hi to all forumers,

my friend told me newer cybercafes no longer use hdd for their pcs. i was wondering how can that be better than using hdd for every pc.

-isn't the game loading going to get slower since need to take from server?
-what kind of game can be used like that?
-what kind of server setup (rig) would be able to handle such request? and how many pc per server
-license for windows and games, will it be cheaper since only 1 server handling, say 10 pcs?
-is special hardware needed for such setup?

thank you

Somehow this become reality during 2000s, although the technology is not advance enough

New Internet Computer

(1) Should be slower since got more delay compare to loading game directly from PC
(2)If the game doesn't set user quota, it is possible for every kind of game
(3)(4) Dun know, sorry
(5) A good Router, otherwise dun know, sorry.

Its better than HDD as there is no need to hassle/worry about HDD failure, virus/malware infection, updating games/software, etc.

Depends on your hardware. If there's a gigabit switch then the game loading is as fast or sometimes faster than loading from HDD (depending on the amount of memory in the server, used for disk/file caching).

Most of the multiplayer and LAN friendly games on the market, except DRM protected games.

The number of PC per server (or number of users per server) is usually depends on the licensing of the server software itself (much like CALs on Windows NT/Server systems). The server can be low-to-mid end machine. Sometimes a mirror server is recommended for redundancy.

No special hardware for such setup, just good LAN wiring (CAT5E ot CAT6), servers and gigabit switch. The only one you need to worry about is the Internet router (to cater for internet browsing and activities) as normal consumer/home routers that you can find/buy in shops cannot handle heavy traffic (ie. number of TCP/UDP connections and network sessions per user). As for the licensing and pricing, not very familiar with that but I do have a friend who setup and installs these systems. You can ask him though..

This post has been edited by lex: May 1 2012, 05:21 AM

1. not slower definitely. Simply because the server runs RAID to boost read speed. And several servers (cluster servers) are involved.
2. Almost all games since applications virtualization is the future even for enterprise environment
3. Highly dependant on server specs and quality network switch.
4. License wont be cheaper since the license still depend on how many pc u have in the cybercafe.

The best advantage to be had from running without the HDD is as following:

1. Lower downtime of individual PC since HDD in servers will hardly fail ( HDD die never mind, just rebuild the RAID array and the system will resume back to normal), but normal single HDD will fail very often because of "user problem".
2. OS and games patches can be done much easier since everything is streamed from the server. You only patch the servers. Meaning to sync all the PC to the server, just reboot the client.
3. Special hardware is not needed. Requirement is just the network card must support PXE boot. Thats it and gigabit switches.

This post has been edited by k!nex: May 1 2012, 05:45 PM