Phenom II x2 565 a Decent Gaming Server CPU?

[NeutralEnergy]

I'm building a PC to host a dedicated TF2 server on (24 people max). My Internet connection does not bother me because it is very high. Overall, this is going to be a budget system and is going to be on 24/7. I've decided on everything I need except for the CPU. It has to be an AMD AM3/AM3+ CPU as I already have a spare motherboard. I've been looking around and I like the sound of the Phenom II x2 565 Black Edition CPU. One of the biggest reasons I chose this over the Athlon X3 or Athlon X2 is because it has a large cache (1 Meg of L2 and 6 Megs of L3). My question is does the amount of cache play a large part in making a server better? Would I be better off with an Athlon X3 (Tri-core CPU) or the Phenom II X2 (Dual-core CPU)...

Thanks in advance for any help and answers!

-Neutral

 

[cliffro]

Well its possible to unlock that CPU, so you could get a Quad out of it. I think if all its doing is running a TF2 server, it should be fine even as a dual core.

 

[COLGeek]

As a dedicated server, the x2 should be fine. Of more importance will be the amount of main memory you will install and the operating system. How much memory (I recommend a minimum of 8GB) and what OS are you going to use?

 

[NeutralEnergy]

Is it really the more RAM the better? I was planning on grabbing a 4gb stick of Kingston ddr3 1333 MHz memory. If it matters a lot then I could easily go with 8gb or even 16gb (though I think that's a bit overkill) as ram is cheap these days.

 

[NeutralEnergy]

Thanks a lot for the feedback by the way. I really appreciate it!

-Neutral

 

[COLGeek]

Go with 8GB (2x4GB) so that the memory will run in dual channel mode. You want to minimize the use of virtual memory to keep server lag under control.

Still, will this be a Windows based or Linux based server?

 

[thently]

Read through this.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=689702

Thent

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

I wouldnt unlock or overclock a 24/7 server....basically you are building a low end home machine to run as a "server" for one game, but it is in no way a "SERVER"... if it was you could quadruple the cost..

All the best Brett