Dedicated Server

[Prew]

Two questions:
1. I have two computers at home LAN'ed and a cable modem. If I am setting up a server for an internet game (i.e., UT or CS or Serious Sam), how much difference does it make to the performance of the game if I play on the computer that is the server as opposed to setting up one computer as a dedicated server and then playing through it with the other computer. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much better performance do gamers logging into the server get if I use the dedicated option? (see my specs below)-- I assume it depends on the game, etc. so lets say for UT.

2. If I build a dedicated server for games like UT or CS or Serious Sam (and thats all it would be used for), do things like video cards and sound cards make a difference like they do on the computer that I acutally play the game on? That is, do I need a a high end video card or is the video card irrelevant for a dedicated server?


Tbird 700
128 mg Mushkin high performance ram
Geforce DDR 32 mg
Soundblaster Live
IBM Deskstar

[Xayd]

Will it make a difference if you play on the same machine?

Yes, you're eating up CPU cycles and RAM that could be used for other players.

Do sound cards, drives, vid cards and other such hardware make a difference?

No, the server needs CPU cycles, RAM, and a stable network card. That's it. In fact I've hosted UT with a fresh install of NT 4 server, it doesn't even need Direct X (you can launch it by a batch file, to run in a dos window).



Be sure to do your homework on things like max client rate. I'm not sure about CS and Serious Sam, but for UT these things are pretty well documented at Planetunreal and on Epic's site. If you have 8 players playing at a max client rate of 7000, that's 56,000 bytes per game, times 8 is 448,000bps. So you need approximately 448kbps in upload speed to host that many people at that max client rate lag-free.

For UT purposes I can pretty much walk you through the config and explain everything, been dealing with this stuff for about a year now with clan practice servers and what not, so feel free to post back with any questions about UT specifically .

Xayd

[cobra]

Xayd,
comin' through w/ the serious fraggage info!!!
TRUE

[Xayd]

Just like RatPadz, accurate fraggin' technology, heh .

Xayd

[Prew]

Hey thanks, thats what I hoped the answer was-- so in other words, I can build a fast dedicated server without spending much money-- just get a MB, CPU, good ram, and the cheapest monitor, keyboad, mouse, HD, and case that I can find (I have some antique video cards)-- I'm thinking less than $400.

My timeline is about mid-July-- I'll repost then to get the info on setting up a UT server. Thanks for being willing to share you expertise!

[Xayd]

Actually you don't even need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I don't have one on my second machine, all that's attached to it is a power cord and ethernet cable. I manage it by this program...

www.radmin.com

Xayd