Hi, Im new here!

[Baker]

Hi Guys,
 Just thought I would make myself known, as I have been searching for LANs in our area. I also host a small casual LAN from time to time, along London Road. I am trying to make our meets more regular but majority of my contacts are Uni bums and do not turn up
So I hope to join you at you're next LAN and see how you guys run things 

Maybe in the future we could have a LAN vs LAN..

Anyway if you have any questions to ask please do.

Dan Baker

[jason]

Glad to see you made your way onto the Forums Dan.

Welcome

[Baker]

Jason,
 Whats the avg age range of the people that attend your LANs?

Also I noticed on your Sig that you have the HD3870, why did you opt for this card over an 8800? Also how does it perform, I was considering building a new machine; however my current rig is a little over a year old so I might wait for the next gen dx10 cards.

Dan

[jason]

Going from the last LAN, the youngest was 9. . . the oldest was late 30's?

Most of us are in 20-30.

I went for the 3870 partly as it's destined for my HTPC - so cost, power & temps played a big part in the decision making.

Overclocked CPU to 850 and mem to 1250 - installed a Zalman cooler, and it doesn't get above 45 deg

Runs brilliantly. Scored over 11k in 3dmark. To be honest, I can't fault the card.
http://service.futuremark.com/orb/resultanalyzer.jsp?projectType=14&XLID=0&UID=12474124

[Bluey]

if you're going for pure bang for buck you can't beat an 8800gt at the moment, if you can find one though as they are sold out everywhere, not surprising at £150.

Oh hi btw

[jason]

Is that + VAT tom?

[Baker]

Hi Bluey
 One of my close friends has just built a new rig, which had the zotec 8800GT; performs as good as the ultras in some places. Very good, but is a bit lousy on DX10 performance 

I slipped up really, and didnt opt for the crossfire enabled 1900. How much did ur 3870 set you back?

[jason]

I paid 125 + VAT

[Baker]

Not too bad then. So i assume you have a game server which is used at the LAN? I work in a school as ICT support so I have technical experience.

Do you ask that everyone has bought a copy of the games that are to be played on the day, obviously this is needed for the Steam games. But for instance, I have an "aquired" version of COD4, do you object against this? 

[jason]

Yes we have dedicated servers to run the games - so we are covered on that front.

Re games. . . no objections, but try and get them running on the same patch level so that you can play with legit versions.

[Baker]

Excellent, looks like you have LANs set up exactly how I want ours! I've just got to the stage of introducing a NAS filled with iso's and patches. So how long did it take you to get to "fully functional" LAN status if you like, ie with servers and such. When are you planning your next bash.

[jason]

I've been running them for about 8 years (since Quake 2 was out).

The server's aren't anything special - just some old machines which weren't fit for gaming & have been upgraded as I have changed my rig.

The switch was the expensive bit (3com 4400, 48 port not-se)

Next date is the 18th of Jan

/edit

Blimey it's been 10 years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_II

[Baker]

impressive, I been quite lucky with switches, as the Old man works for HP; and believe it or not..Freecycle is quite handy!

Any idea what games are on the agenda

[jason]

http://www.lanse.co.uk/?p=event&id=6

[jason]

Lol just noticed Frog's "request a game"