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Hosting a 5K SPM server on AWS, best cost effective setup?
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 3:30 pm
by Ghostwheel
So I'm at the limits of the game engine and my hardware. I have an i5-2500k, more than enough power but as we all know Factorio only utilizes a couple cores / threads. I'm running at about 30 UPS (and half processor utilization), so about half speed, on my "5K SPM" base - and my power bill has risen about 70$ a month hosting it at home on my gaming PC. I have access to AWS so I'm going to start hosting it on there. I have many hardware / software options at my disposal but obviously I'd want it to be cost effective. So no just throwing the latest and greatest several hundred a month in costs performance options at it. I'm thinking a hardcore dual core option with integrated graphics(I'll be running it headless) and 8-16GB of fast RAM. Anyone with solid knowledge in this area care to weigh in? What would be the perfect cost effective processor? I can probably play with the rest.
Additional notes: Ideally I'd want this on a Windows distro - it's been a few years since my Linux days.
Re: Hosting a 5K SPM server on AWS, best cost effective setup?
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 8:28 pm
by quyxkh
If your rig can't handle a map on SP, going multiplayer will not help. Factorio is bandwidth limited, not CPU limited, for good reason; your DDR3-1333 is not "more than enough" for this workload, and it's not more efficient to have a server do all the simulation at Factorio's level of detail and then transmit the results, so Factorio doesn't do that.
Re: Hosting a 5K SPM server on AWS, best cost effective setup?
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:59 pm
by Jap2.0
quyxkh wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 8:28 pm
If your rig can't handle a map on SP, going multiplayer will not help. Factorio is bandwidth limited, not CPU limited, for good reason; your DDR3-1333 is not "more than enough" for this workload, and it's not more efficient to have a server do all the simulation at Factorio's level of detail and then transmit the results, so Factorio doesn't do that.
Sure, but it may be cost-effective compared to hosting it in his basement 24/7.
Can you point me to a page listing what AWS offers?
Re: Hosting a 5K SPM server on AWS, best cost effective setup?
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 10:31 pm
by aka13
Ghostwheel wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 3:30 pm
So I'm at the limits of the game engine and my hardware. I have an i5-2500k, more than enough power but as we all know Factorio only utilizes a couple cores / threads. I'm running at about 30 UPS (and half processor utilization), so about half speed, on my "5K SPM" base - and my power bill has risen about 70$ a month hosting it at home on my gaming PC. I have access to AWS so I'm going to start hosting it on there. I have many hardware / software options at my disposal but obviously I'd want it to be cost effective. So no just throwing the latest and greatest several hundred a month in costs performance options at it. I'm thinking a hardcore dual core option with integrated graphics(I'll be running it headless) and 8-16GB of fast RAM. Anyone with solid knowledge in this area care to weigh in? What would be the perfect cost effective processor? I can probably play with the rest.
Additional notes: Ideally I'd want this on a Windows distro - it's been a few years since my Linux days.
If you run 2500k chances are you are ram limited. What timings/clocks do you run?
Also, I am not exactly sure, but would a multiplayer instance not be limited by the slowest player playing? I mean, would his pc still not be the bottleneck?
Re: Hosting a 5K SPM server on AWS, best cost effective setup?
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:28 am
by Jap2.0
aka13 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 10:31 pm
Also, I am not exactly sure, but would a multiplayer instance not be limited by the slowest player playing? I mean, would his pc still not be the bottleneck?
In Factorio, the server goes as fast as it can (to the limit of 60 UPS unless set otherwise), and players that can't keep up are dropped.
Re: Hosting a 5K SPM server on AWS, best cost effective setup?
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 10:12 am
by aka13
Jap2.0 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:28 am
aka13 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 10:31 pm
Also, I am not exactly sure, but would a multiplayer instance not be limited by the slowest player playing? I mean, would his pc still not be the bottleneck?
In Factorio, the server goes as fast as it can (to the limit of 60 UPS unless set otherwise), and players that can't keep up are dropped.
Now this is funny. Having a more powerful server means not having a better experience, but rather being unable to play at all
Re: Hosting a 5K SPM server on AWS, best cost effective setup?
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:52 pm
by Ghostwheel
Jap2.0 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:59 pm
quyxkh wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 8:28 pm
If your rig can't handle a map on SP, going multiplayer will not help. Factorio is bandwidth limited, not CPU limited, for good reason; your DDR3-1333 is not "more than enough" for this workload, and it's not more efficient to have a server do all the simulation at Factorio's level of detail and then transmit the results, so Factorio doesn't do that.
Sure, but it may be cost-effective compared to hosting it in his basement 24/7.
Can you point me to a page listing what AWS offers?
https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/
Re: Hosting a 5K SPM server on AWS, best cost effective setup?
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:54 pm
by Ghostwheel
Jap2.0 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:28 am
aka13 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 10:31 pm
Also, I am not exactly sure, but would a multiplayer instance not be limited by the slowest player playing? I mean, would his pc still not be the bottleneck?
In Factorio, the server goes as fast as it can (to the limit of 60 UPS unless set otherwise), and players that can't keep up are dropped.
Interesting. I did not know this. I thought the server handled the heavy lifting and if your network bandwidth couldn't keep up you're dropped.
This changes things. My guess is most joining players are going to experience the same thing I am. But at least I won't have 50 a month in extra power charges.