Investing in a new dedicated server ~2000eur

[MCD]

Hi guys,


For the past few months-years I have been renting dedicated servers for my personal business.
To start it was good because there was low investment now I want to buy a new dedicated server instead of renting a new one.
I thinking of buying it in the dell website in europe.



The question is, What should I look for in spects to host SRCDS and HLDS servers?
Because up to know, all the info I got when I rented a server, was the number of cores, cpu, ram, clock speed, disk space.
Due to my interest in buying one I have been thinking of "making one" in dell.

With the new OB updates is SRCDS still very ram dependent? a long time ago it normaly used around 700mb of ram on each server.
I want to host decent quality servers but also I want to get the most out of my machine.




Ived been thinking about 4 servers per core of srcds, but I think I should be able to get more in and still maintain fps stability.

What core-ram relation do you think there should be?
1GB per core?


For now this is what I have thought about:
DELL™ PowerEdge™ R410

2x Intel Xeon E5620, 4C, 2.40GHz, 12M Cache, 5.86GT/s, 80W TDP, Turbo, HT, DDR3-1066MHz

8GB of RAM, but here is my question, at the dell site it says:

Standard RDIMM
Standard UDIMM
Low Volt RDIMM
Low Volt UDIMM

Whats the best? they recomend UDIMM Standard
But if I want 16GB of ram the only option is low volt rdimm.

Also I have the chance of adding a network card, do I need it to have it connected to a card? I suppose the server has its own but not really sure..

Thank you with any help-related answers

[Hazz]

You want about 500-600MB RAM per SRCDS instance. You don't need a separate network card, the standard ones are perfectly capable.

Very nice server though.

[CentralFrag]

I've heard bad things around here about hyper threading assuming that's what the "HT" is in there for. I'd suggest looking around here for the threads and considering a non-hyper threading processor.

[BehaartesEtwas]

you can switch HT off. HT might be good for hosting many small servers, but most certainly is bad for hosting few large servers.

what do you plan to run on that machine all together? usually I would say, go for multiple smaller boxes and use desktop cpus. there are limits in the number of servers (regardless of the slot count) you can run per machine, before the quality is degraded. that number does not fully scale with the number of cpus. so better put those two cpus into two different boxes. then you can save some money by using desktop cpus (which basically differ in multi-cpu support and ECC memory support only - both is not needed).

I would say the exact ram type does not really play any role... the amount of ram is usually a couple of 100 MB per server, if you calculate 500 MB per server you are on the very safe side.

[MCD]

So what do you recommend?

Im thinking of spending around 2000eur, and Intel Xeon E3-1230, 4C/8T, 3.20GHz, 8M Cache, 80W TDP, Turbo + 8gb ram + 500gb hd is around 780eur.


Im just wondering if thats a quad core or its a xeon of dualcores.

[Mike]

If he's going to put it/them into a datacenter the costs would be doubled by using two different boxes. It's quality (aka stable fps) vs money in this case i believe.

[MCD]

Im not interested in having normal servers, I want quality servers, the máx amount possible that permits to have stable fps.

And yes Mike, you are right, I have to pay double, for each box, but I don't mind paying it if it compensates.

I will explain myself (all data values here are random, lets just say 4 servers per core):

For example, lets say that with 8 cores I can set up 32 servers
and that with 2 x 4 cores (2 dedicated servers) I can set up 32 servers

then I rather have the 8 cores In just one box, because on 2 servers the cost of each server would increase



On the other hand If I can set up on the 2x4cores I dont know, for example 42 servers, then I would have 2 dedicated servers because it would compensate.


Like I said, I only want to host great quality, stable fps. So I dont know whats the best option.

Also, 2 x 4 cores its 780x2= 1560eur, thats nearly 600eur difference.

The problem is that each rack spot is around 40eur/monthly where I want to host it (for many reasons, so it might be expensive compared to other places) + X amount of MBPS for each server, but this last part I sopose it doesnt matter due to the relation of MBPS with number of players connected so its going to be the same amount of MBPS for 32 servers in one dedicated server, or 16 servers on each server (2 in total).

[Mike]

You shouldn't go over 2 servers per core... Might decrease the quality of the servers.

[MCD]

all data values here are random, lets just say 4 servers per core.



I thought I was clear enough.

[Mike]

If you want quality, go for two servers with the same specs, hosting massive amounts of servers on a uber-powerful box will still degrade the performance/quality (or so i have heard).

[MCD]

I went for the 2x quad cores in 2 seperate servers, also I got higher Ghz so I sopose its better.


Got a question, Im thinking of buying a server (but not for a rack, tower size) in dell that are cheaper to take to LAN events to host the servers. I don't think I will need to run more than 6 CS 1.6 1000fps 12 slots full servers and 6 CSS 67fps 12 slot full.

Could I fit that in a Intel Core i3-550, 2C/4T, 3.20GHz ? with 4GB ram?

Im not sure of the consumption, because in my quad core, each 12 slot full cs 1.6 server uses around 2.5% of cpu, having 6 running and full is around 14-15%, and I don't think the relation is proportional to the cores, or is it close enough to use it as a "basic idea" ?

[Mike]

You shoudn't host hlds and srcds on the same machine. And i don't think it'll hold it.

[MCD]

Thought So, I will go for the quad core.


I know its not recomended to host hlds and srcds but Its going to be a server for just lan events, so I don't want to have 2 different ones.

[cookies911]

You might as well wait for sandybridge-E, or IVY, or just go with westmere Dual E5645 with 12GB of ram per cpu. Then grab yourself some 10-15k drives or SSD. That should fit your budget around 200euros. Don't grab from dell, there's no need to go with them, build your own, supermicro board and chassis, then stock from newegg is more than good enough. I would prefer density over higher clock speeds, unless you're running tweaked dll 1000FPS, which is obviously not recommended. ( for orange box ) HLDS, it doesn't really matter. General rule of thumb on these Westmeres 2 servers / core max if you plan on running more than 24 slots on each core.

(09-14-2011, 01:51 AM)Mike Wrote:  You shoudn't host hlds and srcds on the same machine. And i don't think it'll hold it.

What? It won't make a difference, just dedicate each instance to it's own core and you'll be fine.

[MCD]

Ived never build a "server" rig, Ived built my own computer for the last few years, but for a server, what supermicro board should I look for?

I mean, I see microATX supermicro boards, I could set up a barebone and make it smaller...

But my experience with microATX is not very good, usually bad performance.