[roger1876]

Hi all,

I am going to build a server to host games, which will be sent to a data centre. I have looked into this and am deciding on building a Micro ATX system. The following is a list of components that I have set myself to buy:

Foxconn G33M-S Motherboard with onboard graphics
4Gb OCZ Gold 6400 (800Mhz) RAM (2x2Gb modules)
160Gb Toshiba SATA 7200rpm HDD (8.5ms seek time)
Q6600 processor (2.4Ghz, low power edition, 95W)
Micro ATX case with 380W PSU
Coolermaster Hyper TX 2 CPU cooler
2x extra case fans
Basic DVD-ROM drive

My question is mainly, will 380W PSU be enough to handle this specification of machine and also, does anybody know of a rough guide to how much power this thing will use in amps. The data centre will allocate us 0.5A which I am thinking is EXTREMELY low.

Any advice and help will be much appreciated. Also, I know about Ohms Law of linking Watts with current and voltage, so this would give me a value of 1.5A!! Far too much.

[Cew27]

i = v/r
or
i = p/v
i = 350/230
that does give you 1.5 amps which is a reasonable amount for a pc but what is a data center and why will they only give you .5a ?

[roger1876]

A data centre is a place, a large room that hosts servers. They provide a VERY fast network which I will need for hosting a game server. They allocate 0.5A per slot on 1U rackmount servers which are different from normal machines but strangely, they also allocate 0.5A per Micro ATX machine too. If your machine goes over this threshold, you will be charged at a specified rate per extra Amp or half Amp. I think in this case it is an extra £35-£50 an amp per month which is a massive cost.

Here is a link to the website of the colocation where my server will be hosted: http://bluesquarecolocation.com/

[Cew27]

thats ridiculous, how much is one slot

[roger1876]

A slot in the room is £40 a month per 1U or Micro ATX machine. Also, I will have to pay for TCADMIN PANEL software on top of this. Estimated costs are around therefore may be around £100 a month, which means this may not be worth doing.

I would have the capability to earn around £150 a month max so this would be ridiculous until the server was full, I would be working at a loss for a long while. eek

[roger1876]

I have however, heard that the theoretical usage is not actually the real usage of a computer. I have heard that it tends to be much lower than what you calculate and you are usually suprised at how low the consumption actually is. Could anyone advise me of whether or not this is true?

[Desertfish]

Yes it's true. We're talking peak rates here in order to describe the capability of a PSU but that does not mean it's constantly running at it's maximum. Basically, you will need to look into a good PSU, preferrably a modular one, with a good energy efficiency rating (85% minimum).

Also, it your'e going to colocate your server in a datacentre, you might want to look into sticking a second HD in there and run it in RIAD. You don't want to run a server with no redundant HD.

Cheers:
Chris

[serverguy]

If your going to have a server away in a datacentre that you are responsible for the key thing is going to be reliability and redundancy.

Engineers costs to fix even simple problems are usually stupidly expensive so you really want to try and avoid as many problems as possible in the first place.

You definitely want mirrored RAID so as one hard drive can fail and the server stay online. Make sure you use high quality components, especially the RAM, MOBO and most importantly the PSU. You may even want to thing about having a redundant PSU but that would use more electricity.

The specs you list seem fine though. Don't be afraid to pack as many fans on as possible, noise is not a problem and the cooler the case is the longer the components should last and it gives more time if one fan packs up.

The 0.5A does seem small, but I think it is feasible. As the previous poster said, you won't always be using the full 380Ws. The processor will be the most power intensive in this case.

Also, how long do you think it would be until your server is full and making a profit? It could turn out to be a very expensive mistake

Is there any chance you could host it from home until at least you get some users and know how to manage it all. Treat it like it is at a data centre with no local access. A static IP address would be a lot less than the cost of the colocation for the time being.

[roger1876]

I'm not sure that running it from home will be an easy task, mainly due to the network load. I'm not sure my connection is up to it. I have gone with the specs that follow and have the server sitting at home throttling away for a few days running SETI@home, so far, maximum current is 0.7A, not 0.71, JUST 0.7A. As for cooling, we went with the best cooling our little MATX could pack in. The CPU runs at a cool 48 degrees MAX at 100% CPU usage.

Q6600 2.4Ghz CPU
4gb 1.8v dual 800Mhz RAM - G.Skill
300W PSU (Came with case)
Case recommended by 24-play
INTEL motherboard with onboard graphics
160gb HDD
Zalman CPU cooler
40mm Case fan at 6.2CFM!!!! LOL (Best we could get)
70mm Case fan (Came with case)

As stated, the machine runs at 100% and reaches a very low 48 degrees maximum.
It idles at 23 degrees and at idle, uses 0.35A of current. We are not sure how the data centre work out power usage, or whether they just have a 0.5A power feed. If it is a monthly average, we should be fine as for most of every day, the server will be idle (0.35A)