We're Building a Gaming LAN Center!!

[LANCafeMan]

Someone should give me a call.  I've built a few of these LAN centers in the past, and do consulting on new ones in Korea.  As one does in their spare time when not redesigning subway stations to be more efficient.  Plus as a Canadian, I don't need the visa!

 

Maybe even line up some LTT branded Samsung/LG monitors or swank Korean PC room chairs.

 

Street cred from a generation back:  

 

[Psittac]

This is going to be an epic series! Basically because it's what I'm going to do on a smaller and less epic scale with half of my basement when it's finished by hopefully spring.

 

The system you built is pretty much on par with my main rig, and I have two of the best bang for the buck monitors that are 1440p and 100hz+

 

This Acer is a sweet panel, it was my daily until I got this AOC because it's a budget version of the big boy's but has enough to rock.  Also I saw this AOC 27" that is very similar to the Acer.

 

As for peripheral's you should probably have a selection so people can choose what they want, however this Razer TE keyboard is by far the best keyboard I've ever used and I have a number of mech keyboards to choose from.  The razer mice are meh, I have the mamba and it's great however I tried to go back to it so it'll match the keyboard and the liftoff was unbearable, it's probably a setting but I love my m65 pro so much that I didn't take the time.  Then sennheiser anything for a headset.

 

edit: oh...... a good usb desk solution to pick and choose your periph's is a must!

[Anubiz27]

Some of my other custom work.

 

Enjoy.

 

https://1drv.ms/f/s!ApnipyVpAbvPggmh3xaL8qNiZzbZ

MVI_5414.MOV

[waterjug]

You should but the LAN center on top of the loft. It would be way cooler.

[vermicryx]

Network is the back bone of this entire thing. Run with Cisco WS-C3850-24XU-L(Or Similar from Ruckus/HPE/etc.)10G to PC, with 40G SFP+ Up. Use both Fiber and Copper. 

 Mount your stations above, create an exhaust channel. On the roof, you have those large area fans you could use to pull air out from said channel, with some duct work (and Advertising livery). Or for Ventilation, partner with those that create the spinning fan displays(depending on the sound they generate).
 If you're goal is a better experience for everyone. Run a blind test between two Panels. Yet, I'd run a set of both(Competitors). Skip the CRT. Showcase the the BFGD from Nvidia. with an HTPC. On each side of which run with Sony/Samsung/LG 65" powered by an Emulator/PS4/XB1. 

 Last, Design a black hex grid floor with Orange(or RGB) LED gaps. I'd say wall off the entire area. Spend some time sound proofing and diminishing echos. Peripherals go Razer so you can pair with Hue lights. Of course then you'll want Sonos + Alexa in corners for background music. My initial thoughts, good luck.

[Somefatlady]

6 hours 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

 

 

How do you plan on using the m.2 drive with the Intel optane memory chip? Last time I checked you can't have a m.2 boot drive with a secondary drive accelerated.

[swrench]

Oh How about VR LAN Party so others from round the world can join and feel like they are there. Also vibrating chairs to keep legs from falling alsleep, and cooling chairs to keep gamers cool and prevent overheating, as well as a built in toilet so gamers can go when they cant move, maybe a dick sucker, damn you canadians have all the fucking fun, You guys CANadians, whereas we AmeriCANTs. Next thing you guys will be smoking up a blunt, well i live an hour from toronto which isnt bad, damn border patrol are much friendlier that our BPs. Too bad you live in Whonnock, BC, How does a country seem to be technically thrive way up north?

[Billiam1515]

47 minutes ago, Somefatlady said:

How do you plan on using the m.2 drive with the Intel optane memory chip? Last time I checked you can't have a m.2 boot drive with a secondary drive accelerated.

FAST 12TB Steam Drive for CHEAP!!

[Scotter97]

LTT crew,

 

I'd like to give some insight to the network situation.  Props to "vermicryx" for the Cisco 3850 recommendation.  But, you probably want to keep switch vendors the same on any network (not doing so can cause configuration nightmares to force switches from different vendors to communicate).  Plus, Cisco is pushing the Catalyst 9300 model now, which is cheaper and newer than the 3850.  vermicryx's 40Gbps recommendation is also on point.  If 40 Gig modules are out of scope, then 4 10Gig modules can be teamed together to acheive the same speed.  I would NOT recommend pulling numerous data runs back to your switch closet.  Also, from reading previous comments, I can see numerous different types of servers popping up.  This is another reason to have a "access" switch in the LAN center.  With a strong backbone between the "Access" switch and your "core" switch, servers can be kept where they belong.....IN THE SERVER ROOM!  Additionally, after game updates have been downloaded/applied to PC's, gaming traffic should be local to the "access" switch (unless there is a game server in the server room, then a VERY small percent of the backbone will be utilized).

