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Background: I'm a machine learning developer who runs a chatbot service on discord, and does research with reformer models (a variant of the transformer model). I recently decided that I would really like to upgrade my service backends from entirely CPU compute to GPU compute, which (as you might imagine) is extremely expensive on hosting providers. AWS charges $657 per month to use half of a K80, and GCP charges $328.5 per month for the same service. (GCP charges extra for the virtual machine it runs in, so prices may vary). For someone like me, who doesn't make much off of my service, either of those prices is completely unacceptable. So of course, the solution is to build your own rig. But woo-hoo! It's covid time and GPU prices have gone completely mental. After a bit of research, I noticed that the answer to my GPU woes was sitting in front of me the entire time. Tesla K80s were selling on ebay for $130 a pop (at their lowest early-covid. You'd be hard-pressed to find one for $180 nowadays) and that's for 2 GPUs on a single card That's right, cloud providers. I can build a rig just as good or better, for less than half your prices. Since this card is passively cooled, built for servers, and I figured I could make use of the remote mangement tools as well, I focused on building my new rig around a server chasis. Turns out both these choices were quite important in driving costs down. Here's my part list: HP ML350 gen 8 (Specs below) - $175 Pair of E5-2620 6c @2.0ghz 32gb DDR3 @1333 6 hard drive caddies (btw you can sell these for $6-$9 each lol) 2x 460w PSU(s) Tesla K80 - $180 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=tesla+k80&_sacat=0&_sop=15 the stupid cables for the two above items - $26 <- if you use ebay insead of amazon you can probablly find cheaper cables, I was in a hurry, and these worked. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SHT579T?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0796NVNY7?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details (optional, but reccomended): 1 or 2 HP 750w PSU(s) - ~$15 (optional, it works just fine without them but reccomended if you plan to game on it) Pair of E5-2680 10c @2.7ghz- ~$40 (optional, some servers come preinstalled with storage) hard drives: - ~$12.5 <- 500gb drive (if you don't have one already) an 8gb+ SD card For the reccomended spec (assuming you have an SD card and 2.5" drive handy), that's $392 (before taxes) Before you go building this yourself, please realize that this is: 1. A server. most, if not all things in the server are proprietary and really lack the features of a workstation/gaming pc 2. Loud. At a (pretty cold) inlet temp of 65 degrees F, or 18 degrees C, this server will run its fans at 30% or higher, which will be ~45db of constant noise. 3. Going to need a lot of work. I won't take responsibiliy if you fry your server, since this will need some cable modding, and nothing in the HP servers is standard. Now that that the disclaimers are over with, let's go over some hardware pain points I first ran into. The HP ML350 Gen 8 is capable of handling 3 Gen 3 16x high power cards, but only has two power outputs for them on its power supply daugher board (the daughter board is hidden under the fan cage). The user manual lies about the pinout on the daughter board, with the pinout appearing to be a 10 pin, but actually, it's a 8-pin PCIe female connector (SEE FIG.1). BUT HOLD YOUR HORSES. That's also a lie. It's keyed like a PCIe 8-pin female, but the power it outputs is equivalent to a EPS 8-pin (e.g. 12v across the top and ground across the bottom) No one makes a cable to this pinout, not even HP. Not even if you wanted to pay $100 for it on amazon. The Tesla K80 actually wants this pin layout, but unfortunately, unless you know how to make your own cables, this isn't really an option. There is a really old thread about this cable debacle here, but they don't end up with a working solution, so I'll detail the possible solutions to this below. Fig. 1 - Connector on ML350p Gen 8 My solution was to buy a standard PCIe 8-pin male to 2x PCIe 8-pin male, and the standard Tesla K80 2x PCIe 8-pin female to 8-pin