Assuming you're talking about the old single core Xeons here, but depending on the player slots on TF2, but a machine with those specs really won't be up to scratch at all. To give you an indication, anything over 16 players on a TF2 server running on a 3.4Ghz Xeon causes noticeable in-game performance issues, and even then with just 16 slots its cutting it fine. So a 2.8Ghz Xeon isn't enough grunt really at all for a TF2 server.
I would also strongly recommend against virtualising the machine, unless you want to run multiple different operating systems on it. There is an overhead associated with running a virtualisation layer and that eats into the CPU power available, when the primary resource games servers needs is CPU grunt. To give you an idea, we run our TF2 (and L4D) servers on Dual Quad Core 3Ghz machines, and a full 24 slot TF2 server consumes 60-70% of a single core when its full. L4D servers are anywhere from 10-20% CPU of a single core depending on what mode they are running (and whats happening in-game), even though we don't really see a lot of difference between the game modes in terms of CPU consumption. Obviously its dependent on what is happening in-game at that point in time, but we haven't had to decrease the number of forks (64) we've been running on our boxes since Survival mode came out. I'd suggest getting the fastest current generation multi-core CPU you can afford, even if its just a 1 CPU machine, it'll be way better than a Dual Xeon 2.8Ghz thats for sure. Logan Rogers-Follis wrote: > I am not sure of the exact hardware needs (RAM/CPU) for TF2 and L4D. I > currently have a L4D server running on a Windows XP Pro w/ 512MB RAM and > a P4 2.0Ghz, which runs good until we get more than 6 real players on VS > then it tends to lag a bit. So I am looking to buy/build a server that > will run the game better and which I can also run a TF2 server on. > > What kind of specs should I be looking for when building/buying a server > that I want to have Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 running on. I plan > to load the machine with CentOS 5.x and virtualize it using Xen so I can > have one instance of CentOS running Team Fortress 2 with it's own > resources and then another running 1-3 instances of Left 4 Dead (ie. 1 > VS and 1-2 Survival/Campaign). > > I was looking at a machine with the following specs, would it be enough > to provide smooth gaming for the above setup? > > Dual Xeon 2.8Ghz CPU > 4GB DDR PC2100 ECC RAM > 4x 36GB SCSI 10K RPM Hard Drives (RAID 1) > > I'm thinking and hoping it will. > > Thanks, > Logan Rogers-Follis > > > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
