# [SOLVED] E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server



## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

I made abuild list for an E3 1240 v3 Based server. I want it to be small form factor, efficient, and on 24/7. Here is the build:

Intel Xeon E3-1240 V3, Cooler Master Elite 110 - Low Power Minecraft Server - jengelhart's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker

What are your opinions? Too much power? Wrong storage set-up? Wrong motherboard? All opinions are highly valued


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Looks fine, though I'd personally go with ECC RAM since your motherboard supports it. It's a bit more expensive though.

Newegg.com - Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory Model CT2KIT102472BD160B

You may also wish to consider using the RAID controller. A RAID 1 setup would keep your machine up and running in the event of a drive failure, though that would double your storage costs. If you reliably back up your drives and it isn't absolutely critical to keep the machine running 24/7, it may not be worth the cost to you. This particular feature is very much situation-dependent as to its usefulness vs. its cost.


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Fjandr, you are the man! This is the second question you have nipped in the bud. You like the mobo? Is ASRock reliable?


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Sorry for the double post,

What RAID controller would you recommend?
How should I structure the storage for a game server that is i/o intensive (somewhat)


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

ASRock is a value brand spun off of Asus. I am very much a fan of Asus products, but I have absolutely zero experience with ASRock products so I can't really offer a good opinion there.

The board you've chosen has RAID baked into the mobo chipset already. It supports 0,1, 5, and 10. I'm not really a fan of most embedded RAID outside of LSI, but you could do worse than the Intel controller included on that board. For this machine, I'd probably just stick with the on-board controller.

As for the RAID type to use for I/O, the best I/O would be RAID 0. That comes with a huge "but" though. The problem with RAID 0 is it doubles (at a minimum) the chance of a hardware failure. It stripes data across two or more drives, and there's no redundancy. You get all of the space available on the drives, but if any single drive fails you lose the data on all of the drives.

RAID 1 is a mirror. Data is copied to both drives. They are exact duplicates. Write times are the same as a single drive, but you get increased read speeds when they're sequential reads.

RAID 5 is a stripe with parity. Write speeds are reduced, because the controller has to calculate and write a parity bit for every N-1 data bits (where N is the number of drives in the array, minimum 3). You do get increased sequential read speeds.

RAID 10 has great redundancy, read speeds, and write speeds. The drawback is that you lose half your drive space and need a minimum of 4 drives. It's a combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0. Two mirror sets are used, and the data is then striped across them. It tolerates the loss of up to one drive in every mirror set, but not the loss of an entire mirror set. You get the redundancy benefits of RAID 1 and the speed benefits of RAID 0.

For your use, I'd recommend a vanilla RAID 1 array, with the caveat that you put both the SSD and the TB drive each in their own set. Running RAID really doesn't help you if you are only protecting one or the other. That means a second SSD and a second data drive. If maximizing uptime is your goal, it's worth the investment. If you can stand the downtime necessary to replace a drive and have decent backups, I'd probably skip the RAID.


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

I actually have a new build that is worth looking at:
Cooler Master HAF Stacker 915R - Low Power Minecraft Server Integrated - jengelhart's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker

It uses an integrated board, and the reviews on this product are oustanding. I just do not know if the Atom Octacore C2750 can utilize all of the potential ram, and run, for example, 8 small minecraft servers. What is your opinion (it uses a Marvell RAID controller btw)


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

That board will easily run 8 virtual machines. According to the Minecraft server requirements, however, 8 instances means you should really put a minimum of 24GB RAM onto the board for optimal use. More is better. Since Minecraft uses a single thread for the server, the processor on this board is actually better than what you'd put on the previous build, as you can dedicate an entire core to each VM. You're definitely paying a premium to run that many servers at optimal settings though.

The SATA controller on it is not actually RAID-enabled.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

I'd recommend you change the board to a Asus or Gigabyte branded motherboard. Asus boards have some of the best performance and you'll want that on a server.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

As above ^. ASRock are OK but Asus or Gigabyte would be my recommendation.


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

I am honestly flabergasted that this cpu can handle 8 small-medium Minecraft servers. Is that really true? (granted I have a gigabit internet connection and more RAM).


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Neither Asus nor Gigabyte make an ITX server board. Nor does either make an ITX board capable of running more than 16GB RAM, which is a requirement for any sort of decent performance running 8 VMs for Minecraft servers. No ECC support, no IPMI support, no BMC support. The list continues.

As for that CPU supporting 8 Minecraft instances, the processor requirements for those servers are far smaller than the RAM requirements. Each only needs a single thread, unless you're running a ton of mods. Even then, the CPU load shouldn't be extreme. Since that CPU has 8 cores, you can dedicate what is essentially an entire processor to each VM.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Who said it has to be a server motherboard? You can achieve the same thing, at nearly the same price. In fact I would argue that you'll actually get much better performance out of this:

NZXT Source 210 S210-001 Black “Aluminum Brush / Plastic” ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Newegg.com

Newegg.com - SeaSonic S12G-450 450W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Active PFC Power Supply, Intel Haswell Ready

G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GSR - Newegg.com

ASUS Rampage IV Gene LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-4820K Ivy Bridge-E 3.7GHz (Turbo 3.9GHz) LGA 2011 130W Desktop Processor BX80633i74820K

Noctua NH-C12P SE14 CPU Cooler - Newegg.com (You would have to ask Noctua for the correct mounting holes for 2011, but they provide them for free.)

