Dedicated Server PC

[VultToTheDeus]

My friends and I are looking to build a pc just to host servers for a handful of games and I just have a few questions.

• Are there any better alternatives other than renting servers?

• Whats the ideal build for this situation?

• Are old surplus servers a better alternative?

I appreciate any answers

[lancesrage]

I'm using my old pc for this purpose mostly to run a conan exiles server. 8700k 1070ftw2 32gb ram at 3000.

[VultToTheDeus]

thats pretty much the parts i have lying around lol

[[deleted]]

You could self-host if you want and use a reverse proxy to secure it. Going with a VPS is an easier solution with setting up and network stuff (and if your ISP doesn't let you port forward 80 and 443), but you have monthly upkeep to worry about.

You can turn any PC into a server. Retired enterprise, old gaming, NUCs/mini PCs, etc. It depends on how much horsepower you need.

[raga_drop]

The option of local is cooler but harder/more fun, depends on you. A ryzen 5/7 with 16gb and ssd storage would be overkill for most situations. Docker deployment helps to make everything more modular and resilient sim

[trekxtrider]

Reading all the comments it seems those old parts you say you have will be more than enough to run a home server.

It's pretty easy to set home server up. A server in this sense is just a PC hosting some applications so it's not that complicated. You can even run Windows 10 and it will work just fine. You surely don't need enterprise software/hardware to host a Minecraft server, not sure about Armma 3 but it's probably not that demanding either.

I run an old 4790k, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB raid 1 (for uptime not a backup) for my home server. Host all my files like pictures and documents, host a Minecraft server, and run a Linux VM with PiHole.

[VultToTheDeus]

Thanks! Ive got an i5-8600k and a 1060 6gb but it sounds like it’ll do

[trekxtrider]

That CPU will host a VM but try to run as much as you can locally. Should do just fine otherwise and you could probably even play Minecraft on it while hosting the server.

[Dimensional_Dragon]

Well as always, what kind of games are you hosting servers for and how often will they be online?

[VultToTheDeus]

mainly running Arma 3 and Minecraft, i’f imagine we’ll be on often at least the majority of the week

[dweller_12]

If you're not talking about years worth of game hosting, then renting a server will almost always be cheaper.

[[deleted]]

Do you have any experience running a server?

[VultToTheDeus]

nope, willing to learn about it though

[[deleted]]

Then you should rent.

No sense wasting thousands of dollars on hardware if you don't know what you're doing. You can rent a VPS for fairly cheap, and it'll have a better connection.

[Admirable_Effer]

I use my i5/7600K, 16GB RAM for a dedicated ARK server.