Minimum computer for server

[Spawnman]

Was wanting to set up a small LAN server to run dedicated Q3 to serve 2-3 people. The computer is Win98SE 96mb RAM, k5-133. Would this work ok? Would also like to add a few bots.

Thanks

[Caladcholg]

Might work. I know a dedicated server runs well on a 200mhz P2.

You may run into some performance trouble if you try to run bots though.

[Barry White's Pants]

You'll certainly be OK with the 96 MB of RAM. In terms of the CPU, a K5-133 is pretty slow by todays standards, and Win98 isn't the most efficient OS. However, a Quake3 server really doesn't use that much of the CPU resources.

I don't think they'll be many (if any) server admins who have even tried Quake3 on anything less than a 300 MHz or similar. From my own experience, my first server was a Celeron 366 and I ran an 8-slot Quake3 server quite successfully - CPU usage would rarely go any higher than about 20-25%. So, according to that you should be OK.

I would suggest trying it out and checking your CPU usage - there are loads of freeware utilities that allow you to log the system health (CPU % use etc) to a text file. You can then make a record of the % CPU usage while you're playing and check it afterwards. It will be pretty obvious if the CPU gets maxed out because the server will be laggy - the CPU meter can be used to double check.

Barry.

[Aslan]

I have run a Linux dedicated Q3 server quite successfully with 8 clients on a Pentium 150.

The linux dedicated server does not require much horsepower.

I do suspect that a 133 may be crossing the line, though. Especially if you want more than 8 clients playing or want multiple servers.