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post #1 of 31
7/13/12 at 9:27am
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Two other people and i are going to setup a few game servers to host from.
We'd like to be able to get a few games on each one without being subject to poor performance.

i am kinda in the dark about what level of hardware is needed to accomplish certain performance.
I want to get a pretty thorough understanding of this before i commit to anything
So...

If i were to host one of these games, what is recommended for each of these ranges
looking at 32 and 64 slots per game (where applicable)

- Performance Hog Games - BF3, Crysis 2...etc

- Mid range Games - CoD: BlOps...etc

- Simpler Games - Unreal Tournament, TF2...etc

- Simplest games - CS:S, Minecraft...etc


These are my first of very many that i have
I appreciate all of the advice in advance
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post #2 of 31
7/13/12 at 9:57am
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You pretty much just want a fairly powerful processor, lots of fast RAM, and an SSD to hold all the files. I haven't had any issues hosting a MW2 server with an 8 core i7 920 and 12 gigs of RAM, and it was my internet connection that was the limiting factor in that scenario.
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post #3 of 31
7/13/12 at 11:29am
Where are these servers going to reside?
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post #4 of 31
7/14/12 at 4:31am
Heads up you cant host BF3 servers as They do not give the files out you must use a Trusted hoster who has the files
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post #5 of 31
7/16/12 at 7:41am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by killabytes View Post

Where are these servers going to reside?

in a cold room
they're going to start out with a 105 down 20 up connection (i'm assuming that's why you're asking)
on the east coast

Quote:
Originally Posted by x_HackMan View Post

Heads up you cant host BF3 servers as They do not give the files out you must use a Trusted hoster who has the files

i know
you have to be a partner with EA before hosting
i mentioned BF3 as a high performance baseline
don't know if we will be hosting one for BF3...not until we get quite a few servers at least
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post #6 of 31
7/16/12 at 10:19am
Ok Well Im going to try and be abit more helpful now.

Simple Games Like Minecraft Your looking around 3-4gb ram for 40-50 players and any decent cpu will do.
An ssd would be Nice and Minecraft is very I/O Intensive with large maps

TF2 you would be looking at a decent duel core Cpu 2-3gb ram 7200rpm hdd Probibly a better cpu for 32 slots

Most CoD servers use around about the same amount of specs

Looking around 6-8gb ram a decent quad core Cpu

Something abit more of a Performance Hog Like DayZ (Only example i could think of) Uses almost 80-90% load on a i5 2500k

You could also look a hosting companies as if u start hosting lots of servers the resource load will go up and so will your power bill

Best I could do to help sorry its abit vague in places as im giving guide lines not acctual usage, Its hard to give anything accurate because most game servers use whatever they need and use as much as they want

-A strong i7
-decent connection
-SSD and hdd

Would be a good shout for hosting servers.
Edited by x_HackMan - 7/16/12 at 10:27am
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post #7 of 31
7/16/12 at 10:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by x_HackMan View Post

Ok Well Im going to try and be abit more helpful now.
Simple Games Like Minecraft Your looking around 3-4gb ram for 40-50 players and any decent cpu will do.
An ssd would be Nice and Minecraft is very I/O Intensive with large maps
TF2 you would be looking at a decent duel core Cpu 2-3gb ram 7200rpm hdd Probibly a better cpu for 32 slots
Most CoD servers use around about the same amount of specs
Looking around 6-8gb ram a decent quad core Cpu
Something abit more of a Performance Hog Like DayZ (Only example i could think of) Uses almost 80-90% load on a i5 2500k
You could also look a hosting companies as if u start hosting lots of servers the resource load will go up and so will your power bill
Best I could do to help sorry its abit vague in places as im giving guide lines not acctual usage, Its hard to give anything accurate because most game servers use whatever they need and use as much as they want
-A strong i7
-decent connection
-SSD and hdd
Would be a good shout for hosting servers.

I agree with most of this except for the CPU choice. We are talking servers, to host game servers...get a server CPU, such as an Opteron or Xeon. Quad CPU boards, with 4 16-core Opterons (64 CPU cores) and enough DIMMs for 16 8GB sticks (128GB) of RAM. Virtualize it, giving resources where resources are needed. A single 4U server should be great to get you started, since you can start with one CPU and add more when needed (same for RAM). Make sure you get ECC RAM too. It almost sounds like you are going colo, and if that's the case...you want less servers, with more power. Rack space can get expensive.

A good connection is very important. Upload speeds need to be as high as possible, to prevent lag in game. No one will come back to your game servers if they are getting killed because of lag.

Disk I/O is important, but I don't think SSDs are required for what you want to do. If you build a real server, go with 10K RPM SAS drives. Raid 50 or raid 10...depending on how you want to divvy out your storage.
Edited by tycoonbob - 7/16/12 at 10:43am
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post #8 of 31
7/16/12 at 10:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tycoonbob View Post

I agree with most of this except for the CPU choice. We are talking servers, to host game servers...get a server CPU, such as an Opteron or Xeon. Quad CPU boards, with 4 16-core Opterons (64 CPU cores) and enough DIMMs for 16 8GB sticks (128GB) of RAM. Virtualize it, giving resources where resources are needed. A single 4U server should be great to get you started, since you can start with one CPU and add more when needed (same for RAM). Make sure you get ECC RAM too. It almost sounds like you are going colo, and if that's the case...you want less servers, with more power. Rack space can get expensive.
A good connection is very important. Upload speeds need to be as high as possible, to prevent lag in game. No one will come back to your game servers if they are getting killed because of lag.
Disk I/O is important, but I don't think SSDs are required for what you want to do. If you build a real server, go with 10K RPM SAS drives. Raid 50 or raid 10...depending on how you want to divvy out your storage.

Yea Getting a server cpus are the way to go But an i7 would be fine if he only wanted to host Minecraft and Mby tf2

But Yes your way is the proper way to go although expensive IT doesnt sound like he is going to be selling these servers so wouldnt have people being dependent on The best of the Best
Edited by x_HackMan - 7/16/12 at 10:53am
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post #9 of 31
7/16/12 at 10:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by x_HackMan View Post

Yea Getting a server cpus are the way to go But an i7 would be fine if he only wanted to host Minecraft and Mby tf2
But Yes your way is the proper way to go

I agree 110%.

If I was looking for a new private server to go play on, I want good hardware and a good connection. Not some guys computer sitting in his basement that has hibernation active. Chance are, he has some way to monitize this...otherwise I don't get the point in dropping a couple grand on hardware/colo/massive bandwidth, for other peoples pleasure. Just sayin...

Maybe I should ask...are you just wanting to set something up for you and your friends, or something that's distributed?
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post #10 of 31
7/16/12 at 10:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tycoonbob View Post

I agree 110%.
If I was looking for a new private server to go play on, I want good hardware and a good connection. Not some guys computer sitting in his basement that has hibernation active. Chance are, he has some way to monitize this...otherwise I don't get the point in dropping a couple grand on hardware/colo/massive bandwidth, for other peoples pleasure. Just sayin...
Maybe I should ask...are you just wanting to set something up for you and your friends, or something that's distributed?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazzeedayz 
Two other people and i are going to setup a few game servers to host from.
We'd like to be able to get a few games on each one without being subject to poor performance.

Looks like its mainly for friends and He also says its going to Be at home
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazzeedayz 
they're going to start out with a 105 down 20 up connection

Doesnt look like hes going to Colo
Edited by x_HackMan - 7/16/12 at 11:04am
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