EPS male cable. Depending on the GPU you want to run, you may only need to buy and mod the first cable. If you do this configuration, DO NOT plug the two adapters together into the motherboard without modding them, as you WILL send 12 volts to ground, shorting and potentially kill your power supply(s). You'll want to cut the cheaper of the two cables, in case you end up giving up on this or use a different solution. If you cut the PCIe 8-pin male to 2x PCIe 8-pin male, cut cable 4, according to Fig. 2. If you cut the 2x PCIe 8-pin female to 8-pin EPS male, cut the two small loops coming out of the female connectors. (see Fig. 3) MAKE SURE TO PUT ELECTRICAL TAPE/HOT GLUE AROUND THE CUT LOOSE ENDS The alternative solution is to buy a cable like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8821VZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. You won't need to mod it, but I highly advise against it. the last two ground pins on a PCIe 8-pin do provide power, roughly 75w each. Your card might not work at full capacity without those connected PSU-side. Fig. 2 - PCIe 8 pin standard Fig. 3 - Telsa K80 cable loops If you plug the cable(s) into the server now, it should boot and not short, without the card plugged in. ALWAYS CHECK THE POWER OUTPUTS OF YOUR CABLES BEFORE PLUGGING THEM INTO YOUR CARD. The outputs should match the EPS 8-pin standard (for the Tesla k80) or the standard defined by your graphics card manufacturer. Only once you've verified the output, should you plug it into your card and expect no magic smoke. I plugged the card into Lane 3 (the only X16 slot for CPU 1), and it worked just fine. You'll now want to use the GPU immedietely, I presume! But not so fast. This GPU has an eye-watering 24 GB of vram onboard, and systems aren't really designed for that. Luckily, there's a setting in HP's bios that can fix that ;3 On most motherboards, this would be a setting called "Above 4g Decoding", but for HP, this is not the case. Instead, it's in a hidden menu in the BIOS. You'll want to follow these steps: Boot up the server and press F9 when prompted to boot into BIOS Press CTRL+A on your keyboard attached to your server. A new menu called "SERVICE OPTIONS" will pop up Navigate to the new menu and go into it. Find the entry "PCI Express 64-BIT BAR Support" and enable it Exit the BIOS The K80 should now work. Credit where credit is due, and big thanks to RiDDO and his post on the HP forums here: https://community.hpe.com/t5/ProLiant-Servers-ML-DL-SL/ML350p-Gen8-amp-nVidia-Tesla-K40m/td-p/7045883#.YPERc-j0nrc If you have ILO setup on the server, you can find the card labelled as UNKNOWN under System Information>Device Inventory>PCI-E Slot 3, unless you have an HP-branded K80. ----------------------------------------------- Hardware setup over (aka half the battle) If you've made it this far in you're probably pretty intrugued about how in the world I plan on making this setup work as a gaming server, or want to build it yourself. After all, this entire time, I haven't really explained how I intend on using this... without any video outputs... (there isn't even a framebuffer on this graphics card.........) I my case, I use ESXi 7.0 (you can get a free trial here) to run virtual machines, one for a linux machine that runs hosting stuff with half the GPU, and a windows dev/gaming enviornment for my second half of the GPU. To install it, you can use rufus to make the ISO image a bootable USB, and install ESXi to an SD card the usual way (you can find the server's onboard SD card slot inside the server under the fans). You'll probably want to change some configuration options on ESXi, such as setting a static IP address. Once ESXi is installed, you'll want to toggle passthrough for these GPUs and reboot the server. For each virtual machine you create, make sure to edit their configuration settings with these flags: pciPassthru.use64bitMMIO=TRUE hypervisor.cpuid.v0=FALSE pciPassthru0.msiEnabled=FALSE An explanation: pciPassthru.use64bitMMIO is basically "Above 4g decoding" for your VM, hypervisor.cpuid.v0 makes your vm think it's running on physical hardware, and pciPassthru0.msiEnabled is a sanity thing that I added (idk if it's needed) The machine learning VM