Shockbyte has upgraded its game server infrastructure with AMD EPYC server CPUs and AMD Ryzen processors as it expands capacity, improves performance and reduces operating costs across its global hosting platform.
The Australian game server hosting provider, which supports Minecraft and more than 60 other game titles, deployed the new infrastructure in partnership with DiGiCOR and Supermicro. The company said the transition has increased server density, lowered power consumption and strengthened its ability to respond to rapid fluctuations in player demand.
Growth demands
Game server providers face highly variable workloads as new game releases generate sharp increases in player numbers before demand settles. Those shifts require infrastructure that can scale efficiently while maintaining consistent performance for online players.
Shockbyte, founded in Melbourne in 2013, has expanded from Minecraft hosting into broader infrastructure services for game studios. The company now operates consumer hosting services across more than 60 titles while also providing cloud infrastructure for commercial customers, including dedicated game server deployments.
The company said its infrastructure strategy shifted towards operating its own clustered data centre environment after previously leasing bare metal servers from third-party providers. It evaluated AMD processors as part of that transition, citing processor performance and platform density as key factors in the decision.
Performance gains
Shockbyte said testing showed at least a 40% improvement in single-threaded performance after migrating to AMD-powered systems. The company also reported average single-thread benchmark scores increasing from approximately 2,750 to around 4,200 across its newer deployments. Single-thread performance remains particularly important for games such as Minecraft, where individual processing threads directly affect gameplay responsiveness.
The deployment began with AMD Ryzen processors before expanding to AMD EPYC server CPUs, including the EPYC 4464P, 4545P and most recently the EPYC 9555P. According to Shockbyte, the newer EPYC processors increased memory capacity while allowing higher server density without sacrificing single-thread performance.
"Our overall goal is to make it smooth and frictionless to run a game server. The performance of AMD CPUs has been fantastic," said Liam Charles, Director of IT, Shockbyte. "AMD will continue being our go-to for the foreseeable future. AMD EPYC Server CPUs will be an increasingly large part of that future, particularly as newer EPYC 4000 and 9000 Series processors enable greater density and scalability."
Infrastructure scale
The company said the hardware refresh enabled substantial consolidation across its infrastructure. Its server fleet has been reduced from more than 2,000 systems to fewer than 1,000 while continuing to support business growth. Higher memory capacity and increased processor core counts have allowed more customer workloads to run on fewer physical machines.
Shockbyte also reported reducing average power consumption by approximately 30% compared with its previous infrastructure. The company said its legacy systems averaged 0.93 watts per gigabyte of memory, while the new AMD-based deployments average about 0.65 watts per gigabyte for equivalent hosting capacity.
According to the company, the infrastructure changes have also improved operational efficiency by reducing the physical footprint required within data centres. The denser deployments are intended to support future capacity growth while making more efficient use of available rack space and power allocation.
Shockbyte said it has also expanded its infrastructure footprint into the United States, including a deployment in Dallas, Texas. The company expects further growth in the US market and said the latest AMD EPYC 9555P-based systems will support that expansion by allowing significantly more computing capacity within existing data centre space.
Regional expansion
AMD said gaming infrastructure providers increasingly require processors that balance compute performance with operational efficiency as online gaming communities continue to expand globally.
"Gaming infrastructure providers require a unique balance of performance, scalability and efficiency to support dynamic workloads and growing communities from around the world," said Alexey Navolokin, General Manager, Sales, APAC, AMD. "Shockbyte's adoption of AMD EPYC Server CPUs and AMD Ryzen processors demonstrates how high-performance compute can help service providers deliver exceptional user experiences while improving infrastructure density and operational efficiency as they scale."