What are the important hardware components for a modded 1.20.1 fabric Minecraft dedicated server?
Edit: Summary
- Single thread performance is important (low core count is fine) (cpubenchmark.net is useful here)
- It should have at least 6-8 GB RAM
- GPUs are irrelevant
- Having an NVMe SSD is good
I plan to build/buy a home server PC for a few friends (3 or 4 players at most at once), I would run fabric with both performance/optimization and gameplay/content mods (Edit: most probably with some more technical mods too). This PC would exclusively run this Minecraft server and nothing else. Presumably it will be a headless PC with some barebone OS to save as much reseources as possible for actually running the server. It would be nice if I could make it a low power consumption and fairly cheap build.
What should I pay attention for? Single thread performance? (Could be the CPU clock speed a good measurement for it?) More GB of RAM? A fast SSD? Would the lack of GPU (or having an integrated one) affect the performance?
Thank you for the help! 🙂
81 Replies
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Requested by maxi5646#0
gpu doesnt matter
single threaded performance is most important
just having a nvme/ssd is gonna be gooid
good*
but for those small players
i'd suggest oracle cloud
or a cheap host
getting a dedicated computer for this is kinda pointless
I plan to make it for me and a few friends, if 6 people would be on it at the same time it would be a miracle.
Maybe you are right. I mainly wanted to build one because of the experience and learning. For example, I never built a PC before, so a cheap PC like this would be a good exercise. Also, it would be handy if I would learn how to use linux and the terminal more deeply, and knowing how to use a headless setup.
How can one measure a CPU's single thread performance?
cpubenchmark.net
No need for a gpu. Honestly for just a fabric server with 3 or 4 people, you could probally use just an old pc. Depending on how intensive your mods might be, mabye look at getting a good cpu and at least 6gb of ram, mabye more. Keep in mind minecraft is mostly a single threaded game, so look for a cpu with a high single core/thread performance. It really depends the most on your budget.
if its just for the experience sure its fine
In the worst case scenario, I can still sell it, maybe about an equivalent amount of money because it is already built together and working. Or using it for future projects.
If you are seriously thinking of not dedicating it to mc and using it for other projects, dont skimp out to much, as you might want/need the extra performance later. Also resell market for pc parts honestly itsnt that great. You will def not make back 100% of costs
oracle cloud is free, and would be good learning aswell
but its up to u if ur willing to spend the money
I think the whole point is to build a pc, which in that case, mabye look at the microcenter pc builder or newegg or other enthusiast sites
Try parts picker: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/
Choose Your Parts - PCPartPicker
Choose Your Parts
Look at some of the stuff and their price and just check back if you have any questions
About how many threads means mostly? My first guess about CPU was a low core count - high clock speed one. If I had to name one, I was considering an AMD Athlon 3000G, one part because its a low core count - high clock speed one, and it's fairly cheap for a 3.5 Ghz CPU. (about 63 USD, but I live in Hungary, a country with really arbitrary prices for anything. Also record inflation and yadda yadda, so prices are a bit more abstract to mesaure)
Also what OS do you plan on running with your pc? No need spending money buying a pc with a windows license when you dont need it
Looking at cpubenchmark, it has a single threat rating of 1991 (https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Athlon+3000G). Looks decent, not sure exactly how good it may be. It really depends of your budget. I know there is import costs and taxes and inflation and all that, but try to factor it in as best as possible
Most probably a linux distribution, because it's free, and it doesn't consume that much resources as far as I know. I would read about it on the reddit forums, but it is still private (along with r/homeserver and a lot of other subreddits). I don't know when (if they do), turn it back to publicly available.
use cache:(link to post)
in googl
e
to see the post
You can always view private reddits by using the google cached view, just paste their link here (https://cachedview.com/)
Google Cached Pages of Any Website - CachedView
CachedView - Google Cached Pages for any web site. It is the ultimate Google Cache browser.
I would reccomend debian or ubuntu server (well ehh mabye not but idk), if you dont need a desktop enviorment, then scrap it, as it will save you a lot on performance
Budget is... abstract, or how can I word it. I don't have any budget in mind. I have about 2500 USD to spend on anything (I don't need this money for anything right now), but it certainly wouldn't be wise to spend all of it. So I aim for the lowest price which can fullfil this mc server role. I guess it wouldn't be a good idea to spend money on hardware I will not use. (I plan to build a desktop PC for gaming and general PC usage purposes, but it wouldn't be used as a server pc)
I could say I planned to ask my friends about what if we split the price (I would pay a bigger chunk of it, of course), but I had not asked them yet, and not sure if they would say yes to it. But it wouldn't be the end of the world if they wouldn't want to pay in, this is just a "it would be nice to play together" hobby project without much serious dedication.
