Peer To Peer Network Equipment

[TimTDP]

I have a P2P network, and for various reasons want to upgrade the hardware.
I don't want to go the dedicated server route!

One of the reasons is that I want to upgrade to Office 2010 and run a fairly intense Access database on the network.

My question is:
If I am using one of the computers on the network as a "server", does it make sense to ensure that this computer has better specification than the others?
If a user's computer is an Intel i5 with 2Gig Ram, Windows 7 64 bit, will that user benefit speed wise if the "server" is an Intel i7 with 8Gig Ram, Windows 7 64 bit?

 

[agentrfr]

By P2P I assume you mean a normal Ethernet.

Just make sure your server PC has a gigabit Ethernet connection. (Be certain the LAN cable is rated for 1GB/s, the server PC has a gigabit adapter and the switch/hub its plugged into is also rated for 1GB/s per port.)

You can never go wrong with too much RAM , although performance wise it wont make an Earth shattering difference. It will just mean you only have to flush the memory every 2 weeks instead of every Sunday

 

[TimTDP]

Thanks
How do I confirm that the cables are 1GB/s?

 

[NoLogic001]

No. There will hardly be any benefit. And the server will hardly ever touch full 100mbs. Not to even mention 1gbs.

 

[NeonNinja]

Yeah. Theoratical vs real world. Check under your network properties, what's it actually capable of. 10/100/1000Mbps.

 

[NeonNinja]

Thanks
How do I confirm that the cables are 1GB/s?

That's currently impossible.
The correct notation is 1Gbps or 1000Mbps. Gigabit vs gigabyte.

 

[Pada]

1GB/s isn't impossible over a cable, but it is currently impossible over CAT5e/6

If you want to run services on a desktop PC, then it would help to get a better CPU and more RAM, like going from a dual/quad core (i5) CPU to a quad core with Hyper-Threading (i7) CPU.

If the user's i5 CPU is a quad core one, then he probably won't need a new CPU for running more services.