new pc

OK, looks like you've got it fairly well under control re Pro versus Home.

Just shop around. Look at online vendors if you can.

Re virtualization: try to solicit feedback on i5 versus i7, K versus non K, and the necessity of a separate video card. I'm pretty sure anyone will tell you to go with 16 GB RAM for virtual machines.

Best idea is a custom local builder where you can give him a list of parts and he puts it together for maybe $150, but those types of places have become hard to find over the last 10 or 15 years.

Consider making a new thread asking for info on virtualization in another section of these forums.

Good idea and will do

You don't need i7 for virtualization and nor do you need a particular graphics card. If you wanted to run lots of VMs at the same time then more cores (not threads - that is pointless Intel marketing gobbledygook) would be better. If you only want to run one or two VMs then don't worry about it - i3 would be fine frankly.

What you want is as much RAM as you can afford (16GB would be good) and, again if it is within your budget, as much fast disk (SSD not HDD). Each VM you run will need about 30GB SSD space just for Windows plus whatever else you install on it. Each one will also want 2GB RAM plus whatever more you feel you need depending on what you are doing. If you can afford 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD (probably a 250GB SSD would be OK) then that would be perfect. You can then store your data on a cheap HDD.

Running VMs on HDD (or SD cards or USB keys) while possible is horrid and I would suggest you don't.

VirtualBox (and VMWare Player) run fine on 10 home. If you want to use Hyper-V then you need 10 Pro. Hyper-V is handy as when you shut down or restart your PC it automatically pauses and resumes your virtual machines. This is pretty much the only reason I use Hyper-V over anything else most of the time.

There are plenty of tutorials on this site but here is one as a starter:
Hyper-V virtualization - Setup and Use in Windows 10

VirtualBox is a bit slower than the other 2 in benchmarks but works perfectly well for normal use and when using my VMs (which run Microsoft Office and terminal emulators basically) I can't actually tell the difference. I use all 3 for various things, all 3 are free (excepting you have to buy Pro to use Hyper-V) and are all pretty similar.

From what you say you want I'd max the RAM and SSD and forget (or at least not worry too much) about anything else - neither what CPU you have (any CPU you can buy since 2010 will have the virtualization instructions included) nor the graphics card unless you want to play games or need it for your main PC for some reason.

Incidentally all 3 virtualization softwares let you directly pass though your graphics card to a VM but I can't really imagine why you would want to.

I appreciate all of your information and have made note. I have a thread going on in virtualization so will continue there.

Maranna:

I looked at Dell online.

Looks like you have to go to their "Business" area if you want Win 10 Pro, not Home.

Here are 2 possibilities near $950; both 16 GB RAM, both SSD, both i5.

It looks like you can customize both.

I'd call Dell and ask to speak to someone who can help you configure a Win 10 Pro machine, probably in the "Optiplex" line.

Based on the info you are getting, you'd probably want to omit a video card. Maybe even omit the HDD if they will let you and you have one already you can add after you get it.

Omit monitor?

These Optiplex machines seem to have small cases. If you want a larger case, you may be able to get something in the "Home" line (Inspiron?) with Win 10 Pro, but you might have to talk to a sales rep on the phone rather than just using the online configurator.

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Have you looked at the PC whose specs I posted? It seems to have what I need @ $900 not the $1200 one.
I will consider Dell but if you have a moment please look at the one I referenced. The storage SSD 480 GB, card integrated and CPU supports virtualization. If the price is fair it is just down the street and waiting.
Thank you for your referral.

maranna said:

Have you looked at the PC whose specs I posted? It seems to have what I need @ $900 not the $1200 one.
I will consider Dell but if you have a moment please look at the one I referenced. The storage SSD 480 GB, card integrated and CPU supports virtualization. If the price is fair it is just down the street and waiting.
Thank you for your referral.

It is just like my opinion man, but I think you should go and buy it.

Seems good and it will work perfectly well. I'm sure you could save $50 if you bought it on-line and waited a couple of days but who wants that?

Get in your car, drive down, and and pick the thing up.

Specs on the Microcenter $900 machine:

It's a "Powerspec B741".

Is that Microcenter's house brand? I frankly have never heard of that brand.

If something goes bad about it in 2 weeks, who do you deal with? Powerspec? Rockville store?

If something goes bad about it in 7 months, who do you deal with?

It has a 1 year warranty, so I assume on the 366th day, you have to deal with the individual component manufacturers warranties--some of them might be longer than 1 year.

Have you seen this thing out of the box? Do you like the general looks, build quality, number of ports, ergonomic aspects?

On the face of it, it looks fine, subject to luck and the questions I've noted.

Do they have a similar setup, but with i5 processor? That should save you $100 or so.

i8700K; that's more than plenty

Motherboard: Asus Prime Z370 P; that's a good brand, but I have no specific knowledge of this particular board.

16 GB of DDR4 3000; that's fine

SSD: 480 GB; I'd try to get a brand name and exact model number

Asus DVD, that's fine

No monitor; that's good

No video card; that's apparently good based on what you are hearing about virtualization

Realtek Audio; that's fine

case, keyboard, and mouse unknown

1 year warranty.

I will get the warranty and deal with Micro center. Power Spec is their house brand.
There are none with i5 so I am limited to this.
The specs say SSD interface SATA 6 GB's, capacity 480.
I will call about your questions to hear what they say especially about the SSD -thanks

Hi,
Yes I always get the in store warranties on items at micro center 2 year minimum
Way better than dealing with manufacture rma mail off systems and wait/ down time