 

Connecting the switches......

Fiber is the best solution for connecting multiple switches together across a building.  It also will not be affected by electric conduits (unshielded cable is not able to protect data signals from high current, but I doubt you have that issue).  When you bond multiple links between two switches together for greater throughput/redundancy, you are putting the links into a "port-channel" group or "LAG" group (terms differ between vendors).  

 

I re-watched your video on "10 Gig Networking" and saw that you were using Netgear at the time.  I am unsure if you can move forward with that switch platform.  Cat6A copper cables can operate at 10 Gbps speeds up to 100M (330ft).  If the distance to the LAN center is under that number, GREAT!  If not..........................new switches? (I know, $$$).  

(Side note). I also saw a Cisco 3800 router in the rack above the Netgear......PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me that the 3800 is not there anymore! (it is extremely outdated and was end-of-lifed back in 2016).

 

If the idea of upgrading the network is a bit daunting (price wise), there are companies that sell "equal to new" at a lower cost.....some even offer their own life time warranty on the equipment (switches/routers/cables/SFP modules).

 

Community, please feel free to add to this or ask any questions.  I will attach a ROUGH sketch of what I talked about.  Hope this helps Linus!

 

P.S.  PLEASE DO NOT CREATE A UNIQUE VLAN/SUBNET FOR EACH PC!!!!!  Thats idiotic.  If someone is scared to death about getting hacked by a friend, CUT THE CABLE! Or, turn on windows firewall.......

[kirashi]

Absolutely love this idea to utilize extra warehouse space. Whether this eventually leads to being a semi-public LAN centre or just stays local for the LTT staff, I look forward to seeing the space developed. At the very least, the idea of having a centralized server for caching and hosting dedicated games is an absolutely grand use of computer hardware - I do the same thing for friends playing various Garry's Mod games, such as Prop Hunt or TTT, as well as a few Minecraft servers.

 

Maybe, just maybe, these dedicated LTT servers could be played on by the community, perhaps as an extra benefit to being a Floatplane member, and would be managed by community moderators similarly to how the forums are already run. Obviously this is something that would have to be planned out very thoroughly, as this definitely opens the doors for unsportsman-like players on the servers, among other things, but would be a great way to tie the community together even more.

 

As for peripherals, I'd personally recommend buying a literal pallet of Logitech G710+ Brown Switch keyboards and MX518, or at least G500 mice. I'd personally take a quarterly (or more often) ferry trip over from Vancouver Island to participate in LAN events, be it facilitating them, or just playing games with others if this keyboard and mouse combo were present.

[Andrew4u]

Quick layout/design of the space.

 

LTT Group - Sheet - 001 - PC Layout.pdf

[Alphy13]

Monitors: Ultrawide 3440x1440. I have loved mine and i cant go back. Its far more real-estate than 1080 but not nearly as demanding as 4k. 
Caching server: Everything about a server is meant to be remote. Put it in the server closet and just route the networking for the LAN party room through it. 
Networking: dual 10G from the caching server to a switch in the LAN party room and then 1Gig to each of the rigs. 
GPU: 1070 is a good call! stick with it.
Rig placement: Put the rig on top next to the monitor. Show those off!
AC: put and air return at the top of the room. It will make a huge difference. 

 

The above is the practical version... The fun version would be to revive whole room water cooling with the heat exchanger. 

 

Just a note: Don't be afraid of virtualization. Some of the most demanding loads in the world are run through virtualized servers. I would recommend setting up two identical hardware servers in your server closet and then running KVM or VMware on top of them. Then you can have plenty of VMs running on top of them that can dynamically switch between physical machines for changing demand or possible failure. This works best with a separate storage server that hosts the boot drives of the VMs but you shouldn't have a problem there. It may sound complicated but y'all have done virtualization really well in the past and setting up a system like this will save you a ton of work for many projects to come. You can then use this virtualization setup for network routing and the caching server. 

 

This is going to be a great project! Thanks for taking the time to hear us out. 

[isktra]

If you need some networking advice I'm a Network Engineer/Architect that works out of the Vancouver area and wouldn't mind helping you guys with a design. I really appreciate what LTT tries to do for technical literacy so I'd like to give back to your community... even if some of your networking stuff does drive me a bit crazy. If you're interested send me a dm.

[SoloManXD]

Have a look on mine (THE FILE BELOW). 
PLAYER

2 row of 8 players = 16 players

Peripheral

Mostly Corsair due to ICUE lightsync. 

Server

Streaming Server (Like tournament)

Steam Library Caching Server.

Desk Setup

Putting the pc on top, and 27 Inch ASUS PG279Q QHD 165hz.

Why putting pc on top to show lighthing whether player alive or dead.

