server hardware

[delta5 237]

If someone wanted to build their own server, what would be needed for 50 slots, roaming ai, lots of scripts, and no lag. Would you need dual xeon 8 core cpus =ing 16 cores?

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

You would need alot of juice for it to run properly with mixed country pings.  Why not just rent one?

[Loafy 46]

Renting is where it's at. Don't waste your precious bandwith. Do your research and there are quite a few reputable server hosts willing to take your money in exchange for a server tailored for your needs.

[delta5 237]

Well I could prob rent rack space and get at least T2 speed I think. More of a thought than anything. I priced out some hardware for a 16 core xeon build at about 11k usd.

[anthony_henson2003@yahoo.com 33]

Well I could prob rent rack space and get at least T2 speed I think. More of a thought than anything. I priced out some hardware for a 16 core xeon build at about 11k usd.

An E3-1230V2 will be more then enough for a single 50 man server, you could run a few 50 man servers on it. There is no need for 16 core machines, DayZ/Arma does not really benefit from multiple threads, so the faster single thread speed you have, the better the performance. That's why an E3-1230v2 is perfect (high single thread speeds). You can easily build an E3 machine for ~900 USD. As far as BW goes 5TB on a 100mbps port will suit you just fine.

[delta5 237]

An E3-1230V2 will be more then enough for a single 50 man server, you could run a few 50 man servers on it. There is no need for 16 core machines, DayZ/Arma does not really benefit from multiple threads, so the faster single thread speed you have, the better the performance. That's why an E3-1230v2 is perfect (high single thread speeds). You can easily build an E3 machine for ~900 USD. As far as BW goes 5TB on a 100mbps port will suit you just fine.

 

So what could one of these do?

[ersan 219]

So what could one of these do?

More cores means you can host more server instances on the same machine.  It's basically like having two e3-1245's glued together, allowing you to host twice as many servers on the same machine.  It will not make your single server any faster because Arma2 is not multi-threaded and each instance is constrained to one CPU core.

Edited September 19, 2013 by ersan191

[joikd 25]

Here's my thoughts from a recent reddit post on a similar topic:

 

In my case, I only wanted a server just for DayZ--nothing else. So, since DayZ doesn't use more than two cores, but really benefits from a high CPU clock speed, I chose non-server components. This allowed my to have a higher performing server (by overclocking) and still be much cheaper than using server-grade stuff.

 

My server:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K (overclocked to 4.2GHz using a specific 2U cooler & 10,000 RPM Delta fan)

MOBO: ASRock Z77 Extreme4

RAM: 32GB DDR3 1600 (9-9-9-27) (1.5V) (I only have this much RAM, so DayZ can be on a RAMdrive)

Crucial M4 SSD (64GB)

NIC: Intel EXPI9301CTBLK PRO/1000 CT

 

One thing I should have done was add a large/cheap storage drive, so I could put multiple windows install images on it (server 2008 r2 & server 2012). I would only have used this drive if I had needed to re-install on the SSD, or if the SSD went bad (just ship another) by using the data center's kvm gear. So, right now, if I have to re-install, I can use their KVM gear, but I would have to stream it from home where my upload bandwidth is really low (it would take many hours).

 

If I was building a server today, the only differences would be that I would use the Haswell 4670k CPU, and add that storage drive I mentioned above.

 

In your case, since it sounds like you want to have your server handle multiple things simultaneously, you might be better off using a Xeon CPU with their many cores, and larger cache. You would lose a lot of CPU clock speed, but it would probably be okay (I'm not sure which Xeons would work speed-wise, though). The downside of this option is that it would be crazy expensive for a decent Xeon (clock speed-wise).

 

For me, from a $$$/performance standpoint, I would either build and colo a non-Xeon server, or rent a dedicated Xeon server. I would not build and colo a Xeon server, or rent a non-Xeon server.

 

Of course, if you have lots of $$$, then just build and colo a high-end Xeon server.

Edited September 19, 2013 by joikd