Gaming server from the ground up

[agr8dj66]

I have built PCs both for work and for gaming, but have never built a server.

I know what I want it to be used for, but am leary about pulling the trigger on buying one for $2,000.00+

It will be used to host my gaming group and run from my home.

I have found a couple through eBay and refurb shops, but I want to be sure I am looking in the right direction.

 

I have a group that plays survival games.

Games of choice:
Ark: Survival Evolved (and all of its DLC)

Atlas

Conan Exiles

7 Days to Die

Heat

Minecraft

 These are the games we play most.

I would also like to put my media (Movies, TV, music) on it so they can all access it.

 

How hefty does my server need to be?

I saw this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R910-Server-4x-2-00GHz-40-Core-H700-DVD-iDRAC-Enterprise/172887191608?_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131227121020%26meid%3D474b6c9e596e433db816822550171144%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D163580160046%26itm%3D172887191608&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982

 

I can add RAM and HDDs (I'm think 1TBSSD + 10TB mechanical HDDs)

 

Anyone want to weigh in? I have a 1GBs internet fiber optic connection and will probably host a max of 30 players.

 

Your input is valued and appreciated.

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id stay away from a r910, you want something more like a r720 or r710 here. Also the r910's suck a lot of power, your power bill will go way up running those full time.

 

Id aim more for something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R720-SFF-Server-2x-2-00GHz-12-Cores-16GB-RAM-H310-SPS-DVD-No-HDD/173821799495?hash=item2878962c47:g:3BIAAOSwTGZcfWtH&frcectupt=true

 

Add sore more ram, and what ever drives you want.

 

Id run a hypervisor on it, and run each server in a vms, makes it easier to manage.

 

 

[Streetguru]

46 minutes ago, agr8dj66 said:

 

Should look up if running servers for those games prefers high clock speeds or a lot of cores

You could always just build like 2 desktops instead as well.

[Pixel5]

how important are things like power consumption and loudness to you?

 

buying old server hardware may seem good at first cause it offers high performance for a lower price but it always comes at the cost of driver issues (if you want to use regular windows for example) loudness and huge power draw.

 

if you need something thats energy efficient and not too loud you may want to look into simply building a normal PC and using it as a server because after all a server is not much different just build more redundant which you probably dont really need.

 

if id be in your shoes id buy something like an AMD Threadripper maybe 2nd hand or even just a Ryzen 2700x but only because electricity is expensive where im from and i dont have a place to put a huge and loud server.