LAN party planning *logistics*

[PartyLikeARockstar]

All the LAN party guides I'm finding are not on the scale i need, ~100+ people. I'm trying to get an accurate power estimate based on modern machines and networking equipment, some consoles and TVs, audio/video, plus sources of internet that don't need a contract. I've set up 10-15 man LANs but this is something new on a scale like this. Any advice is appreciated.

[jdbnsn]

this sounds like one hell of a LAN party, where's it gonna be?

[PartyLikeARockstar]

Jon, PM me for info or AIM/MSN. I'll be home in 30mins or so.

[Datech]

Are you considering hosting this at your home or somewhere else?

For 100+ people you would probably be better off renting out a community center for a few hours as they usually have ample wall plugs and floor outlets. I've never done a LAN before, but for 100 people I'd imagine you would need at least the following:


10 total high end gaming consoles (360 or PS3), four controllers each
5-10 medium consoles (Wii, PS2), four controllers
At least 30 SPARE surge protectors/power strips
At least 30 SPARE network cables of varying lengths
At least 10 <30" TVs
At least 10 <40" TVs
5 >40" TVs
10 cases of Mountain Dew
50+ cheap folding chairs
30 or so folding chairs that have cushions
A few decent couches, chairs, and bean bags


As far as routers, switches, and all that stuff I really don't have any idea what you have access to or what you need. I would assume all the PC gamers would bring most everything to make their system work. You may want to have one of the bigger screens either displaying an admin/birds eye screen or displaying the *best* player of whatever PC game they are playing to keep the audience entertained. I built this list with the 100+ mentality, and not the "I invited 100, but only 40 will show up" version of LAN parties

[Luke122]

As far as the networking / power requirements go....

Networking goes like this; each machine gets a 100mbit link to a switch, each switch gets a 1gigabit link to a central gigabit switch. The internet connection will be suitably firewalled/throttled at the central gigabit switch. For 100 people, you would want at a very minimum, a pair of 10mbps internet connections... MINIMUM. I would recommend at least a pair of 25mbps connections... this gives everyone 512kbits of speed. Not ultra fast, but enough for gaming as long as the pings are low.

[mtekk]

How many computers do you expect to have? I'm going to assume 1 computer per person, plus a few of the consoles you were talking about. So that's at least 110 devices that you'll have on the lan.

With that, you'll need a few (probably 3) 48 port 10/100 switches with at least two dedicated Gigabit "backbone"/uplink ports (that's about $1K in just switches, (going with the cheap "managed" linksys/cisco switches)). You could get away with 2 48 port switches and a smaller, 24port 10/100/1000 switch and connect the uplinks to the 24port. Gigabit is not that big of a deal, no matter what "hardcore" gamers will tell you, if you're gaming, 100 will be just as good as 1000 as they both have about the same latency (IIRC 1000 actually has a slightly higher latency). Though, you'd have to be stupid to not use gigabit between two switches, as that is where your bottleneck will occur. Networking wise, startup costs are going to "kill" you, but once you have the hardware it is yours and can use it for future lans.

Topology wise I'd do the following:

end user<->48port 10/100<->24port gigabit<->48port 10/100<->end user
``````````````````````````````^ ^
``````````````````````````````| |
``````````````````````````````v v
````````````````dedicated servers, internet connection

(man, ASCII doesn't work well here)

Have the 24port as your top of your star topology, connect some good dedicated game servers on it and internet connections. You can connect more switches to the 24port until you can accommodate everyone. I would try to keep as many people playing on internal lan servers as possible, and it will decrease the need for the internet connection. Do not cheap out on network hardware, it will only come back to bite you in the butt when things stop working.

[PartyLikeARockstar]

Thanks so far for replies, I'm looking for power amounts, ie i have the venue planned, it's not at a house for 100+gamers, lol. I want 100 PCs, maybe 5 consoles and the networking equipment. Also have some nice music pumping too. My biggest challenge thus far has been power. How do I not blow it all to hell? I need figures that the generator rental place will understand. The last place wanted me to spend $5k for rental on a 2000A diesel monster without even stepping it down or including patch panels or anything. How much power do I need, and what do i need to get it to the tables? Thanks!

[Luke122]

Does the venue not have power?

[nevermind1534]

The last place wanted me to spend $5k for rental on a 2000A diesel monster without even stepping it down or including patch panels or anything. How much power do I need, and what do i need to get it to the tables? Thanks!

I don't think you'll even need half of that.

[PartyLikeARockstar]

answer from the venue was that the whole community center has <200A.

[crenn]

The LAN I go to has 3 phase power, they hold upto 80 players approx. I'd say the average PSU is about 550W. Assuming 75% efficiency, current draw is about: 245A for 80 computers.

[mtekk]

The LAN I go to has 3 phase power, they hold upto 80 players approx. I'd say the average PSU is about 550W. Assuming 75% efficiency, current draw is about: 245A for 80 computers.

Remember he's in the US, we have ~110V AC, so at 550W that's 6.67A per pc (assuming full draw and 75% efficiency), for 80 computers that's 533A.

If everyone is maxing out a 1KW psu with 75% efficiency (in this case most of them should be stabbed for having piss poor PSUs), then you'll be looking at 1.2KA for 80 boxes.

However, I doubt many people will be drawing the full 550W for their system, unless they are running SLI/Crossfire and overclocking. My computer, see specs, draws maybe 280W at the wall under full load.

[crenn]

Remember he's in the US, so we have ~110V AC, so at 550W that's 6.67A per pc (assuming full draw and 75% efficiency), for 80 computers that's 533A.

However, I doubt many people will be drawing the full 550W for their system, unless they are running SLI/Crossfire and overclocking. My computer, see specs, draws maybe 280W at the wall under full load.
I know this, but it's still semi reliavant. I doubt people will be drawing the full 550W either, and some people probably will be using Laptops or high efficiency PSUs.

[PartyLikeARockstar]

can someone please explain to me how this calculation is made?

[mtekk]

P = I * V

Where V is your voltage, I is your current (in amps), and P is your power (in watts)

When talking about efficiency you have

Ptotal = Pdraw * (1 / efficiency)

so:

Ptotal = (I*V) / efficiency

[PartyLikeARockstar]

so how would I lay out this power? I want maybe 1000A total?

[crenn]

Got a layout of the hall and the locations of all the power points/3 phase?

[OvRiDe]

One thing to mention is that rule of thumb is that you should allow for 20% over head on the circuit. So if say you have an 30A circuit you should put a max load of 24A.

[Oneslowz28]

I was planning a medium sized lan last year until the venue decided to default on their loan and foreclose 2 weeks til the party. I had planned for 40 people. I used this guy's series of articles on lan party planning. He host and plans some very very large lans. If you read every section (most have 10 pages) and they are several sections, then most of your questions will be answered. http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/24248/53/

[PartyLikeARockstar]

nice find! thanks.