LAN Gaming

[ApacheChief]

I'm thinking about starting a LAN Gaming center, and I was wondering how I should network the place. It'd be very cheap to just use a single wireless router to host all the games, but would it be fast enough?

I'm thinking about this router, specifically:
http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=370

 

[Gerbil333]

Don't do wireless. Well, make it an option for laptop users, but it's still not a good idea. Standard cat. 5 ethernet cables with a 100mbps switch will work much better.

A friend of mine experienced bad lag in games with an 802.11b card only ~20 feet from the router (but through two walls). His other computer was connected directly to the router, and it of course experienced no lag whatsoever.

I have a Netgear MR814 v3 with all 4 of my desktops using the four wired ports. If I remember and have time tomorrow, I'll try a game using wireless on my girlfriend's shiny new Toshiba Pentium M + GeForceGo FX 5700 and let you know how it works

 

[aGreenAgent]

It's not that there's always lag with wireless, it's that you're open to the possibility of interference and signal drops. If you're serious about gaming, you're using wires.

I always use Linksys, but that's just me.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Get a nice big fat gigabit switch. Tom's Networking had an article on Lan Parties.

 

[phisrow]

Hundred megabit is probably the sanest bet, unless you have a fairly large setup, or can get a gigabit switch cheaply. All the cool kids are using Myrinet though. That stuff will show you the true meaning of low latency.

 

[Gerbil333]

Kensai would be right depending on how big you want the LAN to be. I'd think a 100mbps switch could handle 32-64 players with ease.

 

[ApacheChief]

Alright, that it is.

Where can I get CAT-5 cable/Gigabit switches cheaply?

 

[Gerbil333]

They're cheap just about anywhere...do you seriously need Gigabit? It's a waste of money if you're going to have under 64 players.

 

[ApacheChief]

In that case, no, I don't need gigabit. I'm going to be having at a max 40.

 

[Cruithne]

d-link is sponsoring our lan with some pretty sweet switches - 18 of these:

http://dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=86

Those are some sweet switches. They are expensive though because of manageability features - you probably wont need that as you will have full control over the PCs actually attached to the network as they will be your own. I would suggest that a good solid 100mbit switch would be perfectly sufficient - agree that under 64 players there is no benefit, as long as you get a good quality 100mbit (check the switching capacity, memory, etc).