Wooooooooooooooow, thank you guys, this is really great! I didn't knew about this before, this is amaizing!
I half succesfully made a fabric server on ubuntu (on an old laptop, for exercise), but I yet have to make it to being actually reachable from the other side of my router. Also, it was made with a GUI, so I yet have to study the terminal deeply.
Also, will it hurt if it has only two cores and four threads? Nowdays CPUs have a hell a lot of cores and threads, but if Minecraft is mostly a single thread game, wouldn't only 2 cores and 4 threads will be enough?
tbh if your cpu only has 2 cores then it doesnt sound very fast
Uhh, good question. You are only planning on running one server right? Because each server can run on its own thread. I will let @ProGamingDK take over from here as it seems like he knows more on this stuff (he smarter than me)
Core count isn't everything... When will people learn! ITS LIKE MEGAPIXELS ON A CAMERA! SURE IT COULD BE HIGHER RES BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PROCESSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also it really depends on the performance on each core and them combined
low core count doesnt scream new thats what he was talking about
no cpu nowadays (any modern) doesnt only have 4 threads/2 cores
exactly
ah ok, sorry for my freak out (i wasnt actually mad or freaking out btw purely joking)
Also I mean you cant really get the new and greatest on a budget
The aforementioned AMD Athlon 3000G has 2 cores, 4 threads and 3.5 GHz clock speed, with a cpubenchmark single thread rating of 1991. (It also has a 2666 MHz RAM clock speed limit if it matters. I don't plan to overclock it, for first time it will be enough to actually build something small.)
But I'm not devoted to this CPU, I just saw the 35 W TDP and I tought what if I could make a build with low power consuption. For a home server, it sounds reasonable to have a low power comsuption.
Oh, yes, I know bigger core count only means only more programs in paralell, not heavier programs. I just wanted to state the contrast of this specific use case, and the trend about CPUs.
grab a ryzen 9 5950x or the latest intel i9 and bobs your uncle
I didn't want to. This is supposed to be a cheap build.
But my everyday PC, hmmm, that will be quite expensive. 😅
But that's a story for another time and server.
again, I think were working on a budget here. @Maxi you should really name a budget as anyone can just say "oh yeah get the (insert $1000+ cpu here)"
"Budget is... abstract, or how can I word it. I don't have any budget in mind. I have about 2500 USD to spend on anything (I don't need this money for anything right now), "
^^
Around 150 USD I think.
oh
Ok, cool, that really helps
Its that overall or just cpu?
Also do you already have a pc case?
ok, your options are rent a server from a host or find something second hand
not necessarily
like from a police auction
150 usd is not alot of money when it comes to mc server hardware
lol no police auctions needed, budget cpu and just older pc cpu do exist and will get the job done
Sorry that I didn't name exact numbers. Until now I just read about everything (what is a CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD/HDD, etc) and this is the first time I actually ask questions. 😅
where u from Maxi?
All good! We are just trying to get you the best bang for your buck
Hungary, said in eariler response
ah
if ur budget was around 150 for cpu only
ryzen 5 5600 could be a good option
Overall I think. One of my friends suggested an old used office pc for this price, and I tought with shifting the budget (no GPU for example) I could squeeze out a bit more performance. And a good learning experience before I embark to build my everyday pc.
or 5600g as u dont need graphics
Quote from Maxi himself:
(about 63 USD, but I live in Hungary, a country with really arbitrary prices for anything. Also record inflation and yadda yadda, so prices are a bit more abstract to mesaure)Hungary.
ngl your probably better off renting from a host
I'll let Maxi answer, but I believe the whole point is to build a pc and get experience. As he said
And a good learning experience before I embark to build my everyday pc.Many thanks for it! 😁
I think you all are right, a server host would be a cheaper and easier solution. But the whole idea came from that I want to build a more expensive everyday PC, but I fear that I mess up things and I damage the expensive parts, so a cheaper practice build would be nice for me. The minecraft server situation emerged after this, and why not combine the two things; building a cheap pc for a minecraft server.
Or, alternatively I could ask a friend/pay someone to build the everyday pc for me. That's a possibility too.
But many thanks for the help, I confirmed many things with your advices!
(I'll write a summary for anyone coming later to read this post.)
It's always great to build experience, but in all honesty, if you want to skip to the main build, thats ok too. Building a pc requires learning, and even if you mess some stuff up, you can always buy new parts (just try not to mess up the expensive stuff) nowdays, there are plently of tutorials that could help you, and you can join a pc building discord and they will walk you through the process
@Maxi Just saying, you could always just upgrade your normal gaming PC to a 7900x or 7950x, then run your Minecraft servers in a linux VM
then you could just always leave your desktop on
assuming you don't pay the power bills, probably the best plan of action
My biggest fear is that I will broke something irreversibly. With a 68 dollar part it wouldn't be that much of a catastrophe as with a 500 dollar part. This is why it come handy that we need a server. I have terrible manual dexterity, and some knowhow and practice would be nice before embarking with a 1000 dollar build.
