Dedicated or Co-Location
Before the warning comes, I know that the gsp market is saturated with sub-par companies run by ignorant owners (avoided using the word kids, oops i just did) that have a few hundred dollars to burn and the high hopes of getting rich quick. I also understand that I need to take any answers I get on these forums or anywhere on the Internet with a grain of salt.
On to the actual post…
While I haven’t figured out whether I want to start out with co-location or dedicated, I think that will be a later decision based on projected profits and start-up investment.
Current Hardware Estimates: (taken from softlayer’s website)
Dual Processor Quad Core Xeon 5430 - 2.66GHz (Harpertown)
8 GB FB-DIMM Registered 533/667
73GB SA-SCSI 15K RPM (or 32/64GB Intel SLC SSD, pending research)
2000 GB Bandwidth
Ideal Setup: (information gathered from other GSP sites)
running cs 1.6 1000 or 2000 fps private servers - 1 12man server per core
running cs 1.6 500 fps private server - 2 12 man server per core (does server fps eat resources exponentially or linear?)
What I would like to know, assuming the first setup of 8 cs 1.6 servers per box, would 2000GB bandwidth be enough or do I need to upgrade the bandwidth to be safe? (I expect the servers to be full/utilized less than 30% of the time or approx 50 hours of gaming per week)
note: no custom map downloads or sounds allowed
From reading I have come across multiple posts that say RAM is the bottleneck and some posts that say gaming servers are CPU intensive. The only thing that most people seem to agree on is that hard drive speed is critical (for loading I assume).
Can anyone shed some light on the subject of RAM vs CPU?
Answer:
Well then welcome to the wonderful world of game servers!
I agree that you should wait to make a decision about co-location or dedicated server rentals.
The machine outlined will be a very strong baseline for you to start your business from and to grow off of. I would avoid the SSDs right now because of their low storage and high price. If you plan to make them part of the success of your business model and plan to leverage that with your customers then by all means give them a shot. AFAIK very few GSPs are utilizing SSDs.
My biggest concern right now is that you have the know how in regards to running the game servers. The configuration of these services can at times require very intimate knowledge of the services and how the game actually play from the ‘inside’.
As for bandwidth the 2TB allotted will be enough for your originally outlined plans. CS1.6 is not a bandwidth monster compared to some other games. Purchasing additional bandwidth is expensive and you will most likely be better off by expanding the number of machines you operate.
I would say in a linear function.
On the subject of RAM vs CPU, go for the latter if hosting anything 500FPS or greater. The memory these servers use up will be relatively unaffected by the fact that you are running at 500FPS or higher, but the CPUs will be the hardest hit. The higher the tickrate and FPS you wish to operate each game server at the higher the CPU load will be. The CPUs you have selected are serious workhorses and a good starting point. The amount of memory you have selected will also be more than enough for what you’ve outlined.
