CPU choice

What is a good way of measuring cpu performance for minecraft servers? I'm in the middle of buying a homelab server. On it I'll be hosting most likely max 2 servers First one for big modpacks - max 5 players Second one vanilla with some plugins (dynmap for example) - also max 5 players What I'm interested in is having a cpu that will pretty efficiently generate chunks without stutters. I will be most likely doing also some pregeneration, but still I want to be able to fly my elytra and see where I am lol. I'll use the server for plex as well, so I'm looking right now what would be a starting point for a cpu for minecraft, and work myself up from there. CPU recommendations would be great!
27 Replies
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
the best CPU is probably one that you already have or one that'll work well for other homelab tasks aside from minecraft although if you are concerned with performance in large modpacks, probably a ryzen 5xxx CPU or better will do you well
Snowz
Snowz5d ago
take single threaded performance into account
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
for 5 players at most, it won't matter for vanilla modded it might
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
I believe all ryzen 7xxx or 9xxx have an iGPU that can do hw accelerated video encoding, but plex requires you to pay for hw acceleration and I'm unsure how well it supports amd GPUs. I know jellyfin is completely free and could care less about what brand of GPU you're using though...
MelonOof
MelonOof5d ago
also for chunk pregeneration and loading you may want a host which provides at least 3 or more threads for faster loading (and off the main thread generation, if using Purpur) tbh this probably a ryzen 7 9000s will do, tho it probably depends on how much you want to spend
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
all intel cpus will come with built in iGPUs, but I know plex historically hasn't supported them and people complain about older ones having bad image quality
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
as ive read, intel cpus are way better for plex, although if i would get an amd cpu i might just buy a nvidia card for transcoding
MelonOof
MelonOof5d ago
efficiency cores :p
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
tbh, if you use jellyfin, you'll almost never have to transcode videos
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
more like the new intel gpu thingy you will. for example you have a 4k movie and want to watch it in a hotel with dogshit internet
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
jellyfin will only transcodes videos if you're on a remote network and your internet isn't fast enough yeah but at that point, any modern CPU can encode 720p h264 without even sweating (since using jellyfin, I've only had stuff get transcoded once, and that's because I explicitly forced the video to be transcoded. Everything else has been transmuxed) I will admit though, subtitles can be a bit slow to load initially if you're using the web version of jellyfin
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
going back to minecraft, in my current server i have a i7-2700k, so idk more or less what current cpus can handle for running servers
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
I mean, paper would definitely do 5 players on a 2700k for the most part
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
dont wanna run that old gear, cause i eitherway want to upgrade. newer cpus are way more power efficient and right now when im torrenting something, running plex and have a minecraft server open it just kicks the bucket thats why new server new as in i dont mind buying used gear so older gen (i know only intel, so about 12th gen) would be fine but im trying to get to know, where the fine line is, where its alright and where its not
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
I mean, something like this would be fine, but it's not the newest https://discord.com/channels/348681414260293634/1332677619489046578/1332682439214108733 depends on your budget
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
good question that i think i wont be able to answer fully. im planning on doing some deal hunting and looking for used pcs. its more of me trying to first to get to know what options are there and then setting a budget from there. i could just spend a couple of thousand dollars on a server, but that would be quite stupid and unefficient. (ask me how i know) the specs im looking for are about 64gb of ram, cpu capable of minecraft with big mods and fast chunk generation without big compromisses, torrenting a couple of big movies and plex / jellyfin also, its not that im expecting now a answer like "get this exact cpu". im more trying to get to know what cpu would be a good minimum starting point
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
maybe if you buy more fam, this could be a good deal? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/316023441264
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
as in if youd answer me an i5-8500 will be good, ill know that a 12500 will be good also
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
just nothing between 8th gen and 12th gen is worth it to buy because they really didn't make any performance improvements between them
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
in my case - i think its better for transcoding, still thats just an example
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
and 12th gen isn't old enough for it to be that cheap on the 2nd hand market
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
if i see a deal with something better than X cpu, i know itll be a good deal
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
transcoding really doesn't matter that much
Herowoj
HerowojOP5d ago
more or less this pricepoint, yes but more ram
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
then just buy more ram seperately
Snow Kit
Snow Kit5d ago
you'd need to double check what ram it supports, but it's rather cheap https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156643462987
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