We're Building a Gaming LAN Center!!

[Emily Young]

Thank you to Intel for sponsoring this video. #IntelGamerDays is running from September 1-16, offering PC gamers amazing discounts on great gear and opportunities to win cool prizes and experiences every day. Check it all out HERE: https://intel.ly/GamerDays

 

 

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

its been quite a while, are there gonna be any videos on LTT expo that happened last month? 

[rockero_8727]

I think that a big-beefy air-cooler would be a better choice for the CPU, especially considering you're building 16 computers. Maybe high refresh rate monitors would be a good idea since this is about gaming and not productivity; heck since you mentioned streaming 1440p would be a nice resolution to have. 

[jvyden420]

You guys should put RGB strips into the sides of the tables, I think that could be cool.

[sirphobos]

Haven't posted much here. But, I wanted to give you some thought about what you will potentially need to cool this area. I design hvac systems for a living, and this is just recommendations based off math. This is not taking anything like people load, window load, insulation values, etc into account.

 

With that said, here are some figures:

 

1 watt = ~3.41 btu/hr

1 ton of cooling = 12,000 btu/hr

1 ton of cooling = 400cfm of air

 

Let's say each machine will pull a maximum of 600w from the wall. That means its converting 600w into heat. That is 2046 btu/hr for each machine.

 

16 machines x 2046 btu/hr = 32736 btu/hr.

 

Let's estimate the server at 1000w. Thats rougly 3,412 btu/hr.

 

Heat load for all your machines + server would be 36,148 btu/hr.

 

You will need roughly 3 tons of cooling capacity for the machines alone! That's not including people, (since people put off heat too) and that is roughly 400 btu/hr per person (so add another 6400btu/hr to your total) and this is not accounting for insulation ( i do not know your R-value there) or windows, or which direction the building is facing, etc.

 

I would recommend no less than 4 tons (1600 cfm) of cooling capacity for this space. Just food for thought.

 

[Flame.7]

28 minutes ago, GabenJr said:

Thank you to Intel for sponsoring this video. #IntelGamerDays is running from September 1-16, offering PC gamers amazing discounts on great gear and opportunities to win cool prizes and experiences every day. Check it all out HERE: https://intel.ly/GamerDays

 

 

Keyboard: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Gaming-Keyboards/RGB-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboards/K70-RGB-MK-2-SE-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-%E2%80%94-CHERRY%C2%AE-MX-Speed/p/CH-9109114-NA Mouse: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Gaming-Mice/FPS-Fast-Action-Mice/M65-PRO-RGB-FPS-Gaming-Mouse-%E2%80%94-White/p/CH-9300111-NA Headset: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Gaming-Headsets/USB-Headsets/void-pro-usb-config-na/p/CA-9011155-NA MousePad: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Gaming-Mousepads/Cloth-Textile-Surface-Mousepads/MM300-Anti-Fray-Cloth-Gaming-Mouse-Pad-%E2%80%94-Extended/p/CH-9000108-WW These will match the white and be very nice and RGB!

[sourav dutta]

you can use a good big tv for your display in place of that crt and use a small form factor pc with some kind of emulator to play the games on and aslo have a modern console both conected via a hdmi switcher box and may be add the all in one controller dock into the setup too 

sure this can't take place of a real retro console but this is in my opinion a better all around solution

all the best for the project.

[CoreyFox]

can we get a floor plan?

[Tanmay H. Singh]

For Monitors Use LG 34UC89G-B Or Dell Gaming S2716DG And For Peripherals - Mouse: Logitech G502 Hero / Logitech G Pro / Corsair Dark Core / Razer Naga Hexa V2 / Swiftpoint Z Mouse, Keyboard: Logitech G910 Orion Spark / Corsair K95 Platinum RGB / Razer Blackwidow Elite / Razer Huntsman Elite / Dygma Raise, Headsets/Headphones: Logitech G933/G633 Artemis Spectrum / Corsair Void Pro RGB / Razer Kraken Pro V2 / Sennheiser Game One.

