game server

I've got a spare P4 1.5gb 128mb rambus asus board 60gb hard drive and i want to set it up as a decaded game server for lans, to host like call of duty, moh, half life, halo etc. i was wondering what would be the best way to go about it, (i have never set up a game server ). should i go xp pro, 2k, or linux, any suggestions?

Think the first thing you prolly should do is see if thats allowed by yer internet provider

sorry, it will be isolated on a private network for the 10 or so kids that will be using, privat server only, all machines will be behind a linux router and sitting on a 24port intel 10/100 switch

If you can run those games off Linux, go for it.

A friend of mine runs UT2003 and used to host a Quake3 server too - all on Linux.

Otherwise, I'd say either Win200 or XP Pro would do it fine.

Check out GameAdmins for further info on game server building.

Thanks for the quick reply, great site with tonnes of info, i just get the exact game list and start planning i just figured that linux would be much better as a server for speed rather then windows

I used to run a halflife gameserver earlier this year and did a lot of experimenting with Windows.

If you can go with Linux as Adept says, do it. It's the fastest no doubt and better when hosting multiple servers on one computer.

If you feel more comfortable with Windows, go with Windows 2000 professional. With all un-needed services turned off it's almost a match for Linux. One good point for Windows is that every plugin for halflife was compatible with Windows, not every one was with Linux, (most but not all).

With a LAN game server I really don't think it matters which OS you go with, as most bottlenecks happen on the internet connection which you don't have to worry about. However, you MUST get more memory. 512MB as a minimum, 1GB highly recomended.