Gaming Servers!!!

[aidanjt]

Like I said before, the problem with AMD CPU's is there are no professional stable motherboards available, nForce chipsets are horrilbe choice for a Linux server, they are grossly undocumented and the drivers for them are experimental at best. I'm sorry if that upsets the fanboys but thats the facts of life.

[moose82]

One name comes to mind...

Tyan...

Absolutely amazing boards both for Intel and AMD platforms.

[latrosicarius]

Not on GIGABIT LAN (or even 10Base-T for that matter).. they aren't talking about Internet at all.

The only player limit on modern hardware for game servers is map size when you're hosting a LAN party.

10-base would not work for that may players. I litterally threw away two 10-base hubs the other day b/c they lagged so much. They were completely useless compared to my current Gigabit network, and I hadn't touched them since the days of Halo PC lanning, so I tossed the.

Switches would be better to cut down on collisions than hubs, but still... 10-base sucks

[latrosicarius]

1Gb of ram would be enough with Linux since it has superiour memory management, my Linux box at home has 512Mb of RAM and it easily handles 3-4 players + up to 16 extra bots on massive maps. Fast disks (like raptors) would serve best to cut down on map rotation time.

Now, I know Athlon 64's (or better yet, an opteron) would be better for processing game engines, but with nVidia being the only realistic chipset provider for AMD cpu's, you're a bit screwed since nVidia refuses to release chipset spec documentation to the opensource community, so drivers are being hacked together using reverse engineering methods, which means they are quite unstable (basically considered experimental) compaired to Intel's chipset drivers which are extremely stable. Working with 3rd party developers is one thing Intel does do right. Although Conroe isn't publically available yet to beat AMD in FPU performance, it would probibly be better to use an Intel CPU for that reason alone. (Even a BGA P4 Prescott would do the job).

Why don't you like NVIDIA's chipset? There's nothing unstable about it. The nForce4 is rock solid, and great for over overclocking. I have a distinct feeling that you've never actually owned any. I, on the other hand, have three ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboards and one ASUS A8N-SLI Premium board (all nForce4).

In fact, I was running a Counter-Strike: Source LAN server LAST NIGHT on my gigabit network, hosted by the Steam Dedicated Server program on the following server machine:

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
2GB (2x1GB Dual Channel DIMMs) ECC, Registered PC3200 Corsair XMS RAM

I had under 5 ping and no lag or anything whatsoever. I was playing with two other people in my house, also on the same network.

BTW, the server runs Windows Server 2003, not Linux, and its memory management is just fine.

EDIT: not trying to sound cranky... sorry, I realized it read that way, but I don't mean it

[moose82]

10Base-T has it's uses. Just not on a performance network... If it's a small office with internet and email usage only and locally stored files then it's fine (can't think of anyone who'd be running like that these days...)

The minute you've got remotely stored files on servers and chunky file movement such as vidoe edits/high quality images you'll kill a 10Base-T network...(example)

Hub's have their places in a network too... but your statement about cutting down on collisions is absolutely true with switches.

[moose82]

BTW, the server runs Windows Server 2003, not Linux, and its memory management is just fine.

I think they might be referring to the memory holes that can be found in XP Home/Pro editions which run a different core to the much more stable Server 2003.

I don't think my XP Home machine has lasted more than a few days before it required a reboot. LOL

[latrosicarius]

I think they might be referring to the memory holes that can be found in XP Home/Pro editions which run a different core to the much more stable Server 2003.

I don't think my XP Home machine has lasted more than a few days before it required a reboot. LOL

Well, that's true. In regard to prolonged stability, Windows is a big offendor, but that won't affect a LAN game. The use of ECC RAM in servers is also recommended. Doing this will let you keep your system on for months or years at a time without rebooting..... that is, if you don't install too many third-party programs on your server and treat it right.

[TheAnimus]

AMD's 64bit line up run UT much better than Xeons i found.

Also as for OS, that depends A LOT on the game your running. Linux is good for half-life.

[moose82]

On the note about AMD Workstation/Server class motherboards...

The Tyan Tiger K8WE (S2877) (Google it if you want to find details, looks really good) It's available from Scan for sub £200

I'll take one of them, 2 Opty 280's and a Nvidia Quadro FX4500... wait a sec *pinches self* Oh yeah there we go I was off dreaming again!!!

[latrosicarius]

On the note about AMD Workstation/Server class motherboards...

The Tyan Tiger K8WE (S2877) (Google it if you want to find details, looks really good) It's available from Scan for sub £200

I'll take one of them, 2 Opty 280's and a Nvidia Quadro FX4500... wait a sec *piches self* Oh yeah there we go I was off dreaming again!!!

That would be awful for gaming..... i think. B/c it's not a desktop CPU, it's a server CPU.... I'm confused, I need to learn more about that stuff

[moose82]

Well alot of people use the 100 series Opterons in their systems as they seem to overclock well.

Don't think you would want to try overclocking with two CPU's in though...

Anyone have any views on the subject? Games on 200 series Opterons?

[richman]

Moose has been a great help to me and has drawn me up a specification..

Many Thanks Mate.
Rich

[BeeFy2002]

Sorry, no advertising --Steve

[TheAnimus]

i love the way people always say based in.

never mentioning the peering, the bandwidth mix, and also registering just to advertise