LAN party network????????

[styxenstones]

Originally posted by tha 4NiK8R
Essentials for network gaming/LAN Party:

Fast switch: I recommend a Dell PowerConnect 2016 -$99

Network Protocols: TCP/IP and IPX/SPX (be sure they are all set to the same network and frametype - 802.2 or 802.3)

Operating systems - Windows XP -some may argue this, but if they do they are not true gamers and should go buy a Mac

Hardware - depends on the games - if we are talking "First Person Shooter" eg Counter Strike, UT2003, etc you want decent processors, memory and video cards,

Standard Gaming Machine:
Athlon XP 2000+ or higher
512mb of DDR 3200or3500 memory - this is the min for a gaming machine
ASUS A7N8X - great performance, onboard sound and NIC
GeForce 4 128mb video card - you can get an MX440 for less than $100
Go for an ATA 133 HD - I prefer IBM for performance
you also need a good heatsink and fan
400w power supply or better

Of course if they bring their own machines you don't have to worry about all that.

Don't get prebuilt machines from Dell, HP, etc. They don't run games very well and for what you need is more expensive then building it yourself.

It all depends on how serious they are. Since they offered to hire you (at $100+/hr then they must be serious enough to get decent hardware.

Remember, PC gaming is no good unless you have the hardware to play it on. If they just want to play hearts across the network tell them to buy a pack of cards.

Good Luck!

Here is the minimum system requirements at LAN parties I host:

Athlon 1700 or Higher or P4 2ghz or higher
512MB of RAM
GeForce 2 Pro
10/100 NIC
19" in monitor or 17" flat panel
-Anything less is turned away at the door.

HAHAHA... lets get realistic here...

A dell switch? HA... i got my soho 16 port for less then 70

XP is for true gamers? yea.. my @$$!... at win 98 or win2k (2k beats out most other)

your standard gaming machine is a little outragous.. min of 1.4 t-bird will be more then enough for 3-5 machines....

and whats wrong with network hearts?

Sman!

[Radical Dreamer]

Originally posted by styxenstones


XP is for true gamers? yea.. my @$$!... at win 98 or win2k (2k beats out most other)

I have to disagree with both of you, yes XP is a great system, but you dont have to have it to be a "true gamer" but it does help, I mean, who wants to have to restart the games every 10 min because of BSOD?

[styxenstones]

Originally posted by Radical Dreamer
I have to disagree with both of you, yes XP is a great system, but you dont have to have it to be a "true gamer" but it does help, I mean, who wants to have to restart the games every 10 min because of BSOD?

Don't get me wrong... after 2 years of using windows 2k religously... i've finally settled on my 3rd and last attempt at installing windows XP.... loooks like it might finnally work fine...

Most lan parties i go to.... only like 10% of people use XP... most are 98 or 2k

[Rô©kHøµñÐ]

You really don't have to worry about the quality of the switch until you reash about 50% of the total theoretical bandwidth.

As for gaming platforms I use ME and 2K i have ME for one game, I use 2k for all the others. Xp is a fine Nos but for gaming i need all the clock cycles i can get on my pIII 800.
btw the only time 2k ever bsod on me was when i was installing sp2 and got a rolling blackout, had to reinstall the darn thing.

On another note why not just get a layer 3 switch and set each port as its own subnet, and add some VLAN tagging. that would really be quick. Expensive & confusing, but quick.

[SpongeBob]

Originally posted by Rô©kHøµñÐ
On another note why not just get a layer 3 switch and set each port as its own subnet, and add some VLAN tagging. that would really be quick. Expensive & confusing, but quick.

ROFL!!!



There is a cisco sale guy who loves you somewhere!!! HAHAHA

Layer3 switch for a Gamming LAN!! omg.... that would ROCK!!

now if only i could win the frickin lottery.

[Radical Dreamer]

/me goes to "borrow" the Cisco catalyst with 3 psu's for the next lan party...

[bbtech6650]

Originally posted by a d e p t
Other gamers like to play soundtracks/music CDs while they play.

oh how i remember that, like when playing older versions of quake.

[beshman2]

Athlon 1800 XP, 768 MB PC2100 DDR RAM, ATA100 20 GB Drive, Geforce4 TI4200 128 MB Video Card, dual NICS, Soundblaster XGamer 5.1, 19" Flat CRT and loving it! Plays MOHAA and Spearhead maxed out with great frame rates, and I have no problems playing online with a cable modem connection. Nice hardware specs, but wife, two kids, two cars, house, sailing hobby, ect takes alot of upgrade money out of the equation! Just having a slow day at work, so thought I would post....

[Crazy02]

Had a small lan party last New Year Eve
I had the smallish PC that night P3 800 slot 1
and had not a problem
personally would never turn anyone away who wishes to
partake all welcome what ever the specs
after all its enough for me to get together with friends
for an evening
Cheers

[Rô©kHøµñÐ]

Actually you can find Extreme Networks Summit switches at a decent price on Nextag probably even cheaper on E-bay.

We were toying with that Idea at work since we have 2 S24e3 summits just collecting dust.

We've been working with them for a few months now and they are pretty solid switches.

[ilovetheusers]

Originally posted by bostonflunkie
I must say that I am surprised, I did not know there is so much to it. Thanks for everyone's input. I was not even thinking of the switch, a HUB I thought should do. I have some hardware collecting dust, I was going to use it. P4 1.4 to 1.8G, lot of SDRAM which I certainly want to get rid of. (Am I being dishonest?, I hope not!) I do tell my customers which are very few, BTW, about the new DDR. Anyway, thanks again for worthy advice. Noway I am going to recomend Xbox.
He is interested only in racing games, Nascar and GTA can you play any game on lan or you need special games? sorry for the dumb questions!
Is there a site I can probe to learn more about setting up a network like that. I don't have a lot of time to spare like everyone else, Igess!

