Originally Posted by
tycoonbob
For hosting a few VMs and Minecraft servers, save the money and go with the quad cores. Keep in mind that these CPUs have hyperthreading, so that's 8 cores but 16 threads. The six cores are nice, and give you a total of 12 cores and 24 threads, but you don't exactly NEED them for what you are doing, I promise. If you want to spend the extra money, go for it.
Well first off, 4 and 5 are the same thing. The difference is that #4 has a $45 shipping cost, and #5 does not. I also don't recommend #2 because it uses the X5560. The great thing about using the Xeon L5520 is they are low power CPUs.
So it comes down to 1, 3, and 5. I like the C6100s, and it's pretty much like having 4 C1100s, but they share a single PSU and they only have 3 drives each. For my C1100s, I like to have a 60GB SSD (OS), 500GB SSD (high IOPS for VMs), 2 x 3TB 7200RPM drives (RAID 1 for local backups, and low IOPS VMs), so for me the C6100 isn't an option.
That leaves #1 and #3. They are the same except for the CPU.I assure you that #1 will have more power than you will known what to do with, and it can be easy to think that you want the six core. The six core has a slightly slower clock speed, and for single threaded applications (such as Minecraft) that will make a difference. If you feel like paying $230 more to gain 4 more cores (8 more threads), and don't mind the slightly lower clock speed, go for #3. I still say go for #1 though, the price for what you are getting just cannot be beat.
Only if you want one. My C1100s are not in a rack currently, but they will be eventually. If you want a rack, be patient and watch Craigslist in your area (if you live in a larger area). You could even get build a Lack Rack for it since it's just a little 1U server.