Cobblers Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 Hi to all, I'm in the process of organising a GR2 Lan Party in Northampton. Now I know the basics of what I need to do/organise. But what switch boxes should I use. I know these are expensive, but I want something that is easy to use, can host about 30-40 people and as low price as possible. I want everything, right? So any help or advice you can give me to do with my above question, or anything to do about Lan Partys would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueRose_76 Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 I'm in the process of organising a GR2 Lan Party in Northampton. Chill out, youve got 7 months to set it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly2442 Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 Here's a link to some hubs. http://www.compusa.com/products/products.a...3&CusaNe=200139 They look pretty expensive though. You might want to consider asking people to bring in any routers/switches/hubs that they have... GL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potshot Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 Tell em to bring beer aswell.... Need to mind and record some games and some external footage of people playing. Give us here something to watch as a result Pot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR6 Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 To answer your question, I find almost any brand of the 10/100 Ethernet switches made by the better-known network hardware companies are pretty reliable these days ... Linksys, D-Link, SMC. The cheapest switches around where I live are SMC ones. I do not recommend using hubs or routers for the number of people you want. Hubs don't prevent "collisions" of data packets like switches, and can lead to network traffic slowdown. Routers can cause headaches if you have to remember passwords to adjust firmware settings. Switches are nice because you just plug and play. 16-port switches are pretty expensive. Depending if you get 30-40 people, consider getting four or five less-expensive 8-port switches and have an entry fee to cover the cost of your hardware. Remember you need lots of Cat-5 cabling too which can be cheaper if you know how to make your own cables. Some of the biggest headaches hosting a large LAN party is not setting up the hardware, but finding space, organizing and tracking sign-ups, feeding people, setting up details of tournaments, prizes, and getting help troubleshooting players system/network configurations during setup. Dune over at 3d Retreat has helped organize some huge successful LAN parties in Texas. Check out how he dealt with some of the logistics here: http://www.tangolan.com/ See if you can get a sponsor for your network equipement: a local computer store, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobblers Posted April 22, 2004 Author Share Posted April 22, 2004 Cheers for that guys. The advice given was very useful. No BlueRose_76, I need to start organising it now so that everything is in place. I want it to happen as soon as GR2 comes out, or as near to that date as I can be. Then, if I know how much, where and what I need to bring to set it all up, then it will save me a lot of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasniper Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 making your own cable is by far the cheaper option (it can be as low as 1/4 the cost inc equipment if your making a large amount), if you want to have a go and need any help hook up with me on msn and i'll dig out my college notes on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobblers Posted April 23, 2004 Author Share Posted April 23, 2004 Cheers for that m8. Nearer the time I may just take you up on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.