Best PC hardware for running 5-10 WoW on the same system

[Kinc]

I work for a pc component manufacture named ASUS. Since I were going to updrage my computers this week I had a big test session in the office last weekend to find out the ultimate config for running 5 and even 10 wows on the same comp.

Best w/o cost limit:

CPU: Intel QX9770 clocked to 4GHz (Quad core 45nm).

Motherboard: P5E3 Premium X48

Memory: 4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600MHz 8-8-8-22 (8GB in total)

Graphic card: Nvidia GTX280 TOP 1024MB GDDR3

Storage: Intel 64GB ES SSD (extremly high perf. but not available in stores yet)

OS: Vista Ultimate 64bit

Conlusion on this config: It seems like the driver needed to run GTX280 has a problem with rendering a perfect image of more than 1 source at once. Resulting in artifacts when using this card. The artifacts are not very noticable so I dont count this as a problem. If you cant find a high perf. SSD WD Velociraptor would be the best choise. This rig runs 10 wow smoothtly.



Best config with a good c/p ratio:

CPU: Intel E8400 clocked to 3600MHz (dual core 45nm)

Motherboard: P5Q Deluxe P45 DDR2

Memory: 4x2GB corsair value memory

Graphic card: Nvidia 9800GTX+ (no artifacts what so ever, perfect rendering)

Storage: Two single platter 500GB HDDS in Raid 0 (using drive Xpert on P5Q).

OS: Vista Ultimate 64bit

Conlusion on this config: 9800GTX+ gives you a perfect rendering (even on two screens). This config allowed to run 10 WoWs (9 minmized and 1 visable) in zangarmarsh at 60fps constantly smothly.

What I've learned from my testing:

4GB of system memory will allow you to run up to 6 WoW in Oggrimar without lag, 4 WoWs in shattrath.

6GB of system memory will allow you to run up to 10 WoW in Oggrimar without lag, 6 WoW in Shattrath.

8GB of system memory will allow you to run up to 10 WoW in Oggrimar without lag, 8-9 WoW in Shattrath.

A G92 gpu based graphic card like 9800GTX is the best. (If you have a G80 8800GTX or Ultra that is just as good)

DDR2 for sure since 8GB comes at a much better price than DDR3. Mmory bandwidth is not very important.

SSD storage is the best for sure, especailly in oggrimar or shattrath :)

A intel E8400 will give you all the cpu power you need.

Do NOT get a AMD graphic card. AMD has a driver limitations so it can only render 1 3d source at one time correctly. So you cant run more than 1 wow with a AMD (ATI) card.

Do NOT use SLI or a 9800GX2 card, it will limit you to one display.

Your graphic card should not have less than 512MB frame buffer.

GTX280 offers the best multiboxing graphic performance with its native 512bit 1024MB frame buffer. (will give you some artifacts though)

In the end if you want to multibox more than 5 use 2 computers it will give you the best performance :)

I multibox 8 warlocks, 1 paladin and 1 druid and by using two of the last system listed here I get perfect performance using two 24" and two 22" displays.

[Stormweasel]

Ignore me - you're talking about 5/10 boxing

[Ticks]

Do NOT get a AMD graphic card. AMD has a driver limitations so it can only render 1 3d source at one time correctly. So you cant run more than 1 wow with a AMD (ATI) card. I don't know where you get your information but I have an ATI Radeon with 2gb memory and two GPUs and I can run my main screen at 55 fps and 15-20 on all of my slaves on a second monitor. I only get some lag in Shattrath due to the fact that I'm only running 32bit Vista. The Radeon replaced a 780MB 8800GTX Nvidia card and the difference is huge. Are you sure you work for ASUS and not Nvidia? ;)

[Ken]

I don't know where you get your information but I have an ATI Radeon with 2gb memory and two GPUs and I can run my main screen at 55 fps and 15-20 on all of my slaves on a second monitor. I only get some lag in Shattrath due to the fact that I'm only running 32bit Vista. The Radeon replaced a 780MB 8800GTX Nvidia card and the difference is huge. Are you sure you work for ASUS and not Nvidia? ;) [/u]

The fact that you have a 32bit version makes it different. It could be a bug in the 64bit driver.
I had artifacts(geometry stretching out/twitching) on a 9800GTX+ card on XP64, while the computershop(who tested the card) didn't have any problems with a 32bit OS.

[kura]

I've run my 9800 gx2 on xp pro, xp x64, and vista ult 64, and never had any issues. This was all using nvidia's 170-175 release drivers.

As for your ATI comment, my 4870 works just fine for multiboxing

My 9800 gx2 will also run 2 monitors, all you do is go into the nvidia control panel and change from "multi gpu mode" to "multi display mode" And I actually got a few extra frames by unlinking them.

As for the GTX 280, why pay twice as much for a card that's beat up and down the street by g92's? I got my gx2 for 200 bucks new. newegg ftw

I'd take a q6600 over an E8400 any day. Especially when you're multiboxing on one rig.

Solid state drive? Cause wow utilizes a lot of HDD while playing right? That'll shave 2 seconds off the loading screens at the cost of what.. 1000-1500 bucks? My main and 2 alts run off a sata 3.0 16mb buffer drive, and the 2 other alts run off an old 80gb WD pata drive. The 4 alts load at the same speed.. always.