You are right, this would be the best solution of all of them, if
I wouldn't have a "pay as much as you consume" power plan. I (we, I live with my flatmate) pay for power every kWh.
We have to pay about 0.11 USD in daytime hours (6-22) and about 0,066 USD in nighttime hours (22-6) for a kWh. I don't know if it's cheaper or more expensive in America, here the local government's ehem, response to the rising energy prices for the everyday people was "if someone has trouble paying the power bill, just make more money or use less power"...
So this is why I thought the aforementioned 35 W CPU would be a good idea, and making it through the rest of the components and design (headless pc, no gpu, etc.) into a low power build. Sounds as a both useful and fun exercise, and at least I get some knowledge about the cheaper things too.
If I could make it trough some computer wizardry that it will turn on only when someone tries to connect to the server (of course it will boot up with some delay, a sacrifice has be made and time is a thing I'm willing to sacrifice), and making it if the server is empty for 10 minutes, the server will automatically stop and the computer will turn off. Alternatively, if there is such a thing like windows' deep hibernation where it technically runs but it uses so little power it becomes insignificant, then doing the same with that.
The only concern with leaving a gaming PC on is that the GPU in the machine will draw quite a bit of power while doing nothing
CPUs can downclock themselves to nothingness if you have the right options set
About my main pc, I was thinking an AMD ryzen 7800X3D, because people on reddit suggested it for one of my favorite game, and they recommended it because of the abnormally large cache.
It was Oxygen Not Included, a visually not that much complicated (no ray tracing and whatnot, but nicely 2D drawn) but simulation heavy game. I know I usually doesn't play AAA games with stunning graphics, instead games with more "background computing" or how can I word it, like ONI, Minecraft, Don't Starve Together, and alike. One of them said I could even leverage with an integrated GPU, and there is some truth to it, because my borrowed laptop already has a 6th gen intel CPU with an iGPU without a dedicated one and it was just fine.
But, among all of the components of my old pc (ddr3 ram, cpu from 2012, etc, its old as time) the only good component is a GTX 1050 Ti GPU. Maybe, if it's better than an iGPU, I could use that one in the next pc. (I heard the GPU market is śhîť expensive currently, so maybe it's a good idea to hold on.) But I can't find many reviews about the 7000 series' iGPU, let against older GPUs.
If there would be some computer wizardry which could make it that in "server mode" (when I'm not actively using it, it just runs the server) it only draws as much power as it needs (plus previously, if the server is empty, shut down and hibernate) to run, and not powering unnecessary components at all (higher boot times because of it are perfectly fine), then I think I would even buy a 7900X3D or 7950X3D instead of a 7800X3D. But I don't know if it's a good idea, because of the potential diminishing returns. Because of my inexperience (I only got into this PC components world about a month ago, all the knowledge I have I gathered though sleepless nights intensively googleing 😅) I don't know what is a good price for a component and what is not. With a pinch of Hungary, it is a bit hard to tell what is a good price and what is not.
Oh, my rambling again... 😅
you probably don't want a 7900x3d or 7950x3d
half of their cores are "high frequency" and the other half are "high cache" cores. Most schedulers don't understand what should be put on what cores and you get inconsistant performance
should mention that the 7900 (non-x) ships with a heatsink and is rated at just 65w, but has about the same performance
Does the 7800x3d has the same issue?
Nope, it only has one set of cores
Well, I searched for "minecraft fabric server hosting" on google, and checked the prices for 8GB RAM per month (I think 8GB is reasonable, since newer mc versions have worse performance and less optimization, and we are talking modded mc too, so the mods will need the RAM). I want to say server renting is terribly expensive... If I'm isn't oblivious to something huge, then after a few months I would paid roughly equal amount of money as if I would buy a pc, or even build one.