Total: $939 - A $100 difference or $914.99 if you use that PC part picker.

Intel Core i7-4820K, NZXT Source 210 (Black) - System Build - PCPartPicker


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

I really did not want to go over $900, b/c it is not just me paying, it is sort of "crowd-sourced," if you will (my friends and I wanted to build a server to host any of our games, including minecraft, and also wanted to monetize the process by renting-out cloud storage and charge for hosting minecraft servers for others). That being said, the six of us did not want to pay more than 150 USD per person. I have come to the conclusion that it does not HAVE to be mini-itx, but we do want server-grade parts. I am holding on to the Mini-itx build, as we very well might use it. However, going to an ATX build, there are some other options. This is an AMD based build using server parts.

Cougar Solution (Black) - AMD-based Server - jengelhart's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker

The TDP is quite a bit higher, but I have a few questions:

-What would be a lower wattage, quality PSU?
-The mobo is listed as 12" by 8" ATX, will that fit in a standard ATX case?
-Is there a case with a smaller footprint that will fit these parts?
-Will this work the the enterprise-grade linux distro: Cent OS? (might have to ask linux team)
-Want are changes that you would make?

P.S. - Thank you for your i7 based suggestion Chief


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

I'm not a fan of that new build at all. Kingston RAM can have compatibility issues, especially their ValueRAM.

Honestly I would see my build as the best option. If you change the motherboard to this one:

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD3 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

It brings the total to: $880 with all of my other listed parts. Only $40 more than your first build.


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Supermicro makes tons of server-grade mobos. I can also change the RAM, because supermicro provides a list of tested RAM kits. Let's hear what Fjandr and others have to say

EDIT: I changed the RAM to a 16gb module (room for upgrade later) that was specifically tested by the mobo manufacturer


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

If you've never heard of Supermicro, you've never worked with enterprise equipment. The build parts suggested here aren't the consumer gear typically addressed on this site.

I'd also suggest against the ValueRAM, though their server RAM lines are usually amongst the lines on any server board's verification list.

If we're looking at full-size boards now I'll have to wait until I have access to something other than the crappy netbook I'm writing on now. There's a slightly older Tyan board that you may want to look at. I think it's the S7220, but I may have numbers transposed. They can be had for around $150, and would probably be an excellent fit. I'll look it up and post it when I'm at my desk.

Oh, I didn't specifically ask, but since the original board had a BMC and IPMI support, are you specifically looking for those options on a board?


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Actually yes, the IPMI support would be a major plus. Do you think I should use the G34 socket or E3s in the LGA 1150 Socket? It seems to me that the greater number of individual cores in the AMD Opteron CPUs would be very helpful for hosting multiple servers on a core each, but I could be wrong. Thank you for your time and help! :grin:


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Is this AMD build solid, and will it work with CentOS?

NZXT Source 210 (Black) - AMD-based Server - jengelhart's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker

What are your suggestions?


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

It's a toss-up, and would depend greatly on the exact number of VMs you're running.

The G34 will give you more cores, but the E3 will give you more single-thread performance per core. I don't have any experience running Minecraft servers, but from reading the specs it seems like they're not very processor intensive. If that's actually the case, you'd be better served with the G34.

If IPMI support is something you need, then yes, I'd avoid any consumer boards (even pro-sumer boards). They simply are not designed with the options required for a true server machine.

I was a bit off on the model number of the Tyan board I mentioned earlier. It's the S7020. It's an LGA 1366 2-socket Xeon board. Runs up to 12 cores with two 6-core Xeons installed. It's relatively cheap to put RAM on it. You can put 24GB on using 2GB modules, and it'll take up to 96GB max. The only issue with it is that it's an EEB-sized board, so you need a deeper-than-normal case to fit it in (13" depth, rather than the standard 9.6"). Since you're concerned about size, that could be a deal-breaker.

It occurred to me last night after I posted that it could be helpful if you outline the installation environment. Since you mentioned renting out use, what sort of Internet connection will it use, what are the internal network uses going to be, what external uses will it have, how much cloud storage are you contemplating, etc. There may be issues there that can be addressed early, rather than being headaches later.



> -What would be a lower wattage, quality PSU?


If you're interested in redundancy, I can recommend some server-grade redundant supplies, but they tend to run on the expensive side. I do have some cheaper favorites, but most of them are designed for rackmount solutions. With some more info regarding what exactly you want to power in a larger-sized machine I can get more specific.


> -The mobo is listed as 12" by 8" ATX, will that fit in a standard ATX case?


