Hello all, brand new to the forums and thought I might ask a couple of questions.

1. I currently run a 10 slot TDM server from my home and was wondering which OS (Windows XP Pro or Windows 2003 Server) would yeild the best performance and gaming experience for connected clients?

2. Is it better to run the OS on a RAID array allong with the server files or run the OS on a slower hard drive and run the server files on the RAID array itself?

Here are my server specs currently:

CPU: Intel 3.0Ghz Prescott
Mobo: MSI i865 Neo2
RAM: 2GB Kingston HyperX DDR 400mhz PC3200 Dual Channel
LAN: 1Gbit Realtec onboard
Network: cox.net premier service 1Mb UP / 12Mb DOWN
OS: Windows XP Pro
HDD: 2x SATA 150's stripped in RAID 0
1 IBM / Hitachi 60 Gig 7200rpm w/ 8MB Buffer (Partitioned for OS and DATA storage)


Thanks in advance,

Windows 2k3 would probably be a better choice as it doesn't allocate as much memory/cpu to the GUI

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Thanks for the reply. Would you then suggest installing Win 2003 and the server on the RAID array or install it on the PATA drive and have the server installed on the RAID drives?

Sorry, wouldn't know :(

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It all depends what you want:

RAID 0 - Is the quickest you can get , reads and writes to 2 or more drives, but has no redundancy if things go wrong. But using something like Acronis TrueImage or Ghost to copy the whole of your O/S & data will make restore a doddle.

Usual set ups for business likes is:

RAID 1 - Mirror the O/S Drive, so if the first drive fails it runs from the second - 2 Drives required.

RAID 5 - Using the Parity Bit for data allows for a single drive failure - Min 3 Drives

:idea: But you wont need redunancy for the data really, so you could Mirror you O/S then use RAID 0 for your data (fast access) but make regular back ups.

But if you have some Samsung Spinpoints or even WD Raptors hard drives these should be fast enough on there own to load games...

:ugeek:

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Thanks for the reply! Ya, not worried about redundancy thats why I currently have my OS installed on a independant but slower PATA drive and the server files installed on my 2 SATA 150's in RAID 0 array. Guess what I was after was if installing the OS and the server on the RAID array would give me better performance than my current config. Dont have any extra SATA drives or an add-in RAID controller for RAID 1 or 5 setups.

Dont see why you would change, the Game is gonna be loading off your RAID 0 array into the CPU/RAM, putting the O/S into a RAID 0 will give you little gain for a COD 4 Server due to the O/S should be idle and the main CPU Usage will be from the Dedicated Server Console...

Your real bottle neck is probably your internet connection, as it is always the problem for gamers :cry:

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I don't think you have redunancy here - you lose one drive (either OS or 1 striped SATA) and you are out of business. Either way it doesn't sound like you are going for uptime.

Are you doing hardware RAID or striping in Windows? If the latter, I would not suggest putting the OS on the RAID set because it's more hassle than it's worth.

Your performance will be greater impacted by RAM and CPU vs. disk. The only time your server is going to disk is to load maps, configuration info, etc. so RAID will speed those things up. If you are low on RAM, try to upgrade. If upgrading RAM is cost prohibitive, put your page file on the Sata RAID 0 you created so you get some performance benefit when Windows pages to disk.

Always choose W2K3 over XP for anything I/O intensive (W2K3 is much better at disk/memory I/O than XP).

In reality we're not talking about running the stock market on this server so you will see minimal performance differences unless you are running on older hardware or you currently have a performance bottleneck.

Also there is a setting in Windows server to optimize the OS for applications running in the foreground or background (it's under the performance tab in your computer properties I believe). I think this defaults to background applications in Windows 2003. If you are not running COD4 as a service, change this to foreground.

Thanks for the input guys! I currently have the RAID configured by the onborad controller from the motherboard. Also, I have my page file on the RAID array as well and will make sure to configure Windows to optimize for applications running in the forground. BTW, I know that I can use Firedamean to set CoD4 as a service but, is there another way you might recommend? Thanks again.