs requirements?

Please read: https://www.proxmox.com/en/products/proxmox-virtual-environment/requirements

as UdoB wrote, add them all together!
And add 8 GByte - 16 GByte ECC Ram for ZFS.

 

[news]

Hello @veryotaku i calculate a good proxmox server intel LGA 1700, with the parts of my local dealer in germany.
You can see the base configuration.

• Mainbord, Biostar B760MXC PRO, DDR5
• CPU, Intel Core i5-13600K, TDP max. 181 Watt
• CPU Cooler, be quiet! Pure Rock Pro 3, Dual, TDP max. 250 Watt
• DDR5, Kingston DIMM 64 GB DDR5-6000 (2x 32 GB)
• 2x SSD, Kingston DC600M 960 GB, ZFS rpool, zfs dpool special device, zfs dpool zil/slog
• 2x HDD, Seagate IronWolf NAS 4 TB, CMR, zfs dpool
• Power Supply, be quiet! Pure Power 12 750W or Pure Power 12 650W
• Case, be quiet! PURE BASE 501 Airflow
• 2x Case-Cooler, be quiet! Pure Wings 3, 140mm PWM
• GPU, XFX Radeon RX 9060 XT Swift,OC Dual Fan, 16 GB

We get 1.619,08 € in Germany, so you see, your budget is not enough.