Network Card Recommendation

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benplaya

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Jan 3, 2006
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This is another advice request (sorry ><)

We run a private gaming server with about 100 or so users. It seems that our network card (just a standard stock one) keeps disconnecting/crashing particularly when we are fullest.

(Our router we are replacing from advice here on [H]ard) :D

Any advice on a capable enough network card to handle this and more?
 
I do second the recommendation for a good 3Com card. When it comes to server-level quality needs, 3com delivers.
 
That NIC listed above is still only a desktop network card. I highly....HIGHLY recommend getting a server grade NIC. I've used 3COM 990 series NICs (not the 905 desktop series..but the 990 series...) in some game servers I've built...and they're fantastic. They cost over a hundred bucks...just like any other "true server grade" NIC will.

You're dealing with with many concurrent connections. 20, 30, even 50 dollar desktop NICs will not cut it, they simply are not designed for that. Just like a desktop OS...not designed for many concurrent hits and the resulting traffic.

With over a hundred clients..I hope you're running a server OS also. Again, a desktop OS is not tuned for concurrent hits..desktop OS's are only designed to deal with many connections..their efficiency drops off quickly. Servers are..well...obviously designed to handle heavy network traffic much more efficiently. And tune/tweak the heck of out your server OS..you can (and should) disable and strip most of the services. Blackvipers site was great as a reference for that...you could get your server stripped down to running under 75 megs for the OS. Lean and mean!
 
Thanks everyone

I'll look into the 3COM 990 series NICs

Anyone have a link to these 990 NIC's? (No luck finding product info on their website)
 
benplaya said:
This is another advice request (sorry ><)

We run a private gaming server with about 100 or so users. It seems that our network card (just a standard stock one) keeps disconnecting/crashing particularly when we are fullest.

(Our router we are replacing from advice here on [H]ard) :D

Any advice on a capable enough network card to handle this and more?
Click to expand...
Before you go spending any money have you tweaked your machines NIC driver and IP stack? Mostly what you're going to want is larger buffers and performance settings.
 
benplaya said:
Thanks everyone

I'll look into the 3COM 990 series NICs

Anyone have a link to these 990 NIC's? (No luck finding product info on their website)
Click to expand...

The current model of the version I have several of... 3CR990B-97 It's at the top of the link someone posted above, from 3COMs site.

I have several of the 990svr series from a couple of years ago.

Heads and shoulders above desktop NICs...much better "onboard" hardware processing. This thing will handle HUGE traffic without breaking a sweat, where desktop NICs will be gasping for breath and fall flat on their face...they simply are not designed for that kind of load.
 
I use an Server Grade Intel NIC from newegg, I had better luck with the Intel than 3Com as far as drivers go.
 
benplaya said:
Will the Cisco 1800 series router work?
Click to expand...

What sized pipe is this server hosted on? First I'd want to know what sort of hosting setup your server is on. I'm not up on Cisco, so someone else can chime in here with more input, but a quick look at Cisco's stuff..the 1800 seems to be aimed at smaller business setups, in the 30 seconds that I looked...I didn't find the processor speed. Quoted from their website:

"Q. What is the performance of the 1800 series?
A. The 1800 series of integrated service routers have been designed to deliver multiple concurrent services at wire-speed performance-up to single T1/E1/xDSL speeds."

To me, that means it's aimed more at the 2 meg market.

From my experience in building and supporting some public game servers.....I'd want it on faster hardware. The last public game server I'd done and ran for a while right next to my office...we had Battlefield 1942/DC, and Battlefield Vietnam on the same box. On a busy night we'd nudge 11 megs/sec upload. That was with around 80 players total...because I was on a 20 meg segment of pipe..I ran both games wide open, no throttles on them.
 
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