Server for gaming

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Elusive

New Member
Jun 14, 2020
4
0
1
Oslo, Norway
The question:
What specs should I be looking for if I wanted to build/buy a server that is able to run 4 dedicated game servers simultaneously on 1 server?

I'm currently looking for a server that can simultaneously run:
Ark Survival Evolved
Space Engineers
Satisfactory
Minecraft

The server is ment to be used by a group of friends.
Total amount of connected clients to the server will be no more than 10.

I dont know much about servers and need to know the specs of a server that can handle this. I have been told that my best option is to run each dedicated server in their own virtual machine.

I have been offered a server with dual Xeon 5675 processors, 96GB DDR3 RAM and 8x SAS 10k rpm hdds 164GB. Is this a good option?

Thank you for any replies!
 

Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
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328
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Austin, TX
First, what is your budget? Depends on how much they want for the server if that is a good deal.

That said those X5675 are very old and power hungry (as are the 10k rpm drives).
I would recommend something in the realm of the Xeon V2's, which still use cheap DDR3 ram, and depending on how much space you need there are reasonably priced 100gb enterprise ssd available that would offer much better performance/latency.

Second thing you need to research is the amount of CPU, RAM, and storage needed to run an instance of all of those with the amount of people you plan to host.
 

Elusive

New Member
Jun 14, 2020
4
0
1
Oslo, Norway
First, what is your budget? Depends on how much they want for the server if that is a good deal.

That said those X5675 are very old and power hungry (as are the 10k rpm drives).
I would recommend something in the realm of the Xeon V2's, which still use cheap DDR3 ram, and depending on how much space you need there are reasonably priced 100gb enterprise ssd available that would offer much better performance/latency.

Second thing you need to research is the amount of CPU, RAM, and storage needed to run an instance of all of those with the amount of people you plan to host.
Thanks for your reply! Our budget is around 1500 USD, but we are willing to go a bit over if necessary. The asking price for the server i posted is 775 USD.

The games we are planning to host require

Ark Survival Evolved
  • Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
Space Engineers
  • Intel i5 @ 3.0 GHz or higher (or AMD equivalent)
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
Satisfactory
  • Intel i5 @ 3.4 GHz or higher (or AMD equivalent)
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
Minecraft
  • CPU: Intel Core i3 3210 | AMD A8 7600 APU or equivalent.
  • RAM: 8 GB RAM. (Because of many mods, we are counting 8 GB RAM instead of the official 4 GB's requirement)


We also concidered a new build for 1200 USD with a Ryzen 9 3900x and 64GB of 3200Hz DDR4 RAM and a ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING motherboard. We're not in need of a lot of storage space. 250 - 500GB storage is plenty. This can always be upgraded later on if needed. Is this a better option or will it give us aproximately the same results?
 

Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
788
328
63
Austin, TX
The ryzen procs are good options however, whats the likelihood you're going to be using all 4 servers at the same time?
With shared resources in mind a 3900x seems way overkill, 6core/12thread or 8c/16t is likely more than sufficient for current consumer CPU ~ as is 32gb of ram. Per your note, it can always be upgraded later.

That would yield alot quieter, more power efficient build.

That said you could build a Xeon V2 workstation kit could be had in the $400 range if you think you'll need more ram down the road.

$150 for the mobo (Supermicro X9SRi-F) ~ standard atx size with IPMI
$160 for the CPU (Xeon 2690 v2)
$120 for ram (4x 16gb DDR3-R 1866)
 

Scott Laird

Active Member
Aug 30, 2014
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I wouldn't pay anything for 5500 or 5600-series Xeons. The case and memory may have some value, but not the MB or CPUs. Similarly, I don't think there's really any value in 10k SAS drives. They're small, power-hungry, and slower than a cheap SSD. A ~$100 Samsung EVO SATA SSD would run rings around 8x 10k drives for this use and would probably pay off in power cost (in the US, with relatively cheap power) in a year or so.

