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Are server pc's easy and cheap to build?
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Posted by: SKYHN
I was playing some tcp/ip games today and then I got to thinking....why dont I build a server type pc?
Here is what i had in mind:
700mhz Amd Duron(open to suggestions on this)
256mb DDR Ram (ecc of course)
a weak video card(16mb, unless i need a good one)
30gb hard drive
weak sound card(if i even need one)
cheap cdrom
Win 2k
(anything i missed?)
Is that gonna work? The really cheap stuff will be the cdrom and the vid card All i want it for is to just be the host of a game. That seems like it would be enough. I know very little about servers, but Im gonna try. Ill be buying a usb hub pretty soon so I can share my dsl with my ps2, so Ill have plenty of room for the server to hook in as well. More than likely Return to castle wolfenstein, D2, Red faction, Half-Life, and a few other games is what I will be using it for.
What kinda price we talkin here too?
(i am still building my athlon pc in january, but i just came into some money, so i though of this)
Posted by: SKYHN
I forgot to mention...
I would just use my pc (1.3ghz p4 with 256 ram) as the host but for some reason when i host tcp/ip games, about every 2 mins i get 30 second periods of complete freeze. I have no idea why. even when I am the only person in the game(this usually only happens on d2).
Posted by: Kdr Kane
Here are some of the design differences between desktops and servers. Not all techniques are used. Most are pure preference. There doesn't have to be a difference between a desktop and a server.
1. Servers tend to use microprocessor with larger L1 cache sizes. For example the Xeon processor with a 1 or 2 MB cache.
2. Servers tend to use motherboards that support Symmetric Multiprocessing Processors (SMP). Up until the Athlon XP, Intel, Sun, and IBM were the major suppliers of SMP CPUs.
3. Servers tend to use RAID 5 for speed and reliability. If a hard drive crashes, the system will usually automatically start up a spare drive and reconstruct the bad drive on it. This all happens in the background without affecting the server's main function.
3. Servers are almost always daily backed-up by tape or some other mechanism.
4. Servers are usually designed in rack-mountable cases. Servers usually reside in server farms at ISPs, hosting companies or server rooms/data centers in the corporate environment. Size can be a premium.
5. Servers usually have redundant power supplies for reliability. These power supplies can be replaced one at a time without bringing down the system.
6. Servers don't usually have high level graphics cards.
7. Servers are usually be configured with redundant network cards. So, if one subnet goes down due to a bad switch or router, the server is still available on the other subnet.
8. Servers usually run applications specifically designed for server applications. Servers tend to be specialized to a particular function.
I could go on all day. How you make a server is entirely up to you. I just wanted to list a few of the options. Servers are usually designed to be more expensive for reliability concerns. If that is not your concern, use a desktop as a server.
Be sure to post your D2 question in the D2 forum.
Posted by: SKYHN
Im just gonna totally make this thing cheap, except for the motherboard, processor and harddrive.
Now here is the other question:
I have aol+ DSL. Can I plug it into the server, then logon to aol and then plug in my personal pc into the server and still be able to go on the net and play games?
I know that aol only allows 1 user on at a time per account(which is stupid btw) so i would have to share the connection.
Posted by: Chako
The simplest and easiest way for you may be to purchase a router. The router acts as a gateway to your Internet connections (WAN). It will take your single IP address and use it thereby fooling your broadband service into seeing only 1 computer hooked up because it will only find that specific address that your ISP has assigned to you. The router will assign sub-addresses to each computer on the LAN. This way, you can have your server hooked up to the Internet and also your personal PC as well. A router will also facilitate LAN access.
One thing you have to keep in mind though is usage. If your server hogs all your bandwidth...your personal PC may have problems connecting. Depends on how many people log onto your server. Kane is quite correct, a server can be anything you want. Businesses will use professional servers full of redundancy features because down time can cost a fortune. These are usually located in special cooled rooms at large ISPs. These businesses also pay nicely for their bandwidth. You on the other hand...might come into bandwidth problems if your server becomes popular. DSL will only provide you with a limited bandwith as with cable.
As for servers specifics...I don't know anything about setting them up. Probably simple (if its like a router)...just never bothered to look up the info. Best of wishes and luck if needed. 
Posted by: SKYHN
I always like to try new stuff, and I was just playing some games with some friends and since I was the most knowlegeable about pc's, I decided that I should build some type of server pc.
How about this:
For when I am playing games, could I use say a 1394 port between my pc and server so that I have a direct connection to the server, but at the same time also play in the hosted games?
That would eliminate my bandwidth problem if that works.
Ill post the exact specs of the server pc Ill be building a little bit later. Im gonna try to build this thing for $350 or less(try is the keyword).
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