i've been doing a couple of lan parties with some friends using an 8 port 10Mbps hub. it works fine for UT when there's not too many bots but it gets extremely laggy if there are. it's also awfully slow for file transfering even if there's only 2 pcs transfering at a time. we're thinking of buying a 100mbps hub but i want to know first what exactly the diference is betwen a hub and a switch? i've been told that a 100mbps hub shares the 100mb among all the computers while the switch has 100mbps for EACH pc. is this true?
A hub is a repeater. It receives a signal and sends it to all ports, no matter who it is for. I would imagine what you're describing as lag is actually a ton of collisions happening. When computer A sends a signal to the hub, the hub sends it to computers B, C, D, etc at the same time. If computer B just sent a signal, it collides with A's signal. When that happens, all systems pause their talking for a random amount of time, then start back up. I would imagine that the bots add a ton of communication into the network as there is alot more activity to track. Therefore your collisions dramatically increase. What the switch does is act as a traffic cop. Signal from computer A comes in, destined for Computer B...the cop sends it directly to computer B. Computer C never knew there was anything being sent. This dramatically improves communication and reduces collisions. In your case, the bandwidth isnt the problem, its your device. Get a switch, you'll thank yourself in the next lan.
Ok, here's a quick explination but remember, for lan parties you should not even be thinking about using a hub. Switch all the way baby! Basically a hub 'mirrors' all data from the connected computers, sending out packets to computers which didn't even request it. So if you have say 5 computers connected, then each of their respective traffic will be mirrored 5 times, taking up 5 times the bandwidth. Very bad, especially when connecting many computers. A switch 'traffics' data instead. Sending out the relevant bits to the computer in question, taking up only as much bandwidth as needed. This is the 'norm' at lan-parties and IIRC someone on the forums once broke it down like this: "You wont get people to stay any more than 10minutes at a lan-party using hubs". Very true. It's a long time since I did networking so I'm sure someone will pick me up on a few inaccuracys here and there. Hope that helps.
heheheh And I said that, about not staying more than a few minutes. Sorry, patting myself on the back is now over.
tnx guys. switch it is then (i had gotten to that conclusion myself after posting this by reading a similar explanation on some site). there are 2 main options to buy (due to monetary problems). both switches are 16 ports 10/100. they are LG and C-Net. i think C-Net should be better, but since i have no experience with networks i want your opinions.
That one I can't help you with. Only piece of networking hardware I own (besides the NIC's) is a router. I would suggest you search google for reviews of them.
I don't know if you're intereseted or not, but check eBay! I picked up a 3Com managed 12-port 10/100 switch for about $100 (The thing was like $1500 new), and it works wonderfully. Oh, and get a switch...never a hub
whilst on ebay find a bay networks 350t 16 porter, theres a guy that sells em for 79 bucks.. nice thing is, thru nortel they have a lifetime warranty.. it too is a managed switch and functions as a bridge too from my understanding of it.. -scoob8000
no thnx. i'm not really comfortable bout buying on eBay. besides i'd have to pay lots of shipping since it would be overseas (check my location).