Bisect Hosting: 24 USD (Budget) or 40 USD (Premium)
Apex Hosting: 30 USD
MCProHosting: 45 USD
Scalacube: 24 USD
IS Hosting: 40 USD
Gamever: 16,5 USD
Shockbyte: 20 USD
StickyPiston: 25,6 USD with "promo applied" instead of 32 USD, whatever that means
Zap Hosting: 18,3 USD at minimum (Standard, 4 player slot, no extras) or 36,6 USD at minimum (Premium, 4 player slot, no extras)
Falix: 12 USD
Minefort: 24 USD
Minecraft Hosting Pro: 24 USD (and they do not have fabric)
Pebblehost: 8 USD (Budget), 18 USD (Premium, no additional threads), 42,5 USD (with only the minimum 3 threads, no additional ones)
Seekahost: 32 USD
Nodecraft: 26 USD
Netplayers: 14,1 USD (with 0,64 USD "branding" reduction included, basically your server will be an ad for them)
Redfoxcloud: 21,5 USD
Serverminer: 38,3 USD
Fadehost: 15 USD for "5000MB" RAM and 30 USD for "10000MB" RAM
Counting 20 USD monthly (average in respect of the above list), after a year it adds up to 240 USD. With 240 bucks we could build even a stronger pc than I outlined earlier, and after that one year we would have a whole pc at our disposal for continuing the server or doing anything with it.
What am I missing? The electricity costs?
antiddos and electricty costs, ease of management and good support (from some)
(Only if its not too off topic. I don't know what and how are things allowed. Perhaps I should countinue this thread in the #off-topic channel?)
atleast how it is normally
and no cost to start
many of these are nonames or very bad tbf
the only one i see as a good contender is pebble
apex has its exotic locations and 24/7 support but is overpriced
Ah, then I understand. The convenience fee.
also no hardware depreiation
and no noise
etc
For the average people, does it worth it to rent a server?
yes
very much so
Ah, then I understand why I think it's excessively expensive. I don't care about metrics like noise, a heavy physical box around the house, ease of management or support from the host.
well most of those u sent are overpriced
especially for what u get
What would be a reasonable price for a 1.20 fabric server with 8GB of RAM?
well depends
on location etc
Honestly I disagree, spent very little upgrading a old pc a bit (like 20-30 bucks) and never have to pay monthy for anything but the domain (which you already would have to with a host)
If you really are serious about upgrading your everyday, mabye just go for it and then use your old computer as the server
Most of the above on the list either aren't available on 1.20, or doesn't support fabric, or other things.
I know, kinda wild but its what I did and it ended up working
your factoring wayyy to much in here
the fact they have a old computer (that can be upgraded)
if they want to host a public server thats gonna be not great either
be willing to pay the higher electricty cost (especially old computers usually have very inefficient cpus)
it was my understanding it was just with friends, but yeah your right, if its a public server, a host is better
if its old server machines from ebay
yeah but in general
I mean just compare them. You know, how much will it cost electricity wise with this cpu if we say guess it averages at 60% usage and it uses a 60 watts an hour or something. Also I agree about the sketch hosting, look for one with good support and little criticism/anger towards online
Yes, it is with friends, not a publicly advertised one. For example, I don't fear from ddos attacks, because I don't think my friends would attack a server we play on, and I wouldn't tell others the specifics like my IP. And I guess the chances some malicious people randomly typing IP adresses and accidentally typing my IP adress in and attacking me are pretty low.
Well not exactly, port scanning has been a huge problem for servers, massive databases and even discord bots will display open servers. I reccomend at least adding a whitelist, but not to much to fear
Actually, I have an old PC (the one I'm currently on, I already plan to get a new one so sooner or later this will be the "old pc" laying around), but I think it would be nice to build a pc with as low power consumption as possible. (This is why I tought about the Athlon 3000G, it has only 35 W instead of the normal 65 W (I guess 65 W is the normal amount, at least this is the number I often see at CPUs).)
Yes, I think the white list will be a great addition. But before it, I have to convince all of my friends to buy the game offically...
yeah, but you also have to think of effeciency vs just a bad cpu. you can always underclock a cpu if necessary or undervolt it (undervolting probally not a good idea but yeah)
Well, honestly I don't know how to measure performance. For example, I don't have the slightest idea what "single thread performance" means in terms of measureable numbers, my best bet is higher clock speed helps it. (This is why I tought the Athlon 3000G is good, because for 68 dollars it has about double the clock speed compared to other ~68 dollar cpus. But there might be a better choice, because I only searched the local "we compare prices for everything among the retailers" website for the cheapest cpus and gradually went up with price in search of a stronger/better cpu.)
The only thing I doesn't know about the Athlon 3000G is if it supports modern SSDs or not. The search results varied on it, some says it's incompatible with M.2 NVMe SSDs, and others say it is perfectly fine.
What SSD speeds an mc server needs at maximum? What are more important, reading or writing speeds? Can a too fast SSD be a hindrance?
it wont be a hindrance no
I tried googleing it, but it was mostly about the differences between HDDs and SSDs.
What speeds should I target at minimum?
If I want to use it for other game servers (not at once of course), should I get one with higher speeds?
(And in the meantime, i think I switch to an intel core i3 12100f with DDR4 RAM. Cpubenchmarks says it has better (3494) single thread performance score than the rest I considered (around 2600), and much-much more than the Athlon 3000g (1991).)