Gaming Lab

LincLinc OwnerDetroit Icrontian
edited November 2003 in Science & Tech
This post falls under several categories; I just decided this forum worked best.

I'm looking into converting the lab I work in into a gaming lab on the weekends. What we'd like to do is take about 8-15 machines and have multiplayer games run through a server located in the lab.

The Server: P3 550 MHz, 512 MB RAM
The Machines: P4 2.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM, Radeon 7500
There is a 10mbps connection between machines in the lab.

Do you think this hardware is sufficient for a high quality gaming lab? I'm thinking newer FPS games would be a preference. What are the best games that I could run on this setup?

Here's the money question: If my goal is to run Doom III in this lab, what kind of hardware upgrades would be necessary? (obviously the video cards to start, but how high do I need to go? 9600?)
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Comments

  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    IMHO the server is too weak. Gonna need atleast 1.5-2Ghz for newer games like BF1942. As for the video cards 9700 is preferrable (:D) but I guess you could go with a 9600 if you have the $$$. As for Doom III, I think you're just gonna have to wait to see what kindda stuff it needs to run.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I would venture to say that the 9600 XT will be the lowest card to play Doom III reasonably. 9700 Pro will probably be the lowest to play it <b>well</b>.

    The rest of the hardware is fine on clients.

    For the server, look to designate about 110MHz per client, and 50MB of RAM per client on a game server for optimal play.
  • JBJB Carlsbad, CA
    edited November 2003
    sweet! Invite me:cool2: anyways you need a FAST CPU for the server, as i ran Q3 on my 450Mhz K6-2 and it could only handle about 8 users smoothly. besides that you look set!
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    If doom 3 will run on an Xbox then I would think the requirements wouldnt be super high
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Yup, you'll definitely need a server upgrade, and you should also have a 100mb pipe from server to switch. Also, make sure it's a switch and not a hub. 10mb switch is okay as long as it has at least one 100mb uplink for the server.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    fudgam had this to say
    If doom 3 will run on an Xbox then I would think the requirements wouldnt be super high

    Doom 3 is going to run on an XBoX because they're going to load it with crappy low-res textures, delete half the special effects because the XBoX's video card is a GeForce3, remove all the DirectX 9-based coding, and add cheesier models

    It'll basically look like Halo with zombies.
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    HALO was pretty fun, now its zombie hunting :) lol
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited November 2003
    yeah that server is gonna need an upgrade, do a min 1500 MHz i would also use a little more ram to help. if you can afford it 9700 video cards but if not 9600 pro. I would also bump to a 100mbs network.
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited November 2003
    xbox = poobox
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Does platform make a difference? We're currently using Win2K (Pro, not Server).
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited November 2003
    no it souldnt matter just strip them down to minimum essentials
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited November 2003
    I'd say for a Doom 3 server, a 2500 Barton and a gig of high quality ram. Corsair will do nicely, as always :p

    That's seriously only like $300 for that.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited November 2003
    do a dual barton rig with 2 gigs ram and you wont have a prob for a while.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I can't build it myself because it's for the college. It's going to be a Dell, probably a GX260 or 270.


    Prime, why a switch instead of a hub? We currently have a hub in here. Is it worth shelling out for a switch instead?
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Yes... A hub creates constant network collisions since it basically just rebroadcasts all traffic out all ports. When you have tons of small packets to a lot of clients, as you do with LAN gaming, the collision traffic can be very intense. A switch eliminates this problem because it routes each packet to the appropriate port intelligently (i.e., it knows where the packet is going), thus reducing the collision traffic by a very significant amount.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Another question: what are the best games I could run in the lab with the equipment "as-is"? Also consider not using the server at all and just using a hub.

    (I'm just using this part to write an option where we start with what we have and expand according to demand. Not my recommendation, just an option if we don't have money)
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Well, thanks for the help guys. I turned in my proposal this afternoon and it was well received.

    /me is in it just for the free Doom 3 gaming :D
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited November 2003
    Half-Life + Mods (Probably Counterstrike), Starcraft, Quake 3 + Mods, The original Team Fortress, Enemy Territory, Diablo 2 and probably a few more games that I can't think of. Those are the ones I own and have been big hits at my LAN parties.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    starcraft is ALWAYS a fun game...and u cant forget about gunbound and worms!!!
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    All right, I have another question. Before we get all extravagent, we want to test how much people would use a gaming lab.

    Being that I have only been to one LAN party in my life...

    If I get 8 copies of Quake 3 and plug 8 machines into a hub... is it pretty much fool-proof to get the machines working together? Do they need static IPs? I've never played Quake 3, so I don't really know much about the multiplayer setup obviously...
  • CammanCamman NEW! England Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    should be just fine with DHCP, just install it, start up a server (doesnt even have to be dedicated) and go! Game should appear on all the other systems once installed and as long as they dont have firewalls or anything of that sort running
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    so... i need a server connected to it? I'd like to manage without a DHCP server if possible...
  • CammanCamman NEW! England Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    oh yea sorry, I just pulled an ultra newb there. I always have my LAN parties at my house with my Netgear router so it has a DHCP server built in. So yea, if you don't have some sort of router or DHCP server to assign addresses, you'll have to manually give them IP addresses, I thought that you meant this was an existing lab that was already networked.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    If you MUST manually address machines, use one of two IP blocks that are available for private networks:

    either 192.168.0.xxx / 255.255.255.0 (Class C - 255 machines or less)

    or 10.x.x.x / 255.0.0.0 (Class A - a megabunch of machines or less)

    usually I use a class C subset of the 10.x.x.x subnet, so 10.0.0.x with a subnet of 255.255.255.0

    So, your "server" or whatever would use 10.0.0.1, and I usually use 10.0.0.10 for the first client machine, 10.0.0.11 for the next, etc. All of the would use 255.255.255.0 for the subnet.
  • CammanCamman NEW! England Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    ^ What he said.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    What needs to be setup on the server?
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Sooo... I'm going to manually reset the IPs as described, plug them all into a hub... and everything will be right in the world?

    btw, we're getting Half Life and Unreal Tournament 2K3, plus downloading the Counter Strike mod for HL and downloading Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory for free as well.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I would like to issue the STRONG recommendation against a hub (Again).
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Will this "Gaming Lab" be a "Folding Lab" as well by any chance?

    And I'm with Thrax and prime in saying a hub is a bad idea. Switches are cheap these days... you can get an 8-port for like 10 bucks.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    hub == suckage
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