Server Specs Recommendation

[BR5DY]

According to this gamespy article, a 1.0 GHz Intel CPU will run a 20 player slot at good performance. Any comments on that?

I'm planning on using the following for one TF2 server:

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (not 64) runs at 2.2GHz
2GB PC3200 DDR RAM
160GB WD 7200RPM SATAI Hard Drive
Windows XP (nothin fancy, performance mode enabled, many unneeded services disabled)

Internet connection: I have a friend that manages an ISP and is giving me a plug to an internet backbone for $40/month...haha. Although, I haven't moved my server from my house to the ISP's datacenter yet.

According to that guide on gamespy, I should be perfectly fine for a 32 player server since I'm way above the minimums, yes?

I'm currently running it on my home connection. There are 5 players connected, sitting absolutely still (for this test), and I'm getting 65 FPS. Why? I do not currently have any FPS boosters setup. fps_max set at 300.

Additionally, if these specs are fine for this kind of server, why are there many servers that have dual processors and 8GB of RAM for a simple TF2 server? Is it overkill? Are those types of computers better suited for 150 player servers such as for San Andreas Multiplayer?

Many questions, yes, I know.

Please share any and all comments. Thanks!

[Mooga]

BR5DY Wrote:According to this gamespy article, a 1.0 GHz Intel CPU will run a 20 player slot at good performance. Any comments on that?

Maybe a CS:S server, but orangebox uses WAY more power. Before I enabled hyper threading, I could only hold 1 24-man TF2 server on a 3GHz P4. Now with hyper threading I have more room... maybe 2 or 3 servers.

[Drocona]

I wrote that article for CSS, the orange engine didn't even exist back then

[BR5DY]

Okay, good to know.

[BR5DY]

I successfully ran a 20 player server tonight. It started glitching just a tiny little bit. CPU utilization was at about 60%.

[Spartanfrog]

Thats a good CPU usage so your in buisness. Never go higher than 80%.

[BR5DY]

Good.

I'd kinda like to go up to 32 player, but I think it'll punish me if I try.

[Spartanfrog]

Nothing that cant be undone....I say go for it .

[BR5DY]

I shall. We'll see what happens.

Anyway, to optimize my speeds, can you guys recommend any changes to my cvars?

Quote://Server Rates
sv_maxcmdrate 0 //(If sv_mincmdrate is > 0), this sets the maximum value for cl_cmdrate.
sv_maxrate 20000 //Max bandwidth rate allowed on server, 0 == unlimited
sv_maxreplay 2 //Maximum replay time in seconds
sv_maxupdaterate 100 //Maximum updates per second that the server will allow
sv_mincmdrate 0 //This sets the minimum value for cl_cmdrate. 0 == unlimited.
sv_minrate 0 //Min bandwidth rate allowed on server, 0 == unlimited
sv_minupdaterate 30 //Minimum updates per second that the server will allow

My connection is about 1200 Kbps constant upload.

[Spartanfrog]

For the 20 slot server (Assuming you want to use all of the 1200):
sv_maxrate 7000
sv_minupdaterate/sv_maxupdaterate (set to your tickrate)

Everything else doesnt matter.

[BR5DY]

okay, thank you.

what's with the 7000? how did you get that from 1200 kbps?