Long time lurker, 1st time caller!!!

[Niwroc]

Hello everyone,

Been on this forum for months as I leveled my "Crew". I want to thank everyone who has given advice or helped others in different threads, Thus me never having to ask any questions.

I've hit lv 70 on 4 mages and 1 shaman. I'm using Keyclone and an older PC. Spec's below. The problem I'm having now is that I need to upgrade now that I want to do battlegrounds. My Dell XPS has been upgraded as far as it can go.

I've upgraded it from a P4 to a dual core. ram went from 2 to 4GB and the old Video card went out the door with a EVGA 8800GTS and an new power supply. This system got me from 1-70 5 boxing on it. Sad to say, its time to say good bye to this baby!!!

Dell XPS 400
Intel Pent D 3.0 Ghz
4GB ram
Nvidia Gforce 8800GTS
Windows XP Professional SP3

I'm looking to purchase this system this week and need to know if you see any weak spots, not upgrades becuase anything I put down you can and will find a better product. I want to know if I will have any problems 5 boxing on one machine.

So here is my soon to be baby, (Im building this myself).

CASE: NZXT Tempest, ATX, ohne Netzteil
POWER SUPPLY:BE Quiet! Straight Power 700 Watt / BQT E6
RAM: 4096MB-KIT Corsair XMS2 PC8500, CL5
RAM: 4096MB-KIT Corsair XMS2 PC8500, CL5
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 boxed, 12MB, LGA775, 64bit
VIDEOCARD: MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OC, 896MB, GDDR3, PCI-Express
DVD:Samsung SH-223F bare schwarz
HARDDRIVE: Western Digital Raptor 74GB, 10000 U/Min.
MOTHERBOARD: MSI P45 Neo3-FR, Intel P45, ATX

Can I use any windows vista 64bit to see the 8gb of ram?

Thanks for any advice.

Striker force
Malorne USA HORDE
Strikerone,Strikertwo,Strikerthree,Strikerfour and Strikerfive.

[moosejaw]

Any 64 bit OS should see the 8gb. I think some of the video card gurus could help on your card choice. There are a few people with experience on the new series of cards.

You may want to consider using an SSD in conjunction for storing the data/cache and maybe the interface. This should improve load times in crowded areas and bgs. If you haven't seen them already there is several informative threadsabout SSD's in the hardware section.

I don't see anything else that could be adjusted in your build. Maybe toss in some Liquid Nitrogen processor cooling? :P

[NashTitan]

Mooooooo!!

[Ellay]

Whats the uhhh total price tag on that baby? :P

[Multibocks]

You buying from Newegg, Cyberpowerpc or iBuypower? All that stuff looks like it's from Cyber, but I could be wrong! I'm waiting for the new i7 chips, tests show they can kick some serious butt. I think Vigorgaming is where I will get mine.

P.S. 700W P.S. is something to ponder on, not sure if you might need a little bigger.

[Tsunami]

since you are building this yourself i did notice some things you may want to consider

1. 700 watt limits future expansion. i would go with a 1k

2. nvidia 260 videocard: this is an sli card but you don't have an sli motherboard. sli allows you to link two or more video cards. another option would be the nvidia 9800. they are both about the same perfomance but the 9800 is cheaper. just a matter of future expansion and what type of games you play.


3. HARDDRIVE: Western Digital Raptor 74GB, 10000 U/Min. I'm assuming this is a mistake, and surprised nobody else caught this one. you will need more space than 74 gb. if you have the money i would recommend a raid 0 setup with 2 of these drives, and with a 500+ main harddrive. with raid 0 you will not slowdown in cities and BG.


4. add some as much cooling as you can afford.

[Farleito]

Very nice selections. The 260 GTX is one of the best single videocards around right now (aside from the 280 of course)

My only recommendation would be to add a 2nd hard drive. If you're going to go all out, go all out and stripe those bad boys! Raid 0 with 2 disks would give an average read of 152.90 MB/s. 3 disks would yield 227.8 MB/s. A single Raptor 740ADFD would give 75 MB/s. If you're going to spend $2000+ for this system, whats an extra $200 for twice the file i/o speed? You can't add another disk in the future if you decide not to do it now. (Well, you can but it's a bitch)

Basically, you've got a really fast sports car, with a rev-limiter ('http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev_limiter')on it.

(These numbers are from www.tomshardware.com)

Also, be careful with MSI rebates. They are known to hold out on them.

Good luck and have fun!

[Niwroc]

I was trying to keep this under $1500. I'm buying the parts here in Germany, takes to long to get them from the states.

I play only wow. Go figure.

I will look at the 1k on power.

I was not planning on SLI, but will look at the 9800 video card.

As for HD, I wanted a fast HD. I will look at raid 0 and see if I can budget it in. I have a laptop 320GB 7200 RPM just sitting around I could use as a main drive. fact is I have two! lol

Keep the tips coming in as I rethink my new puter!!