[jvyden420]

For the crt, you can probably get away with something small, like a pi or a mini pc or something. Emulation doesn't require a 1080ti...

[Kirismarna]

As for monitors definitely go for 1440p 144~hz like this one https://www.asus.com/gr/Monitors/ROG-SWIFT-PG278QR/ and at ganes that have to be butter smooth like Counter Strike, gtx 1070/i7-8700 is obviously enough.

[znpy]

You might work around the caching server issues by trying to distribute games to all clients using something like a local bittorrent server. I once read that Facebook does basically this to roll out software updates and stuff to a lot of machines.

 

Related:

• https://torrentfreak.com/facebook-uses-bittorrent-and-they-love-it-100625/
• https://torrentfreak.com/university-uses-utorrent-080306/
• https://torrentfreak.com/twitter-uses-bittorrent-for-server-deployment-100210/

 

@ linus Linus If you at least try going this route or at least consider it, I would really appreciate if you named me on the next videos in this series.

Me and my SO really like to watch your videos.

 

[TjaardA]

When you are gona use a dedicated server for games, you can't use it for cache.

Caching would slow down the game-servers, make it useless

Also Dedi server needs to be Real-Time, so no Windows, just linux(s) .

 

[Rabbit80]

Couple of things you need..

 

1) Some kind of server that can record the action, play back from multiple sources and angles. 

2) Huge screen on the wall for displaying said action.

 

[Melonendk]

What is the general size of the room / Area?

I've designed many esport/gaming rooms back here in Denmark I could easily figure something out of how it could look =)

[DeafLemming]

2, 24 inch 240hz 1080p monitors. especially with streaming in mind but if not, another screen to the side is always nice to have.

 

Get rid of the monitor stands the comes with the monitors, and use an vesa desk arm to free up desk space for keyboards and larger mousemats, esp concerning depth space. The feet of monitor stands can take up a lot of space, plus this lets people easily move the screen to their preferred distance without having to worry about where the monitor feet are.  Also frees up desk space for audio interfaces/DACs if needed.

Something like this;

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-Single-Monitor-Display-Mounting/dp/B00MIBN16O/ref=sr_1_11_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1536264065&sr=8-11-spons&keywords=amazon+vesa&psc=1

 

Look at the images to see what desk space you get back using these instead of monitor stands.

 

Also, don't put any keyboard or mice on the desk (maybe also the mousepad too), instead just ensure there are 2-4 usb slots via a hub (external or inbuilt to a monitor) so when someone goes to a computer, they can bring their own keyboard and mouse, or choose from a selection from a shelving unit or something so people can just pick a keyboard and mouse of their preference to use (kind of like your headphone wall you did a video on, a while back) 

 

This way, anyone can use any computer much more comfortably rather than having to deal with keyboards already in place on the desk you are using, since you are using what you'd want to use. (also good for people to try different keyboards/mice to see what they prefer and might buy for themselves)

[tuckerdoodle]

16 gamers 1 cpu am I right or am I right.

 

[Kylern389]

52 minutes ago, GabenJr said:

Thank you to Intel for sponsoring this video. #IntelGamerDays is running from September 1-16, offering PC gamers amazing discounts on great gear and opportunities to win cool prizes and experiences every day. Check it all out HERE: https://intel.ly/GamerDays

 

 

i would love to see you guys work with fiber. that could be used to connect this up to the server room. that gives you guys the room for up to 100Gbps between the LAN den and the server room. or you can go for the 40Gbps option. just thought that might be cool to look in to not many people have done that

 

 

[samcool55]

Whole-room water cooling V2

Solves the heat issue! And you have experience so you can learn from the mistakes that were made.

 

Maybe it's possible to have like a massive monitor or projector that displays a mirror of all 16 displays into 1 massive one, not required but shouldn't be too difficult to do with the right hardware.

[ThunderCatsFFS]

Sketched up this for the console area: https://imgur.com/a/W5A3vFZ Its a really rough sketch but it prooves a point.

