Friend wants to run a 50-100+ player Minecraft Server on Xserve 2009.

[CurlyCucumber]

Hi guys.

 

Currently I'm using a host for my minecraft server. We decided to save money for our own box and use it, instead of through Creeperhost, etc.

 

He says he wants to get an Apple Xserve 2009 and run the server on it. We're going to be expecting 50-100 players at a time. Our server is Factions PVP server running Spigot, and lots of plugins.

 

I want to go a different route and stay away from Apple Servers. 

 

Who's right here and why?

[rtpb5642]

You will need a quad core intel cpu like a xeon or i5 or i7 from 2011 or later if u plan to run all that, you will also want 12-16GB of RAM too with a internet connectino with about a 50 megabit upload and download 

[Altecice]

Stay away from Apple servers, always... I would be more interested in the internet speed of the host, you are going to need a large upload and stable connection 24/7 to keep it reasonable.

[DarkBlade2117]

I'd go for a Xeon1231v3 and 12GBs of RAM for that

[CurlyCucumber]

You will need a quad core intel cpu like a xeon or i5 or i7 from 2011 or later if u plan to run all that, you will also want 12-16GB of RAM too with a internet connectino with about a 50 megabit upload and download 

See, that's what I thought. 

 

He insists on the 2009 because you can get "2x quad core xeons".. but I think a Xeon from 2009 isn't going to be that fantastic.

[Railgun]

Just wondering, you say you are expecting 50-100 players. Do you actually know you will get that many players? I had a server hosted by MCPH once and even tho I wanted a number aroun 40+ players that never happened. You don't just all the sudden get plenty of players like that, unless you already established a community of some sort

 

EDIT: My point is if you are starting your server journey from scratch then you prob don't the most expensive equipment right away since it will take time for a community to grow

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

What's your budget?

[rtpb5642]

See, that's what I thought. 

 

He insists on the 2009 because you can get "2x quad core xeons"..

not all about core count its how new they are that matters too.

 

budget?

[Hman1250]

Hi guys.

 

Currently I'm using a host for my minecraft server. We decided to save money for our own box and use it, instead of through Creeperhost, etc.

 

He says he wants to get an Apple Xserve 2009 and run the server on it. We're going to be expecting 50-100 players at a time. Our server is Factions PVP server running Spigot, and lots of plugins.

 

I want to go a different route and stay away from Apple Servers. 

 

Who's right here and why?

Stay away from apple servers, I used to staff on a server and their machine ran off of an apple server and it was terrible.

 

Just wondering, you say you are expecting 50-100 players. Do you actually know you will get that many players? I had a server hosted by MCPH once and even tho I wanted a number aroun 40+ players that never happened. You don't just all the sudden get plenty of players like that, unless you already established a community of some sort

He's right, you can't just open a server and expect that many players immediately. It takes years for servers to become big.

[Weak1ings]

You are right because (I am assuming the Apple server comes from 2009) any modern piece of hardware will be superior for hosting due to technological advances over 6 years.  (obviously, there are exceptions.)  I'd suggest going for a Xeon E3 1231 V3 or Something Skylake/Haswell-E depending on your budget.

 

I have no clue about your budget but here is a possible server, obviously get more than 8GB of RAM and consider VMware if you'd like multiple servers.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($257.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($71.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *Mushkin ECO2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GT 720 1GB Video Card  ($47.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Window ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($42.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $549.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-10 15:30 EST-0500

[CurlyCucumber]

Just wondering, you say you are expecting 50-100 players. Do you actually know you will get that many players? I had a server hosted by MCPH once and even tho I wanted a number aroun 40+ players that never happened. You don't just all the sudden get plenty of players like that, unless you already established a community of some sort

We have a pretty big established community as of now.

[CurlyCucumber]

not all about core count its how new they are that matters too.

 

budget?

That's what I thought.

Around 550-600 USD.

 

Stay away from apple servers, I used to staff on a server and their machine ran off of an apple server and it was terrible.

 

He's right, you can't just open a server and expect that many players immediately. It takes years for servers to become big.

I don't trust apple with running my server, lmao. I'm glad you had some experience with it. Blegh.

 

You are right because (I am assuming the Apple server comes from 2009) any modern piece of hardware will be superior for hosting due to technological advances over 6 years.  (obviously, there are exceptions.)  I'd suggest going for a Xeon E3 1231 V3 or Something Skylake/Haswell-E depending on your budget.

 

I have no clue about your budget but here is a possible server, obviously get more than 8GB of RAM and consider VMware if you'd like multiple servers.

Thank you. That's right around our budget.

[,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

Do you plan on purchasing it, and hosting it at your home, or renting a server in a datacenter?

[Weak1ings]

Thank you. That's right around our budget.

While this is definitely overbudget, it might be worthwhile to purchase instead, it has a gold PSU which can help cut costs but more importantly it has a few key features over the build I just listed:

128GB of RAM support (for upgrades, if you'd like.)

X99 CPUs (this is a 6-core with HT)

DDR4???  I have no clue if this will help or not.

ECC support (it claims to have this.)

Be wary of the 220 as it doesn't have 2.5" slots if you wanted a SSD inside.

Personally, if I were to choose, it'd be this one.  there are ways to cut down the costs if you'd like in the parts list shrinking the $200 difference.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2603 V3 1.6GHz 6-Core Processor  ($222.98 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($46.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($173.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: *Avexir Core Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($68.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GT 720 1GB Video Card  ($47.98 @ Newegg)

Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($74.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $755.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-10 15:42 EST-0500

I hope this helps as I have no major clue in Servers.  The ideal behind this specific list is the Upgrade as your grow, which you can't do on a LGA 1150/1151 platform.

[Fluffinator]

The whole point of renting a server really isn't for the machine they give you it's the consistent business class internet which you can't really get at a residential house (not as consistent or fast) I used to do the server thing and couldn't really find a good solution, may be best to keep it at the data center.