No offense, but there are some things you need to reassess. Your "best without a cost limit" system is simply overkill/rediculous. The system in my sig runs 10 boxes through shattrath like a hot knife through butter, it's all about how you set it up. turn off graphic enhancements you don't need, cap your FPS accordingly for each window, use less bulky addons, have a stable overclock, use appropriate resolutions, use stable drivers... etc

You're making people think you need some crazy rig to start boxing, when you don't.

edit: Sorry to rain on your thread, but somebody had to.

[Nairi]

I've run my 9800 gx2 on xp pro, xp x64, and vista ult 64, and never had any issues. This was all using nvidia's 170-175 release drivers.

As for your ATI comment, my 4870 works just fine for multiboxing

My 9800 gx2 will also run 2 monitors, all you do is go into the nvidia control panel and change from "multi gpu mode" to "multi display mode" And I actually got a few extra frames by unlinking them.

As for the GTX 280, why pay twice as much for a card that's beat up and down the street by g92's? I got my gx2 for 200 bucks new. newegg ftw

I'd take a q6600 over an E8400 any day. Especially when you're multiboxing on one rig.

Solid state drive? Cause wow utilizes a lot of HDD while playing right? That'll shave 2 seconds off the loading screens at the cost of what.. 1000-1500 bucks? My main and 2 alts run off a sata 3.0 16mb buffer drive, and the 2 other alts run off an old 80gb WD pata drive. The 4 alts load at the same speed.. always.

No offense, but there are some things you need to reassess. Your "best without a cost limit" system is simply overkill/rediculous. The system in my sig runs 10 boxes through shattrath like a hot knife through butter, it's all about how you set it up. turn off graphic enhancements you don't need, cap your FPS accordingly for each window, use less bulky addons, have a stable overclock, use appropriate resolutions, use stable drivers... etc

You're making people think you need some crazy rig to start boxing, when you don't.

edit: Sorry to rain on your thread, but somebody had to.when you unlink the 9800gx2 you pretty much have a single 8800gt/9800gt card. and no its not fast as a gtx280 nor a gtx260.
a single 8800gt costs $119. which is what you're using by unlinking.

As for the TS have you heard of the skulltrail? 2x (QX9775 cpus 4x gpus... can do both sli and crossfire.

[kura]

when you unlink the 9800gx2 you pretty much have a single 8800gt/9800gt card. and no its not fast as a gtx280 nor a gtx260.
a single 8800gt costs $119. which is what you're using by unlinking.

As for the TS have you heard of the skulltrail? 2x (QX9775 cpus 4x gpus... can do both sli and crossfire.Ah i see your point there.
Mine's still showing up as two, I was unaware I was shutting off my second. That's a bit deceptive.
Either way, my FPS went up when I changed to multi-display mode =/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3237/2867416251_e2d95827fe_o.jpg

And the GTX 280 aint all it's cracked up to be..
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/geforcegtx200launch_061408203021/17059.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/geforcegtx200launch_061408203021/17060.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/geforcegtx200launch_061408203021/17062.png
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/geforcegtx200launch_061408203021/17065.png

I just don't see why somebody would justify buying a gtx280 the price is absurd.

[kura]

I play everything I can get my grubby hands on. Crysis is a blast on very high, too bad the game wasn't that great. At least it was pretty!
My point though is that it's a well rounded card for a decent price. I've had no issues with lag at ALL while multiboxing and I don't see any issues other than lack of multi-monitor support.

I think if I were going for a multi monitor setup I would consider AMD over nvidia, or single gpu nvidia cards. All this time I had no idea multi-monitor was cutting off one of my gpus, yet it still shows up as two. That's great.

[wallshot]

thanks for the shared work :)

Would you mind explaining how your directory structure was set up? I recently switched to the 5 directory set up and lagged like nobodies business in Shatt/Org, until I made symbolic links using "MKLINK" command. Not that going cheep on HD's or storage would be the point of this quest, but I found it eliminated my need for a 2nd, 3rd... HDs while I level.

[Hat]

I use a Q6600, 4 Gigs of RAM, 7600 GT, and 5 box.
I use two hard drives. One for three of my guys and the other for two of my guys. I share the same directory with the ones on the same hard drive. I haven't had any major problems, and all of that cost me under $1000.

[suineg]

Remember that if you are not using a 64 bit OS you won't get all 4GB of RAM. This limitation includes video memory.

[Hat]

2^32 ~= 4 Gig

A 32 bit OS will use up to 4 gig of RAM, although you have to subtract off the video card memory you are using.
A 64 bit OS will use up to 8 gig of RAM, however, it handles various things differently.

[Ajuga]

Do NOT get a AMD graphic card. AMD has a driver limitations so it can only render 1 3d source at one time correctly. So you cant run more than 1 wow with a AMD (ATI) card.

I'm about to buy parts for my new multi-boxing pc. Someone recommended ATI Radeon HD 4850 (not on this forum), so now I am of course interested in getting this verified.

