Xeon recommendation for hosting small Minecraft server

[HQi88]

The current server runs off of a i3-4130 and I would need to find a low power i5 or i7 (S-suffix) in order to upgrade the cpu as the computer is a HP Prodesk 400 G2.5 SFF. These don't seem to be common where I am located. The server is not modded; there are a few datapacks I am running but those do not change the gameplay much. The server really only has 5 people online at the same time maximum but my friends keep requesting people to be added so I would like some more capable hardware.

Recently I managed to find a Chinese X79 motherboard for 25 maple rubles.

Spoiler: The motherboard

I am not sure whether it would be good to have more cores or to have higher clocks and I am generally unfamiliar with Xeon nomenclature. If I could get some advice on what would be better suited to running the sever or some recommendations as to what model of Xeon I should get, I would be really grateful!

Thanks for reading through this post!

 

[Toothless]

I'm running a server on a stock x5675, 6x4GB and Java is the bottleneck. Had 6+ people at once on and ran perfectly fine.

I could see a 1660v2 being all good.

 

[johnspack]

Hunt in there: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311&_nkw=1680+v2&_sacat=0
Nevermind, get first one. Or else go 12 core, but you don't really need that.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I could see a 1660v2 being all good.

A E5-1650v2 is easier to find and cheaper, yet only 200mhz slower.

Given what the OP is doing, an E5-1620v2 would be a solid choice too!

 

[kayjay010101]

Keep in mind Minecraft is frequency and RAM-dependant for the most part, core count isn't needed unless you're running instances.

IIRC the server .jre is single-threaded or uses like the first two cores only, something like that. So getting the fastest single-thread CPU you can get is your best bet, then pair that with a decent amount of RAM (depending on how many players, and whether you'll run mods/plugins).

 

[HQi88]

I'm running a server on a stock x5675, 6x4GB and Java is the bottleneck. Had 6+ people at once on and ran perfectly fine.

I could see a 1660v2 being all good.

Hunt in there: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311&_nkw=1680+v2&_sacat=0
Nevermind, get first one. Or else go 12 core, but you don't really need that.

A E5-1650v2 is easier to find and cheaper, yet only 200mhz slower.

Given what the OP is doing, an E5-1620v2 would be a solid choice too!

Keep in mind Minecraft is frequency and RAM-dependant for the most part, core count isn't needed unless you're running instances.

IIRC the server .jre is single-threaded or uses like the first two cores only, something like that. So getting the fastest single-thread CPU you can get is your best bet, then pair that with a decent amount of RAM (depending on how many players, and whether you'll run mods/plugins).

Thank you all for your responses!

I should have mentioned my budget! It is only around $50 CAD. Right now I think I have narrowed it down to two options: the E5-1620 v2 for around $30 or the E5-2637 v2 for around $50. They are both 4C/8T CPUs with a TDP of 130W.

Processor	Clock/Turbo	Cache	Bus Speed	QPI links
E5-1620 v2	3.7/3.9	10MB	0 GT/s	0
E5-2637 v2	3.5/3.8	15MB	8 GT/s	2

I am not sure what the differences in Bus Speed and QPI links are and how they would affect performance, could someone explain?
Would these extra features be worth the extra $20?

Thanks again!

 

[Toothless]

The 26xx you can dual socket. In this case you want 16xx chips as it had a higher clock and can't do dual socket.

 

[kayjay010101]

Thank you all for your responses!

I should have mentioned my budget! It is only around $50 CAD. Right now I think I have narrowed it down to two options: the E5-1620 v2 for around $30 or the E5-2637 v2 for around $50. They are both 4C/8T CPUs with a TDP of 130W.

Processor	Clock/Turbo	Cache	Bus Speed	QPI links
E5-1620 v2	3.7/3.9	10MB	0 GT/s	0
E5-2637 v2	3.5/3.8	15MB	8 GT/s	2

I am not sure what the differences in Bus Speed and QPI links are and how they would affect performance, could someone explain?
Would these extra features be worth the extra $20?

Thanks again!

QPI link is the links between CPUs - more links, more data can be transferred between which increases performance in multi-CPU workloads
The bus speed is how fast these links are.
In your case, multiple CPUs isn't needed or wanted, so those figures are irrelevant. Get the 1620 v2 as it has higher frequency anyway

 

[lexluthermiester]

I should have mentioned my budget! It is only around $50 CAD. Right now I think I have narrowed it down to two options: the E5-1620 v2 for around $30 or the E5-2637 v2 for around $50. They are both 4C/8T CPUs with a TDP of 130W.

Processor	Clock/Turbo	Cache	Bus Speed	QPI links
E5-1620 v2	3.7/3.9	10MB	5 GT/s	1
E5-2637 v2	3.5/3.8	15MB	8 GT/s	2

I am not sure what the differences in Bus Speed and QPI links are and how they would affect performance, could someone explain?
Would these extra features be worth the extra $20?

See the bold/underlined changes. Those are the differences. The QPI links are the number of pathways that the CPU can use to "talk" to the memory, the PCIe bus and other system components. The more the merrier and the faster the better. And yes, they are worth the extra $20. The 2637v2 is easily the better CPU for the paces you'd put it through as a Minecraft server.

 

[silentbogo]

Recently I managed to find a Chinese X79 motherboard for 25 maple rubles.

I hate these boards for many reasons, but for low-budget minecraft server it's perfect. DDR3 ECC is cheap and CPU prices are at their lowest.
I've built a little server for work based off HP Z620, and at the time it was a lot cheaper and nearly twice as powerful as the nearest desktop Ivy bridge.
Something like Xeon E5-2620 can be found as cheap as $10. Got my 2660 for under $20.
4x4GB DDR3 ECC REG cost me $50 or so, and it's easier to find cause it's abundant and has very little use outside server space. Sometimes (in my case, when local market gets over-saturated), you can get it even cheaper. At one point I was tempted to get a 128GB kit for $120, but for some reason prioritized other things.

If you have under 10 players, then it's a total overkill and you won't benefit from all the cores, but the main advantage of LGA2011 rig is price. I mean, it's a beast under $200.
You can potentially set it up as VM host, run Windows+Minecraft on one VM and use the rest of your resources for other interesting things.

HP Prodesk will also work, but even if you had a local CPU upgrade - it won't be cheap. Went through the same ordeal with my army of Lenovo M93p's.
You can give it a try on stock i3 - it should be fine if you aren't planning on having many players or large worlds.

 

[HQi88]

Thanks once again. I have decided to get the E5-1620 v2 in part because the motherboard only has two memory channels. Thank you everyone for the help!