Mulitcore/Dual-CPU Setup

MineOS Turnkey
1

Hello,
I want to know if i would have any noticabel performance-boost if i add a second CPU to my Server.

Does the Software even use multiple core’s or do i have to enabel that and if yes how?

what are the perfect specs. What does count. What can i upgrade for max. performance?
is more RAM better than more CPU power and how fast does the RAM need to be?

Thanks for the Help!

2

The cpus are going to be defined at the kernel level meaning that you would need an os that is spanning itself over both cpu which is uncommon or even no existent? for it to have the sort of effect you are thinking of.

Otherwise the only real benefit for a second cpu is when you can provision your servers using a hypervisor because you can either pool across interdependently both cpus or set it so that they are more independent of each other in the case of multiple servers etc. depends on what you want to achieve but it basically boils down to pooling workloads vs offloading workloads.

the scenario would be…

  • only one game server then pool it across both cpu
  • multiple game server would probably be better if the cpus were treated a separate workloads.

Yes more ram is better and yes a second cpu is good even for the simple fact that if you have the means for it then you should make use of it. What specs is the server?

3

is subjective as there is no one thing that defines an answer. Computers are a 10 step program and you increase their potential by doing various things and optimizing everything form hardware to software. Making sure you have the best parts for your platform is probably the best place to start. Overhead and redundancy are two major areas to start with.

4

Its a HP ProLiant ML370 G5

  • 2x Quad-core Intel Xeon 5440 sequence processors with 12 MB Level 2 cache (6 MB per die)
  • 12MB (2 x 6MB) Level 2 cache
  • 20GB RAM

Or the other Option would be that old PC of mine

5

Nice i guess you are trying to decide what to go with?

The server is hampertown based which is core series generation 771 platform it is DDR2 and is kind of a dated paper weight in terms of performance vs efficiency but it is still a good platform but you would need to really know what you have to run it effectively which you can just experiment with. This day and age personally i would say that you want at least 1st generation which is the next gen over from this one as it is light years ahead of core based platforms. Funnily enough that is my favorite generation of computers because 1st gen was pretty good for its time.

pros

  • cheap parts
  • if you want to learn server grade stuff then this is cheap to build on

cons

  • you cannot overclock on oem based systems and older system like this benefit from higher clock speeds.
  • bit of a space heater but you can still do stuff with it and Minecraft will be fine for it just not high populations but if you doing like 30 ppl or less and not heavily modded it will work i have used ddr2 platforms before but for small player base and it works fine.

Your old computer is gen 4 Haswell and much faster you wouldn’t need the gpu, it is still a solid platform and can play most games so its semi in demand for cheap gamers meaning the prices for parts can be pricey depending on where you live. Where i live earlier gen parts can be pretty expensive especially rare collectors items. Just an example a rampage extreme 1366 board can be upwards of $500 on ebay which is ridiculous but its just because its rare and its a collectors item. That is extreme case though. Low tier M-ATX board like this is still good i am not down talking it. The cpu and ram is all that matters really anyway.

pros

  • newer tech
  • matx means more eco but at the cost of less features
  • new micro architecture came in this gen but overall its going to be lots faster than the server. Which basically just means faster parts
    Haswell (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia

cons

  • parts can be more expensive and because these computers are still kind of used by gamers.
6

I forgot to add comparing server parts to consumer ones is kind of hard because the computational workloads are different.

Example I have an old Dell PowerEdge 1950 decommissioned of course which is from the same gen as yours basically pretty similar systems. Years ago now i ran a 7 days to die server on that just to see what it would do because i really wanted to push the hardware for testing.

if you know that game its a pretty heavy game to run. There is slim chance that the game would run nice on a 771 if you were trying to game a computer from then would probably not even boot the game or if it did then it would be poor gameplay.
The game server ran pretty well considering but it was never open to the public and was only max 2 people on at any time.

7

First of all thank you for your good extensive answers! Really appreciate that.

As OS i am using the Turnkey Linux MineOS iso.

So i have jused the ProLiant as my Server for a long time now but we have a 11GB map and if 3-4 players are fare out we get problems with chunkloading speed. And it needs pretty much Power, makes noice but keeps the room warm.

So i read what is important for a MC-Server is mostly singelcore performance and RAM. I would throw in another 16GB so i have 32 on my old Pc which is maximum. And the cpu singelcore-performance is outstandingly good. So in my imagination the old PC should be the better option.

Other problem would be that i don’t have any use of the old Sever anymore. But i have learned much with that thing about linux in genrall and setting up something with nonfree drivers for the networkcard etc.

I will run the geekbench 5 benchmark on both machines and look at the scores. Than i will decide what to do… :slight_smile:

8

Or you can transfer your world and do a live test.
Backup first.

9

Have you tried to pre generate the chunks? Not sure if you are aware but the chunks generate as players move across the world there is mods that can pre gen them so that it cause less lag when player move around.

You would want to do this while no one is on the server.

10

Another areas would be vitals is the server staying cool? when there is people on and its under load because servers like this put out lots of heat. I would be doing thermal paste on it if it has not been done since you have owned it.

11

Yes, the part of the World where players would normaly be and a little bit more is is pre-generated. The problem is that already generated Chunks need a lot of time to show up.

1 Like
12

As i can see the Vitals during the run are pretty good… RAM usage is shooting up fast but i have a buffer of 4GB.

thermal paste has been changed on booth CPU’s as i have build in the second one. (3 Months ago). The Temperatures look not to high anyways and the heat disapation works pretty good.

1 Like
13

Yeah :smile: the other computer will be much faster it will be night and day in compassion, the server is like 15 years old roughly give or take so its old.