Building Dedicated game servers computer

[DonMeow]

Recently I have been thinking about making a new computer to use to host servers for few games starting with ARK instead of hosting it on my main build. But I'm wondering about what kind of hardware I'll need to have a stable 2 to 5 servers running perfectly while keeping the budget to minimum.

Budget from 600$ to 1000$

[Electronics Wizardy]

Do you care about noise? A used server can be pretty cheap here.

 

Otherwise id just get something like a i5 8400. There low power, realivity cheap, have a igpu. Then get a basic case and psu, and a 500gb ssd for boot and files and put your favorite hypervisor on it.

[Streetguru]

6 minutes ago, DonMeow said:

Recently I have been thinking about making a new computer to use to host servers for few games starting with ARK instead of hosting it on my main build. But I'm wondering about what kind of hardware I'll need to have a stable 2 to 5 servers running perfectly while keeping the budget to minimum.

Budget from 600$ to 1000$

Grab an i7 8700 or an R7 1700 + any GPU.

 

Really you need to check weather you need single thread performance or multi-threaded performance.

[DonMeow]

7 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you care about noise? A used server can be pretty cheap here.

 

Otherwise id just get something like a i5 8400. There low power, realivity cheap, have a igpu. Then get a basic case and psu, and a 500gb ssd for boot and files and put your favorite hypervisor on it.

For the noise not that much my main pc got enough to alter the atmosphere in the room 

For a gpu I already have one on the side after my last upgrade 

[DonMeow]

4 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Grab an i7 8700 or an R7 1700 + any GPU.

 

Really you need to check weather you need single thread performance or multi-threaded performance.

Now there where I say enlighten me more a gpu is secured got my old r9 295x2 on the side waiting for new home im wondering about what cpu ram and mb to take 

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, DonMeow said:

Now there where I say enlighten me more a gpu is secured got my old r9 295x2 on the side waiting for new home im wondering about what cpu ram and mb to take 

The GPU in the machine isn't going to be used much at all, probably not worth putting a 295x2 into it.

You'll just have to research if you need single threaded performance or lots of cores.

[Taf the Ghost]

18 minutes ago, DonMeow said:

Recently I have been thinking about making a new computer to use to host servers for few games starting with ARK instead of hosting it on my main build. But I'm wondering about what kind of hardware I'll need to have a stable 2 to 5 servers running perfectly while keeping the budget to minimum.

Budget from 600$ to 1000$

If you're going to act as a server, you need to know how the Server Program runs. Some don't use a lot of CPU but tons of memory. Or the other way around. That's really the only question that needs to be addressed.

[DonMeow]

7 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

If you're going to act as a server, you need to know how the Server Program runs. Some don't use a lot of CPU but tons of memory. Or the other way around. That's really the only question that needs to be addressed.

From what I heard ark server is quite cpu hungry. Well on my pc ryze n 1800x it have been using only 30% while 5 players were on but I'm planing to run multiple servers with ark being the main one as for ram it was using around 7gb so I want to build a decent one while keeping to budget 

[Taf the Ghost]

19 minutes ago, DonMeow said:

From what I heard ark server is quite cpu hungry. Well on my pc ryze n 1800x it have been using only 30% while 5 players were on but I'm planing to run multiple servers with ark being the main one as for ram it was using around 7gb so I want to build a decent one while keeping to budget 

So you have an 8c and it's taking up about 1/3rd of the CPU and ~7 Gb of memory. Which is about 3 Instances per 8 Cores and 21 Gb of memory for that.

 

For a 5-instance box, this is about the starting point:

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jv9tLJ

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1920X 3.5GHz 12-Core Processor  ($449.02 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U12S TR4-SP3 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($69.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI - X399 SLI PLUS ATX TR4 Motherboard  ($279.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($290.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($88.27 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1178.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-25 16:44 EDT-0400

 

[Taf the Ghost]

5 Instances would need ~12 AMD Cores and 35 Gb of memory. There's just no way around that being quite expensive, given memory realities.

 

My actual suggestion would be to buy yourself either a 2600X or 2700X, build a second AM4 system with some parts you can move off into it and run about 3 Instances.

[DonMeow]

1 minute ago, Taf the Ghost said:

5 Instances would need ~12 AMD Cores and 35 Gb of memory. There's just no way around that being quite expensive, given memory realities.

 

My actual suggestion would be to buy yourself either a 2600X or 2700X, build a second AM4 system with some parts you can move off into it and run about 3 Instances.

Looks like I'll need to wait and see what sales got to show for me and indeed ram prices are quite scary right now. Well thanks for the info now I know what to look for :3

[Taf the Ghost]

31 minutes ago, DonMeow said:

From what I heard ark server is quite cpu hungry. Well on my pc ryze n 1800x it have been using only 30% while 5 players were on but I'm planing to run multiple servers with ark being the main one as for ram it was using around 7gb so I want to build a decent one while keeping to budget 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2ZYQKB

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3GHz 8-Core Processor  ($209.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($55.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($249.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($45.00 @ Amazon) 
Total: $560.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-25 16:49 EDT-0400

 

It'd be almost cheaper per Instance to build out multiple AM4 boxes. 

 

For the cheapest route, do you need the 1800X in your own system? Would a 2600X work just as well for your normal uses? That'd let you move over a pretty potent CPU for cheap (cost of a 2600X as replacement).

 

You should try to load up 2 instances and note the Load + Memory usage compared to a single one. Then try 3 instances.

[porina]

2 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

5 Instances would need ~12 AMD Cores and 35 Gb of memory. There's just no way around that being quite expensive, given memory realities.

Don't know if they are still around, but used dual socket 2011 (original gen) servers might be an option. I got a dual E5-2650 with 64GB of ram for around $450 equivalent at the time, and US pricing tends to be much lower than I get here. Registered ECC DDR3 ram seems to be dirt cheap.

[Taf the Ghost]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

Don't know if they are still around, but used dual socket 2011 (original gen) servers might be an option. I got a dual E5-2650 with 64GB of ram for around $450 equivalent at the time, and US pricing tends to be much lower than I get here. Registered ECC DDR3 ram seems to be dirt cheap.

It really depends on how much demand is on those cores. DDR3 memory should be fine for a server task, but 30% load on a >3 Ghz, recent 8 core is pretty heavy. Unless you can find a 12 x2 setup or something.

[porina]

2 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

It really depends on how much demand is on those cores. DDR3 memory should be fine for a server task, but 30% load on a >3 Ghz, recent 8 core is pretty heavy. Unless you can find a 12 x2 setup or something.

I wasn't worried about the ram performance. On such a system you have quad channel per socket. More that reg ECC DDR3 is (or was) really cheap last time I looked. The cores are Sandy Bridger (possibly Ivy Bridge if you get v2 CPUs). Depends on instruction mix but they're still pretty close to current CPUs in raw IPC, and assuming 8 cores like I had, you'd trade a little clock for the extra cores.

 

I like the other idea of two cheaper systems.

[Taf the Ghost]

13 minutes ago, porina said:

I wasn't worried about the ram performance. On such a system you have quad channel per socket. More that reg ECC DDR3 is (or was) really cheap last time I looked. The cores are Sandy Bridger (possibly Ivy Bridge if you get v2 CPUs). Depends on instruction mix but they're still pretty close to current CPUs in raw IPC, and assuming 8 cores like I had, you'd trade a little clock for the extra cores.

 

I like the other idea of two cheaper systems.

Don't disagree, which is why I was asking for information on the load that it places when you stack instances.