8 port switch for a LAN party

Gray · 7 Apr 2006 at 18:33

Hi all,

Can anyone please recommend a decent yet reasonably priced switch that's fine to use at a LAN party?

There will only be six of us hooked up, so I need more than a 4-ports, which there seem to be an adundance of.

And what about going wireless? Is there a decent 8 port wireless DSL router? I can only seem to find reviews of five year old equipment!

oddjob62 · 7 Apr 2006 at 19:56

Gray said:
And what about going wireless? Is there a decent 8 port wireless DSL router? I can only seem to find reviews of five year old equipment!

So is it a router you're looking for, or a switch?

Gray · 7 Apr 2006 at 20:04

oddjob62 said:
So is it a router you're looking for, or a switch?

Sorry, yes a router.

I've been at work for the last 12 hours and things are starting to get a tad blurry..!

Sone · 7 Apr 2006 at 20:36

off the 'bay i managed to get a 12 port 10/100 managed switch for £10 delivered just plug something like that into any old router

Cycrow · 8 Apr 2006 at 03:02

routers with more than 4 ports arn't exactly common, and if you do manage to find one, there usually pretty expensive

what exactly do you need a router for for a lan party ?

Gray · 8 Apr 2006 at 14:14

Cycrow said:
routers with more than 4 ports arn't exactly common, and if you do manage to find one, there usually pretty expensive

what exactly do you need a router for for a lan party ?

Erm, to connect up 6 PC's with???

I take it I could just get a switch and assign the PC's fixed IP addresses and not use DHCP? I just thought the easiest way to go was to get a router, set all the PC's to auto-assign IP addresses, connect them all up and voila.

Am I missing something?

csmager · 8 Apr 2006 at 14:23

Gray said:
Erm, to connect up 6 PC's with???

I take it I could just get a switch and assign the PC's fixed IP addresses and not use DHCP? I just thought the easiest way to go was to get a router, set all the PC's to auto-assign IP addresses, connect them all up and voila.

Am I missing something?

If you don't need a connection to the internet, you don't need a router. You could install a DHCP server on one of the PCs. Or you could, as suggested, plug a 12-port switch into any old router. The DHCP would still work.

Gray · 8 Apr 2006 at 17:55

csmager said:
If you don't need a connection to the internet, you don't need a router. You could install a DHCP server on one of the PCs. Or you could, as suggested, plug a 12-port switch into any old router. The DHCP would still work.

I haven't got a switch or a router, so I thought I'd just get the lot in one box, surely that's less hassle?

csmager · 8 Apr 2006 at 17:56

Gray said:
I haven't got a switch or a router, so I thought I'd just get the lot in one box, surely that's less hassle?

Ok, but I doubt you'll find a router with 8 ports. Top grade stuff would probably have 1 port, as it'd be plugged into a switch. Home user stuff usually has 4 ports, because no one really needs anymore.

benjo plz. · 8 Apr 2006 at 17:57

Gray said:
I haven't got a switch or a router, so I thought I'd just get the lot in one box, surely that's less hassle?

Well you won't as as already said, the most ports you're going to find on a reasonably priced router are 5, so you'd need atleast one extra port, hence the need for a switch.

What type of connection are you using? a Linksys BEFSR81 has 8 ports, but will need a cable or ADSL modem.

Gray · 8 Apr 2006 at 20:18

Phnom_Penh said:
Well you won't as as already said, the most ports you're going to find on a reasonably priced router are 5, so you'd need atleast one extra port, hence the need for a switch.

What type of connection are you using? a Linksys BEFSR81 has 8 ports, but will need a cable or ADSL modem.

There are two ways I can go with this.

If I just want to use the hub/switch/router for LAN parties, then I'd like just one box that we can all connect to. There'll be at least 5 or 6 of us.

If I want to plug my cable modem into it, then I'd like a wifi DSL router, but one of those with 8 ports that I could also use for LAN parties are few and far between.

If we just say for the time being, I just want something for a LAN party that me and four friends can connect to, that's fairly cheap, what should I get???

benjo plz. · 8 Apr 2006 at 20:29

An 8 port switch, you can get them for next to nothing.

Mr. Brightside · 8 Apr 2006 at 21:32

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Switches_Hubs.html#aNW_2d005_2dNG

I got one of these two days ago due to network expansion (as an add on to my current router - got a few more PCs recently due to distributed computing obsession). Brilliant piece of kit, simple and well built.

If you do choose to run an offline LAN and need a dhcp server, you may find this useful: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/philippe.jounin/tftpd32.html

Hope this helps, null

Cycrow · 9 Apr 2006 at 22:12

tbh, its abit of a waste getting a router if all your goign to use it for is DHCP.

a normal 8 port switch will do you fine and will be a lot cheaper.
if you want to use DHCP you can set it up on one of the computers, otherwise just assign ips manually, its not exactly hard doing that, u dont need to worry about gateway and dns address, etc

JonnyGLC · 10 Apr 2006 at 13:29

csmager said:
Ok, but I doubt you'll find a router with 8 ports. Top grade stuff would probably have 1 port, as it'd be plugged into a switch. Home user stuff usually has 4 ports, because no one really needs anymore.

I've got an 8 port netgear router myself due to the large amount of computers at this house, cost us over £100 for it. I'd definatly advise going for the switch if you don't need internet.

benjo plz. · 10 Apr 2006 at 14:12

if you want to save money, you can pick up a router for like £15, and a switch for like £25.

Mr. Brightside · 10 Apr 2006 at 17:46

A router costing £15 would surely be absolutely useless though? :eek:

benjo plz. · 10 Apr 2006 at 17:49

null said:
A router costing £15 would surely be absolutely useless though?

No. Although if it had wireless with it, yes.