So this guy wants to buy like 3-5 new PC's as well as the LAN setup? Dang, you gonna make some loot. Most lan parties involve people bringing their own PC's though so you may want to make sure that is what he wants before doing a ton of work building PC's.

Please note that a HUB is not a SWITCH. A hub does not channel packets where they need to go and is half duplex. A switch is full duplex and IMHO you just need a 10/100 speed switch and 100 speed NICs for each machine. You don't have to buy an expensive switch unless you will be running a business. I got an 8 port autosensing linksys switch for $30 at a retail store and it's working just fine for anything I use it for.

Don't forget plenty of CAT5e cable so that they can put the PC's where they wish. I'm thinking of a minimum of 25ft per cable but longer can be better for the users if they really want to be in different rooms. Remember the max length is about 300ft. You may want to just get a large roll of cable (or 2) with crimpers and rj45 connectors. Test each cable you make if you do this as it's easy to hose it (only takes one wire out of place). You can buy your own too, but that's more $$ - but hey if this guy has the $$ - do that - way easier. Either way have a spare cable just in case of problems.

As for what games can be played over a LAN - yes - only games designed to be played over a LAN can be played over a LAN. Most people play games like starcraft, warcraft, quake3, unreal tournament, battletech (is that still around?) and other games like that thought honestly I'm not up on the most recent games. I'm guessing there is a LAN playable driving game but I have no idea what. GTA 1, 2 or 3 are NOT lan games.

As for learning about networking fast. Ain't gonna happen. You might be able to get away with installing tcp/ip and ipx/spx on all machines (have every OS CD's ready should people be bringing their own PC's in case the OS asks for them while installing the protocols). The main thing for gaming is learining how the game wants to connect to the other machines running the game.

[fst1006]

Originally posted by styxenstones
HAHAHA... lets get realistic here...

A dell switch? HA... i got my soho 16 port for less then 70

XP is for true gamers? yea.. my @$$!... at win 98 or win2k (2k beats out most other)

Sman!

go check out Tomshardware.com ... they do a FPS test on all the latest OS's.... XP beat them all...

PLEASE!!!!!! do some research before opening your mouth

Have a nice day

BTW :: WTF is wrong with a Dell Switch ??? its just some other SOHO companies Switch that dell put there name on? do you ACTAULLY thing Dell spent the money for R&D of their OWN switch...

EDIT

Sorry... kinda tired when i wrote that...

here is the link to the article...

http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer...930/index.html

errr.... windows2K and XP (w/o SP1) seem to be neck and neck. with the 9x Kernel on their heels.

but wither way you should be fine with either OS, but you have to decide what else you are going to do with your computer....

XP = good for other Media applications such as Digital Photography, Quick and easy set up with drivers and what-not. Stability is a plus

XP = not so good for those paranoid people who think Big Brother ( AKA Bill Gates) watching there evrey move...

2K = Good stability, .... good for servers...hard to use for any drivers, multi-media stuff

i thnik that fixes my RANT...

i apologize to any of those trolls that i may have awaken with this post

/EDIT

[fst1006]

Originally posted by Rô©kHøµñÐ


On another note why not just get a layer 3 switch and set each port as its own subnet, and add some VLAN tagging. that would really be quick. Expensive & confusing, but quick.

ummm Layer 3 switch???? Switches operate at Layer 2 (im assuming your reffering to the OSI model). ROUTERS operate at Layer 3.... you can get an advanced Switch with VPN support in some higher end switches from CISCO or what not...

my CCNA .02

[Ebu]

Originally posted by fst1006
ummm Layer 3 switch???? Switches operate at Layer 2 (im assuming your reffering to the OSI model). ROUTERS operate at Layer 3.... you can get an advanced Switch with VPN support in some higher end switches from CISCO or what not...

my CCNA .02

I am an IT major at Syracuse University, and yes, there are layer three switches, but the difference between a router and a layer three switch is that a router runs off of software, and a switch is all built into the hardware. The reason for using a Layer 3 switch would be for someone who needs some routing functions, but needs speed over different operations and configurations. And yes, having a layer 3 switch at a LAN party would be overkill, but isn't that what being a PC nerd is all about?
Anywhoo, I only have a dual Ghz P3, with a GeForce 3 ti200, and I can run most games pretty fine. I can't max out most new titles, but they are definately still playable. Looking to upgrade, and im thinking P4 2.4b. Any suggestions? (I refuse to buy AMD, considering a 2400 is the same price).
Also, a very convienient thing I use for LAN parties is a Windows 2000 Server Machine with all of the games we play at our LAN party installed on it for dedicated serving. We only have like 5-10 people at our LANs, so really small, but the machine is a Godsend.

[format c:]

Keep it simple
I have a Linksys 4 port router with the switch built in, Every PC on my network can use my braod band internet connection, I have an old hub on my workbench tied into the router to expand my network

Get a good quality multiport router, This will contain the switch and allow all the PCs to go onto the Internet, lots of cable, and good quality nics such as the 3com nics
If you have to build mulitple computers go with brand name components, avoid cheap ram at all costs
If you build with the Athlon go for lots of cooling since they tend to run warm, Have a fan in the front and a fan in the rear to provide good air circulation
Most of all have fun