What is a great setup for a virtual host.

What is the best software (os) to use, and the best hardware?

I assume when it comes to ram, then it's as simple as the more the better, but in more detail, is there specific kind of memory to look for.

What CPU? I'm not a hardware expert and I never used Xeon processors for example. What would be the best way to go.

What other considerations should I make.

So basically I'm, trying to get an idea of a great virtualization system and in comparison, an average system. So my question is in two parts.

1. Money is not an option? What's an optimal setup?
2. Money and budget are very important? What's a budget conscious setup?

As far as usage. Think of it as * everything *. I would use it for anything and everything, with the primary goal being a hobbyist. However, one clear use that I do have a need for, is to run a file server. By this I mean, that on the network, I would at most have 2 physical computers. I was thinking that the virtual host is a server, but I might decide, that I have a virtual file server as well as the host being a server itself. Otherwise, a virtual machin host would be the workstation, for more regular tasks, such as computing, browsing, gaming and etc.

Don't forget though, that my main question is - What hardware components? are best!

For hobbyist uses (that is, for example, distro-hopping, not hosting VPS's), any fairly brawny decent-quality computer should work fine.

I would recommend at least 4 GB RAM; 8 would be better, especially if you want to host a VM as a long-term local file server. I have used VirtualBox quite a bit for distro-hopping; it issues a warning if you wish to devote over half your RAM to a VM.

Just my two cents.

Best os: Debian or Centos/RHEL.

RAM: ECC RAM for better reliability. DDR4 for faster speed. More RAM for virtualization would be good.

CPU: Latest Haswell Extreme I7 intel cpu for speed. AMD FX, APU processors for budget.

Make sure your machine comes with a processor and a motherboard able to do hardware virtualization (VT-x for Intel and AMD-V for AMD). You can do without but it's much slower. With hardware virtualization your virtual machine can work almost as fast as the host...

While I can't help all that much since I'm searching for a system to play around with VMs. I'll also use it to study for the RH certs. I'm leaning towards a Lenovo TS140 with the Xeon processor.

If you decide on an Intel CPU, you can check this page to see if it supports visualization.

http://ark.intel.com/Products/VirtualizationTechnology

There are cpu's that have been designed for server and virtualization. That along with a fully modern board made to support vm's also. As above a ton of ram and usually for safety some sort of ecc.

At one time the Sun processors and systems were the best and you'd run Solaris on them as host. (OK, some may dispute that) Sure IBM has the guts too with AIX and RS line or above is a good choice too. HP's and their processors make a run on this too. Most bigger iron can run and has run vm's for decades in various forms. Then you get into the Cray stuff.

Only a few core i7's have been designed for vm tech.

Most smaller shops would use Xeon's or Opterons in the 8x server maybe with 32 or 64G ram or more.

The cpu is good but I'd suspect that running a top of the line PCI ssd would also make a run on this choice.

As with all wish lists, your use dictates the hardware. A SQL running on vm versus a web server versus file server and so on.