Dedicated Garry's Mod Server specs - Garry's Mod

Looking to eventually start up a dedicated server in my home (once I get a stable living environment), which will be on 24/7 and host a PNRP server for Garry's Mod. Currently our community uses Fragnet, it can handle about 30 players, over 50 npc's, and (estimating) around 100-200 props while maintaining everyone's pings around 30-95 depending on location. The only downside to this server is the Framerate for clients is killed. I myself average 10-25 fps in open areas of a map, and 90+ in closed areas with maxed graphics (8xAA for some reason or another runs nicer than 2xAA frame rate wise, something fucky with that). So my question is, what would I look into getting to achieve results close to the above, but possibly fixing the frame rate issues. I want to host this on a 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate. -Are there alternatives to the apparent single core utilizing SRCDS? (Haven't checked in over 3 years). -What specs do you recommend? -What's most important? I'm assuming the CPU and the Network are the largest factors in performance. -Does the GPU matter when it comes to a dedicated server tower? -CPU's, Hard Drives, SSD's, RAM amount/type, Video Card/GPU, Motherboard, ETC. -Is a Bit rating (MBPS) of a stable 30mbps up/down good as a network connection if directly plugged into the cable box with an Ethernet cable? (Solid 3.33 MB/s). Cat5/Cat5e/Cat6/Cat7 Cable? Thanks. EDIT: So what would this result in? CPU: X3470-E3 RAM: 4-8GB? Hard Drive: 7200 RPM SATA 2 or 3 Network: Cat6 cable plugged directly into ISP box. 30 MBPS Download/Upload good enough? Or 50 MBPS Download/Upload?

Don't host the server on your gaming PC.

[QUOTE=darksoul69;39987945]Don't host the server on your gaming PC.[/QUOTE] Point of the open post is gathering info on building one specifically for hosting. I'll pass on free Elpishost servers. Don't want a pool of servers on one tower.

[QUOTE=Lordbleck;39987973]Point of the open post is gathering info on building one specifically for hosting.[/QUOTE] You mentioned video card so I assumed you were building a new computer to game on and host the server on at the same time.

[QUOTE=darksoul69;39987988]You mentioned video card so I assumed you were building a new computer to game on and host the server on at the same time.[/QUOTE] Added a new line to the first post. The problem was I wasn't sure if the GPU would matter or not, so I figured someone would have told me about it.

[QUOTE=darksoul69;39987988]You mentioned video card so I assumed you were building a new computer to game on and host the server on at the same time.[/QUOTE] He actually asked if it was necessary, but I can infer that based on your statement that it's not. -EDIT- Apparently he put that question in that after you stated that, my apologies.

[QUOTE=bizzclaw;39988021]He actually asked if it was necessary, but I can infer that based on your statement that it's not. -EDIT- Apparently he added that after you stated that, sorry.[/QUOTE] Hence assumed, not trying to grill him or anything just giving some helpful advice. Pretty much the only thing you need to worry about is the CPU and bandwidth - you could toss together the cheapest build you can find and it would run fine as long as it has a decent CPU. X3470-E3 series is what you're looking for, if you're going for large servers with a large amount of players the E3 is a must. As far as bandwidth is concerned - depends on what you're running. Darkrp/whatever rp should be fine on 30Mbps but any build server would be questionable since you can burst up to 300KB/s a player on a properly setup server with good rates.

[QUOTE=darksoul69;39988056]Hence assumed, not trying to grill him or anything just giving some helpful advice. Pretty much the only thing you need to worry about is the CPU and bandwidth - you could toss together the cheapest build you can find and it would run fine as long as it has a decent CPU. X3470-E3 series is what you're looking for, if you're going for large servers with a large amount of players the E3 is a must. As far as bandwidth is concerned - depends on what you're running. Darkrp/whatever rp should be fine on 30Mbps but any build server would be questionable since you can burst up to 300KB/s a player on a properly setup server with good rates.[/QUOTE] So would 30 mbps up/down handle a tops of 30 players, 50 or so NPC's, and 50-150 props? I'm not sure what Fragnet uses but it seems to be able to handle that pretty well in terms of network lag, but not so well on frame rates. I have no idea what their network rates are... If not 30 Up/Down, what about 50 Up/Down?

Get a cheap VPS and host it from there. If you insist on hosting on your desktop PC then I have a small piece of software that I wrote a while back that can tray the server software so that you don't have to get annoyed by it being in your task bar etc. [editline]21st March 2013[/editline] btw it's not a dedicated server if you host it from your Desktop pc.

