Mini/Barebone PC as a server?

[computerNewbie]

Hey guys, I need help before I pull the plug and buy a barebone pc as a server.

 

This "Server" will be primarily used for hosting minecraft 24/7 for my friends and maybe a bit of teamspeak as well. (not too demanding I know LOL)

 

First question is about the CPU. The CPU is an Intel Celeron N3150. I've looked at the specs, and this should be more than enough for what I need but the problem is how do I know if this thing can run 24/7? I've been to other posts in this forum and I saw someone suggest a Synology NAS  to someone as a reliable 24/7 backup server. So I went through the NAS selections in that website and found that one of them is running an Intel Celeron N3060. So I checked up the specs online and noticed that the only difference between the N3060 and N3150 is the base clock and number of cores. They have the exact same TDP. I am now assuming that since the N3060 is a Synology NAS that is a reliable backup server that can run 24/7, then the lower clocked but more core N3150 can be run 24/7 as well. Is it wrong to have this assumption?

 

Second question, I have two options of the Zbox, the bi323 and ci323, they have the exact same specs, only difference is the ci323 is fanless (passively cooled) and the bi323 has a very tiny fan and $30 cheaper. Would I be fine if I opt for the fanless one? I am gonna be leaving this in the basement where ambient is usually around 20-25 Celsius. Reason why I do not like the fan one is just in case the fan breaks in the near future I don't know if I would be able to find a replacement if it's really tiny.

 

Power consumption is a priority for me as this thing would be running all the time. I'm hoping this thing would run less than 50w max.

 

I know raspberry pi consumes much less power, but it's not powerful enough for my needs especially with minecraft being so heavy on the ram. The CPU choice shouldn't be a bottleneck either as minecraft servers use RAM more than CPU. Also, in the future when I have the money to build a VM server and add minecraft on to that, I could easily transform this mini pc to an HTPC.

 

Thank you for the help!

[samiscool51]

this build will do it

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/JQpxcc

but add a 8GB stick instead of a 4GB stick

[Quindor]

Most if not all computers are in theory suited to run 24/7 without issue. Yes server components are often of a bit different design or quality so that they can take it for 5 years+ but in my experience most desktop components do just fine, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

About running fanless or with a fan, if using the fan is an option and the little noise it might make isn't a problem I would choose to use a fan. Cooling will always be better that way. And when something is running 24/7 a lower temperature is preferred, heat "wears" on computer components basically. Otherwise, go with the fanless version and direct a fan at it yourself, fanless does not mean "without airflow".

 

In my experience running a Minecraft server can eat up quite the amount of CPU and Memory. Maybe the vanilla version is still ok but running a modded server (which you will end up doing in the end) for like 5 to 10 people the little celeron is going to get challanged there. Minecraft is programmed in Java which isn't very efficient and thus it requires quite a bit of resources (CPU and Memory). I would not go less then a Desktop dual-core with at least 8GB of RAM (if running on Linux, Windows will need more). I think the celeron will be just enough. Definitely look into Java tuning for Minecraft!

 

Teamspeak on the other hand uses almost nothing, basically anything (1 core @ 3Ghz with 512MB ram) would be fine for that if you are not going to have more then 20 - 25 people logged in at the same time.

[computerNewbie]

On 9/1/2016 at 9:50 PM, samiscool51 said:

this build will do it

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/JQpxcc

but add a 8GB stick instead of a 4GB stick

Thank you for the idea! But I think this would consume so much power compared to a small pc

[computerNewbie]

16 hours ago, Quindor said:

Most if not all computers are in theory suited to run 24/7 without issue. Yes server components are often of a bit different design or quality so that they can take it for 5 years+ but in my experience most desktop components do just fine, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

About running fanless or with a fan, if using the fan is an option and the little noise it might make isn't a problem I would choose to use a fan. Cooling will always be better that way. And when something is running 24/7 a lower temperature is preferred, heat "wears" on computer components basically. Otherwise, go with the fanless version and direct a fan at it yourself, fanless does not mean "without airflow".

 

In my experience running a Minecraft server can eat up quite the amount of CPU and Memory. Maybe the vanilla version is still ok but running a modded server (which you will end up doing in the end) for like 5 to 10 people the little celeron is going to get challanged there. Minecraft is programmed in Java which isn't very efficient and thus it requires quite a bit of resources (CPU and Memory). I would not go less then a Desktop dual-core with at least 8GB of RAM (if running on Linux, Windows will need more). I think the celeron will be just enough. Definitely look into Java tuning for Minecraft!

 

Teamspeak on the other hand uses almost nothing, basically anything (1 core @ 3Ghz with 512MB ram) would be fine for that if you are not going to have more then 20 - 25 people logged in at the same time.

Ahhh I see. Didn't know computers nowadays are like that

 

Noise is no problem with me, I'm just really worried with finding replacements for such a tiny fan. I'll definitely thinking about it. Maybe even have a dedicated fan next to the small box? LOL

 

Interesting. I would definitely only be running linux on it as I want it to be as minimal as possible. And yea I would look for optimization settings so it wouldn't be stressing the CPU as much. 

 

Thank you!

[The Painter]

if you are worried about the parts not being able to run 24/7 then I would not be. as most consumer stuff can run perfectly fine (if you are willing to accept that it might hiccup a few times (something that is not acceptable for a "proper server" (bracket seption) ) )