(Link to my hardware thread: Will this ROCK? PC for dual-boxing ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=13805'))

[heyaz]

2^32 ~= 4 Gig

A 32 bit OS will use up to 4 gig of RAM, although you have to subtract off the video card memory you are using.
A 64 bit OS will use up to 8 gig of RAM, however, it handles various things differently.

Can use a lot more than 8GB on a 64-bit OS, Vista will support up to 128GB and other 64-bit OS's support RAM into the terabytes :)

[thinus]

Just a note, 5-boxing with 4GB on Vista 64 I ran out of memory and started hitting the pagefile. This usually happened when I went to a few different Outlands zones. It seems a lot of data is cached and eventually you run out of memory. I upgraded to 8GB and now I have zero problems except for the very occasional loss of one follower in Shattrah. Still can't fly on epic mount with crusader turned on though.

[Noids99]

Just a note, 5-boxing with 4GB on Vista 64 I ran out of memory and started hitting the pagefile. This usually happened when I went to a few different Outlands zones. It seems a lot of data is cached and eventually you run out of memory. I upgraded to 8GB and now I have zero problems except for the very occasional loss of one follower in Shattrah. Still can't fly on epic mount with crusader turned on though.

Funnily enough 64 bit file system uses RAM less efficiently than a 32 bit so you may have found that problem relieved by returning to Vista 32. There is a write up somewhere (TH I think) comparing Vista 64 to Vista 32 basically outlining that it is worthless for the extra 800MB you get using 4GB RAM but awesome if you stick 8GB in there (as you have found).

Also if you are having probs flying with crusader, check out the write up on the 64GB SSDs. Again, too lazy to link, do a quick search on these forums though for a good review.



Cheers

[Ticks]

Do NOT get a AMD graphic card. AMD has a driver limitations so it can only render 1 3d source at one time correctly. So you cant run more than 1 wow with a AMD (ATI) card.

I'm about to buy parts for my new multi-boxing pc. Someone recommended ATI Radeon HD 4850 (not on this forum), so now I am of course interested in getting this verified.

(Link to my hardware thread: Will this ROCK? PC for dual-boxing ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=13805'))I have the 4870 X2 and it runs 5 clients across two monitors flawlessly.

[pinotnoir]

Just a note, 5-boxing with 4GB on Vista 64 I ran out of memory and started hitting the pagefile. This usually happened when I went to a few different Outlands zones. It seems a lot of data is cached and eventually you run out of memory. I upgraded to 8GB and now I have zero problems except for the very occasional loss of one follower in Shattrah. Still can't fly on epic mount with crusader turned on though.

I use crusader on my pally but I make him follow one of the other guys. This keeps them together better than just having the pally out front.

[Jaws5]

Just a note, 5-boxing with 4GB on Vista 64 I ran out of memory and started hitting the pagefile. This usually happened when I went to a few different Outlands zones. It seems a lot of data is cached and eventually you run out of memory. I upgraded to 8GB and now I have zero problems except for the very occasional loss of one follower in Shattrah. Still can't fly on epic mount with crusader turned on though.

I use crusader on my pally but I make him follow one of the other guys. This keeps them together better than just having the pally out front.

Thats a great Idea

I will have to try that

[kura]

Dual monitor/9800 gx2 problems
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9800 gx2 owners rejoice! ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=126561#post126561')

[pbrigido]

I am sitting with almost the exact same configuration the original poster listed! My game runs as smooth as silk with 5 on one machine.



Intel Q9550 OCed by 20% (the extreme editions are just not worth it in my opinion)

8GB RAM

2x Samsung 64GB SLC SSDs. One for the OS and the other for storing 5 complete WoW directories. Very pricy, but well worth it.

Nvidia GTX 280

eVGA 780i FTW motherboard

I strongly recommend a SLC based SSD. Loading times for 5 accounts from the SSD seems like a normal computer loading 1 off of a conventional HD. Very very fast.

[Catamer]

I find my ATI4870 blows away my Nvida 8800
This is not unexpected since it is a newer card and a much faster cpu and memeory, etc. I find it hard to believe the ATI is a no-show for this setup you want to do.
I'm runnig Vista x64 and the ATI4870, I also have Vista x32 and the Nvida 8800, The nvida machine almost always has lag and display drawing is aways delayed. The sound on this machine can sometimes be 5-10 seconds behind the other two machines. I have not been able to figure out where this delay comes ( vista x32 or the nvidia card or the combo of both or maybe sometype of NIC problem, I just don't know ).
each machine is running two copies of wow.

[Kinc]

I retested ATi VGAs today and found the reason to the problem Ive been facing. The driver I used were a very early draft for R700. With latest form amd.com it works like a charm. 4870X2 omg :D Curently running with 2 pcs of 4870X2 and I am blown away with the performance using two 24" on one system (QX9770 @ 4.4GHz watercooled, 8GB DDR3 on P5E3 Premium). 4870X2 <3

[oMek]

my hd4870 blows the pants off my old 8800gt. runs mult wows just fine.

q9550 @ 4.0
4gigs 1066 ram @ 1100
4x 7200.10 segates in raid 0+10
hd4870 GDDR5 FTW!