I have been into pcs for a few months now and i will soon be building my pc, but my question is, what exactly is a "server pc" i have seen alot about them and how they cost so much but what are they actually so special for? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
What exactly is a server pc?
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TechyInAZ
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server pcs are cheaper and easier to build, and are good for non cpu intensive stuff like backup servers, mail servers etc.
permanoob
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- Sep 22, 2011
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Generally a server implies that you're using it to run file storage services or application services with some more workhorse hardware than your standard desktop computer. "Server hardware" is generally Intel's Xeon class or AMD's Opteron class of processors and putting those in a server class motherboard. Usually with that you're using a RAID configuration of some sort for the storage to have some sort of redundancy in case of drive failure. Lots of noisy fans. Redundant power supplies. It goes on and on.
However, you can build a desktop computer and have it performing server functions like central file storage for your home network, media server functions, things like that.
However, you can build a desktop computer and have it performing server functions like central file storage for your home network, media server functions, things like that.
Jacob McIntosh
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Server PCs are used to run internet servers, like websites or online gaming servers (like Minecraft). They usually have Xeon processors , lots of RAM, and lots of storage.
christinebcw
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Servers are computers that 'serve up' common files or services to other computers that are linked, or networked, into them. In the home environment, a "media service" might be an old computer that has video files or MP3s stored on them, and every other household computer/device might connect in and play those files from that one, central computer - it 'serves' all of the other household devices, therefore.
This forum that you're reading from is a "server", too - hosting a common program for the Forum, plus displaying common pages and common services, such as writing/word processing for these posts. It's a "server", therefore.
A grocery store has some kind of 'server' computer handling all the cash registers so a back-office change of prices or product-avaiability can be shared (served up) to all the other cash registers.
The 'server' name started appearing in ?? the 1990s ?? when Big Computer Systems (IBM, HP, Stratus, etc) were suffering transaction-performance defeats by a mere PC. Those were considered "Big Iron" devices and a "Server" was usually considered a PC-based device. In about 1990 (??), IBM's mid-range AS400 computer system had a stripped-down version of its OS on a PC-sized AS/400. IBM called it "their server" and that's the first time I saw IBM use that term for one of their products.
This forum that you're reading from is a "server", too - hosting a common program for the Forum, plus displaying common pages and common services, such as writing/word processing for these posts. It's a "server", therefore.
A grocery store has some kind of 'server' computer handling all the cash registers so a back-office change of prices or product-avaiability can be shared (served up) to all the other cash registers.
The 'server' name started appearing in ?? the 1990s ?? when Big Computer Systems (IBM, HP, Stratus, etc) were suffering transaction-performance defeats by a mere PC. Those were considered "Big Iron" devices and a "Server" was usually considered a PC-based device. In about 1990 (??), IBM's mid-range AS400 computer system had a stripped-down version of its OS on a PC-sized AS/400. IBM called it "their server" and that's the first time I saw IBM use that term for one of their products.
Jacob McIntosh
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That all depend on what scale server you are building. A home server is cheaper, because you don't need that much RAM and CPU power, but if you want to build a big professional server... $5,000 EASY.
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Server PCs (or more commonly just "Servers") are systems that run organization wide applications, such as domain controllers (allows for user ID login), mail servers (distribute e-mails to your inbox), web servers (hosting web sites), database servers (storing data), files servers (shared network space), and yes, game servers. The most important factor when dealing with a server is communications. It has to be able to communicate with any and all of the clients attached to it's network. What hardware is required is going to depend on the function of the server as well as the number of people trying to communicate with it at any given time.
-Wolf sends
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My web server hosts multiple websites and runs on a Pentium, 4GB RAM, and 500GB storage and very little is used up.
Jacob McIntosh
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They don't need to have Xeons and tons of RAM. I ran a Minecraft server for a short period of time on a Pentium 930D, 4gb of RAM, and a 5100rpm 500gb drive.
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Aside from Minecraft servers, many web servers have very weak CPUs because they have no need anyways for a lot of CPU power. All the computer really does is feeds files and calculates some PHP code. Minecraft though is different.
Rather than answering this question in the context of hardware, it would be better to look at it in the context of what a server is meant to provide. Servers act to provide remote services to clients, serving their requests. The client can be anything from a mobile device, a desktop PC, a robot or even just a sensor which is generating data.
Server's are not meant to be actively used with a keyboard/monitor/mouse, they are meant to serve requests remotely over some kind of communication channel.
Now, in the industry, server-class hardware typically means hardware focused on maximizing the turn-around time for requests from client. Server applications, however, vary, and the hardware needed for each type of server varies.
For data centers which need triple-9s reliability, you need fault-tolerant hardware, ZFS mirrors data stores with remote backups etc etc. For a web server at your house, you probably can get by with an old processor and some hard drives.
There are also render farm servers, which basically handle remote render jobs for 3D animators.
So yeah, a server isn't necessarily a server because of it's hardware. It's just that server-class applications typically need special hardware to meet the application/MTBF/MTTR requirements.
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