[QUOTE=Lordbleck;39987804]I myself average 10-25 fps in open areas of a map, and 90+ in closed areas with maxed graphics (8xAA for some reason or another runs nicer than 2xAA frame rate wise, something fucky with that).[/QUOTE] What map is it?

[QUOTE=darksoul69;39988056]Hence assumed, not trying to grill him or anything just giving some helpful advice. Pretty much the only thing you need to worry about is the CPU and bandwidth - you could toss together the cheapest build you can find and it would run fine as long as it has a decent CPU. X3470-E3 series is what you're looking for, if you're going for large servers with a large amount of players the E3 is a must. As far as bandwidth is concerned - depends on what you're running. Darkrp/whatever rp should be fine on 30Mbps but any build server would be questionable since you can burst up to 300KB/s a player on a properly setup server with good rates.[/QUOTE] If I may ask, simply because I don't know that much about SRCDS, is having multiple cores really that important since SRCDS can only use one core? Would it not benefit to have like a dual core running at 3.0+ GHz? After all, from what i understand, he's only running one GMod server.

[QUOTE=BillyMays;39989750]What map is it?[/QUOTE] Depends on map. But mainly they are csc desert, atomic, rp_stalker, a custom pakratted version of rp_apocalypse, srp_occult_v1 (Also Pakratted). stalker and occult (understandably), have the worst frame rates. Actually, since that update earlier this month (February 2013 for future user reference), the server has performed about half as well as it use to, and frame rates have died. On any map I usually stick around 13-28 FPS. It's like Garry accidentally threw out all the multiplayer optimizations he made the update before that. Used to get around 45-90 anywhere on the server. FX-6200 Stock 8GB DDR3 EVGA GTX 560 SC 2GB (I noticed Garry's Mod on any populated multiplayer server uses 1.4-1.9GB of VRAM).

VRAM doesnt matter for him. He's talking about hosting a server. a GPU won't make any difference for hosting except suck up more electric increasing the cost of the server.

[QUOTE=Lordbleck;40017401]posted dem words[/QUOTE] Oh, I don't lag on those maps. Don't know what to tell you.

Don't host your server on the pc that you USE! Now, if you have another pc that's rarely used it would be a great idea to host it on there. Personally I'd rent a server or a VPS to host it.

[QUOTE=furrywalls;40026112]Don't host your server on the pc that you USE! Now, if you have another pc that's rarely used it would be a great idea to host it on there. Personally I'd rent a server or a VPS to host it.[/QUOTE] Ok the last 3 Posts seem to have misunderstood me completely. FrankPetrov: I'm the OP. I was just saying I had 2GB on my gaming computer for VRAM BillyMays: Those maps only lag for players on our Fragnet server. The server itself does not lag, but the frame rate is awful for EVERYONE. It was not like this before a Garry's Mod update earlier this month. furrywalls: The thread's reasoning is for me to figure out what I should buy and assemble to be able to build my own server tower and run it from my home off a 30 MBPS or 50 MBPS. I will be using my current computer as usual as a gaming computer, and building one in the near future to use as a server tower.

[QUOTE=darksoul69;39988056]Hence assumed, not trying to grill him or anything just giving some helpful advice. Pretty much the only thing you need to worry about is the CPU and bandwidth - you could toss together the cheapest build you can find and it would run fine as long as it has a decent CPU. X3470-E3 series is what you're looking for, if you're going for large servers with a large amount of players the E3 is a must. As far as bandwidth is concerned - depends on what you're running. Darkrp/whatever rp should be fine on 30Mbps but any build server would be questionable since you can burst up to 300KB/s a player on a properly setup server with good rates.[/QUOTE] I'm still in love with the E3 series. Although isn't the newer version supposed to be out this quarter?

[QUOTE=Pantho;40035510]I'm still in love with the E3 series. Although isn't the newer version supposed to be out this quarter?[/QUOTE] May 27th-June 7th the V3 is supposed to be released. :)

[QUOTE=darksoul69;40035772]May 27th-June 7th the V3 is supposed to be released. :)[/QUOTE] I hope they're not calling it the V3 :/. Thought this was supposed to be a big release not just a tick or a tock or w/e. Not been following it recently.

[QUOTE=Pantho;40036043]I hope they're not calling it the V3 :/. Thought this was supposed to be a big release not just a tick or a tock or w/e. Not been following it recently.[/QUOTE] Yes it's going to be E3-1230 V3 and so on like Ivy bridge was V2. V3 will be on the Haswell architecture.