I have the unfortunate problem of having a spare Fractal Node 605 case, Corsair HX750 PSU, and a spare HD. I think I have a spare Corsair AF 120 or two as well. Terrible situation to be in since I don't have a motherboard, cpu, or ram to complete the build. In all seriousness, over a year ago I migrated my system into the NCase M1 case with a sfx PSU, and these are the leftovers.
I want to build a server for mainly running a few game servers for me and friends to play on. I would be running a Terraria server for sure..and possibly Insurgency, Minecraft, new UT, not sure what else really. Just trying to give you a few ideas of what I'd want to run. They wouldn't be public servers with randoms hopping on whenever. Would mainly just be a group of up to 6 or 7 playing one of those at a time.
I'm just not sure what to do CPU wise. Is there a reason to go Xeon over consumer i3/5/7 for example? What about the Atom? There's an 8-core Atom w/ mobo on NewEgg for $337 (Intel Atom C2758). That's the most I'd want to spend, but ideally $300 or less would be ideal. I'm OK buying used kit on eBay. For $30-40 more than that Atom combo I can buy a nearly complete used HP ProLiant box w/ Xeon E3-1220 and 16gb ram on eBay... just missing a HD. Atom has the advantage of being 20w.
If the game server ends up seeing minimal use I might convert it over to also act as a NAS.
Anything fairly recent really. As its a server you don't need a GPU so a CPU with interal graphics is fine, but 8 threads could be handy.
You might be able to get a bargain on something older like an i7-2600 with a Z77 motherboard. 8 threads, ability to clock to 4GHz + and support for 32GB would be a good gaming server else an FX83xx and decent mobo plus a basic GPU would work well.
Hmm. I'm thinking since this is more for fun... the cheaper options you two mentioned might be the way to go.
I think I'm leaning towards the fx-8320e. It doesn't have the single-core performance of the 2600K, but the extra cores might come in handy if I'm running multiple things. Power consumption is lower on it as well.
Price for both would be super close. I'd have to buy a cheap GPU for the 8320e, but I'd have to buy a cheaper cooler for the 2600k since it looks like the bulk of the ones on eBay are just CPU only unless you pay closer to $200 for one with cooler+box.
Still open for other ideas, and I'm going to do some more digging around as well. Solid choices so far though I think given I don't really need "server grade" anything for this.
I am not familiar with the CPU horse power required to run a Terraria server but I ran a Minecraft server with a good amount of plugins for 6 friends and I. Also with the same group of friends, I ran an ARK Survival Evolved server.
Everything ran pretty fine 24/7 for about 3 months besides a couple of network issues. Just a suggestion. Also minus the GPU. http://pcpartpicker.com/list/jH736h
By all means, suggest what ever you think will be the best configuration. I just gave it as a suggestion because OP said that they were going to be playing with a small group of friends, not some legitimate business to server to others as well. If the conversion to NAS is a definite thing then setting up the server with some ECC unbuffered from the get-go will save a bit of money since server memory is being sold in bulk quite often due to other companies updating their hardware.
This, bonus points if you can find parts locally, also consider an aftermarket cooler since stock AMD is loud (unless 8320E has the wraith cooler, not sure if it does)
Yeah, I think if I do end up converting to a NAS later that going 8320e route with non-ECC ram is kinda throwing money away. However, I can always find another use for it. I have a soon-to-be 5 year old daughter, and a 6 year old daughter... could turn into a homework PC for them. Or donate it to someone who needs a better CPU. I have a friend running on an old Pentium w/ DDR2 ram who wouldn't mind it if he doesn't have something newer by then. :)
MicroCenter has the 8320e for $89.99 +tax.. might go get that, and see what they have for motherboards and ram - price wise compared to online.
Server RAM is dirt cheap man Like other have state before, the 8320e will support ECC, just double check the manufacture's website to see if the motherboard will take advantage of the ECC capabilities. I an not entirely sure but I belive ECC support is motherboard dependent. I chose to link US sellers as I can't entirely trust China sellers anymore. 64GB kit
It's definitely cheap. I just noticed the one PC part picker link said ECC wasn't compatible with that particular Gigabyte board. However, it could be wrong.
I'm going to grab the Gigabye GA-78LMT-USB3 board - which from what I gathered does support ECC ram. It was one of the higher rated AM3+ boards on NewEgg.
MicroCenter for the win.... AMD FX-8320e == $89.99 Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 == $19.99 due to bundling with 8320e. Normally $59.99 (or $54 on NewEgg)
Registered or buffered ECC ram won't run on any am3 boards. Don't worry about ECC ram for a home server, just buy quality ram from someone like Kingston.
If ECC is a big thing to you like it is for me for my 24/7 file/streaming server, get it. If you want to use your old parts, and you're fine with used parts, get an old LGA 1366 workstation (HP Z200/Z400, Dell T3500/T110, Lenovo C20). They can be had for like $200 now (depending on which and where you buy it), and depend on the processor, can have equal single core performance to an 8350.
I made it to the point of adding AMD FX 8320E, motherboard, ram, and SSD to my MicroCenter cart and submitted for in store pickup.... and then I backed out. Figured it would be better to wait until I got another job since I had just got laid off from my previous job. Since this thread I've also lost interest in running a game server for multiple games at once.
I'm still wanting to build in that case though, but I've no reason to beyond want. I thought NAS... throw in some sFTP access for when I'm out and about.... and a Git server for private version control. Thing is I can do that much easier just buying something like a Synology. So - still undecided. If motherboards for the Xeon E5-2670 that would be awesome. :)
If I do build in it I'll be sure to post some updates / pics of build. I'll have more budget for this now if I decide to go that route.