SRCDS Fails.. again

[Ronoman]

In June of last year I decided i wanted to run a GarrysMod server. So I did it. From June-October I ran the server on a 2.5Ghz Dual Core with 2GB of RAM. In October i built my self a computer and used the old one as the server from October-Yesterday. That was a 3.0Ghz Dual Core with 4GB of RAM. In mid December I felt like I needed an upgrade. I then spent $1000 on quite an upgrade that came yesterday. Its a 3.4Ghz E3-1270 Xeon processor with 16GB of RAM, the worst part, it isn't really an upgrade from the 3.0Ghz Dual Core... The pings are basically the same and the FPS is a little higher, but i was expecting much more for what i paid. Why doesn't SRCDS have the capability to use what processing power i have? Is there anything I can do to force my computer to focus on the server a little more? My CPU usage jumps from 1% to about 6% regardless of the people and or props on the server. The only thing I can think of that could possibly be limiting my improvement would be my upload speed, at 3MB/s i was hoping I could host 10 people comfortably. Thanks SRCDS.
(PS its an engine/car/chassis server, so we pretty much have the laggiest stuff possible)

Thanks for any help.
-Rono

[Lith]

Source isn't really coded to use multicore setups so going from dual to quad isn't going to do much for you in terms of FPS unless you were overloading the dual-core. If you're running other things on the box, you can dedicate (set processor affinity) a core(or 2) specifically to the srcds process to see if it will help. There are a lot of variables that affect FPS/Choke/Packet Loss. It seems like you've got server hardware covered. You stated you have only 3MBs up and are hoping for 10 people. The performance in that truly depends on what rates you're allowing for those connecting. What is the minrate and maxrate you're using now?

Here is a calculator to help. It's not 100% accurate but it should give you an idea of what to set your rates at.

http://www.reece-eu.net/drekrates.php

[loopyman]

If you only have a 3mbps upload then I wouldn't have purchased such an expensive machine. Maybe you should co-locate it in a datacenter.

[Ronoman]

Thanks for the link. I'm gonna run with those rates for a while.


I was hesitant to spend so much on the system, but a fiber optic company is moving into town and they are promising a 15MBps upload.. which would be great

[Ronoman]

Hello again. Sorry for the old bump.

But my internet is now 70 download and 45 upload.. and it didnt help a whole lot.

Just an FYI

[Drocona]

Hey Ronoman,

Unfortunately the SRCDS is a single core process and is not able to use multiple cores at the same time, it can only move the process between cores.
Together with the above Garrys mod is the most demanding game to host because of all the physics etc, so it's amazingly hard to see improvements by upgrading from 3.0 to 3.4 Ghz CPU even though it has twice the amount of total processing power. What it does do is allow you to host more servers, since you now have 4 cores instead of 2.
Also the FPS for the server in Garrys is very hard to keep up, so my suggestion is if you are using any FPS boosters to disable these and keep the FPS at a max of 64. Also try not to run a tickrate higher than 66, I recommend lower. The higher you go, the more CPU is needed.
The pings are directly related to your internet upload connection, with some influence from the game of course. If they didn't improve much with your new connection then you weren't maxing out the 3Mbit you had before, you were most likely maxing out the CPU.

Hope this clears things up a bit for you, basically you got a very nice set-up now capable of running quite a few SRCDS instances, just Garrysmod is very hard to host.

[Ronoman]

(03-11-2012, 10:08 AM)Drocona Wrote:  Hey Ronoman,

Unfortunately the SRCDS is a single core process and is not able to use multiple cores at the same time, it can only move the process between cores.
Together with the above Garrys mod is the most demanding game to host because of all the physics etc, so it's amazingly hard to see improvements by upgrading from 3.0 to 3.4 Ghz CPU even though it has twice the amount of total processing power. What it does do is allow you to host more servers, since you now have 4 cores instead of 2.
Also the FPS for the server in Garrys is very hard to keep up, so my suggestion is if you are using any FPS boosters to disable these and keep the FPS at a max of 64. Also try not to run a tickrate higher than 66, I recommend lower. The higher you go, the more CPU is needed.
The pings are directly related to your internet upload connection, with some influence from the game of course. If they didn't improve much with your new connection then you weren't maxing out the 3Mbit you had before, you were most likely maxing out the CPU.

Hope this clears things up a bit for you, basically you got a very nice set-up now capable of running quite a few SRCDS instances, just Garrysmod is very hard to host.

OK. Thanks!
I posted that 10 minutes after we upgraded our internet, so I hadn't tested it enough yet. Everyone is noticing much much lower pings and there aren't any lags spikes either!! I just wish I could have SRCDS use more of my CPU power! Then my server would be invincible!! haha Thanks for the help. I just need to work on my rates and stuff then it should be as fast as i can make it.