HELP for LAN Party

we are setting up a 60vs60-man lan party with our server running over the net.

am wondering how much bandwidth will we need if the both teams set-up camp in 2 locations only, hence the party will need 2 connections only. how much bandwidth for each team and how much for the server?

and will nonGb lan PCs joining slow down our team?

btw, what switch should i use too: 3pcs 24-Gb port managed switcher or the unmanaged type?

am a noob at this so be gentle.

the usual online games: CS Source, Quake 4, BF2, Unreal 2k4, Mods of those games and some RTS like Rome:total war.

No need for a managed switch. Save you money too. I would stick with a 10/100 switch too. I dont think you really need more then that to conduct your events. If you want to spend the money and get really technical then go for it but you should be fine with what I mentioned.

will heed your advice.

we will certainly need the extra cash for the bandwidth cost.

There's something wrong with the math there. 64 players totaling 8mbps is about 15kb/s per player.

1mbps = ~ 124 kb/s
8mbps = ~ 992 kb/s
64 players x 15.5 kb/s each = 8 mbps

I haven't read all the way through this thread yet, but I'm sure someone pointed out that 60 players on a single connection is just NOT going to happen, unless you found some mircale company that will let you have a LAN in the boardroom and make use of their DS3!

EDIT: Okay, now I've read it all. I agree, don't bother with managed switches or any of that jazz. Each client is only using 20k/s, you could run 10mbps to the clients and they'd still have ultra smooth gameplay. Any 100mbps switches should work absolutely great. Your issue is going to be finding 20mbps of Internet bandwidth. Is there some reason you want to run the server on the Internet? Logistically speaking, if all the players are at two physical locations, it would be much easier and cheaper to put the server at one of them and then concentrate on finding a fast connection between the two locations. If they are close enough, you could do wireless, if not then maybe metro ethernet? I think the setup costs are around $1000-1500 for each site, which is still WAY cheaper than what it would cost just for the Internet bandwidth at one of the sites. Not even including setup fees.