Project: The Serv0r

[kataras]

Hey all, its been a while since i was thinking of building a game server and then colocating it somewhere. Anyway cut the bul...

So, i already have E6320 (seemed the best choice at that time)

i m gonna get GA-965P-DS3

The thing is im not too sure what ram i should get, (the cost is really important as i dont want to spend too much).

I was thinking of getting one off these:

OCZ 2GB 2x1GB PC2-6400 800Mhz DDR2 Platinum Edition CL 4-4-4-15

or

Patriot memory 2 X 1 Gb PC2 6400 Kit PDC22G6400LLK CL 4-4-4-12

edit: specialtech had some ram i am interested in, but they didnt seem to have any in stock

I know going second hand is not the smartest option especially when it involves servers and stuff, but thats exactly what i want to spend. Give me some bullet points which ever ones i should get. plus, i heard that patriot uses Micron D9 chips, is that right?

Ill add pictures of the case and cpu later on

 

[llwyd]

You should really try and go for more than 2gb if it will be a busy game server mate

 

[FarFarAway]

I agree - something like 4gb is a good place to start

 

[kataras]

Hello, just came back from holiday, finding all my parts delivered and ready to be assembled. So another update, pictures and specs:

PS. Sorry about picture quality i am no photographer and i should really get another camera

1. The heart of the server, CPU, intel Core 2 Duo E6320 1.86Ghz 4Mb got it for well cheap, was interested in E2160 but since 6320 was offered for the same price, i couldnt resist to have bigger cache, well hell lot bigger, 8 times bigger

2. The motherboard, got Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 3,3rev well known for outstanding overclocking results, and overall great mobo

3. RAM, got these for well cheap, Patriot PC2-6400 4-4-4-12, sorry but have already seated the modules, didnt want to touch them

4. Cooling, well i did do loads of research on this one, but heck it, couldnt find anything, so bought this one ThemalTake CL-P0187, thing weighs nearly half a kilo so guess thats a good thing

5. 3.5 grams of AS5

6. Because decided to go with non-integrated graphics, i had to find PCI graphics, Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT 32Mb PCI, well at least it didnt cost me anything and doesnt steal any ram memory.

also needs PCI riser to be fitted in 1U case

7. Server case with Zippy 300W PSU, just love it in black

sorry no pics of hard drives, since they are already in the case and didnt bother to open it. But once ill start building ill definitelly takes some pics of them.

Anyway, since im here, one question, what OS would you recommend to have on this dedicated gaming server? Already have Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition key (good friend, gave me that for free ), heard that Linux servers are a lot more stable, but i am a complete Linux virgin so dunno hot to configure it or anything like that

 

[FarFarAway]

Seeing as it's uber powerful and ur familiar with it I'd go for Win 2l3 tbh

 

[MikeEnIke]

I agree with Kemp unless you have any linux experience. Linux really is the best for servers, but it's not worth learning if you already know 2k3.

 

[Nagaru]

Looks cool, what are you going to do about getting around not having a keyboard plugged in?

 

[JN]

Seeing as it's uber powerful and ur familiar with it I'd go for Win 2l3 tbh

Yep both the OC3D servers use 2k3. They used to have Linux on them (and managed an uptime of 120 days), but when something goes wrong you need to be extremely experienced to fix it.

 

[kataras]

Looks cool, what are you going to do about getting around not having a keyboard plugged in?

Well the server's gonna be collocated in docklands so not only it wont have keyboard plugged in but monitor, mouse, speakers as well the only two things which get plugged in are Ethernet cable, and power cable

Thanks to all, i think too Windows is best choice just because its easier to work on. But what im gonna do i think, while the server is still with me, i will put some sort of distro of linux on it and see how i get on running server from home connection. If i ll have problems installing mods, heck it ill put windows on it

 

[kataras]

Hello, some little update here:

Had a chance to open the case up and so took a pic with nearly everything what should go in there, las time forgot to show hdds, now you can see them barely 2x WD Raptors 36Gb. But unfortunately the project will have to wait some more time to get finished as i got into dark end. The thing is the graphics card, it f**ks everything up, i cant put it in the case since the riser is too tall. Some peeps would like ti think that you dunno need one, especially when its a server, but i just have to have it, in case of some problem or something liek that. So what ill have to do is order PCI-E 1u riser and some low-end, w/ passive heatsink pci-e gfx to go with it. But its real pain in arse to find a pci-e riser which companies would have in stock. already found one site which sells them, but has to order them first. got that far, so cant give up

 

[ionicle]

nice and messy, i like it

 

[Nagaru]

Well the server's gonna be collocated in docklands so not only it wont have keyboard plugged in but monitor, mouse, speakers as well the only two things which get plugged in are Ethernet cable, and power cable

That is just the problem really, most motherboards I have messed with give an error if there is no keyboard found. This stops the boot process so I think you need something that at least pretends to be a keyboard. Can anyone else confirm this?

 

[ionicle]

unless you change "stop on all error's" to "all but keyboard" in bios...

 

[Nagaru]

Stupid me, sorry for the noise.

 

[kataras]

Need help guys, finding it a problem to get hold of one of those pci-e risers i was talking about before, decided to ditch ga-965p-ds3 and get a mobo with built in gfx. So please can any of you give some examples which would have very good overclockability, since i heard that the ones with integrated gfx arent good occers. Maybe from new G33 lineup? up to 100quid if possible, and it should achieve at least 430Mhz FSB