Hyper-V server

Two questions....

When you say quiet, you you mean as quiet as science will allow within $3k? If yes, then according to silentpcreview.com (specifically their SPCR section), there are vendors out there who build such systems: the SPLs for them have been recorded to go as low as 16dB idle and 20dB full load (tested against ISO 7779 in an anechoic chamber).


Also, when you say at least 32GB, then would you be ok with 32GB with possibly no way to upgrade beyond that, or do you want the ability to go up to 48GB?

If you're ok with 32GB (4x 8GB), then Sandy Bridge will suffice. At 32GB, you're right at the limit of what the higher-end consumer-grade Sandy Bridge motherboards can eke out. I haven't seen any yet that are certified to 64GB, which would be 16GB per DIMM (which are still rare, and are in the  price range anyway).

If you need more, then the next (and probably final) stop is the LGA1366 platform, which can do 48GB (6x 8GB). For that, the absolute highest-end LGA1366 X58 motherboards are the way to go (i.e. Asus Rampage III Black Edition - not the Formula edition, not the Extreme edition, but the Black Edition - only it can do 48GB). Likewise here, I haven't seen any X58 boards that can take 16GB DIMMs to get you to 96GB.

Anything beyond that (64GB, 96GB, etc.) and you're looking either at multi-socket servers (Thinkmate.com has pretty reasonable prices, and I have ordered some dual-socket QC Opterons with 32GB from them in the past) or at multi-socket workstations (e.g. DS's dual-LGA1366 offering, which will take you north of $5k).

But in the consumer world, they're very rare.

For Sandy Bridge, Patriot memory has a DDR 1333 4x 8GB kit offering, and a single 8GB DIMM offering.

For that X58 Asus board that claims to handle 48GB, this is the only 3x 8GB kit I found from Crucial. It's especially hard because that Rampage III Black Edition board specifically states that the memory must be non-ECC and Unbuffered/Unregistered - normally this is never a problem because that's what consumer memory is. But when you start looking at 8GB sticks today, 95% of your search results come back as server-grade ECC memory. In any case, you'd have to buy two sets of that Crucial 3x 8GB kit, plug them all in, and cross your fingers during memory burn-in.

Today, 32GB and 48GB are the bleeding-edge on P67/Z68 and X58 motherboards, respectively. Unless, of course, suddenly some vendor pulls out an ECC-memory-compatible 16GB-per-DIMM-capable consumer motherboard out of their hat, just for sheer snobbery. But I doubt that.

One thing to keep in mind though, if you're actually going to utilize most of the 32GB or 48GB of RAM on a constant basis with very frequent data transfers in and out of RAM, then you should be going with server-grade ECC memory anyway. This entails a server-grade motherboard, which pretty much locks you into getting a server (or at least a professional workstation).