Using Gaming Rig as a Gaming Server?

[AllHokage]

Hello everyone,

 

So I'm about to receive fiber optics (100mbps down/40mbps up) and I was thinking about turning my current gaming rig into a gaming server. I was wondering if this would be an effective server (Running 24/7) and would the hardware/internet allow around 64 players to play on a heavy game smoothly such as Arma 3? 

 

Or would this be considered overkill and I'd be better off building a separate server and keeping the rig (As I was planning to upgrade my rig in the future for a more beneficial upgrade)

 

Specs

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K Devil's Canyon 
Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H105 
Fans: 2x Noctua NF-F12 2000, 4x Be Quiet SilentWings 2 & Corsair Commander mini 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 
RAM: G.Skill 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 Ripjaws X C10 1600HZ 
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX970 Golden Edition 4GB GDDR5 
Case: NZXT H440 Black/Red 
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 120GB + Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM 
PSU: Corsair RM750i 

 

Thanks 

 

 

[leadeater]

Would mostly be a waste of such good spec gaming system. It's got heaps of life left in it, would run the latest and even the next generation of graphics cards no problem unless games became CPU bound suddenly.

 

You can get relatively new used servers off ebay that are dual cpu, dual psu etc for between $150-$500 US.

[ShadowCaptain]

27 minutes ago, AllHokage said:

Hello everyone,

Thanks 

 

 

 

Keep it as your gaming rig, it has years and years of life left in it, just upgrade the GPU

[AllHokage]

7 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Would mostly be a waste of such good spec gaming system. It's got heaps of life left in it, would run the latest and even the next generation of graphics cards no problem unless games became CPU bound suddenly.

 

You can get relatively new used servers off ebay that are dual cpu, dual psu etc for between $150-$500 US.

True, I'll have a look on ebay/gumtree for something 2nd hand to save the cash.

 

About the connection, will that support multiplayer gaming 64 players ect?

[Geralt]

I would recommend a used tower server like the Proliant ML110 that are flooding the ebay market. I got one myself and even with a Core 2 Duo, it performs remarkably with just a  1 Gbit nic for a minecraft server (I don't play it, I just run one for my friends). Although to be fair, it was the ML110 G5. The G7 and G6 has 10 Gbit nics iirc and they're $150 to $200 depending on the cpu.

[AllHokage]

20 minutes ago, Geralt said:

I would recommend a used tower server like the Proliant ML110 that are flooding the ebay market. I got one myself and even with a Core 2 Duo, it performs remarkably with just a  1 Gbit nic for a minecraft server (I don't play it, I just run one for my friends). Although to be fair, it was the ML110 G5. The G7 and G6 has 10 Gbit nics iirc and they're $150 to $200 depending on the cpu.

Awesome, I'll look into them. 

That give me time to save money for my next setup and lets my current one be used until it's dead

 

Thanks

[Geralt]

55 minutes ago, AllHokage said:

Awesome, I'll look into them. 

That give me time to save money for my next setup and lets my current one be used until it's dead

 

Thanks

One thing to note tho, some servers don't come with OSes. Some might have a windows server sticker on the case but most don't. The even more cheaper ones would probably be without hard drives. I've seen a G7 go for as low as $100 without an OS and hard drive.

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, Geralt said:

One thing to note tho, some servers don't come with OSes. Some might have a windows server sticker on the case but most don't. The even more cheaper ones would probably be without hard drives. I've seen a G7 go for as low as $100 without an OS and hard drive.

Always assume no OS since most businesses have Microsoft License Agreements which don't apply to the server itself, they give the right for the business to install Windows Server for their entitled number they have purchased.

 

Only really small places would have retail or OEM copies of Windows Server installed and they don't typically sell on ebay after used, they tend to run them till their death.

[Geralt]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

Always assume no OS since most businesses have Microsoft License Agreements which don't apply to the server itself, they give the right for the business to install Windows Server for their entitled number they have purchased.

 

Only really small places would have retail or OEM copies of Windows Server installed and they don't typically sell on ebay after used, they tend to run them till their death.

Yeah that was the only reason I got my ML110 G5 for like 50 bucks locally. I had a 320GB hard drive lying around so I threw it in there and threw a copy of Windows Server 2012 R2 which I got through my MSDN account.

