What type of PC should I purchase?
I'm running a home server doesn't ever really exceed 10 players, an AiO i5 4440s with 8 gigs ddr3. Looking to upgrade, but not spend over $200. The moment more than one player joins it begins having issues. Having issues with the server constantly ping spiking causing players to rubberband and not be able to interact with things.
PCs I've found on ebay at a set price that look somewhat decent.
$90 for prodesk with i5 8500 and 8 gigs of ram with 256 gig ssd
$155 for i7 8700t with 256 gig ssd and 16 gigs ram
$199 for i3 12100 with 256 gig ssd and 8 gigs ram
$140 for ryzen 5 3400g 256 gig ssd and 8 gig ram
$150 for AiO i7 8700(desktop cpu not 8700t) 512 ssd and 16 gigs ram
additionally there is a listing for a 16 gig ram, 512 gig ssd, and i7 1260p, but the bid will likely go up and out of my price range.
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read through this.
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Requested by levilokington#0
Good morning. I happened to read your ticket and realized i have the same exact CPU running my home server. I'm also hosting a 10 player vanilla server but also plenty of other apps and I have no issues with hosting minecraft.
A few questions for you:
1. What operating system are you using for your server?
2. Are you hosting a regular java server or paper or something else?
3. Are you hosting on a HDD or on an SDD?
the Ryzen is going to be your best bet for expanding it as you get more cash.
1. Ubuntu
2. Hosting a BTA server which is a mod of Minecraft beta 1.7.3
3. HDD
Ubuntu with a GUI?
I use AMP and run the server inside docker
Well, you've only got 8 gigs to play with.
Remove AMP and install something lighter, use Ubuntu Server instead of normal Ubuntu.
Or Debian 12 actually, that's lighter than Ubuntu.
The ram never seems to go above like 2.5 gigs of usage while hosting the server
Eh, true.
Yeah before spending 200$ i would try getting a lighter operating system. Personally am using TrueNAS scale. And then i'd chuck like 20$ on a used SSD
TrueNAS Scale is pretty heavy, man.
For actually light OS if you're doing Docker I'd look into raw Flatcar with Docker Compose.
Im out of my depth here sorry 😄
Just saying what works for me with the same exact CPU
Also if you're doing TrueNAS Scale then you aren't doing Docker. :p
You're doing Kubernetes.
This is way beyond me what any of this means
What i would try is chuck ~20$ on a used SSD and run mc off of that. See if that makes a difference before buying a new PC
I mean are you wanting to learn or no?
This absolutely. An SSD is going to make a crazy diff.
Feel like I have been learning a lot, had to learn how to setup all the Linux stuff and server stuff
I originally had been hosting on oracle cloud
But got kicked off and can’t get another host they are all taken up
had that running servers for like almost 4 years
Would that likely solve the constant flood of the server overloaded messages?
Eehh maybe.
Mind posting a Spark? That'll probably give some better context.
I will have to install it
Hard to say based on this if your CPU is struggling or HDD cant keep up
^
I think it may be CPU struggle, or a combination, as the server runs fine until two players log in. One player works fine.
even if they are in the same area
I have no experience with hosting old versions or modded. So my go to tip nr1: use Paper is not going to work 😄
Maybe older server versions and extensive mods are really too much for that ancient CPU we use
Lol I thought since technically a i5 4440s is from 2013 which is 2 years in the future from when beta 1.7.3 released it would be great to run a server with
When initially setting up I used paper for testing and it struggled pretty badly still but much better than before
It should be fine. As I said I'm running 1.21 with 4 people online and have 0 problems
How much does a new or used 50gb SSD cost for you?
maybe it’s all just an ssd issue
I can go to the store and buy like a 500 gb ssd for like $40
I think for this pc would have to get a sata so maybe like 50 usd
I don’t think they sell 50 gb drives
I have a pre-rendered 10000x10000 block 1.21 world + rendered BlueMap and that takes up 43Gb
you do not need 500gb 😄
I’m saying that’s the smallest size they sell at the store near me
Smallest sata drive which is what I need for my PC
40$ is less than 200$. I'd say start with that and even when you decided to upgrade CPU in the future you can still use that same SSD
I was also considering upgrading to run multiple game servers at once, like a Minecraft server and a Valheim server. Additionally the current pc is extremely noisy and kind of power hungry, so was looking at NUC type mini PCs as a better alternative.