Yes, that size will fit into any standard ATX case. The max ATX width is 9.6".


> -Is there a case with a smaller footprint that will fit these parts?


The case you have listed is pretty compact. You may be able to find one that shaves an inch or so in depth, but probably not much more than that. The height is about as low as you can go with an ATX cas, except for a few that take PSUs with exotic dimensions.


> -Will this work the the enterprise-grade linux distro: Cent OS? (might have to ask linux team)


Yes, you should have no problem with CentOS. Since it's the community distribution of RHL, it's designed to cover all major server technologies. You may want to consider taking a look at Xen as well, for a bare-metal hypervisor.


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Other than needing more RAM, do you think our AMD build is up to snuff? We will add HDDs we already have, but our main concern is that this board only has PCIE-2.0 and SATA 3gb/s lanes/headers.

Is SAMSUNG ram any good (it was validated with the board? We do not want to go above $950. We want to stay ATX size or smaller. We agree with you that the 8 individual cores would be ideal.

Our hope is to run numerous VMs (so that our servers can be sand-boxed), and have our clients access their rented VMs remotely.

I suppose my question is: what do YOU think would be best in this situation? Do you have any specific part suggestions?


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

I think that build is just fine for your stated purposes.

I don't see an issue with the PCI-e revision not being 3.0. Since you're not putting a high-end graphics card in this (you're not, are you?), everything else will have plenty of bus I/O available. Unless you're going to throw in something like 48 SAS 6Gb ports worth of controllers into it, you shouldn't have any problems with the available bandwidth on the board.

I've had issues with Samsung RAM in the past on server boards, but only in really edge case situations. You'll get more performance by going with 4 sticks, since the board supports quad-channel, but if you're looking at ROI for the future and plan on upgrading to 128GB over time (and making sure you buy the same modules when adding RAM), the single 16GB stick right now is an acceptable choice. If you're not planning to put that much RAM on the board, I'd seriously recommend dropping that to a 2x8GB or even 4x4GB. If you're not planning to go past 32GB (or not anytime in the next couple years), I personally would go for the 4x4GB option right now. Give it a couple years and another 4x4GB addition isn't going to cost much. If you are planning to upgrade faster and father, go with 2x8GB.

The other listed modules for that board and the type you specc'd in your build list is Hynix. I have never, ever had a problem with Hynix RAM, and I have used a LOT of it over the years. I actually tend to buy it used because I never have it fail in the lifetime of the equipment it's installed in. For server RAM, it ranks right up there with Micron. I'm sure there's Kingston RAM somewhere in that list, and it's also decent when you're running their server lines. Just stay away from the ValueRAM and you're unlikely to have any problems with it. I have had Kingston RAM modules fail in the past, but they tend to be rare and almost all of them have lifetime warranties for their high-end lines.

Oh, and one other issue I meant to make note of as a caveat to the first line in this post: the PSU. It's acceptable for the equipment in the list, but if you're going to be adding a bunch of high-speed drives you may want to consider bumping it up to 600W. That'll give you plenty of headroom.


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Alright, I upgraded the PSU and used Hynix RAM, any other suggestions?


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Nothing really that comes to mind. It's a nice build and should do pretty much anything you ask of it. With 16GB RAM, you should be able to run 8 Minecraft VMs relatively comfortably as long as you're not modding the hell out of it. If you end up dropping another pair of 8GB modules into it, you'll have nothing to worry about and could relatively easily add another several VMs dedicated to other things.

Once it's built, I'd suggest running a stress test on one of the Minecraft VMs set to 2GB RAM. Set up another VM, and share a single core between the two. Run something fairly CPU-intensive on the second VM and then get as many people as you can onto the Minecraft server. See how it runs when it's sharing a core with another VM that's stressing the processor. If you get decent performance, I'd say you could share a core per two Minecraft VMs, which would leave you with 4 cores to deal with anything else you want to throw at the machine. If half a core isn't enough, try 3 cores per 4 VMs.

Another option is to allow the hypervisor and hardware to balance the load. Set all the Minecraft VMs to access, say, cores 0-5. If you have uneven loads on the servers, that will give the VMs with a greater load more of the processing power available.


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Well, fantastic! What do you think is the best open-source virtualization software?


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Xen is probably the top one. It's a bare metal hypervisor. As of the last CentOS install I did, it's included in that distribution. It's available on its own though.


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## jengelhart (Mar 22, 2013)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

Once this server comes together, I may have other questions in different threads in about software. I want to thank you for all of your help. My final question is, do you think this server is overboard?


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: E3 Xeon-Based Intensive Game/NAS/Site-Hosting Server*

No problem at all. There will be lots of other folks with good input once it's all together.

As far as being overboard, no, I don't think it is for the use that you've described. That's especially true if you're going to be renting out VM access. If you have more than a couple customers, I'd actually really suggest doubling the RAM on it. Personally, I'd probably have gone with a dual socket board, but I understand your group has a specific financial limit and that option would increase the price by a pretty significant margin.


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