 

They sell servers with the OEM stickers for twice the price of those without one here. X.X

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 hours ago, Geralt said:

I would recommend a used tower server like the Proliant ML110 that are flooding the ebay market. I got one myself and even with a Core 2 Duo, it performs remarkably with just a  1 Gbit nic for a minecraft server (I don't play it, I just run one for my friends). Although to be fair, it was the ML110 G5. The G7 and G6 has 10 Gbit nics iirc and they're $150 to $200 depending on the cpu.

Don't buy hp g5 or dell 2950/1950's. They pull lots of power and are much slower than the one gen newer dual lga 1366 systems.

[Geralt]

11 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Don't buy hp g5 or dell 2950/1950's. They pull lots of power and are much slower than the one gen newer dual lga 1366 systems.

I only bought my G5 because it was like 50 bucks so meh I guess. I'd love to get a G6 or G7 tho.

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, Geralt said:

I only bought my G5 because it was like 50 bucks so meh I guess. I'd love to get a G6 or G7 tho.

Makes me cry every time I have to decommission a Gen 8 knowing we pay for it to be collected, refurbish and then resold. Stupid policies not letting me buy them instead grrrr.

[.:MARK:.]

1 hour ago, leadeater said:

Makes me cry every time I have to decommission a Gen 8 knowing we pay for it to be collected, refurbish and then resold. Stupid policies not letting me buy them instead grrrr.

I wouldn't run an HP in my home tbh, for home labs I'd do the supermicro thing :D.

[SLAYR]

10 hours ago, AllHokage said:

True, I'll have a look on ebay/gumtree for something 2nd hand to save the cash.

 

About the connection, will that support multiplayer gaming 64 players ect?

If you are looking to support 64 players look at renting a server from a company the experience will be much more enjoyable, home internet connections cannot handle 64 player arma servers.

[AllHokage]

4 hours ago, SLAYR said:

If you are looking to support 64 players look at renting a server from a company the experience will be much more enjoyable, home internet connections cannot handle 64 player arma servers.

Well with Optic Fiber I'm pretty sure it will be able to handle it... Reason I'm building my own is, I'm sick of renting servers for different games ect.

 

[AllHokage]

10 hours ago, Geralt said:

I only bought my G5 because it was like 50 bucks so meh I guess. I'd love to get a G6 or G7 tho.

I've had a look, it seems it would be much more efficient to build the server. (Better parts/Less noise).

Maybe something like dual  Intel Xeon E5-2670 ect.

[Geralt]

12 hours ago, leadeater said:

Makes me cry every time I have to decommission a Gen 8 knowing we pay for it to be collected, refurbish and then resold. Stupid policies not letting me buy them instead grrrr.

My school decommission old servers all the time and they won't even let the lecturers buy them at all. I mean there's no hard drive or data in them so why not sell them to employees? The company gets money, employees get new hardware and everyone goes home happy.

 

2 hours ago, AllHokage said:

I've had a look, it seems it would be much more efficient to build the server. (Better parts/Less noise).

Maybe something like dual  Intel Xeon E5-2670 ect.

For your situation, I'd highly recommend the used servers on ebay but if you want to build one, go right ahead man. Don't forget progress pictures and build logs if you do.

[AllHokage]

7 hours ago, Geralt said:

My school decommission old servers all the time and they won't even let the lecturers buy them at all. I mean there's no hard drive or data in them so why not sell them to employees? The company gets money, employees get new hardware and everyone goes home happy.

 

For your situation, I'd highly recommend the used servers on ebay but if you want to build one, go right ahead man. Don't forget progress pictures and build logs if you do.

Yer, only reason I'm leaning towards building one is the noise/look with some of the pre-owned builds... If I build one, I'll most likly do some sort of video ect, log.

BTW my college has the same thing....

[Geralt]

2 hours ago, AllHokage said:

Yer, only reason I'm leaning towards building one is the noise/look with some of the pre-owned builds... If I build one, I'll most likly do some sort of video ect, log.

BTW my college has the same thing....

Well location is another thing as well, are you going to deploy the server within the same room as your gaming rig? Or are you going to deploy it in a server room. Because if it's in a server room, the noise really doesn't matter.

 

But yeah, supermicro server mobos are some kickass mobos.