Does a private CE server require a good graphis card?

[Drynin]

I was just wondering if the server software for CE uses the GPU at all since I was planning on having a private server or does it just need a fast CPU, fast RAM and a good SSD?

[Valhalla Awaits]

Ugh, no. A game server wouldn't require a GPU, as it doesn't need to render anything, just compute and store information. So it needs the best processor money can buy (usually Xeons) followed by enough ram to match the number of players and some fast SSD's to handle the storage.

And most importantly, it needs a fast internet connection with fast upload speeds. (Uncommon on normal internet service plans.)

[Drynin]

Thanks for clarifying, I just wasn't sure if the Unreal 4 engine utilized the GPU for calculations on the server side, so when I build my server for CE I can put more into the parts that matter most.

[Abandon All Hope]

Originally posted by Valhalla Awaits:

Ugh, no. A game server wouldn't require a GPU, as it doesn't need to render anything, just compute and store information. So it needs the best processor money can buy (usually Xeons) followed by enough ram to match the number of players and some fast SSD's to handle the storage.

And most importantly, it needs a fast internet connection with fast upload speeds. (Uncommon on normal internet service plans.)

+1 on your upload internet speed can certainly be a bottleneck for your server

[Valhalla Awaits]

Originally posted by Drynin:

Thanks for clarifying, I just wasn't sure if the Unreal 4 engine utilized the GPU for calculations on the server side, so when I build my server for CE I can put more into the parts that matter most.

I'm not aware of any games where the server would utilize a GPU, while a large array of GPUs can and are used in some supercomputers, it's for specilized processes. And yeah not having to buy a GPU for a server saves a lot of cash, but then you need a specilized processor and typically a motherboard to handle it that more than make up for the cost and then some.

It all really comes down to how many people you want on your server. Want 6 people? You can run that on an average home PC, want 16 people? Then you need a high upload speed internet connection and a very high end pc with extra ram and a fast SSD. Want to host 36-64 players? You need a specilized server pc, or even a dedicated server rack, with xeonon processor(s) a raid array of SSDs and 128+GB of fast DDR4 ram. Not to mention a very high end buisness server scale ISP service.

[Datawarlock]

Actually RAM is one of the least needed things, You'll notice most server farms sell cpu time, not ram. dual quad core xeon with 32 gigs of ram works wonders.... and can usually grab those off craigslist for ~$50-$100 with a couple 15k drives raided. Also helps when devs are smart enough to make *nix servers so you don't have to deal with all the windoze bloat, have real routing and firewalling options, and can tune the system on the fly if needed. Ever wonder why Micro$haft doesn't host anything on windows servers? Marketing loves stupid people.

[Thickcurves]

Originally posted by Datawarlock:

Actually RAM is one of the least needed things, You'll notice most server farms sell cpu time, not ram. dual quad core xeon with 32 gigs of ram works wonders.... and can usually grab those off craigslist for ~$50-$100 with a couple 15k drives raided. Also helps when devs are smart enough to make *nix servers so you don't have to deal with all the windoze bloat, have real routing and firewalling options, and can tune the system on the fly if needed. Ever wonder why Micro$haft doesn't host anything on windows servers? Marketing loves stupid people.

That is 100% not true.... my server with a lot of people wwas using well over 8 gigs, since we went private with less people it is using about 4 gigs.... once they get finished with a larger map and servers that have been up for some time the RAM usage with skyrocket. Myself and my small group of friends run our own dedicated servers on our own server on google fiber.... and depending on the game you can end up using upwards of 20 gigs in extreme cases just for the server... it's a case by case basis buit this game is certainly going to be high RAM usage in the end once they add more content.

The most important factors are CPU, RAM and Storage (SSD's being better). Most ofd those dedicated server farms use VM's on Xeon platforms that will split a server or server cluster into multiple machines....

TL;DR you're wrong about half of what you said.

[Lagosaurus]

Originally posted by Valhalla Awaits:

Ugh, no. A game server wouldn't require a GPU, as it doesn't need to render anything, just compute and store information. So it needs the best processor money can buy (usually Xeons) followed by enough ram to match the number of players and some fast SSD's to handle the storage.

And most importantly, it needs a fast internet connection with fast upload speeds. (Uncommon on normal internet service plans.)

You'd be better off with an i7 than a Xeon in the game's current state.

[Probitas]

Originally posted by Reryn:

Originally posted by Datawarlock:

Actually RAM is one of the least needed things, You'll notice most server farms sell cpu time, not ram. dual quad core xeon with 32 gigs of ram works wonders.... and can usually grab those off craigslist for ~$50-$100 with a couple 15k drives raided. Also helps when devs are smart enough to make *nix servers so you don't have to deal with all the windoze bloat, have real routing and firewalling options, and can tune the system on the fly if needed. Ever wonder why Micro$haft doesn't host anything on windows servers? Marketing loves stupid people.

That is 100% not true.... my server with a lot of people wwas using well over 8 gigs, since we went private with less people it is using about 4 gigs.... once they get finished with a larger map and servers that have been up for some time the RAM usage with skyrocket. Myself and my small group of friends run our own dedicated servers on our own server on google fiber.... and depending on the game you can end up using upwards of 20 gigs in extreme cases just for the server... it's a case by case basis buit this game is certainly going to be high RAM usage in the end once they add more content.

The most important factors are CPU, RAM and Storage (SSD's being better). Most ofd those dedicated server farms use VM's on Xeon platforms that will split a server or server cluster into multiple machines....

TL;DR you're wrong about half of what you said.

Windows OS has more bloat than anything, and that bloat is a drain on resources. Linux is a minimalist system OS, and so you can make better use of your resources. That has been and will always remain true about the Penguin. Windows will never be as secure either.

I'm currently hosting three 30 pop ARK servers using Ubuntu Server 16.04, with an i5 proc and 12 Gb RAM. Helps that I have 120/10 cable internet. No issues. Try that on a Windows box (with same resources) and see what happens.