Written on: 29. March 2020
Recommendations for building your own server
In this article we’ll try to give you some guidelines in building a server that’s fit for running LightAct. As computer components advance quite rapidly we will try to keep these guidelines as future-proof as possible. At the end of each section, we will also tell you which component Sync 6000 server is using at the time of writing this article. Sync 6000 server has 38,222 Notchmarks.
CPU
We have most experience with Intel Xeon CPUs. They provide the reliability our Pro servers require (most of them are used in 24/7 installations). On the other hand, you might want to choose an i7 or i9 series as they have comparable or even higher speeds than Xeon series at much lower budgets. Although medium to high core-count is beneficial, LightAct doesn’t benefit extensively with an ultra-high number of cores. If you are choosing a Xeon processor we recommend choosing a model that has as high clock speed as possible.
CPU in Sync 6000: Intel Xeon Gold 6244, 3.6GHz, 4.4GHz Turbo, 8 cores
GPU
In our servers, we use Nvidia Quadro GPUs exclusively. This is not to say that LightAct is limited to NVidia only, but some features like GPU VRAM monitoring is not supported in AMD GPUs.
GPU in Sync 6000: NVidia Quadro RTX 6000
Drives
It was shown that the speed of hard drives increases if they are connected in a RAID array. If possible choose a NVMe SSD drive.
Drives in Sync 6000: 2 x TB PCie NVMe SSD connected in a RAID 1 array
RAM
16GB is recommended, but you can also use 32GB if you want to be ready for everything. Choose RAM with as high speed as possible. As simple as that.
RAM in Sync 6000: 4 x 8GB DDR4 2933RDIMM
Network
It is recommended that your server has at least 2 NICs (network interface controller). This way you’ll be able to divide network load in case you use network heavy protocols such as NDI, Art-Net, all the stage tracking technology etc.
NICs in Sync 6000: 4 x 1Gbit
Video Capture
At the moment, LightAct supports generic video capture, which has been tested to work with Datapath’s products.
Not standard in LightAct servers.
Power Supply Unit
We recommend using a redundant power supply unit.
PSU in Sync 6000: 2 x 1100W, hot-plug
Operating system
LightAct runs on Windows, so Windows 10 Pro is recommended.
OS on Sync 6000: Windows 10 Pro LTSC