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Yet being the operative word. Consumer NVMe with no SPD or sensor logging, you'll find out when it goes read-only.
My H12 boxes log SSD wear via NVMe-MI through the BMC. I get emails at 80% endurance. That's the gap: not if it fails, but whether you get to migrate before it does.
Contabo's "we checking" for two days is the killer. No spares policy, no telemetry, no warning. Just surprise downtime.
I run a small hosting co in Rotterdam, we tried Contabo wholesale for a client who insisted on "cheap dedi with lots of cores." Took one look at the board when it arrived, sent it back un-racked. Asrock B550M Pro4, single NIC, no IPMI header soldered. Couldn't even add a PiKVM easily because the BMC header was physically absent.
Client went to Hetzner instead. More per month but the support tickets dropped 90%.
For our own infra we use refurbished Dell R640 from bargainhardware.co.uk. IDRAC enterprise, dual PSU, proper rails. Less sexy on paper than 16 cores @ 4GHz but the phone doesn't ring at night.
This thread is making me feel better about my old E3-1230v3. Slow? Yes. Dead? No, eight years and counting. Sometimes boring is the feature.
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Running CS 1.6 servers since 2003 and I learned this lesson with game hosting. Had a "gaming optimized" Xeon box from some no-name in 2010, died in 8 months. Switched to Dell R210ii with E3-1220, ran until 2022.
For my current CS:GO server I use a Hetzner AX42. Ryzen 5 3600 but on a real board with IPMI. Never had to drive to a DC at 2am because I could power cycle from my phone.
Game servers need uptime too, not just FPS.
Following this closely. Was about to pull trigger on Contabo 5900X for Plex. Guess I'll look at Hetzner AX102 instead.
Bro for Plex you dont need 5900x!!! Get cheap vps or old dedi, transcoding is GPU job anyway!!!
I run Plex on GreenCloudVPS 4GB KVM in Amsterdam, 6 dolar, works fine for 3 users. For dedicated old E5 from Kimsufi or Hetzner auction better than new ryzen with no ECC.
My friend in izmir he use 7950x for Plex, total waste!!! CPU at 5% always.
Not if you want tone mapping with HDR. That'll bring a CPU to its knees unless you have Intel Quick Sync or a recent NVENC. My AX102 does fine with software tone mapping, 5950X has the headroom.
But you're right that 5900X is overkill for most. I picked it for multiple 4K remux streams to family, not because I needed the cores.
Has anyone actually had success with Contabo's support replacing a dead Ryzen board quickly? My experience was 4 days to even acknowledge, then "we will check with datacenter" for another week. Got refund eventually but no replacement offered.
For comparison Hetzner had a dead PSU on my EX62, replacement online in 35 minutes. Night and day.
Same here, Hetzner replaced a backplane fan at 3am CET. Got email with photo of tech holding the old fan. Contabo took 11 days to tell me my NVMe was "being tested" and then they just wiped it and sent it back empty.
Never again.
From Jakarta the latency to Contabo Singapore is 18ms, Hetzner Singapore doesn't exist. So for game server hosting here Contabo or GreenCloudVPS are the realistic options.
I use Contabo VPS not dedi, no issues in 3 years. But reading this thread I will stay away from their Ryzen line for sure. VPS nodes seem different animal.
