Powering Up: A Major Upgrade to Our Server Infrastructure!

Powering Up: A Major Upgrade to Our Server Infrastructure!

Elevating our server capabilities for unparalleled performance and reliability.

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Hey Axies!

We are thrilled to announce a significant upgrade to the hardware that powers our services! As our community and features grow, we’re committed to ensuring the fastest, most reliable experience possible. To that end, we have officially migrated our core infrastructure from our trusty Raspberry Pi 5 to a new, high-performance MINISFORUM UM750L Mini PC.

This move represents a monumental leap in performance, reliability, and future potential. Let’s dive into what’s new and what it means for you.

Meet Our New Server: The MINISFORUM UM750L

This compact powerhouse is built for efficiency and speed, providing server-grade performance in a tiny footprint. Here are the key specifications:

• * Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7545U (6 Cores / 12 Threads, up to 4.9GHz)
• * Memory: 32GB LPDDR5 RAM @ 6400MHz
• * Storage: 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD
• * Networking: 2.5 Gigabit LAN & Wi-Fi 6E
• * Operating System: Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS

Old vs. New: A Detailed Hardware Comparison

To truly appreciate the scale of this upgrade, here is a direct, side-by-side comparison of the specifications of our old and new server hardware.

*The Raspberry Pi 5 can support NVMe SSDs via an add-on HAT, but its primary storage is the microSD card.

The Leap in Performance: By the Numbers

The specifications above translate into some staggering real-world performance gains. Here’s a summary of the leap in key metrics.

A Deeper Dive into the Performance Gains

The numbers are impressive, but what do they actually mean? Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what this new technology brings to the table.

CPU: A Generational Leap in Processing Power

The move from the Raspberry Pi’s ARM-based chip to the MINISFORUM’s AMD Ryzen 5 is our biggest gain. The new CPU is not only faster, but fundamentally more capable of handling complex server workloads. With 6 Cores and 12 Threads (thanks to Simultaneous Multi-Threading), our server can now process nearly three times as many tasks in parallel. This is crucial for handling requests from multiple users and bots simultaneously without delay. Furthermore, the modern ‘Zen 4’ architecture delivers a massive increase in Instructions Per Clock (IPC), meaning each core is individually almost twice as fast.
The bottom line: Our bots can think faster, process data more quickly, and respond to your commands with lower latency.

RAM: Quadruple the Capacity, 50% More Speed

With 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, we now have four times the memory capacity of the old server. This massive pool of high-speed memory allows us to run more complex services, maintain larger data caches, and completely eliminate memory-related bottlenecks. The upgrade from LPDDR4X to LPDDR5 technology also boosts memory bandwidth by approximately 50%, allowing the powerful CPU to access data from RAM much more quickly.
The bottom line: Our services can handle more simultaneous user requests and more complex background tasks without ever hitting a memory wall, ensuring a smooth experience for everyone.

Storage: The Shift to Blazing-Fast NVMe SSD

This is perhaps the most dramatic quality-of-life improvement. We have moved from a high-speed microSD card to a dedicated, motherboard-integrated **PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD**. The performance difference is staggering—it’s like upgrading from a bicycle to a bullet train for data access. With read/write speeds up to 50 times faster, latency is reduced from milliseconds to microseconds.
The bottom line: Server reboots that used to take a minute are now completed in seconds. Log writing, database queries, and deploying updates are all now virtually instantaneous, drastically improving our backend efficiency and service reliability.

Networking: More Than Double the Throughput

A server is only as good as its connection. By upgrading from a standard 1 Gigabit LAN to a **2.5 Gigabit LAN**, we have increased our network throughput by 150%. This provides significantly more headroom for network traffic, reducing the risk of bottlenecks during peak hours and enabling much faster internal tasks, such as performing backups.
The bottom line: This upgrade ensures a rock-solid, low-latency connection at all times, making our services feel more responsive and reliable.

What This Upgrade Means For You

• * Enhanced Speed and Responsiveness: Our bots and services will respond faster than ever before.
• * Greater Reliability: The new hardware provides a more stable and robust platform, ensuring maximum uptime.
• * More Capacity for Growth: We can now handle many more users and tasks simultaneously without slowing down.
• * Room for New Features: This powerful new foundation gives us the resources we need to develop and launch exciting new features in the near future.
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A New Role for a Fan Favourite

So, what’s happening to our faithful Raspberry Pi 5? It’s not being retired! It’s being repurposed as a dedicated utility server for our internal network, running a Pi-hole ad blocker and a Home Assistant instance. It will continue to serve us well in its new role.

Looking Ahead

We’re incredibly excited about this upgrade and the possibilities it unlocks. Thank you for being a part of our community, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next!