Is it smart to host a server on your own PC?

[.:DoA:.Backflip]

The title says it all. I'm kind of confused, I want to do it, but should I? Here are some pictures that might help you with the decision that could help me.

And if something is missing, tell me what do you suggest. Thanks.

[Dutchman101]

It's possible really well in combination with your system aslong you keep an eye on the load, with this set-up i'd recommend only running an small project or server that doesn't have alot of players at average, if those screens are when you PC is idle your temps are already quite high (most likely something mechanical or system build) and this makes it unsuitable for excessive load as it might eventually increase and cause problems. I also recommend using the disk D:/ with enough space, not the OS disk. With that i mean yes, you can easily run an server on this system but not to the endless possibilities, it really depends and when the requirements of the server outgrow that PC's performance i'd say beter then go look at other options/hosted.

[Mr_Moose]

Performance is usually the least important aspect when it comes to running your own server, what you need to do is to ask yourself how much uptime you need, close to 100% or only daytime (~60%). Is it a laptop or a desktop machine (laptops needs better cooling). What type of network do you have (wireless or cable). A wireless network gives terrible ping to your clients, proceed only if it's plugged in by a network cable.

Another thing is what you're going to use this machine for more than running your mta server on it. Using a regular windows client as host is often a pretty bad idea, I would rather recommend using an older machine with a real server operating system on it (there are free Linux distributions for this purpose allowing you to run your server for months without maintenance).

Remaining parts of the network is also interesting, what kind of router do you have, a home router can get really hot if there's a lot of traffic coming by. How are you going to cool it down? a large heat sink may be required to solve this problem. You must also consider the risk of fire, you can't remove the oxygen in the air or the heat from your server. You need to place your server somewhere isolated by metal or concre, anything that can't burn. I'm only saying this because I know a few idiots who left their home server (laptop) on a couch or in their bed. They're homeless today.

Alright, let's talk about the positive stuff, the profits, which is mainly the money you save. But only if you manage to solve above issues with hardware you already own, buying new hardware to setup a server is expensive and if that's required it's usually better to let someone else host it for you.