VR/CRT/Console Setup

If can paint the wall and the floor to green. So enable spectator know what happen to the player.

Whacky IDEA

Tournament like streaming from top view to all player plus pc lighting. Stream those gaming on channel super fun

 

To resurrect channel super fun, this is the way to do it.

 

Gaming Lan Center Idea 2.pdf

Edited September 7, 2018 by SoloManXD
Miss upload a file....

[Quadriplegic]

Why not try out double floor gaming booths? You know, isolated boots so no one would be able to cheat or gang up together, with controllable lightning, headsets for each machine. Since you plan on doing 2 rows, 4 booths per row would fit in just fine

Is it the best solution? Probably not, but it would be pretty cool

[SoloManXD]

1 hour ago, Andrew4u said:

Quick layout/design of the space.

 

LTT Group - Sheet - 001 - PC Layout.pdf

This setup same idea and mine haha 

[Granular]

Thanks, Trump!

[SgtSnipey]

My 2 cents  https://pcpartpicker.com/user/SgtSnipey/saved/MFtCbv

[3klund]

12 hours 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

 

 

20G connection to your server and 1G for each end-client seems like a great setup.
2 Cisco Catalyst 2960X-24PD-L would cover your need if you set them in stack.
I'm guessing you have network people on hand. But if you need help with the configuration feel free to send a mail. :-)
PS: the pc build is just so cool.

[AuZiEgRuNt]

Headsets are a must, and of coarse custom beer kegs for cooling..

[Apfel]

I hope you plan on bolting the computers to the floor or something, looks like expensive equipment someone might have a bright idea of stealing. May want to factor that in, I would hate to see this get ruined because someone decided to be cheeky and steal a PC or something. I hope the best for you folks and plan on giving it a visit sometime if it ever happens.

[Jordan Fielding]

14 hours 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 suggest putting the computers above like this, this is a gaming lounge where i live in Hervey Bay makes it look neat. 

[gamefreak431]

You mentioned that you thought it would be cool to record or stream Lets Plays in the space as well as have it be a general LAN space for staff. That means you need PC's that are geared for gaming with some light productivity work and I don't know if the current build will accommodate that. I don't know the size of the case you're using but is it big enough to mount a NUC inside as well? If not I reckon you can figure out some uniquely LTT way to mount it externally and RGB the crap out of it. That way you can offload any streaming or recording requirements onto that without dropping frames. Also then you can wire it up so the signal is sent to another PC for vision switching during tournaments. 

 

I've seen some fantastic network set up ideas and I am not qualified to add any more to the great ideas that are here (I did a semester of networking and most of it went over my head) but I do think you should take into account the extra network load of streaming on top of gameplay and downloading games, if it makes any difference at all I don't know.

 

As far as desks go I for sure reckon the case should be mounted above just for the style factor. Also with the case above, the screen can be mounted underneath providing more depth to the table giving players more room to move keyboards and mice into comfortable positions. At 3ft per person length-ways (and I'm assuming 2ft in depth) space is at a premium and any way to give more to the player is going to make for a more comfortable space to play. 

Does Cablemod do other kinds of custom cables like HDMI, Display port, Ethernet, USB, Thunderbolt, Power cables? If the machines are going to be mounted on top facing sideways (for maximum RGB pleasure) you don't want that to be hindered by boring af cables coming out the back of the thing. 

For maximum gaudiness whatever monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset set up you go with should also have RGB because who cares about light pollution, make that LAN centre visible from space!

[ryao]

15 hours ago, jvyden420 said:

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...

Unless they use CEMU.

[KaliiSteele]

I've always found stacked seating to be a unique and eye catching design. whats going to be the first thing someone notices when they walk into that room? the wall of gaming PC stations stacked 3 high with IQ lighting depending on team colors and a flash of red when someone dies.
 

heres a mockup I made in paint, frame made of galvanized steel pipes and a floor of your choice, though maybe hardwood for easier chair rolling and cleaning in case of spills

(I realize now i'm missing a column for 4 extra PCs, but that's not hard to add on your own)

you can also use the underside of the next floor to mount the PCs over-head

a snack request via razz-pi like the vending machines that grab your drink for you, or failing that a simple rope pulley system could be funny

I mostly went with a 3x4 instead of a 2x8 because of room constraints, as this could give you room for a college dorm style kitchenette with microwave, mini-fridge for cold drinks and snacks and toaster oven for that sweet DiGiorno flavor

Verner Pantons multi-level living space, retrofitted with a galvanized steel pipe frame would be another neat idea

this is some more images of it, http://www.verner-panton.com/furniture/archive/20/ and all his other stuff is on that site

as for the consoles I know game-grumps have a source input system for switching between consoles connected to a touchscreen, so you might contact them about how they set that up. button operated also optional like the desk you made.