[God Of Gaming]

So, I've got that interesting idea, to build a cheap server, dedicated for CS 1.6 only, it will sit in the corner of the room, running 24/7. I want to run 3 heavily modded servers with 32 slots each. I have no idea how good that hardware should be so that the servers run smoothly and are enjoyable to play in. So far I've only thought of how to minimize power consumption as much as possible. Specs that I've come out with are:

mobo: AsRock H61M-VG3
CPU: Intel Celeron G465, 1.9 GHz, dual core
RAM: 2x Kingston 1GB DDR3 1600mhz HyperX
HDD: WD Blue 250GB 7200rpm 16mb cache
+small form factor case with integrated 150W PSU
OS: I'd like to have Linux, but if there are any problems I'll have Windows Server 2003 or WinXP instead

The total cost so far is just a bit over 160 euro, and I think the power consumption will be around 36 kWh per month.

So, what do you think, is that powerful enough for 3 heavily modded cs1.6 servers, or would I need to put more cash into the build?

[Rirre]

Weak CPU & PSU.
You need Quad Core atleast. more RAM would also be necessary.

[God Of Gaming]

my old PC had a AMD Sempron cpu, 1.8 ghz single core, 512mb ram, and a radeon 9550 gpu, I could easily host one cs server and play from the same computer, so I thought such hardware should be more than enough...

Why is the PSU not strong enough? That CPU has 35W TDP only, and there is no dedicated graphics card? What hardware would you recommend?

[jonnzus]

I don't know is that CPU enough, with i7 2700mhz one player(in server) usually takes about 1% cpu.

[Dr_Knuckles]

edit: im retarded

[MyWarthog]

I ran a dedicated 24/7 dedicated server on a Acer laptop (with a cooling pad, ofc) in my basement with 0 lag (I had people playing in Australia (hosted in America) on it... their pings were only 150-250ms, and they thought that it was in a data center).

Internet is priority one. You could have the absolute BEST server in the world, but if you have a shit connection, it'll mean nothing. At the time of the example I mentioned, my internet was 30MBPS Download and 20MBPS Upload.

Now... of course... better hardware is going to get you farther, but you DON'T need a $1000 server for what you want to do.

However, there are some minor adjustments you could make... maybe try going for a processor with at least 2.4GHz. But, you honestly don't need a quad core CPU. Maybe if you were hosting more servers than what you intend to, but for what you want, you don't really need one. Also... try shooting for maybe 1 or 2 GB more of RAM. 2GB total RAM may be a little low, but you don't need 8GB.

Operating system, I'd recommend using Windows. Much easier to use, and as long as you're not being stupid with it, it's plenty secure and reliable enough.

Just make sure that you secure everything with your firewall right, and keep checking up on logs. Security, especially when running on your own network, is key.

[jonnzus]

I guess that if you use some linux based OS without GUI, there would be more cpu / ram left for your hlds server, I mean that win server would use more ram / cpu and it would be easy to set local ssh server so you could easily manage your server by another in your house.

[MyWarthog]

TUI is hard to get used to if you're used to Windows based, so be warned about that. However, he is right that it will save some system resources.

[jonnzus]

Well I never had used any linux based os (andoid ain't cotnted) and I did rent debian server and I managed to install hlds server and so on, it ain't hard if you google Most important to know for new linux (server) users that don't run any service as root if possible

[God Of Gaming]

Well I've used FreeBSD in university, also I have a livecd of Linux Mint 9 that I use for debugging when things go wrong, so I think I can handle that part. Main reason for choosing Linux here is to reach 1000 server fps, I can only go as far as 512 on Windows... While a secondary reason is because it's free