Servers dropping FPS like no tomorrow

[bladez]

As you can see from this FPS meter measurement, our TF2 (srcds) and also our HLDS servers are dropping FPS like no tomorrow.
http://fpsmeter.org/p,view;8714.html

There's short periods where it remains constant (with slight variation), but it never remains at the maximum FPS.

I've followed BehaartesEtwas's guide in optimizing our kernels, and it is what we are currently running, yet we are still experiencing a lot of drops.

Does anyone have any suggestions that could resolve our issue? I'm willing to provide you with whatever information is required, just let me know what you need.

We're running Centos 5.3 with the 2.6.26.8-rt16 kernel. Our machines are powerful enough to run these servers, we're fairly sure it's a configuration issue somewhere.

Here's the generic info (for the box the #TF2Pug server runs on):
Server OS: CentOS 5.3 64bit (2.6.26.8-rt16)
Processor: Xeon 3050 @ 2.13GHz
Ram: 3gb
Game(s): TF2
Start Up Command: /games/tf2/orangebox/srcds_run -game tf -console -secure -port "27015" +ip "210.50.4.37" +clientport 27005 +maxplayers 15 +fps_max "1050" +map cp_well +exec common_pugserver.cfg > /games/logs/tfpug.log 2>&1 &
Admin Mods: None what-so-ever

Our other (main) servers are:
Server OS: CentOS 5.2 64bit (2.6.26.8-rt16)
Processor: Xeon X3220 @ 2.4GHz
Ram: 4gb
Game(s): TF2, CS:S and CS1.6
Start Up Command: Same as the above
Admin Mods: None what-so-ever

These servers also experience the same FPS drop.

We have also disabled SourceTV for testing purposes.

[bigtin]

I have a similar problem with my core2duo box. It doesn't dip as often as yours but I suppose that's probably because I only have 2 srcds instances running. I've got it down to literally enough to run the server and it still happens so I'm going to give debian a go since it only seems to be centos that suffers from this.

[BehaartesEtwas]

did you try everything mentioned in the trouble shooting and playing around sections of my howto?

[bladez]

Yes, I've tried everything mentioned in your howto. The #TF2Pug server is also the only server running on the box at the moment.

Bigtin, let us know how Debian turns out

[bigtin]

I will, I've been speaking with Distant about the problems I've been having and he has exactly the same on CentOS and neither of us can seem to stop it no matter how the kernel is compiled, what settings are used in the config or what services are running. Debian seems to run fine for almost everyone that's used it on here so I'm hoping it should cure my issues.

[BehaartesEtwas]

yes please let us know the result. I have this suspicion for some time that CentOS isn't the best choice for game servers, but that's only based on some vague reports in this forums :-)

[pengy]

For some reason, thats the exact same type of drops I got on CeNTOS, You need to get the 2.6.28 kernel instead.

[bigtin]

I've ran it with all kinds of kernels, 2.6.22 vanilla, 2.6.26 vanilla, 2.6.26 RT, 2.6.30 vanilla, 2.6.28.10 vanilla, 2.6.28 vanilla - all with different Hz settings. Tried making the kernel with the right flags for my cpu and O2 optimisations, done fstab changes incase the drops were disk related, running the bare minimum services, tried different clocksources, taskset, different levels of nice (always using the same chrt though). None of it works.

Debian x64 is due to be installed at some point today so I'll have the servers set up again tonight and ready to be tested.

[bladez]

cool, looking forward to the results

[gryphter]

Well?? What happened?

[bigtin]

Well, it's still not right. It's certainly a bit better and now happens at most once per graph but it's still annoying that it happens. I'm going to try a few more things over the weekend if I get time.

[gryphter]

I have been having the issues ever since the scout patch. Was able to run a full 32 player server then after the scout patch I will peg my CPU after 18 players. A few patches ago they said they put in some debug code to help optimize the linux version but I have not seen any change yet. I also run Cent os 5.2 and have followed the RT kernel guides. Running on a dual Zeon 2.8 gig with 4 gigs of ram.