Cheap gaming server

Kirby48 · January 12, 2020

Hey! I always build my own gaming computers myself but I don't know much about servers. I'm looking to buy a computer that I will use for a gaming server mainly for me and my kid. Maximum of 4 people on at once. The games we play are Minecraft and Ark survival evolved. I want a cheap server that will run 24/7 instead of running everything from my own pc. So I was looking at ebay and old dell optiplex are pretty cheap and there are a ton of them for sale. Would an i5 3470 be enough to host both games? Can I get away with an i3? What if I also want to watch youtube on the server? I got plenty of old ddr3 ram so this won't be a problem. Do I want an SSD or an HDD? Also I have gigabit ethernet so I think this will be ok! So how many cores do I want =/

Thanks for the help!

Electronics Wizardy · January 12, 2020

How much storage spaces do you need? get a ssd if you can.

Id get the i5, its not much more normally.

Minecraft will run fine, I don't use ark servers.

What os do you plan to use? Id personally run a hypervisor so its easiler to manage and backup.

SupaKomputa · January 12, 2020

Any 2+ core pc can be a game server.

Depends on the game and the load / users.

For minecraft per minimum requirements, a dual core i3 is good enough.

For how many users it can handle pretty much determined by the memory size.

For 4 person 1 gb is enough (excluding windows) so you can use a 4gb module.

GDRRiley · January 13, 2020

On 1/11/2020 at 7:29 PM, SupaKomputa said:

Any 2+ core pc can be a game server.

Depends on the game and the load / users.

For minecraft per minimum requirements, a dual core i3 is good enough.

For how many users it can handle pretty much determined by the memory size.

For 4 person 1 gb is enough (excluding windows) so you can use a 4gb module.

I've ran MC on a core 2 duo, right now on a core 2 quad with 2 servers. I think I have 6-7gb of ram.

that i5 would do just fine, just make sure to get 8-12gb of ram.

SSD 100%

NelizMastr · January 13, 2020

These are the requirements for an ARK dedicated server:

Quote

What Are the ARK Dedicated Server Requirements?

8GB RAM (16GB Recommended)

20GB Disk Space Minimum (50-75GB Recommended)

2 CPU Cores @ 3.0GHz+ (For 10-15 players)

64 Bit Windows or Linux OS (CentOS Linux Recommended for a standalone server)

A reliable network connection, 100Mbps+ recommended

I'd say you'll be safe with 16GB of RAM for both games and a decent quad core CPU. An i5-3470 should be the minimum for satisfactory performance, definitely not an i3.