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What hardware/system do you need when creating a free server?
How to create your own dedicated game server
I created this guide because I received several emails everyday from people who are concerned about their server hardware / hosting hardware. Im having a hard time answering all emails there for Im creating this guide which I will continue to build on as time passes.
When you have choose a game emulator and are ready to start your own dedicated server. You should ask yourself one question though, are you going to host at home or are you going to rent a server at a data center? A Data-Center has the technology to host any kind of server, isnt one server enough? then theres server balancing built in a server-cluster.
You can even rent your own rack server if you want.
So what kind of hardware should you use? Well dont go and buy expensive server processors like Xeon or Opterons series (Dual Core). These processors are dual core and are for servers but it doesnt mean its the best right? But there are cheaper but better dual core processors/CPU, I would recommend that you have a look at Core 2 Duo (Dual core) or Kentsfield core which is a Quad-Core processor, both are released by Intel. How much RAM (memory) do you need? Well I would start with 2 GB RAM at start, and then upgrade when its needed.
Why pick Dual-Core or even Quad-Core servers?
Its a new era, Dual-Core and Quad-Core are todays news. This is a must. You will be able to run both the server emulator and webpage on the same server without any kind of problems. If you are going for a mmorpg server theres plenty of emulators which supports multithreading. But mmorpg servers hold sometimes over 1000 players which require a huge CPU/processor power. Thats why you should pick at least a Dual-Core for your dedicated server but looking at the prices it tells me i should go with a Quad-Core CPU.
Why a gaming server?
Especially mmorpg servers takes a lot of bandwidth, FPS servers are not as bandwidth hungry as mmorpg servers due to the low amount of players. The best with having the gaming server at a hosting company is that it usually has up to 10 different ISPs and up to 1000Mbit per line which will give your players an amazing gaming experience. They also have the latest server hardware technologies, so finding a Quad-Core, Core 2 Duo or the AMD X2 or Opteron series (Both Dual-Cores) should not be a problem. Most servers have RAID or using fast SAS storage (SCSI discs).
A great Web hosting company is HostGator
Host Gator is one of the biggest web hosting companies around with excellent hosting and pricing.
when looking for server emulators please try to search on Google... I will try to continue updating this guide when i have more time.
Best Regards
XtremeTop100 staff