is my own code and enviorment, and so it's configuration isn't important to this post. I'm sure you all want to know how to game on windows on the server. Well lucky for me, someone else already created a tutorial for setting the GPU into WDDM mode, enabling you to game on the GPU. Follow the guide here if you're interested in that: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmods/comments/nhfwh7/guide_using_an_nvidia_tesla_k80_datacenter_gpu/ As for me, I'll detail how to fix the bigger issue with this setup. There's no video output on this server, meaning that most low-latency video/input/audio streaming services won't work. You could use the output vmware gives you or windows remote desktop, but frankly, they're quite terrible in terms of latency and image quality. There aren't iGPUs in the CPUs either, since these are Xeons. Well, don't fear! You can use that K80 in WDDM mode to make parsec work, and for free (yep, don't pull out your hard-earned money to buy parsec teams). Essentially, what you need is a virtual display driver (just the driver) that fools windows into thinking there's a second display attached, when there actually isn't. After many hours of research and testing, only one worked for me. Follow this guide and install the display driver: https://www.amyuni.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3030. In the installer exes' directory, run "deviceinstaller enableidd 1" Once you're done, it should show up in windows' device manager as a USB mobile moitor (See Fig 4). Go into windows' display settings, and add parsec as a High-Power GPU application MAKE SURE TO HAVE PARSEC INSTALLED AND READY TO GO FIRST Set the virtual machine to only display on monitor 2. Log into your vm from the parsec client If you mess up and can't see your monitor anymore, reboot the vm from ESXi and run the comand "deviceinstaller enableidd 1" from the installer exes' directory. I reccomend not automating this process in case it causes issues or parsec happens to not work. Refer to Fig. 5 for a working example of it running. There are drawbacks to this method, of course. The driver only supports 1920x1080 output, you can't change the scaling or the resolution, even in parsec. If you can find a solution to this, PLEASE tell me Fig. 4 Fig. 5 ----------------------------------------------- Conclusion Overall, despite all the hurdles, this was quite the fun build to make, and it ended up being very worthwhile in the end. It's worth noting that there's a few drawbacks to the setup: You can't run too much stuff at the same time, since HP doesn't understand the Tesla K80's temperature The front half of the Tesla K80 is 15-20 degrees C cooler than the back half (and if either reaches 90 degrees C it will crash the entire server) - I game on the cooler GPU and underclock the card to keep a stable 66-70 C on it (Iif you know how to make HP's ILO run the fan curve with the GPU that would be great) Power usage is quite high. While gaming and machine learning (hosting), the server draws 410w-460w, and I estimate that the server can easily draw 650w if everything is running. (to be fair, the power costs are still lower than shilling out money to cloud providers) You might run into weird PCIe Passthrough issues. For me, one of the two GPU cores hates it if I shut down the VM it's attached to. It will purple screen of death my ESXi host and idk how to even begin fixing it. Not all games work. Some games are programmed to grab the first GPU that it sees and then switch to high power later (in this case, it would be vmware's "igpu" and that one doesn't support 3D applications while PCIe passthrough is enabled. You can see my timespy (demo) benchmark scores below, with the GPU power limited to 76% (and connected through parsec). It is very poor, but in more optimized games, you might find it ok, if you've been running an integrated GPU for games before, like me. (it seems the CPU is the major limiting factor here, which I will be upgrading in the future) Update: after a bit of tinkering, a CPU upgrade to the E5-2680, and overclocking, I've increased the score by 1100 points: Definitely can improve thr overclock, but I'll probably need to apply better thermal paste to the GPU