I *suspect* that getting a desktop-ish CPU (few threads, high clock) would give you the best performance-per-$ (or local equivalent), and also the least hassle. The 3900x is overkill, but it's not a terrible move. I'd probably go with similar if I was looking for a game server, especially if you're running Windows. It'd just be less work then dealing with driver issues on ~10 year old hardware.

FWIW, I've seen dual E5 v3/v4 bare-bones for as low as $200 lately. I've paid under $100 for 32 GB ECC DIMMs, and $300ish for reasonably nice CPUs. These are US prices; I'm not sure where you are, but in any case I wouldn't pay that much for Xeon 5600s. The desktop would be less work, though, and probably faster for mostly-single-thread workloads.
 

Elusive

New Member
Jun 14, 2020
4
0
1
Oslo, Norway
The ryzen procs are good options however, whats the likelihood you're going to be using all 4 servers at the same time?
With shared resources in mind a 3900x seems way overkill, 6core/12thread or 8c/16t is likely more than sufficient for current consumer CPU ~ as is 32gb of ram. Per your note, it can always be upgraded later.

That would yield alot quieter, more power efficient build.

That said you could build a Xeon V2 workstation kit could be had in the $400 range if you think you'll need more ram down the road.

$150 for the mobo (Supermicro X9SRi-F) ~ standard atx size with IPMI
$160 for the CPU (Xeon 2690 v2)
$120 for ram (4x 16gb DDR3-R 1866)
Thanks again! I'm gonna check out the Xeon v2's and see if I can get a good build from that!

Most likely there won't ever be clients on all 4 servers at the same time, but we still want to keep them running so that anyone of us can play whatever game we like at any time. Is there a huge different in resource usage between no clients connected to a running server and 4 clients connected?

The reason we want a server like this is mainly because at the moment we always need to wait for the person with the save. If that person is busy, none of us can continue on the same save until he starts playing.
 

Elusive

New Member
Jun 14, 2020
4
0
1
Oslo, Norway
I wouldn't pay anything for 5500 or 5600-series Xeons. The case and memory may have some value, but not the MB or CPUs. Similarly, I don't think there's really any value in 10k SAS drives. They're small, power-hungry, and slower than a cheap SSD. A ~$100 Samsung EVO SATA SSD would run rings around 8x 10k drives for this use and would probably pay off in power cost (in the US, with relatively cheap power) in a year or so.

I *suspect* that getting a desktop-ish CPU (few threads, high clock) would give you the best performance-per-$ (or local equivalent), and also the least hassle. The 3900x is overkill, but it's not a terrible move. I'd probably go with similar if I was looking for a game server, especially if you're running Windows. It'd just be less work then dealing with driver issues on ~10 year old hardware.

FWIW, I've seen dual E5 v3/v4 bare-bones for as low as $200 lately. I've paid under $100 for 32 GB ECC DIMMs, and $300ish for reasonably nice CPUs. These are US prices; I'm not sure where you are, but in any case I wouldn't pay that much for Xeon 5600s. The desktop would be less work, though, and probably faster for mostly-single-thread workloads.
Thanks for your reply! I live in Norway and it is a bit hard getting what you want as there are few people selling the exact hardware you're looking for. We are however leaning towards the ryzen build, even though it is overkill. We figured we'd rather have too much power and maybe we can add another game to the list. Maybe even rent out one virtual machine to get a small revenue to cover the extra electrical usage.

Anyway, thanks for all the help! Really, it's nice to get opinions and information from people that know this stuff so that I don't spend 750 USD on something that won't work!
 

Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
788
328
63
Austin, TX
It should use minimal to no resources when no one is connected, if it is then its really poorly coded.
That said even if it is most of the noted cpu that are 6c/12t or 8c/16 should be able to run all 4 full load no issues and likely have quite a bit still free.
 
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Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
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Will that not depends on the number of threads each game server can use?
I've heard that at least Minecraft uses on thread only for the main game but differen threads for mods - so before deciding I'd take a closer look at the currently running processes while hosting games ...