Hi,
No problem for the response. I am interested in this kind of stuff.
Hyper-V from what I understand is aimed at virtualizing entire operating systems (machines) and is analogous to something like VMware vSphere so I don't think there would be any compatibility issue with that kind of virtualization as it is definitely quite robust and mature. In fact I toyed with the idea of using that myself (vSphere) on my current home system, but then I realized I would need another computer (or computers) to remotely connect to the virtual machines and I would not be able to run applications locally (the nature of the hypervisor), so I opted for VMware workstation instead (that runs on a host operating system), meaning I can still use my system in an un-virtualized mode if I want to.
The talk of almost melting quad cores and the like makes me wonder what kind of cooling systems are in use! I am sure this is not a trivial thing, but it's not hard to max out a CPU (any CPU) so I would think as long as the cooling system is adequate, CPUs shouldn't be over-heating. Of course any sustained temperature increase does reduce system life.
That all said I think the server form factor probably has a large part to play in all this. I am sitting here with a home built desktop system with very large case and probably one of the biggest air cooled heat sinks that you can buy, but I am sure that a rack/blade server has no such luxury when form factor is important and maybe therein lies the issue. I don't know much about Dell servers, but have changed from preferring Dell desktop systems to building my own in recent years so I can ensure the most sustainable/cool operation including under-clocking if it makes sense to do so (if a CPU can only operate at 90% say when maxed out, it will run a lot cooler). At any one time on my desktop I might be running 3-6 different virtual systems and CPU temperatures are generally good (40C-50C).
Right now I think you would do well to max out a quad core CPU with WaterGEMS, but we are working on enhancements that will likely change that in future. Hopefully system temperature issues are not a side effect of the faster performance that will result! It sounds like we should make this kind of performance feature optional. I wonder how many people even know what temperatures their desktop systems run at?
All interesting stuff. Thanks for the chat.