The dell optiplex 3020 sff has ... intel core i5 4590 16gb ddr3 ram 2tb 3.5 hard disk drive 512 gb sata m.2 to pcie ssd that about it. Could someone help me use my eero wifi mesh system to make it port forward some of the server for gaming server. if you want to help that would be great then everyone answer the poll please.

I want to make an overkill server computer for gaming, much like Alex hosting where you host minecraft servers, but I want to run it straight from home using my own 2 hands to make the computer, I'm not in any kind of budget, would like 3 comparisons like, 1budget server. 2, mid range around 1600, and the last overkill, doesnt matter the price, I would like to host about 800 players on minecraft and would like to increase if needed, my location is florida. ~Thanks in advance

im looking at building a gaming server thats relatively low power odd thing is im kinda hoping it can be a used rack mount to try and keep cost down but not required. looking to run servers for games like csgo and arma (20 players) possibly a few other games any ideas looking to keep it around the $500 Cad. was thinking maybe running it on unraid so i could maybe use docker for future features. but windows as the main server for gaming i don't need to buy a license for windows i also have a few mixed hard drives i can use so drives are not a issue thanks

hey i was wounding if and SuperMicro X7DBN motherboard with 2X Xeon X5365 CPU's @ 3.00 Ghz. and 32gb ram for $160can was a good deal? i don't need it but maybe i can turn it in to an gaming pc and sell it for a bit more? i think it come's with and hhd don't no how big,and an psu,and Seanix Case. what would be the pros and cons of turning it in to an cheap gaming pc.

Hello, a few of my gamer friends and I want to play quake server together with just us and nobody else. I have an old server that i'm turning into a quake server but i have one issue. The server client starts fine and all but i was told that i need a WAN address and I have no idea how to find mine. I have tried www.whatismyip.com and logmein hamichi (spelled that wrong) and when i tell them that ip and they try to direct connect it just hangs at the connecting screen and i have tried connecting with 5 different computers. So im stumped. Help is greatly appreciated and please no trolls. lol sorry for being such a filthy noob

I am looking at building a gaming server to be used to run multiple games at the same time, 24/7 running, not sure how to set up, would i need a kickass motherboard and processor and run multiple virtual servers on that? any suggestions of specs would be appreciated, $USD1000-1500 build budget

Hey guys So if been looking around on this website but I only found own creations. Are there some good pre-built servers for home? What I'm looking for - Compact the smaller the better - Low power cost - at least 16gb ram - under 1000€ if possible What I wanna do with this server is running a minecraft server, other gaming servers, website, other projects. I won't run all of those things together. And for those wondering why I don't wanna build it my own it's just because I don't know how to build it never build a pc Please also note I'm from Europe so if I could get some European links would be wonderful Thnx David

Hey guys, so Ive just started off with our first MC Server for my friends and I. I hope theres s1 out there that can help us out haha. Its a spigot server and Ive investigated plugins today. I dont want to do anything fancy. As of now a spawn area has been created, where non admins cant change/build anything. thats the only thing that went well so far - setting zones with permissions etc. I have a few questions though that I couldnt get answers to via googling, youtube, plugin creator websites etc. How do you set up a currency, as in with sth like GemsEconomy https://www.spigotmc.org/resources/gemseconomy.19655/ and combine it with a shop as in with e.g.: MorphShops https://www.spigotmc.org/resources/morphshops-1-14.59678/ The problem I have is that I cant find out how to essentially bind all of us to having to pay for sth prior to having permission to take sth from a chest. Like, I set up a Currency with GemsEconomy right. But then how do I establish a trade system, or more clearly: How do you create shops with a plugin and then combine it with another plugin, that establishes a currency system. The result should be that I can check out a friends' shop, but only take items from it if I pay a certain price, that can be set by player / admin / general rule or whatever. All these plugins seem to bring awesome ideas to life, but I must definitely be missing a key component in actually implementing gameplay changing plugins. Any1 know a plugin that creates a job system, compatible with 1.14.4? If theres none, I guess Ill downgrade to 1.14. That wouldnt be a major issue right? last few updates were only small bug fixes, if I heard that correctly. Thanks for all help, much appreciated. Greetings, Chris

Forgive me if this is a dumb question , but I am looking to build a dedicated server to host 24/7 modded minecraft 50 players max , then Diablo 3 and possibly Space engineers But I assume id only have the one running I would be playing on , somehow setup a media server as what ive found so far I should be able to Run a Media/Gaming at the same time , but back to the main question , with the price of Ryzen , is there a reason for me to go with Older server hardware or just opt for the crazy price cuts on AMD with prime day or still used ryzen for the server , which I plan to run Linux on , Also everyone , I know its not needed or probably the smartest/cheapest decision to build and host my own server , but its out of a Hobby , Enjoying to learn , and just wanting to have the server for Media/Web server purposes , sorry for rambling and not making sense , but thank you for your time if you made it this far

