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Best SWITCH for coffee-shop lanparties?

C

cheesehead

Lifer
A local coffeeshop owner is interested in hosting LANparties. He's interested in a SWITCH that's cheap (100$ or less, if possible) and fast enough for gaming, while having 16 or more ports. Gigabit would be dandy, but if it works I'm not complaining.
So, any reccomendations?
EDIT: I apologize for my mis-post. I am having a bad day, to say the least.
 
Let me make my first post to the AnandTech forums flameworthy.

If your coffeeshop owner buddy has, or is getting a DSL line for his shop, you may look into a Netopia router. Many telcos give them away with certain line speeds, and they're fairly decent. Some models support VPN, have a built in firewall, etc. All models have a built in DHCP server, and support NAT.

Here are a couple models on eBay:

R7200
R9100

R-Series Specs (Netopia's Site)

Like I said. They're definitely not a Cisco 1600 series, but they're dirt cheap, they'll support 20 or so clients, they're very very easy to configure, and you might end up with one for free, anyway.

--bigfatdonny
 
Well, I realized I made a typo, so I'm bumping. Sorry about the spamming, but I'm still kinda clueless on which router brands provide the least latency, etc.
Thanks,
Cheesehead.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
For what you're trying to do any 10/100 switch would be fine. Any.
Click to expand...
Hmm... You are sure that there is No Special Switch for Coffe Shops :wine:. Some thing to match the Good Coffe, and the :cookie:

:brokenheart::shocked:
 
If you're just looking for a switch, then anything will probably do. Some are better performers than others, but they're all pretty close. You're not going to find a 16-port gigabit switch for that price. I'd seriously find a used one on eBay. That should save some $$.
 
Thanks for the help!
I think it's a toss-up between the 24-port Dell 10/100 router (those gigabits are upstream, right?) and that 80$ 8-port gigabit switch that's so cheap after the rebate. Most folks do'nt have GB anyway, and if all else fails, he can always get a second one. Thanks for the help!
And now, for another question:
Does anyone know where the #@$@#$ I can get some cheap Cat 5e cables? 24 of those things double the price of a router!
Thanks,
Cheeshead.
 
Originally posted by: Cheesehead
Thanks for the help!
I think it's a toss-up between the 24-port Dell 10/100 router (those gigabits are upstream, right?) and that 80$ 8-port gigabit switch that's so cheap after the rebate. Most folks do'nt have GB anyway, and if all else fails, he can always get a second one. Thanks for the help!
And now, for another question:
Does anyone know where the #@$@#$ I can get some cheap Cat 5e cables? 24 of those things double the price of a router!
Thanks,
Cheeshead.
Click to expand...

1. All ports on all of the switches are bi-directional. The gigabit connectors are for if you have one server which might be bottlenecking multiple clients who require data at the same time.
2. Why do you need gigabit for every client? Almost no one will have gigabit since it is not necessary for a typical user. Games can run fine on an 10Mbps connection.

That being said, I say go for the 26-Port Dell as it can handle much more computers.
 
26-port dell it is. I might end up piecing him together a gaming server (god knows how I can manage that convouluted bit of programming; I only know basic!) and Gigabit is quite obviously the way to go. Thanks!
Now, if I could only find some cheap lighted (or UV-reactive) cables....
 
For the price, that Dell switch is a steal. Definitely go for it, if you can be dillgent about rebates.

There was a threat a while back about buying cheap cables - Check it out here.

- G
 
Originally posted by: Cheesehead
26-port dell it is. I might end up piecing him together a gaming server (god knows how I can manage that convouluted bit of programming; I only know basic!) and Gigabit is quite obviously the way to go. Thanks!
Now, if I could only find some cheap lighted (or UV-reactive) cables....
Click to expand...

You don't need to know programming. 🙂 Most games include the software for dedicated hosting built-in.
 
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