Server for gaming

Omaran · 14 Jul 2011 at 08:30

Hi all - long time reader first time poster here

I am looking at building a dedicated server for running games on - this will be colocated at a datacentre with a GSP and will be used to run games from the Battlefield series, CoD, Source games etc.

I haven't specced anything up in much detail so far, the server will probably run Windows Server 2008, have about 16GB memory - but that is as far as I have got so far.

Now although I am quite familiar with desktop CPU's I really have no idea what would be good for a gaming server? I would imagine a dual CPU solution would be a good idea.

Looking to spend £1500 - £2000 but as said above not had much experience with server builds.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated

Skidilliplop · 14 Jul 2011 at 10:35

I'd probably go against building your own as it's damned expensive to co-host your own kit and you'll be responsible for fixing it if anything goes wrong. Heading up to redbus or somewhere just to swap out a failed drive isn't desirable at all.

You'd be far better off just renting a server / Virtual machine from a hosting company and configuring it. That way they'll look after it and you just have to ring their 24/7 support if you have a problem.

Omaran · 14 Jul 2011 at 12:00

Skidilliplop said:
I'd probably go against building your own as it's damned expensive to co-host your own kit and you'll be responsible for fixing it if anything goes wrong. Heading up to redbus or somewhere just to swap out a failed drive isn't desirable at all.

You'd be far better off just renting a server / Virtual machine from a hosting company and configuring it. That way they'll look after it and you just have to ring their 24/7 support if you have a problem.

Thanks, but I actually have a very good arrangement with the datacentre and the GSP

The main reason for doing this is so we have a pretty good server for running the upcoming BF3, we intend to run several gameservers, and in the future when it's outdated and maybe struggling a bit we will take it out and use it for a small LAN we have.

Yamahahahahaha · 14 Jul 2011 at 12:50

If you want something supported, have a look at the Dell R210 II or the R410. If you give them a call you can probably get a bit of a discount off the list price.

If you want to build something yourself, SuperMicro do a lot of 1U barebones servers.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/

If you have paying customers on these boxes, go with a supported box of some sort.

PistolPete · 14 Jul 2011 at 12:54

Have you had confirmation that the dedicated server will be released for BF3?

I suspect it'll be GSP release only.

Omaran · 14 Jul 2011 at 13:03

Yamahahahahaha said:
If you want something supported, have a look at the Dell R210 II or the R410. If you give them a call you can probably get a bit of a discount off the list price.

If you want to build something yourself, SuperMicro do a lot of 1U barebones servers.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/

If you have paying customers on these boxes, go with a supported box of some sort.

Thanks, I am probably looking at building myself, I just really want to know what the best CPU would be, obviously AMD is a cheaper option but as said previously I'm not really 'up' on todays CPU's for servers (a few years back I guess it would be a straight choice between Opteron or Xeon!)

PistolPete said:
Have you had confirmation that the dedicated server will be released for BF3?

I suspect it'll be GSP release only.

Yes it will be GSP only, but my box will be run through a GSP so I will be able to run it (but with limited access to the box).

Yamahahahahaha · 14 Jul 2011 at 17:56

Find out which processors the dedicated servers run better on (Xeon or Opteron).

I'd guess something like the Intel Xeon E5520 or E5620 would be good chips for what you want.

TNGL · 14 Jul 2011 at 18:36

I thought you needed a license to host EA Ranked servers? Assuming you want to run ranked server.

Omaran · 15 Jul 2011 at 07:40

Tingle said:
I thought you needed a license to host EA Ranked servers? Assuming you want to run ranked server.

The server will be colocated with a GSP that runs ranked servers.

GJUK · 15 Jul 2011 at 08:31

Have a lookout for a 2nd hand Dell PowerEdge 2950, should be able to get somehting with well LOADS of poke, Dell remote acces card for those oh bugger it broken moments ;-)

they take max 32GB I do believe, quad core Xeons....runs ESXI if you thinking running VM.....
Still get maintenance with Dell....so failed server all sorted ;-)

I only ever ran Game server for about 10 people, with an dual xeon server, and that was never ever stressed.....

GJUK

Omaran · 15 Jul 2011 at 08:43

GJUK said:
Have a lookout for a 2nd hand Dell PowerEdge 2950, should be able to get somehting with well LOADS of poke, Dell remote acces card for those oh bugger it broken moments
they take max 32GB I do believe, quad core Xeons....runs ESXI if you thinking running VM.....
Still get maintenance with Dell....so failed server all sorted

I only ever ran Game server for about 10 people, with an dual xeon server, and that was never ever stressed.....

GJUK

I'll have a look, thanks for the advice!

So are Xeons or Opterons still best bet for a server? No point looking at i7's or Phenoms?

Destination · 15 Jul 2011 at 08:52

Omaran said:
The server will be colocated with a GSP that runs ranked servers.

So why don't you ask someone with whom you have this relationship at the datacentre which will be hosting exactly what you need anyway for their hardware spec?
If they will be colocating and doing what you want to do, then surely they already have a suitable spec?

Omaran · 15 Jul 2011 at 08:57

Hikari Kisugi said:
So why don't you ask someone with whom you have this relationship at the datacentre which will be hosting exactly what you need anyway for their hardware spec?
If they will be colocating and doing what you want to do, then surely they already have a suitable spec?

I already have and they are getting back to me with some specs. I would like to get other views from well informed people on this forum as well though - it's bound to be cheaper for me to build it myself or buy a prebuilt one from a retailer than to buy it straight from the GSP or datacentre.