[SOLVED] What hardware do I need for a lan party

[alexnf8]

I'm planning on having a gaming LAN party in a few months at my house with about 10-15 people. What hardware will I need to buy

 

[Darkbreeze]

Chips, salsa and beer. Maybe some sandwiches. Ok, just kidding. Honestly about the only thing you really need is a router or switch with enough ports for everybody who won't have a wireless adapter and a wireless signal from your router for the rest of them. If everybody has wireless capability, and you already have a wireless router, then you probably need nothing.

I can't imagine you're going to get very good speeds with 10-15 people on one internet line though unless you have a very high bandwidth fiber connection.

Are these going to all be desktop systems, or laptops? You might also want a way for everybody to plug their devices in as well so probably a decent 10 gauge extension cord and a high quality power strip made by somebody like Tripp Lite, Leviton, Eaton or at least one of the better APC models. You don't want a cheap, small, 14 gauge extension cord connected to anything that you're going to have that many systems plugged into so a good ten to twenty foot 10 or 12 gauge cord should be essential along with a very high quality power strip. Don't make the mistake of thinking companies like Monster, Belkin or Amazon make high quality power strips either, because they don't.

 

[kanewolf]

15 PCs at 400W each means 4 per breaker in the US. So you might need up to 4 separate breakers. So several extension cords maybe required.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, quite probably. Hopefully they're all on laptops that don't pull much power, because if those are all desktops that's going to be a fine mess of cords running from outlets that are all on different breakers, if there even ARE enough outlets on separate breakers. I've seen a lot of single level houses where practically all, or all, of the ground level outlets were wired to a single breaker or were split between only two breakers. Especially if it's an older building.

 

[alexnf8]

I should be good on breakers - as I have about 60 but I'll have to figure out which outlets are on separate breakers