Need suggestions

[hons]

Hi friends,

I'm trying to create a virtual test network and need some suggestions from all my friends ,

I need hardware, OS and app to match in order to get the best outcome(performance):

Hardware(Physical):

Should I get a x64 server with 4GB memory?? or a PC with Duo 2 Core and 4GB MEM??

OS(Physical):

If it is a server, I will install W2K3 x64 R2. If it is a PC, should I install Vista x64 (which version) or WinXP x64???

App (to run VM):

Should I use VM server or VM Workstation?? (I asked before about which VM is better and seems people like VMWare more than Microsoft)

Please give me some ideas and suggestions.

(P.S. I tried to use a PC with Vista x64 C2D E6700 w/ 4GB and installed the VM workstation but it dosen't seems running very smooth!!????)

Thanks in advance.

[fizban2]

right now i run Virtual PC or Virtual server 2005 R2 on a 64 bit xeon with 2 gigs of ram, Server 2003 R2 64 bit install as the host OS. the more ram you can get the better, 4 - 8 gigs would be ideal depending on how many VMs you want to run at a time.