Ina Patricia Lopez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I am putting up an internet/gaming shop. can you pls help me configure > the specs for my workstations? im planning to have 10 workstations for > a start and 1 game server.
I don't mean any offense, but how does this relate to PLUG? Are you gonna use GNU/Linux on your machines, so that you can play (legitimately acquired) games (or MMORPGs) on them using Cedega/Wine? > 1. I'd like to use AMD If you have the cache and cash, I suggest you get Athlon 64-based boxen (not the FX-type series, that's for the Ãber-rigs)... or Athlon XP 2400+ to 3200+... > 2. I'm looking for ASUS motherboards? what model? > What motherboard should I use? the A7V series for the Athlon XP are a good catch, particularly A7N8X-X, (with nForce2 chipset, 400 MHz FSB and 8X AGP): for games, it is usually better to have a high front-side bus (FSB) and a fast AGP bus, even if your processor isn't high-end. Also, you should note what kind of games do you want to run: the newest games need a lot of bandwith, both CPU-, bridge- and network-wise. However, I believe VIA chipset-based motherboards (like those from MSI and from ECS) perform faster than offerings from ASUS, as some of these are on nVidia nForce chipsets. On the other hand, ASUS is quite known in the gaming community for stability, so... If you take the AMD64 non-FX option, the best mobo I know of is ASUS K8V, with SATA RAID and gigabit LAN... > 3. Should i use on=board LAN Yeah, if this is the easiest for you. Considering you're setting up 12 boxen (counting the server twice, which should have at least two for DSL and LAN) you can save a lot using onboard NICs and just spending for one on the game server... > 4. should i also use on=board video and what size of its memory? The A7V400-MX has built-in VIA unichrome graphics, while the A7VN8X-VM/400 has a GeForce 4 MX built-in. I haven't seen a unichrome, so I can't vouch for that... For most popular games today its usually ok just to have a GeForce2 with 64 MB DDR RAM. But if you're aiming for playing the best-looking games, staying a generation behind the current crop of GPUs (like a ATI Radeon 9600 as against the X800 XT) seems sensible. > 5. is 256MB enough for the memory? For playing games made a generation ago, and for local MMORPGs, yep, its more than enough. However, I suggest you start at 512 MB so you can easily upgrade later on... > 6. Im also looking for internet access via satellite. No DSL yet on my > area. Saw some posts earlier about Gilat? Again, if you got teh cash to burn, that would be a sensible solution. However recent opinion on this is shaky, considering that satellite connects can easily time-out... Anyway, as a last plug, you can get ideas on how to build your gaming nodes by reading issues of PC Gamer[1] and Computer Gaming Monthly[2], especially TheVede's specs (on PCG) and Wil o'Neal's Spew of Filth (on CGM). Wil in particular makes regular comparisons of different rigs, with monthly themes on hardware capabilities, speed tradeoffs, and price. I think you can glean ideas from there :) [1] http://www.pcgamer.com [2] http://www.computergaming.com -- ZAK B. ELEP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- <http://zakame.spunge.org> 1024D/FA53851D 1486 7957 454D E529 E4F1 F75E 5787 B1FD FA53 851D -- Running Debian GNU+Linux testing/unstable. GnuPG signed mail preferred.
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