Im going to build a low cost gaming server and was wondering what cpu(s), motherboard, and also how much storage and memory it needs i have a buget of 600 to 1200 dollars (would like to be under 1000 $) Thanks (Im kinda new to this)

Hey all, so I have tried Shadow PC for a while and it just is too expensive (yes I know the price is going down soon, but keep reading) and is just super laggy for me. When I install lag tools or VPN tools which would connect my system closer, etc (I use Zero Tier One) the whole system freezes and requires a reinstall of Windows. So my plan is this: Build a cheap server with enough horsepower to be a gaming pc with the option to stream and play decently at 1080p (I'd like 1080p, 60FPS in games like Destiny 2). So below I just need some suggestions as for what I can do: I need a server (hopefully 2U) recommendation (I like Dell, but would be willing to go with a Tower system if one could be had cheaply) I would like to have one OS and then be able to have users log in at the same time (1-3 users max) If unable, what is the best virtualization software which would allow me to pass through the GPU's without having issues Finally, I need to know what a good cheap (maybe second hand) GPU option would be for the server thanks

I’m thinking about of building a system for my gaming server for ark, rust, 7d2d, etc. I’m only going to be running 1 server at a time and when my friends or I are playing. So it will not run 24/7. I’m thinking about just building a raven ridge system using the ryzen 5 2400g to have decent overhead. The reason I’m thinking about doing this is because I been noticing the dedicated server while gaming on it will slow my fps pretty bad randomly and maxes two of my cores. Not sure if my ssd needs to be faster to fix it. I use a ryzen 1700(3.2ghz undervolt) with 32(2x16)gb 3000mhz and a r9 390. No one else feels the slow down except me. One of my friends is using a ryzen 1700 too, so don’t blame it on my cpu. I know that these games have horrific optimizations. Right now I’m using my i7 740qm 1.7ghz 6gb ddr3 120gb ssd Lenovo laptop. It’s running Windows 10 because I don’t feel like tweaking it with Linux. Too much trouble. I haven’t tested ark or rust but I feel that it’s gonna tank the server just having me on. 7d2d seems to run fine for now. My 2 friends and I are on day 5 after going our separate ways. So idk how well it will handle horde nights with us spread apart. Should I get an upgrade? This is what I compiled together as a minimum without rebates https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9nPJxG im willing to go used if it saves me money as long as I can have 8 threads

Hey i wanted to know the system of a internet caffe for gaming (diskless system) is the server using a lot of gpu card ? Or does the gpu card should be put inside the client pc?

Aaaaaah where do I begin... It all started here, YOU MUST READ IT! Ok, now that you have read that, here are may questions: Which "ISP" do I need for this kind of gaming server like @Johannes_Lazor mentioned. And how do I get it? Then once I have it, how do I get a hostname, so I can protect my IP, like @LoGiCalDrm mentioned: This is the only part that's bugging me, I know how to set up a Minecraft server and configure it as I have done it many times before. Thank you for your response.

Didn't knew where to ask it, so posted it here. Hello to all who read this post. I was browsing local internet shops and found this thing http://dato.lv/oc/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=453 What is this thing? It broked my opinion about gaming pc super hi-end pc or just server with good pc card? Is it worth 15k euros? :@ Feel free to post your opinion about this rig

I want to run a modded and a Vanilla Minecraft server on a different machine due to the server and client slowing things down on one machine. I don't really want to rent a server(s). I know internet speed is a large factor, but I am not worried: there will wont be more than 10 players. I just want to know every little thing about the software I would need and what machine I would be able to instal it on. Thanks!

Was wondering what I could Build to host dedicated servers for wide variety of games. mostly arma and minecraft. but pretty much any game. Yes I do know those two games are very demanding in in resources and power. I live in the US price range $800 but looking for something low cost but also up gradable in the future. No OS Included. Do not care if intel or AMD. just looking for something that fits my needs Include shipping handling and tax