Looking to buy used server (for game server hosting) and need suggestions

[Ipfr33ly]

Hey guys,

im looking to buy a referb server for the following tasks

• Host multiple game servers
• Host multiple vms for playing around and testing stuff

Im not quite sure about the hardware choices though, as usually for game servers clockspeed is more important then cores from what I read online. I found this offer from a provider in my country https://www.servershop24.de/dell-r720-rack-server/a-124551/ it looks quite good to me but im not sure if id be better to get a new server with a newer cpu that can reach higher clock speeds. Also I do want one to rack mount version as I can just stuff it in the server case with my networking gear.

 

Max Budget: 1300€

 

Some advice would be awsome!

Thanks guys!

 

Kind Regards

[leadeater]

Buy a standard ATX motherboard with a C series Xeon chipset, Supermicro make a lot of these. Get appropriate Xeons(s) for the board you buy and then put in to a standard ATX case. This will be cheaper and also much preferable in a in home setting, rackmount servers are loud, long/large, and don't play well with any PCIe cards not made to go in server chassis meaning future expansion options are more limited.

 

36 minutes ago, Ipfr33ly said:

I can just stuff it in the server case with my networking gear

Do you mean an actual server rack/cabinet? one that is at least 1000mm deep? Network comms racks aren't deep enough for servers like Dell R720 or HPE DL360/DL380 etc.

[Ipfr33ly]

9 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Buy a standard ATX motherboard with a C series Xeon chipset, Supermicro make a lot of these. Get appropriate Xeons(s) for the board you buy and then put in to a standard ATX case. This will be cheaper and also much preferable in a in home setting, rackmount servers are loud, long/large, and don't play well with any PCIe cards not made to go in server chassis meaning future expansion options are more limited.

 

Do you mean an actual server rack/cabinet? one that is at least 1000mm deep? Network comms racks aren't deep enough for servers like Dell R720 or HPE DL360/DL380 etc.

Thanks for the reply

Yea i really want to put it in my server rack in the celler i dont mind the noise as its a server room just for that purpose. I really dont want to get an tower case for it. What about the type of processeors though? and how much ram is suggested?

 

 

Yes I mean an actual server rack.

[leadeater]

27 minutes ago, Ipfr33ly said:

What about the type of processeors though? and how much ram is suggested?

Really depends on how many VMs and game servers you want to run, and what those games will be. Many don't require much at all while others can need quite a bit of ram i.e. minecraft.

 

Xeon E5-2670v2/E5-2680v2 are pretty common option that you'll find in server listing already in Dell R720 on ebay. HPE DL380p Gen8 is the equivalent server, or Lenovo x3650 M4.

 

I'd probably advise going for a 1U R630 or DL360 Gen9 as you can get bare bones servers for as little as $250 USD and E5-2600v3/v4 are quite a bit better than E5-2600v1/v2. You can still go 2U with that generation it's just that there are less of them with some only slightly more but availability at prices on this low end are much more limited. Most didn't want single 2U servers in this generation and went with 1U, 2U2N or 2U4N.

[Pixel5]

it all really depends on what game server you want to run exactly.

 

these dual CPU high core count systems are nice if your games servers are multi threaded and dont require a lot of single core performance but that is not always the case.

Also keep in mind these older system will consume a LOT of power.

 

i would recommend that you first define what game servers you want to run, then look up what kind of performance these servers need and then buy the system that can do the job you want it to do.

 

[leadeater]

34 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

Also keep in mind these older system will consume a LOT of power.

Rx30 and DL3x0 Gen9 don't actually use a lot. Even the previous generation don't either. Pretty much most Intel Z series high end motherboards are tuned in a way that causes them to use more than a dual socket server at idle and light loads, they are actually quite bad.

 

DL360 Gen9 2x 2690v3 384GB ram:

 

Idle Server (doing basically nothing)

 

Another that is running a few very light VMs (they aren't actively doing anything other than running the OS), 4 VMs to be exact.

 

Now lets go back a generation to the next older CPUs

 

DL380p Gen8 2x 2667v1 64GB ram

 

Now lets take it to even more extreme, 4 socket servers of these same generations

 

DL580 Gen9 4x 8890v4 256GB ram

 

DL560p Gen8 4x 4650v1 512GB ram

 

All the peaks (the bottom smaller graphs below the big ones) are when they were running HPC workloads, think F@H or BOINC (sometimes literally were during LTT team events). None of these server are even tuned for power efficiency either, they are set to static high power in the power regulation settings.

 

Anyway high server power usage was from the generation before E5-2600v1, Xeon 5500/5600 series etc. More modern stuff is more power efficient than a typical gaming desktop unless you've gone in and manually fixed all the bad defaults (in terms of power anyway).

 

Of course you can build out a new system using modern consumer desktop parts in a rackmount chassis and get the idle power much lower but you'll spend way more than what you'd save in power doing that anyway.

[Catwalk_Tech]

Ebay will be your best friend, like the others have said look at what your games need for performance in ram and CPU. Your best bet will likely be a bare chassis you fill with your own gear. I would definitely advise dual or quad channel ram no matter what size kit you choose. Should provide a minimal but worthwhile performance uptick for the ram, speed also should be considered when you purchase just as much as capacity. Goodluck!