It Begins

LANWAR takes place in Louisville, Kentucky, and as I head there for LANWAR 75, running from January 15th to January 18th, 2026, we thought it might be interesting to share what goes on behind the scenes while preparing to attend one of the largest and most iconic LAN gaming events in the United States.

Preparations began a few months ago with reserving hotel space and preparing LANWAR 75 swag orders to be shipped to the event.

LANWAR is especially fun for me because my wife takes her vacation to join me. The event is awesome—not only do I make sure to reserve my own space, but LANWAR also ensures her space is reserved at the event as well. It’s one of the things that makes this LAN party experience so special.

With the basics done, the next step is to prepare the gaming rigs I will be taking to the event. Since SAPPHIRE expanded our product lineup to include motherboards, it was decided that we needed to showcase both SAPPHIRE GPUs and motherboards. For this reason, I built the show rigs using the Thermaltake Tower 300 cases. This case is a great way to show off our SAPPHIRE NITRO+ and PURE AMD Radeon GPUs, as well as our B850M motherboards for NITRO+ and PURE systems. All of this took place a few months ago as I began preparations.

I ensure all the cable runs are properly done so we can have an easy setup at the event, and I put the systems through their paces over the next two days. Today and tomorrow, I will be making sure both systems are fully updated in Windows, and that all the PC games we plan to play at LANWAR 75 are installed and fully updated.

Once the updates are done, I start stress testing the gaming PCs. This ensures that once the systems arrive at the LAN event, they will perform exactly as expected. This involves more than just running a stress test using 3DMark (my preferred stress test); it also includes running the various games we want to play on the systems for extended periods. Nothing will ruin a LAN party faster than a system that won’t run the game you want to enjoy.

I do all of this using the actual peripherals and displays we will use at the event to make sure everything works together as it should.

Once we know the systems are stable, we begin packing. Since I drive to LAN events, the need to “pack” the systems themselves is greatly reduced. I have control over how the systems move around in the car, so I don’t need boxes and excessive padding. The main packing effort, in this case, is for the gaming peripherals.

I double-check to make sure each system has its keyboard, mouse, headset, mouse mat, and all the required cables. I also make sure we have phone chargers packed, along with a few spare cables—just in case.

Finally, I make sure the other essentials are packed. You need a decent surge protector or power strip for each system, as well as a network cable to connect to the LAN.

With the systems all packed and double-checked, it’s time to relax, pack some clothes, and get ready for the trip itself.

That’s where we’ll pick up next time.

Edward Crisler
Edward is the definition of an “old school” gamer, playing computer games as far back at 1977. He hosted a tech talk show for 20 years and is now the North America PR Representative for SAPPHIRE as well as SAPPHIRE’s unofficial gaming evangelist. You can follow him on Twitter @EdCrisler.