How to make my setup play good as a server?

[Paveslave]

I don't know why I am having major lag problems when hosting in online games. I can remember when I used to play on peoples servers that were running low end pentium III's and there wasn't that much lag. I don't have a top of the line computer but I should be able to host a simple multiplayer game of Halo, right? What gives, am I not setting my comp up right?

On a different note, I am thinking about making a stand-alone server, would this give me better results than hosting on the computer I am playing games with?

 

[EeyoreX]

I don't know to much about setting up a game server, but I guess I have a few questions that may be relevant:

What else, if anything, is running? What is your internet/network connection speed? Also, it seems like you are playing AND serving the game from the same machine. Seems to me that would seriously slow thigs down as it tries to do two things at once, both of which are CPU intensive. (I assume this last point, as I said, I dont know much about game server setups).

\Dan

 

[Paveslave]

Originally posted by: EeyoreX
I don't know to much about setting up a game server, but I guess I have a few questions that may be relevant:

What else, if anything, is running? What is your internet/network connection speed? Also, it seems like you are playing AND serving the game from the same machine. Seems to me that would seriously slow thigs down as it tries to do two things at once, both of which are CPU intensive. (I assume this last point, as I said, I dont know much about game server setups).

\Dan

I don't have anything else running except those certain things WinXP needs to run properly. I have even gone to tweak sites and have shut down certain services not needed. I am running a cable modem and evertime I go to test it on one of the many test web sites I am always way above average, even as far as cable modems go.

I would have hoped that with the amount of ram and CPU power I am pushing that I would have done better in the game hosting arena. As far as lag goes when I'm hosting, I don't notice any at all, not a glitch, but others in the game are always complaining about lag. I know it could be their connection as well, but they usually end up leaving because it's so bad.

I thought the Mobo I have was a good server board from all the reviews, but maybe I was wrong.

 

[TrixAreForKids]

Your hardware is more then enough. Stop worrying about that, that comp would run as a bad ass server except for the lag on accessing HD (rambling).

Anyways, your problem has got to be something simple, either some stupid tweak in XP, or you connection just can't upload enough.

What is your upload speed (average) at speed test sites?

for example, my Comcast Pro account does:

3600 up / 376 down, all the time
edit::
ment 3600 down / 376 up

I've never used that line as a server, and I have no idea what enough upload speed is, but I heard 20kbs per person is good/enough.

Sorry I can't be more help.

 

[amdskip]

TrixAreForKisds is right on. You need to have a fast enough upload speed to host the game and most cable modems are 128 upload which isn't enough really.

 

[Paveslave]

My download is 2943 kb/s and my upload is on average 200 kb/s. I thought cable was supposed to rock so what's the deal? What kind of connection do I need to have to host then...?

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: Paveslave
My download is 2943 kb/s and my upload is on average 200 kb/s. I thought cable was supposed to rock so what's the deal? What kind of connection do I need to have to host then...?

I would say a 384 or a 512 upload which is hard to find. 200 is alright but when there are tons of people using the internet it really slows down.