Home Gaming Server

[Ronwalters36]

I am very interested in creating my own home server. There are many reasons for this, only one of them being gaming, so please keep the "It would be cheaper to rent a game server" comments to a minimum. A couple of the reqirements are I want full control, and want it located in my house, so rental is out of the question....

ok, so with that being said.... How difficult is this to do? I've seen lot's of posts about home servers, but none really informative.

I want it to have network storage that I can access from anywhere. I will probably add some home automation to it (Lights, AC etc...), I will want it to have a few security cameras on it and record for xx amount of hours. And I want to host games on it for my son. Maybe a few game instances running at the same time.

Any suggested reading anyone could provide woul be awesome, and suggestions are welcome. (Except suggesting I rent...)

Money is an issue... of course.. But if I could get just the server or <$1000, that would be great.

So I guess my questions are:

Is this possible?
What Hardware would I need?
What software/OS would I need?
Any other considerations I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance.

Ron

 

[Bossyfins]

1. Yes, do I recommend it, kinda. The game Servers require. depending on the game, use insane amounts of internet speeds. You would need to have at least 30 down and 10 up to have a lag free experience in the game. As for the home automation, that is a little bit easier to do. The cameras should be relatively easy to do, but the AC is another question. For something like an AC, it would have to be digital so a program can control it. That way it reads what you want off the PC.

2. You would need some decent hardware to run this. Something like a Xeon 1231 v3 should handle this, but refer to the 1st post on game servers. I would also look into WesternDigital Red hard drives since those are for NAS solutions, but seeing your going to run the system 24/7, WD purples might also be a good choice.

3. I would look into something like linux. Although, I am not the greatest with software recommendation.

4. Game server: Ram/CPU/internet usage
Cameras: Storage
Home Automation: A program that controls what you are trying to achieve.

 

[Ronwalters36]

Is there a downside to an i7 vs the xeon cpu?

 

[Bossyfins]

A Xeon 1231 V3 is a I7 4770 that can NOT be overclocked, and does NOT have intergrated graphics.