What really separates a PC from a server? Mainly the hardware, but I guess software too.
What really separates a PC from a server? Mainly the hardware, but I guess software too.
In title, can elaborate if needed.
Edit: thanks everyone, I ended up deciding on an m920q for the server.
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Server serves a specific application(s). PC is general day to day usage.
Both are computers. Pc hardware can be used as a server. Server hardware can be used as a pc.
Using a computer for day to day tasks - call it a pc. Use it to run a web server application or host a game - that one or more users will access - call it a server
Hardware can be configured to optimise it for its function. E.g pc can have latest GPUs and "servers" can have multicore cpus and loads of ram, rack mounting form factor and dual power supplies for redundancy.
But it could also be weak - i have raspberry pi's and old laptops set up as a servers
Server hardware can be used as a pc.
Correction: not all server hardware can be used as a PC
For example server gpus without outputs mainly used for running calculations
Even these boxes will allow a serial connection. You can just open a tty and you can treat it just like a PC... if you're comfortable on the command line.
If i remember correctly there is a way to make compute gpu process the image and then forward it to the onboard video to be shown.
So if we want to get pedantic. Only asics are really bound to one task, the rest is adaptable if you are willing to sacrifice enough time and mental sanity.
If i remember correctly there is a way to make compute gpu process the image and then forward it to the onboard video to be shown.
Isn't that similar to how laptops do it if I remember correctly
...maybe some of them?
I have no idea why a laptop with dedicated graphics would do that because it would add latency and simply not be necessary.
Thanks for the reply. This much I understand, I guess a better way to ask would be, what are the differences in "advertised"(for lack of a better word) server hardware that more effectively accomplish the task of serving?
If I were to build a server at home for media hosting, what are the areas I should focus on? I guess a good example is error correcting memory (hopefully I'm remembering that right)
Is that something that's just going to have slightly better performance or is that crucial? And are there other examples of hardware that I should be focusing on?
Honestly depends on whats being served. As i say people can run servers on enterprise grade multi thousand £ systems or a £50 pi or mini pc.
Since you have a specific usage in mind, media server, you basically want hardware that will allow optimised performance so you can have a lag/ buffer free experience.
Say,
hardware thats good for on the fly encoding/ decoding
Lots of ram for multitasking.
Lots of storage to store the media.
Maybe gigabit network cards for multiuser streaming without bandwidth bottlenecks.
It really depends on the experience and chokepoints
ECC ram ill let someone more familiar answer but im leaning towards non critical and nice to have
Nothing you couldnt upgrade on your typical PC. Just makes life easier...at a cost.
Power efficiency will also matter for a home server to some extent. You don't want a 300 watt idle power draw 24/7 just to handle streaming a video for yourself once a day.
Most home devices won't use that at idle, but older PC's, or larger setups could.
ECC is a 'good to have', but isn't critical unless your systems are.
Most of the higher costs that come with stuff advertised as "server hardware" come from the need to get 99.99% uptime instead of 99.9%, because that 0.09% represents millions of dollars, or even people's safety. If you just want to store personal data and run some basic services like a media server or a personal email, then pretty much any hardware will work, just make sure to backup your data regularly in case something goes wrong with your disks.
Consumer grade vs business grade
You could get something that will work for a certain period of time on and off intermittent usage; that's consumer grade.
Want something that will have power redundancy (hot swappable), ethernet redundancy, RAID storage (for redundancy and switching out bad drives), and so on... for staying powered on for 24/7/365 that would be business grade. It's all about the uptime and reaching 5 9s or HA (high availability) .
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availability#Percentage_calculation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_nines
If I understand correctly your asking about hardware sold as for “servers”. “Server” hardware features focus on scalability and redundancy. If you’re running a service that’s generating income and the powers that be therefore say it “can’t” go down then you’re starting to pay for redundant systems. Multiple hotswapable power supplies for example.
Most folks self hosting don’t really need to worry about this level of availability as they’re hosting services as a hobby or for friends at most; not paying customers with a boss demanding high availability.
For a home server, go get a Thinkcentre tiny m710q for 80€.
