HP Workstation xw8600 Proc: Intel Xeon 54xx series processor (Quad Core) (1 of 2 sockets filled)
RAM: 2048 MB (2x 1024GB DIMMs) DDR2 PC2-5300 FB
NIC(s): 2x onboard NICs 10/100/1000 NetXtreme BCM5755 Gigabit Ethernet
Storage: onboard SATA 631xESB/632xESB SATA Storage Controller RAID; also has SAS RAID controller available
Hard drive: 1x 160 GB SATA hard drive
Supports Intel VT-x: Yes!
Installed easily out of the box without any major modifications.
BIOS setting to enable 64-bit virtualization (Intel VT-x)
F10 (BIOS)
- Security | OS Security | Intel Virtualization Technology = "Enabled"
I've been running
VMware ESXi 3.5 on this for the past six months without any major issues. Guest OSes loaded/tested so far:
MS Windows XP, RHEL 4.x, Ubuntu 7.x, OpenFiler, CentOS 5.x. Started out on VMware ESXi 3.5 U1 and now at
VMware ESXi 3.5 U4.
I like the box so much, I picked up one on the used market for home

This particular model is nice for ESX/ESXi because
the workstation supports up to 128 GB of RAM and
two Quad Core Xeon processors. It has a built-in controller for SATA (
6-ports) plus another built-in controller for SAS (
8-ports), with space for at least four drives internally, plus another another five if you use a 3x5 SATA backplane in the 3x 5.25" bays.
I hope to try out ESXi 4.0 on my xw8600 at home