Which I can get for under $100 with 16 gigs ram and 256 gigs ssd if I buy one of the ones with an N95 or N100 processor. Just not really sure what those are or if they are any good for what I want to do.
for minecraft + valheim the i5-4440 just might work if you upgrade the RAM and to SSD
DDR3 is incredibly cheap now. i upgraded from 8 to 32
okay, sounds like a good idea. I already am running both, the Valheim game runs perfectly despite being pretty far in with a lot of stuff going on. But the Minecraft server definitely having issues.
The computer in using is an all in one and I believe can only be upgraded to 16 gigs which still should be plenty
It does not have 4 RAM spaces?
what motherboard are you using?
It is an all in one computer, like one of those computers where everything is built into the screen
Kind of like a laptop
Uses same components as a laptop
Laptop ram and all
I would have to replace the current ram with two 8 gig ddr3 sticks
Okay those are pretty impossible to upgrade
that sounds easy enough tho
Adding ram and ssd is easy enough, anything else is not possible
Found this for 30€ on my facebook marketplace in 30 seconds, better deals are probably possible
Another option could be to sell your All in 1 and build a similar PC
I was looking into building initially, but seems cheaper to buy a second hand workstation or mini pc
The ryzen one is a regular PC?
Yes all of the ones I sent in original message are regular PCs
Besides the last option
Do you have the full spec sheet for the ryzen one?
It’s the HP M01-F0024
Also it actually has 12 gigs ram
that looks like a pretty decent machine, One reddit thread mentions it has a non upgradeable PSU tho
which might be a problem in the future
"The motherboard in your computer is HP proprietary. It has a 4-pin power connector instead of a standard 24-pin ATX power connector. You will have to buy any PSU upgrade from HP. HP has a 310W PSU (L064961-800) that will be compatible with your motherboard. I believe there is a 500W PSU (L05757-800) that will work, also. Here is a Chart that shows where I got the information. You should contact HP Customer Support to verify that it will work and they can sell you one of them."
Interesting
There is also a bidding on eBay for a pretty nice mini pc around one same price that would be significantly better I’m pretty sure
But I think the price might skyrocket
Has an Intel i7 1280p which seems like it would be perfect for server hosting
Sounds like a good deal
thats a laptop CPU, whats the motherboard?
Bro he mentioned mini pc’s
Like those dell wyse thin clients
You don’t just expect a desktop cpu inside?
yeah it’s a mini pc, hopefully the price stays below $200. But usually in like last hour eBay prices jump super high.
Last minute*
Lol
I personally would look for full size desktop builds. Save yourself a lot of trouble if you ever want to upgrade or switch something out
When you are on a budget, take whatever you can get
I don’t imagine this pc will need immediate upgrades for the op
Should last years if the player count stays low
Depends on what your plans for the future are aswell. If you ever plan on using your server as a NAS or streaming box or whatever
Im likely going to have to get a desktop due to budget constraints, but if I was able to get this mini pc, it would be pretty great. Especially since they are made for low power draw and longevity.
To my understanding
Mhm
Alternatively, could just spend $6/month on a host which can arguably have better performance than a $150 pc u buy, and u wont have to worry about any maintenance, power/heat, internet concerns (ie. ddos, ip dox, overages, etc)
yeah I’ve been considering it
Unless you are like me, I prefer self hosting, even if that means shitter hardware and more work (kinda)
If you only host mc and valheim with no plans on running a homeserver then that might just be the cheapest and best option yeah
can always get rent a VPS if u want more control
My own server is pretty reliable, with automated tasks, so I don’t really need to do anything from day to day besides cleaning dust once per 2 months or so
And well, all the hosts I’ve ever considered or used either ended up like surf, or just got called out by pgdk lmao
I’ve just been running different game servers for the last 5 years and don’t really plan to stop, so long term a $150 pc would be a cost saving measure as opposed to a reoccurring subscription.
