I would suggest the following as a bare minimum: 4GB of RAM running in dual channel A dual-core processor of at least 2.67 GHz per core Video card not a requirement unless losing that small amount of RAM is critical (usually not); shell processes aren't going to be doing any graphics processing
If you plan on running a large server (16+ slots) and/or plan on using bots extensively, then you can count on reserving one core per server. So, for example, a dual-core would allow you to run two Team Fortress 2 servers reliably. With small servers, like Left 4 Dead, you can run two or more on a single core without any issues. If you want to run more than two large servers on the same machine, then you will need to increase the amount of processor cores. When going to quad-core or more, however, you need to make sure the clock speed per core is still up there (2.67+ GHz) as SRCDS is a single-core process and can max out a CPU with a clock speed less than that. I'd leave room for more RAM if you ever need it too, but just play that part by ear. In terms of selecting the proper Linux distro: I would highly recommend Arch Linux x86_64. Of all the major distros it runs SRCDS at both the lowest CPU and most consistent FPS out of the box. You just have to make sure to get the lib32s installed, as SRCDS is 32-bit only. It's also worth mentioning that the server-side FPS is distro/kernel dependant. CentOS, and anything else that's RHEL-based, will be fixed at 333FPS. Most others have four "stepping stones," or whatever you want to call it, that you get to choose from by setting fps_max. Usually, something similar to: 188 FPS 311 FPS 550 FPS 998 FPS Hope this helps, and happy servering :D! > Date: Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:56:00 +0100 > From: Rictec <[email protected]> > Subject: [hlds_linux] build a server > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > hi people > anyone is kind enough to tell a game server noob what hardware to buy in > europe to build a server? > > money available 1000 euros > > thank you > Rictec _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1 _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
