Which CPU Is Better For A Server?

[stl522013]

Should I get an i7 5820K or a Xeon E5-1650? The i7 would save money but would a Xeon be better for constant use?

 

[blazorthon]

Consumer CPUs are fine with constant use, at least so long as you keep temps in check. You pretty much never hear about a CPU failing at stock voltage even if it runs 24/7 for ten years.

The i7-5820K and the Xeon E5-1650 have nearly identical performance specs, so I doubt you'd notice a performance difference either.

However, the Xeon with ECC memory may be better for constant use if you're doing anything that needs to be completely error-free. Memory errors can occur every few days to every few weeks if I remember correctly. They are generally not significant, but that depends on what you're doing.

 

[photonboy]

Your question can't be answered properly if you don't explain the usage of your server.

 

[stl522013]

File hosting (not for a business or anything) and game servers.

 

[nukemaster]

I have used an I5 750 for years(almost 6) as a NAS(Windows file sharing. This game later)/Game server/Media Center/Daily computer. It has worked out pretty well.

In my case I keep ALL my files on one system this way allowing for central backup. It was quite a mess having files on each computer and having to try to keep the same version on all systems or remember what computer had the latest update for software.

I have recently picked up a Synology NAS(pretty entry level one), but mostly because my board does not support RAID1(single drive redundancy. I am also out of SATA ports) and with age the chance of a failure increases to an extent(I also have 2 external drives for offline backup).

 

[stl522013]

Ok. For the PSU. Is an EVGA 650w P2 fine?

 

[nukemaster]

50c rating and a VERY large 12 volt rail. Seems good to me.

It has MORE than enough power even adding a video card to game will be fine.

 

[stl522013]

Thanks. We were looking at getting the i7 5820k. But we found this CPU for a good price. Is it good enough to host games and for people to be transferring files at the same time?


http://www.serverpartdeals.com/intel-slbv6-xeon-x5660-2-80ghz-six-core-processor/?gclid=CjwKEAiAuea1BRCbn-2n7PbLgEMSJAABQvTTTlrJ6FGGpy0M0ZX6OaMIWYyER1u70gQrtzMXbvmSQhoCySbw_wcB

 

[photonboy]

Thanks. We were looking at getting the i7 5820k. But we found this CPU for a good price. Is it good enough to host games and for people to be transferring files at the same time?


http://www.serverpartdeals.com/intel-slbv6-xeon-x5660-2-80ghz-six-core-processor/?gclid=CjwKEAiAuea1BRCbn-2n7PbLgEMSJAABQvTTTlrJ6FGGpy0M0ZX6OaMIWYyER1u70gQrtzMXbvmSQhoCySbw_wcB

Hey,
Even though you narrowed it down to a "game server" the problem still remains that it's not clear how many people you intend to host and what game clients you intend to run.

Hosting 20 people obviously is significantly different from 100, not just for CPU usage but network upload/download speeds, system memory, and drive access.

Once you've got that figured out you can try Googling for more info.

*Note that depending on need, renting a server might be a pretty good option too, but either way there's a few good articles around. For example:
http://www.maximumpc.com/dedicated-gaming-server/

CPU:
You can use Passmark as a rough estimation of processing power.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-5820K+%40+3.30GHz

Total and per thread. Probably TOTAL processing power is most important since it should be a lot of smaller threads running so no single-core overload benefitting from faster cores with less total processing power.

*Note that approx 13,000 score is based on the default Turbo Max 3.6GHz. You can increase processing power in two main ways:
a) overclock, and
b) increase frequency for all cores loaded (in the BIOS)

CPU's often drop the frequency as more cores are utilized. For example, 3.6GHz might be for one or two cores only, and 100Hz drops for every core after.

With my i7-3770K I had 3.9GHz Max turbo by default, but that became 3.6GHz fully loaded. I overclocked to 4.2GHz manually for one or two cores loaded, and 4.1GHz (41 multiplier) for three and four cores loaded.

So after my tweaking which didn't include voltage or other settings, just the multipliers, I was already at 4.1GHz instead of 3.6GHz when the CPU was highly loaded. Just FYI. Obviously a good CPU cooler is needed. I'd probably go with a Noctua air cooler rather than liquid cooling since that's a lot more reliable. You want reliability when hosting other people.

For SSD, perhaps a Samsung 850 EVO. Not sure if faster M.2 or PCIe would benefit or not (or RAID0) because I don't know what the demands are which again depend on the game and number of people hosted.

 

[photonboy]

Xeon X5660

WHY would you choose this CPU?

It's an older 1366 platform CPU. Unless you already have an old system and are looking for a cheap way to do this... not sure because you didn't post any specs, budget, or if building a new system or not.

*to be clear, do you have much computer knowledge for building?

It has a passmark score of about 8,000 but is a 6C12T part. So it's not a very good CPU to build around now, only if you're looking to drop something into an existing build.

An i5-4690K gets almost the same score, more once overclocked (and has only four threads, not twelve). I don't know that you need a "server" CPU for your purposes.

Summary:
Hate to sound like a broken record, but you didn't post any budget or existing hardware info etc.

As I said, the XEON you link is for an older socket. It's overall score similar to an i5-4690K only because it has more cores and is also hyperthreaded. Any software that needs a good single core (like the game client, but not sure how much processing that needs to host) might bottleneck on the Xeon.

Sorry for the really long posts but it's hard to give advice without specifics so I tried to give more information.

 

[stl522013]

I know it was for an older socket, I was just wondering if it was any good, I don't know a lot about the older Intel CPUs. We (my friends and I who are building it) are looking at spending about $1,000. The only thing we have is a full tower case that my friend had left over that we are using. We haven't bought any parts yet. We are going to be using it for file hosting and hosting game servers. We plan on having two 2 TB hard drives in RAID 1 and two 4 TB drives not in a RAID configuration. And we may use one of my friends SSDs that he isn't using for the OS, server software, and any other data essential to the server. We aren't sure what games we will be hosting. Maybe Insurgency, Minecraft possibly, just whatever we decide. And there is a decent amount of people that will be saving files on our system. Somewhere from 50-80. Albeit not all at once, but somewhere in that ballpark.

 

[stl522013]

We may size back the HDDs because of budget, or try to scrounge up some more money. Is 7200 RPM necessary or will a 5400 or 5900 RPM HDD be fine?

 

[nukemaster]

I have to agree with photonboy(your posts are GREAT) about the LGA 1366 cpu. It is almost as old as my I5 750.

I would grab on in a heartbeat for my girlfriends system because she already has a 1366 setup(my old system). It would be faster and take less power than the i7 920 in the system. I would also expect some decent overclocks for it.

For a new system I would certainly not get something that old.

As for hard drive speed, for my use with data storage 5400/5900 have been fine, but I do not have 50-80 users. That is getting into small/medium business areas.