Getting a host will still be cheaper than watever ragtag machine u buy when u start taking in all the non pc costs as mentioned in my original comment
How much do you pay for electricity/month. My server is about 5€/month for me i think
That’s cheap
I’m probably paying like $15
It’s not cheaper tho…
My current server kinda draws a lot and I’m only maybe paying like .50 cents a month in electricity bills
Me cooking older enterprise hardware isn’t the best on the power bills, but at least I know I can trust myself to keep my player’s data safe
If I’m paying $6 per month for like 2 years that’s already the price of the pc paid for
And I’m planning on running game servers for a long time
I just like to have local hardware, probably also applies for the op
In which case either go for the amd platform, or the i7 mini pc
Ur not factoring in power, or any maintenance costs. Getting an old machine off eBay for $150 is a gamble. You’re lucky if u make it to 3 years with it in perfect condition, (to which then ur just passing the $6/m server)
It won’t be cheaper.
I still have an old hpe working that’s from like 2011
Still working perfectly (ded raid controller battery, expected) to this day
Is it a gamble? Yes
Is it worth the risks? Depends, if you just need to have local hardware, then why not?
My current pc which is drawing significantly more power is only costing me like .50 cents in electricity per month or $6 per year. I also have never had to preform maintenance. Admittedly, trying a mini pc might be a gamble, but second hand hardware has always worked somewhat well for me.
If ur concern is budget, a host is ur best bet.
If u enjoy tinkering and don’t mind the SIGNFICANTY extra effort and time sink, along with the extra costs. Then yes self host is fine
Wouldn’t call it too significant
Once your server is running, just use crontab to automate
Or ansible
yes, and how many hours did u have to put into learning crontab or setting it up? Vs the mere seconds on a host
For me, setting up a new server to meet the requirements (software, mods/plugins, whatever) would only take like 1 hour or so max
Not long 😄
Play as you go
Hey, I didn’t automate anything initially, but then as needs popped up, I started to learn the things
Yeah I use AMP which basically sets up everything for you, longest part was waiting for Ubuntu to install
Yeah, AMP is great
Or just pull a docker image
Methods may vary, but I can tell you self hosting is a pretty rewarding experience, unless you are working with a pentium 4
- or until something dies
^
So bottom line, if you are up for the challenge and is ready to devote some time into it, then sure, go ahead
Yes, I think if u love to tinker self hosting is great
If not, or if you just need it to work, provider is your go to
It just has its draw backs
But if you go this route, do not the:
Bisect, apex, hostinger, whatever summerhosts
If ur only concern is budget, u can get the most bang for your buck by getting a host.
If you don’t mind spending extra, (or losing performance by buying lower quality hardware) then self hosting is great too. (But it not the cheapest)
I’m still kind of middling, I will think about this over the next couple days.
My experience with surf has been a “meh”
Like, the web panel is great and all
But for some reason I just don’t feel like using it
I don’t even know why
So yes, a preferences thing
Surf? I haven’t heard much about them, only had some issues where one of their reps, aggressively tried to get a server I manage to swap to them. But I also heard they are banned from this discord. No clue why
You didn’t know about their marketplace drama?
Enviro > Surf
No clue, I’m not a host, and I don’t need a host so I have that category muted, and rarely check the general channel
I just saw they got banned, that’s all, no clue the reasoning
Anyways, I’m not gonna try to hijack this thread, basically there was a data breach on their side, and also a blackmailing attempt
I do think you’re right about the cost in performance, unless I’m able to get a lucky deal like the i7 1280p mini pc. Because that thing has pretty incredible single core speed and clock speed comparable to like the 5950x
But I think majority of time is way too expensive to self host on hardware comparable to what server hosts are using
Yeah, I think if u don’t mind losing the performance, then yes, it can technically be cheaper if ur only looking at dollar amount and not factoring in other hits (ie performance, security, power)
Good idea to futureproof, but me cooking an e5 can tell you that it still performs reasonably well in modded fabric with mods such as terralith, better nether, better end, croptopia etc.
About 40 ish mspt with 5 players online doing things
I also like being able to run other game servers on a whim with self hosting.
Most hosts already have that
even let you “split” ur existing plan into sub servers and immediately spin up a new game, (no extra costs)
If they provide server splits*
Look out for that on their plans, some providers do NOT!
Cool, last time I used a host they wanted extra to split or wasn’t available
Iirc surf does allow a few, either 3 or 5, while robotic node does not(?)
Another alternative, is to spend a couple days trying to get a oracle cloud vps free tier, haven’t had any issues with tps with 6~ people on it, and it runs 24/7 and I have full control. (The $150pc mite be better performing tho, but oracle is free)
That’s ampere right?
