Qs about Hosting a Dedicated Server

[superguybob]

Im thinking about renting a Dedicated Server, for a while, until I can afford to do a Server Co Location. I need to do it for a few reasons, but Ill easily have additional hardrive space and processor power to host a game on it.

The only question is bandwidth. Does anybody know how much Bandwidth per month would get used up on a server hosting a game such as Unreal Tournament or Halo?

Any help would be great.

[herura]

Bandwidth is not the issue, throughput is. Stated another way, how much data will pass through the link each month? Bandwidth is the speed of the connection, not the amound of data that is transfered.

I currenly co-lo 2 servers at a local ISP and they include 5 gigs of data trasfer per month, if I go over the cost is $40 per gig per month.

As for hosting a game, that would depend on the number of users, maybe you could contact the publisher of the game and they could give you some stats.

[rusty4x4]

I'm sure you have good reasons to rent a Dedicated Server, but you might want to think about whether or not your current connection (i.e., cable), and hardware, or even an extra (older) PC can do the trick in the meantime.

I run a Half-Life DS for a few friends (and sometimes open it up to the public) on the weekends. It runs on a Linux Mandrake 9.2 / P3-733 MHz platform with 384 MB. I can comfortably host 10-15 players with no problem with my cable connection. I have even run a BF1942 game, with 10 players. I haven't pushed my server for that game's capacity yet - considering it's fairly graphics intensive compared to HL.

If you're thinking beyond the hobby/dabbling realm, then there are some serious DS leasors out there, like these guys, among others.