Cheap, uses very low power, easy to upgrade and maintain (one nvme, one 2"5 slot, two DDR4 SODIMM 32GB max but people say it's actually 64GB, lots of usb & video ports).
For a business, where the server/PC will run at full speed, generate heat, and eventually break down, you need beefier hardware and redundance.
You all need a backup plan of course but if you lose your home PC it's not the same thing than losing your business...
It's not really the hardware, it's what you do with it. Encode lots of stuff? Don't buy that thinkcentre for example.
This is the way to go. I got one second hand for $70. It already had the 16gb ram upgrade. The 7th gen Intel processor handles Jellyfin encoding without a problem even though it's an old i3. Gigabit ethernet, WiFi, NMVe slot, and sips power.
This is a fantastic idea, thanks. I've been intending to set up a media server for awhile now.
If you're doing any work with serving video, make sure to get one with a 7th gen Intel chip. The QSV (hardware decode) supports much more than the 6th. They seem to be pretty common second hand, I think they were used for a lot of businesses and schools.
Ah, good advice. Thanks! The first one I spotted had an i5-7500T in it, so I don't think 7th gen ones will be all that rare.
Features you'll find in the machines you'll get if you order from the "Server" section of Dell's website:
- A chassis that fits in a 19 inch rack
- Loud, high volume cooling fans and otherwise cooling systems intended to allow the machine to run every component in the box at full power continuously for years on end.
- Often, multiple network adapters both for redundancy in case of failure and possibly for increased bandwidth.
- Xeon or Epic CPUs with truly large core counts
- Large amount of PCIe or other expansion, possibly used for the aforementioned multiple network adapters, ASICs, GPUs for rendering or CUDA type workloads (or increasingly the manufacture of AI slop), etc.
- Drive bays for DAYS if it's to be used for storage intensive workloads or as a file server.
- Redundant power supplies. As in, most "servers" have two power cables so you can plug them into separate UPSes.
The thing is, what really makes it a "server" is the software it runs, and nearly every computer I own is nine kinds of "server". Take for example my Wi-Fi router, it has a little web server running on board, it hosts a web page I can get to by keying its IP address into a web browser from inside my network to get to its settings. It also runs my LAN's DHCP server. New devices get hooked up to my network and assigned an IP address nine or ten times a year when I decide to play with a Raspberry Pi or ESP32 or something, so it doesn't have a lot to do, but it is providing a service therefore it is a "server."
You want to build "a server at home for media hosting." I've got my movies and such stored on a lower end 2-bay Synology NAS, which is a little box about the size of a toaster that sits on the shelf next to my Wi-Fi router/switch thing. It's got two 3.5" hard disks in it, a little ARM processor, it runs Linux, it can do a lot of things, just, not everything all at once because it'll beat the poor thing's tiny little brain out. They make NASes with beefier x86 CPUs that can do things like run transcoding operations for Plex and shit...I just hose mp4s across my LAN.
A home media server is probably going to sit around most of the day doing basically nothing, then maybe do a bit of work in the evenings when you want to watch a movie or something, and then do basically nothing all night while you're asleep. Consumer grade PC hardware is very much up to the task for that.
I've been doing this off Windows PCs for over a decade now. I personally think professional grade servers are way overkill for this and will suck up a ton of energy for little benefit compared to consumer grade hardware.
Realistically you're going to maybe be serving between a couple and couple dozen people at most, charging little to nothing for access, and hosting data that isn't critical for anything, so having perfect uptime and loads of redundancy isn't necessary.
In my experience, what is critical is setting everything up on an OS designed for this kind of work (which isn't Windows) as that's what's caused me grief over the years and not anything to do with the hardware itself. I'm actually planning on rebuilding everything (leaning more toward doing little more than upgrading my OS, CPU, and RAM on hardware from 2018) and just posted about this a few days ago.
Even a lightweight, micro office PC or laptop with a mobile processor would work fine for this power wise, but lacks the ports and HDD mounting space to do the job well.
I just copped a thinkcentre tiny, and planning to do a trash guides setup on it.