Well yeah, I misspoke. Not most hosts. Most “good” hosts
lol this is pretty funny, up@until recently I was using oracle as a host for the past 4 years
They booted me off
setup.md
Oracle Cloud
A modified version of the guide produced by u/Belaboy1095969 on the Admincraft reddit using Ubuntu LTS.
Wut
Why’d they boot u off?
Is game hosting blacklisted in their tos?
Yeah you aren’t supposed to host games
I got an email
Lmfao ☠️
Which I mean it is kind of messed up to use something. That’s meant to help people in perhaps bad situations access computing resources
From what I understand the oracle free tier was meant to be somewhat humanitarian
I’m just telling you what happened to me
Might be because of another reason, care to share the email?
Maybe it’s just in the grey zone
I’ll see if I can dig it up
Not explicitly not allowed, but if they find it, then they will ban it?
I don’t think it’s in a gray zone. If oracle themselves are advertising word by word. It’s not gray
Idk, I’ve never touched any free clouds before
So there might have been another reason
Anything I say about oracle is just hypothetical
https://blogs.oracle.com/developers/post/how-to-set-up-and-run-a-really-powerful-free-minecraft-server-in-the-cloud
The article posted by ORACLE
It’s not against TOS
Next step is to try aternos :minecraftTroll:
This is the article I used, but do you think maybe after all the servers started running out they decided to start culling them?
My server specifically had become inactive because I was trying out self hosting
no, unless ur server is idle
If u have an idle server they will take them back after a certain amount of days
(If ur on the free tier)
That is probably what happened but I swear I got an email
And it has nothing to do with that ur hosting on the vps. Its just the fact that its idle
There is no free lunch, so always a catch with free things
I mean I got a ton of use out of it
I wouldn’t even call it a catch
Though after the Valheim cross play update I couldn’t get Valheim to work on the oracle ARM units
If u don’t use after some time, they’ll take it back (after multiple emails warning u)
Maybe those just went into the spam folder
They probably did
Almost certainly my fault
So does that mean you’ve lost your world as well?
I’m extremely paranoid and made backups
as u should
That’s good
so was never really at risk
Doesn’t matter what host u use, free tier or spending $100/month. Make backups.
(Even self host)
I back up my game servers once per day, so in case something goes wrong, the maximum amount of progress lost will be within 24 hours
same
doesn’t really take up much storage either
Especially if you set an age limit to delete old ones but I kind of like keeping old ones for history
Automation is always nice
I have playbooks that does this, automated backups, and I can even request a manual one as needed
I gotta get off discord but I’ll report back sometime this week with what I ended up doing
Server is somewhat unplayable as is
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But the thing that matters most is that the server is up
@AeonRemnant @𝒟𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒾𝒸 I managed to win the bid for pc but literally at last second it went up from 130 to $230, it has an i7 1280p with 16 gigs and 256 gig ssd. Worth it?
rubberbanding, you sure ur upload speed is good enough?
Just tested and it said my upload is 41.88 Mb/s when testing to Kansas which is pretty far away
@Lunaiskey
Wasn’t really rubberbanding, players just like teleporting around but you didn’t really experience rubber banding
And high latency when using chat or opening things
I’d say no. Intel is meh.
I’d not pay that much for such specs myself, but it sounds like a “somewhat okay” price
What would u buy
I’m low on budget 🤣
E5 platforms
sorry for delay, had to make a seperate server on the pc to run spark since my server didnt support it. Server doesnt seem to have any issues with latency, but only 1 player is online(me). chunk loading still seems to be struggling. Additonally i tested my upload speed on several servers across the USA, and consistently scored 40 mb/s to like 60 mb/s
apparently the winning bidder flaked out, i contacted to ask a question about another listing and he said he would sell it to me for $150 plus shipping and tax. ended up buying it
also 512 ssd not the 256 as previously stated
also noticing some random really low tps
im going to take a longer spark actually
spark
spark is a performance profiler for Minecraft clients, servers, and proxies.
stayed ina village walking around, then generated some chunks by taking a boat. easily outpaced chunk generation.
not sure how helpful the report is since its not on the actual server, but still being run off same computer
eww spigot
paper kinggg
spigot user spotted
Ew, fabric better
please don't use spigot
you're also using a CPU with a very, very poor singlethread
I just setup that server as a test server, since the actual server I’m running can’t support spark. Additionally I will be replacing the computer with a computer that has a much better CPU for single thread (i7 1280p)
id go with the ryzen 5 3400g
its a great server CPU especially for MC
you can also look for a EPYC 7000 series, which is also 3rd gen AMD CPUs, very similar to the ryzen 5 3000 series.
