Some X-Box questions

[Famicoman]

I'm planning on getting an X-Box, and then celebrating with a LAN party for my closest friends. I have a couple LAN questions though.

 

1)What is the best brand of HUB to get? I'm thinking of getting the Radica LAN Party (Yes, its called that) HUB that includes 4, 12-Foot Etheret cable.

 

2)What is the difference between a HUB and a switch?

 

3)I'm planning on getting a 50, or 25 foot cable also, which company makes the most reliable.

 

4)I heard that some 3rd party controllers can hurt your console, is this true, or just something Microsoft says because they want to dominate the market. I want to know this, because I'm planning on getting that First Person Shooter controller.

 

5)Which kind of Ethernet cable do you need? Was it a Cross-over, or a patch?

 

Hope you can help me out here.

[liquid_sky]

1. Any hub should be fine, dont go for the high end only because it has an xbox logo on it, save a few bucks

 

2. Switches have a higher level of "intelligence" than a hub and can, for lack of a better term, foward packets 1-to-1 by inspecting them and sending them only to the intended device. Basically this means that there is less bidirectional communication that goes nowhere, making the process more efficient, but also bringing a higher price tag. A hub should do fine unless you want to shell out more money

 

3. I have never bought cable based on a brand, but most of the cable i worked with at my old job was ELTOP and never had any problems.. had some Belkin lines that ran pretty well too.

 

4. I have had several instances of my xbox freezing when using an el cheapo 3rd party controller... some of the more expensive third party controllers have never caused this, so if you do go third party, go with a brand that you have used before.. cant promise 100% that they wont hurt your xbox, but IVE never had a problem with Interact brand perif's

 

5. Patch cable is what I use.. just a little bit of CAT5E. You can also use CAT5E crossover cable.. not sure if there is an advantage or disadvantage to each type, but I havent been online with the Xbox much to be able to tell you (only got DSL recently)

 

Sorry I couldnt help out more.. if Starscream is around I am sure he will have something to say

[xenomorpher]

When I got my Xbox (trying to get rid of it now) It came with a 3rd party controller (I think its interact) I was at first upset then happy because the start and other button (yeah didnt play too much) was in the middle and the black and white buttons were on the shoulders above the triggers and as well at the right side basically an S-controller and it had the safty feature it disconnects if tugged too hard and rubber on the grips. Very comfortable however theres no exclusives worth keeping so Im getting rid of it plus I need the cash but its very hard to sell an Xbox here. Well hope you like your Xbox.

[Starscream]

Wow Liquid is pretty much spot on. Although I do think a crossover will only work with a direct link (not thru a hub or router). Not sure on that as I just have an 8 port for 2 pc's and 6 Xbox's

[egdinger]

The cross-over is only used for hooking an xbox to an xbox, no hub involved. The little quick dissconect is in the offcial controlers too, I guess the didn't want the 8lb box falling on little kids . I don't favor any one brand on cat5 cable it all seems fine. In fact I just by bulk cable and make my own now.

[Clock]

Yeah if using a hub then use straight thru cables only.

 

If its just 2 Xboxs connected directly to each other then you must use a cross over cable.

[Major Havoc 2049]

Don't bother with the FPS controller. I bought it and it sucks. It looks cool, but it sucks. Good design, but the quality is cheap. The analog sticks and the buttons aren't that responsive, when compared to the original controller. Also, the trigger/shoulder buttons are not analog, which effects games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

[liveinabin]

I got a third party controller with my Xbox (as well as the Controller S) made by Logic 3. I normally hate third party hardware but this is a surprisingly good pad, very nice on Burnout 3. Quite impressed.