Spec - Modest Minecraft/Terraria Home File Server

[Gimpymoo]

Recently been hosting a Minecraft/Terraria server for friends on my second PC, all was going swimmingly untill I tried playing a game myself and realised it just could not handle running both servers and the Minecraft client as well as the few other bits and bobs I need running.

To clarify, this is not my main rig, that would not have an issue I dont think but that is used by the family also and at risk of the occassional restart/shutdown which not good for the game servers where as my 2nd rig is in the office, perfectly safe and not used a great deal.

So, I need to build a modest server, obviously, VGA is not an issue, basic onboard should be adequate.

I allready have 2GB of DD3 RAM lying around which should be adequate for starters.

So looking for case, PSU, Mobo (Onboard VGA) and CPU.

Obviously the CPU does not have to be "great for gaming", just need the most processing power for the pennys really.

Budget: As cheap as possible... £100 or less.

Many Thanks.

 

[Number_25]

Sheeesh, £100?

 

[anuraj]

Don't think you will get anything from OCUK

 

[Gimpymoo]

I thought these threads normally panned out with the final spec being over the ops "budget" anyway so allowed for that with my initial "budget"

 

[Jony27]

Zacate would be your best option

 

[Murray]

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI 880GM-E41 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard *WITH FREE MSI GRENADE* £48.98
1 x AMD Sempron 140 2.70GHz (Socket AM3) Processor - Retail £25.99
1 x Lepa N-Series 400W Power Supply £24.98
Total : £110.46 (includes shipping : £8.75).

You get free shipping.

Best I could do.

 

[Jony27]

needs a case

 

[Murray]

I knew that!

How much do you think you could "stretch" to op?#



Edit :

Free shipping = £122.94


YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI 880GM-E41 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard *WITH FREE MSI GRENADE* £48.98
1 x AMD Sempron 140 2.70GHz (Socket AM3) Processor - Retail £25.99
1 x Lepa N-Series 400W Power Supply £24.98
1 x OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) £22.98
Total : £134.64 (includes shipping : £9.75).

Edit 2 :

Changed Motherboard £108.94 without delivery



YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus M4N68T-M LE NForce 630a (Socket AM2+/AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £34.98
1 x AMD Sempron 140 2.70GHz (Socket AM3) Processor - Retail £25.99
1 x Lepa N-Series 400W Power Supply £24.98
1 x OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) £22.98
Total : £120.64 (includes shipping : £9.75).

 

[Gimpymoo]

You have 2 x PSU's there Murray

Kind of what I had specced for myself.

I think £130 is more a realistic budget.

What about this:

Your basket
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - £53.99
MSI 880GM-E41 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £48.98
OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) £22.98

£137.65

The only room for manouver is the CPU I guess.

What would preference be?

 

[Murray]

You have 2 x PSU's there Murray

Kind of what I had specced for myself.

I think £130 is more a realistic budget.

What about this:

Your basket
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - £53.99
MSI 880GM-E41 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £48.98
OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) £22.98

£137.65

Haha I knew that as well.

What about this one with a change of motherboard for cheaper price :

Its £111.95

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £53.99
1 x Asus M4N68T-M LE NForce 630a (Socket AM2+/AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £34.98
1 x OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) £22.98
Total : £123.65 (includes shipping : £9.75).

 

[Gimpymoo]

Are the nForce chipsets any good?

I have bad memories of my Nforce4 Ultra chipset from my s939 rig - shivvers.

Is the Tri cor the best I am likely to get?

 

[Quadcore14]

The only problem with nForce that i know of is cpu support but if it is 95w and under you should be fine.

 

[Gimpymoo]

May I ask, would it be better to use Onboard VGA and install 4GB RAM with the onboard VGA taking whatever it needs or use a 512MB VGA card and only have 2GB RAM?

I assume the former?

 

[Pohly]

AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 450 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £53.99
(£44.99) £53.99
(£44.99)
**B Grade** Gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 (AM3) Motherboard £26.36
(£21.97) £26.36
(£21.97)
OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) £22.98
(£19.15) £22.98
(£19.15)
Sub Total : £86.11
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £19.17
Total : £115.03
(you get free postage)

 

[Gimpymoo]

Thanks, Pohly.

Would rather avoid an Nvidia chipset, personal preference.

 

[Jony27]

can you not get your mates to add £5 or £10 each to the budget so that you can get a decent one?

 

[Gimpymoo]

I have realised £100 was a little too tight but £130 ish is adequate I feel.

 

[Gimpymoo]

Meh.. am going to spend £100 on a CPU instead of a mediocre rig.

The performance would likely be the same for hosted games and I will get a better performing rig to boot.

 

[ExecutorKevin]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-098-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=
MSI GeForce 8400GS 512MB SILENT GDDR3 "Low Profile" PCI-Express Graphics Card [N8400GS-D512D3H/LP]
Sure you can get one of these for £27 and run minecraft e.t.c. on good settings.
If I can run minecraft on my 128mb sis mirage 3 then anythings possible!
For the £100 cpu just get an Phenom ii 955 x4 and overclock it to 3.8Ghz for £83.99

 

[brodie1shot]

I used to run a minecraft server on my old PC, e6600 @ 3.2ghz. 4gb ram and it would still struggle at times, make sure that there isn't a lot of running water going in a lot of directions in the same place as that really makes it lag, also used a program called game booster which disables a bunch of services which I found worked quite well. I was hosting it for 4-6 people.