For minecraft you want to look for a CPU that has high clock speeds
Intel CPUs have higher clock speeds than AMD CPUs
I already paid $150 for a pc with an Intel i7 1280p cpu, I was originally looking at ryzen but was going to be much more expensive. The i7 has much higher single core speeds, my only concern is that the base clock is low at 1.8 but it goes up to 4.8.
The built in cooler SHOULD be good enough to maintain consistent boost clock(not max of 4.8 cuz that prob gets really hot)
no!?! That CPU has a awful singlethread
most epycs have poor singlethread
GHz does not matter at all for mc
What actual server doesn’t support spark?
BTA
it is a modded version of beta 1.7.3
Newer platform, the 3900X is a thing, remember.
fuck
I need to keep up to date on amd
:p
It is admittedly a bit of an old platform, but still very usable.
yes it does?
with the way mc servers work
higher clock speeds is nice
out of the list he sent, id go with the EPYCs
no
singlethread matters for mc
not GHz
ok
not gonna argue with you over it
out of the list he sent i suggested the EPYCs
https://www.setup.md/h/hardware good read
setup.md
Hardware
Picking the right hardware is the most important thing when it comes to hosting as it will determine how far you can push your ideas before you have to throttle back or risk destroying the user experience.
EPYCs are not bad CPUs
wicked
they’re not bad, but they’re not ideal for mc
also the ryzen 5 3400g isnt horrible either
I guess
ur acting likes hes trying to run hypixel
I'm running a home server doesn't ever really exceed 10 players
the CPU i suggested is affordable and good for what he needs
ur also acting like hes going to be overloading the CPU 24/7
well it’s not hard with that singlethread score
minecraft is poorly optimised even with paper
i use fabric
paper is bad
for the way i play
for performance, paper is good
if you are a TMC player
or don’t want to sacrifice vanilla mechanics
then fabric is better
yes
thats what i use
depends on your usecase
exactly
a stronger cpu is often preferable for fabric compared to paper
which is why i suggested the hardware i suggested
Ghz =/= core speed.
IPC is what's important.
Ghz is only core frequency.
well i wasnt saying it was whats important
i just said its nice to have
It's meaningless is what it is. We had 5Ghz back in the Intel 2000 days.
Architecture was ass and thus IPC was terrible.
ghz number big. me go wow. me like
for sure,
So are the important things single core/thread speed and architecture? Then shouldn’t a 12th gen i7 like I got be a better option than something like the 5900x since it has the same single thread performance and newer architecture?
NanoReview.net
Intel Core i7 1280P vs AMD Ryzen 9 5900X: performance comparison
We compared Intel Core i7 1280P (1.8 GHz) against AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (3.7 GHz) in games and benchmarks. Find out which CPU has better performance.
Yeah pretty much.
Generally use multiple sources, I recommend GamersNexus.
Okay so yeah, with what hes saying that would be the better option
Sorry for my wrong suggestion
Seems to be consistent on multiple websites. @AeonRemnant thanks for the help. Really helpful to understand what I am buying.
You’re fine CPUs seem to be incredible difficult to navigate
Names are a bunch of numbers and higher numbers don’t mean better
No issue, so so long as you learn. :p
I'm still learning, which is why I come in here. If I have a wrong suggestion someone can point it out and I can give a better suggestion to the next person
theres also been lots of repots with some of newer intel chips having some flaws that cause permanent damage
(i believe it doesnt effect the gen 12, so ur ok)
13th and 14th gen above 65W TDP.
I don't think this is actually an issue anymore
I've been doing a little research
But I am still looking into it, right now I'm learning about E cores and P cores with intel.
Apparently Intel is rolling a fix sometime soonish, but it's not out yet.
Microcode issues with voltage.
They said august + warranty extended. But some may already have perm damage. 💀
:husk:
Yeah I’ve been worried about it because I have a 13th generation i9 in my main computer
But it has a warrant until like end of 2026 so I doubt anything could happen
I’m going to go ahead and close this thread, thanks for all the helpful info.
!close
post closed!
The post/thread has been closed!
Requested by levilokington#0