[Kevo05s]

Whole room water cooling episode 2? Amirite? 

[MayDay]

I'm a little behind or lost, what is the caching server that was being mentioned?

 

Power

350W x 16 stations is already 5600Watts + 500W for the server.  A person at rest emits as much heat as a 100W incandescent light, so add at least another 1600W to your cooling calculation. [ http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae420.cfm ]

 

PCs

If you are connecting your individual PCs to a 10G switch, I would want a fiber backbone capable of 40 or 100GB back to the server.

If I were building a gaming center, I would standardize on a single mouse/keyboard combo.  People could still bring their own kit, but it will make managing drivers easier and you won't have people fighting over which station has the better setup.

A standard headset would be a good idea, but at least provide a headset stand for each station.

Finally, give each station a bit more room than you think it will need.  Three feet isn't much with low sense mousing.

 

Here is one of our PDUs at our twice yearly LAN War

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mu8kvb9FcGpzJDYEA

https://gaming.indiana.edu/lanwar.html

 

[Wh0_Am_1]

Linus, you wanted wacky ideas, here is mine, what if you built 4 machines with one of Intel's upcoming 24 or 28 core processors, and then create 4 VMs on each machine, with 4 1070s, 1070 Tis. 1080s, 1080 Tis, 2070s, 2080s, or 2080 Tis, and then use the corning thunderbolt cable, you could also use one of those PCIE expansion boards for the thunderbolt cards, with a dongle like you did with your home PC to put the PCs in a different part of the building, water cool them with the cpu in a single loop much like with what you did with whole room water cooling back in the day, incorporating the lessons you learned from that, or use that water chiller to cool each PC to then get the the ultimate quite setup, no matter what load you put the PC's through, you could even build all of the PC's into a server rack, making it easier to move/upgrade later, this would also reduce the clutter on the tables, since each station would only need a thunderbolt dongle a mouse, a keyboard, and a monitor.  

 

 

 

 

[Cynagen]

You should upload the floorplan with dimensions so that it can be more accurately scoped/designed. You've provided the case model so we can get dimensions from the website, combining that with any selected monitor size, you can start to figure out desk space. As for the computers, above would help minimize dust, but if you're going to have RGB, it's time to look at unconventional means of display if you're going above. I'd recommend getting solid straps to go around the case, then hang it at a 45 degree angle above the workstation position it's connected to with the tempered glass window showcasing the inside facing outward, exhaust to the side or out the top will ensure that the heat is pushed away from the gamers. Additionally, to hang these, you may have to build custom rigging, though with some solid steel piping and proper construction, you can incorporate a wooden platform to act as the desktop where the monitor keyboard and mouse will sit. If you want to up the game a little, put a T-joint in the metal about height with a player's face, and put a VESA mount on. Tons more ideas, I'll be back. Honestly, I would be happy to come over the border to help build this out.

[Cynagen]

3 minutes ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

Linus, you wanted wacky ideas, here is mine, what if you built 4 machines with one of Intel's upcoming 24 or 28 core processors, and then create 4 VMs on each machine, with 4 1070s, 1070 Tis. 1080s, 1080 Tis, 2070s, 2080s, or 2080 Tis, and then use the corning thunderbolt cable, you could also use one of those PCIE expansion boards for the thunderbolt cards, with a dongle like you did with your home PC to put the PCs in a different part of the building, water cool them with the cpu in a single loop much like with what you did with whole room water cooling back in the day, incorporating the lessons you learned from that, or use that water chiller to cool each PC to then get the the ultimate quite setup no matter what load you put the PC's through, you could even build all of the PC's into a server rack, making it easier to move/upgrade later, this would also reduce the clutter on the tables, since each station would only need a thunderbolt dongle a mouse, a keyboard, and a monitor.  

 

 

 

While I would agree with you on the single build, multiple users. There are some pitfalls, any hardware maintenance required requires the loss of the entire X stations being run as the entire system will likely need to be shut down.