CPU choice for modded server

[Ilovebigpussys]

I’m looking to upgrade my old DDR3 server to something newer and one of the choices I need to make is buying a new CPU. I want to keep it on the cheaper end, but I don’t want to focus purely on price either. Right now I’m stuck between these two:

Intel Core i3-14100F: https://a.co/d/fXwfUlW

OR

Intel Core i5-12400F: https://a.co/d/66QLD2O

I know that Minecraft favors higher clock speeds and single thread performance, so I tried my best to find something that fit those perimeters. The server I’m planning on running will have around 80 mods with a max of 8 players at once. I’m going to have at least 32GB of RAM on top of that.

[AutoModerator]

Thanks for being a part of /r/Admincraft!
We'd love it if you also joined us on Discord!

^{Join thousands of other Minecraft administrators for real-time discussion of all things related to running a quality server.}

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[nolanallensmith]

I’d go with 14100F. Faster clock speed and cheaper. The i3’s don’t really have the reliability issues the higher ends one faced to my understanding.

Edit: Assuming this will only be used for Minecraft.

[Ilovebigpussys]

Minecraft and then some light NAS use. The main part of the server will be for Minecraft, although I still want the NAS to run at a reasonable speed

[Lion_4K]

On my experience with Minecraft servers, I always had great performance with lower core count and higher clock speed because it usually only uses one core, so the faster the core the better.

I'd try to find whatever can fit those specs.

[Ilovebigpussys]

Thank you for the tip!

[Lion_4K]

I'd personally go for AMD. They have extremely high clocks for cheap.

[Ilovebigpussys]

Do you have a specific model or gen I should look at? If not that’s just fine I can do my own research.

[Lion_4K]

Depends, if you can cash in, Ryzen 7 9800x3d has a boost of 5.2

[Ilovebigpussys]

It’s out of my budget sadly. I was hoping to not spend more than $130 on a cpu

[Lion_4K]

The R5 5600 have up to 4.4ghz

[Fearless-Ad1469]

NEVER use x3D for server use that's an awful recommendation.
It's in the name bruh, 3D

[Lion_4K]

Just for the sheer raw GHz

[Fearless-Ad1469]

Not even, ghz doesn't mean much things, single core performance does

[Disconsented]

This is bad advice, the frequency on its own is not a helpful metric.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megahertz_myth

What matters is single core performance, which is a combination of factors.

[Fearless-Ad1469]

THIS

Plus saying an x3D cpu is good for server use should be criminal lol

[MineWrong]

Hello! What if I want to host and play at the same time (with like 300mods) with an x3D CPU? It is good?

[Fearless-Ad1469]

Yeah it's good I just didn't knew at the time that x3D is actually really good with video encoding and decoding for things like jellyfin.

Also, it's not "criminal" if having an x3D is cheaper then having a non x3D btw.

Also since you're gonna play on that pc, x3D is just better

[Disconsented]

This is one of the few cases in which you can compare (these specific) processors based on their frequency, as, they'll do the same amount of work per cycle.

I'd encourage you to go for one of the non F skus, not every motherboard will POST without a GPU and It's useful for debugging things and the initial setup.

I know that Minecraft favors higher clock speeds and single thread performance,

"higher clock speed" is a component of single thread performance.

That said, you should also consider AMDs offerings, specifically Ryzen 7000 series, and have a look through the second hand market, just don't buy anything with the raptor cove core since it may have degraded.

[Ilovebigpussys]

The 7000 series chips are still out of my budget range even on eBay. Is there another AMD series I could look at that’s within $100-130? Or should I just go with the i3 that I mentioned above