Is it better to play SSP on a server?

[DespicableFTB]

Is it better (effeciency and FPS wise) to play with a friend of mine, on a private FTB server hosted on my old laptop?
Atm, I have a pretty powerful laptop that handles all packs over 150fps, and I have an old Dell laptop that is decent but with intel GPU.. It has an i7 (2.40Ghz 3690k) processor and 4 gigs of RAM. Will making a server on that PC be better to play on rather than hosting and playing at the same time on my powerful laptop itself?
Thanks in advance

 

[Shabazza]

Do you have problems with FPS or expieriencing tick lag? You did not say you do.
Of not, you do not need a dedicated server.
If yes, then obviously a server would be good, because your laptop needs to calculate your client and all that server stuff otherwise.

BTW: If you have FTB running at 150 FPS, you are simply wasting performance.
Activate "Vertical Sync" and limit the FPS to your monitors frequency. (normally 60 Hz)
If you have Optifine installed, you can alternatively use "Power Saver" mode in mincraft graphics options. This will limit FPS to 40 which is by far sufficient to play smoothly.
Otherwise you only produce heat for nothing and occupy your GPU and CPU needlessly. This is performance which you will lack when running a server on the same machine.

 

[namiasdf]

If you are capable of hosting your own server, that would give you a great amount control over the server. Increasing performance, etc. can be an ad hoc process, given you have the funds.

SMP is meant to build community, so if you are only looking to play with your friend, and ignore everything else, you may not need to subject yourself to the problems of SMP. Tick lag due to chunk generation by other players, issues with other players unaware of how to be SMP friendly (resource wise), etc.

 

[zemerick]

How much do you expect the server to be up, and how much power do your laptops use?

You may be surprised, but it can be cheaper to purchase a minecraft server from a host, than it is to run it yourself.

If your laptop uses 400W, and is on 24/7, that is about 288KWH. At just a bit over 5 cents per KWH it would be cheaper to buy a $15 per month MC server.

If you run 24 hours a day, in a 31 day month at 13 cents per KWH, you would have to use under 155W for it to be affordable compared to a $15 per month server. That's a tiny amount.

Naturally though, if you only run the server on the weekend, and only for 4 hours a day...it's certainly cheaper to run on your own system.

 

[namiasdf]

He's only playing with one other. I don't think they should 24/7.

 

[zemerick]

He's only playing with one other. I don't think they should 24/7.

I've done just that though...

Also, you don't need to run 24/7 for it to still cost more. The server farms often have solar panels and are built where electricity is especially cheap. They also reduce their usage a number of ways.

Heck, if the op lives in hawaii, even a few hours on the weekend could cost more.

 

[Wagon153]

How do you have an unlocked i7 in your Dell. :c I am jelly.

 

[ljfa]

I often do this for larger packs since I only have 4 GB RAM on my PC but 16 GB ob my laptop. Then again my PC has a better video card and better cooling than my laptop.