[getoutofmyway]

That Intel chip is awsome, running a Q9550 and OC to 3.12 and is very stable. I would however go with a bit better board don't want to paint yourself into a corner with only 1 PCI-E slot.. this will allow you to expand if required. Looking at Newegg alone it does not have the best reviews, I personally own a Gforce 780i that has been bullet proof so far. The other thing I would replace is the HD, The WD Velociraptors are SATA II and have a larger capacity you could get 1 or 2 depending on your requirements and set up a raid array. With Raid 0 you could increase your speed incredibly but you lose your data if 1 drive fails. I do think though your 700w PS should be sufficiant.

Can I use any windows vista 64bit to see the 8gb of ram? - Vista will see all the ram, but when you go to install the OS ensure that you only have 2gig of ram in the machine MAX! Once the machine has the required update to prevent BSOD on loadup, you can add the other 6gig of ram you plan to put in there.

[Farleito]

nvidia 260 videocard: this is an sli card but you don't have an sli motherboard. sli allows you to link two or more video cards.

You can't use multiple monitors when using SLI mode. Running 5 toons on a single monitor?


another option would be the nvidia 9800. they are both about the same perfomance but the 9800 is cheaper. just a matter of future expansion and what type of games you play.

No.

The nVidia 260 outperforms the 9800GT and GTX. As far as single nVidia videocards go, the 280 is the best money can buy right now. The 260 is the next best thing. For SLI mode... the 9800 GTX SLI mode poops on everything. Videocard Benchmarks ('http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/Call-of-Duty-4-v1-6,Marque_fbrandx876,745.html') <-- Numbers don't lie.

[Coltimar]

My $.02. For your hard drives, try this idea. Instead of getting 1 10k drive, get 3 7200 rpm drives. Since cost is a factor this may be a good route. 1 Drive (whatever size you want) for Windows and basic apps then do a Raid0 set on the other two drives. The Raid0 will run faster than normal 7200 rpm drives and it is always a good plan to run your games (especially WoW that doesn't use dll hooks) on a drive that windows is not on.

Optimally, go with 1 7200 rpm drive for your OS and 2 74gb 10k drives, but that is getting into some money.

[Tsunami]

nvidia 260 videocard: this is an sli card but you don't have an sli motherboard. sli allows you to link two or more video cards.

You can't use multiple monitors when using SLI mode. Running 5 toons on a single monitor?


another option would be the nvidia 9800. they are both about the same perfomance but the 9800 is cheaper. just a matter of future expansion and what type of games you play.

No.

The nVidia 260 outperforms the 9800GT and GTX. As far as single nVidia videocards go, the 280 is the best money can buy right now. The 260 is the next best thing. For SLI mode... the 9800 GTX SLI mode poops on everything. Videocard Benchmarks ('http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/Call-of-Duty-4-v1-6,Marque_fbrandx876,745.html') <-- Numbers don't lie.

sorry I was being a little lazy in my OP. but it is possible to run two monitors ('http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/') in sli mode. than just use multiplexer to set your screen up at 2500+ x 800. the 260 is a better card if he was playing crysis or similar intense 3d FPS game. one issue with the 260 was power consumption and budget. if he just plays wow, than a 9800gtx+ should be enough and he can save some money. in a year he can add a second 9800gtx for half price and double his processing power. but if he gets the 260 now his future upgrades are limited. since wow is not video card intensive, even an 8800 gt could handle 5 boxing on two monitors. or the new radeons cards are nice also. remember he has a quad core processor to handle the hard stuff. it just depends what else he uses his computer for. but the toms hardware is a great site for picking video cards.

[Niwroc]

I want to thank everyone for their input.

I've did some tweaking with my system and I did change the MB to a 780i and will still get the same video card, I can upgrade SLI sometime in the future! :thumbsup:

As for power supply, I went with a 1020 one.

I went with dual WD 320GB 7200rpm in which I will have in raid 0. :!: :!: :!:

System is still under 1500 euros, I plan on upgrading with another video card and HD sometime next year. 8o

I will repost my adjustments when I get up. Going back to bed since wow servers are still down! :wacko:

[heffner]

I would take a look at this (and the other charts) too for HD info: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/3-5-hard-drive-charts/Average-Read-Transfer-Performance,658.html

[Niwroc]

With all your help and input, I've come up with this system. I plan on upgrading another video card in a few months and the CPU in 6 months or so, when prices drop. Looking at adding a SDD sometime next year as well!
Minus the Software, I paid 1400 dollars with the current conversion rate. This includes 3 year warranty on all parts.

RAM: 8192MB-Quad-Kit GEIL Black Dragon PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL4
PSU: Aerocool HorsePower - 1020Watt
MB: EVGA nForce 780i SLI, ATX, 775, DDR2
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 boxed, 8192Kb, LGA775, 64bit, Kentsfield <<< NOT MY FIRST CHOICE BUT I WANTED TO KEEP COST DOWN, DIFFERENT MB, POWER SUPPLY AND HD!!
DVD: LG GH22NS30 bare schwarz SATA II
VIDEO: MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OC, 896MB, GDDR3, PCI-Express
CASE: 203NZM NZXT Tempest, ATX, ohne Netzteil
WINDOWS 64BIT VISTA ULTIMATE
RAID 0 CONFIG:
HD: WD Caviar SE16 320GB SATA II 16MB
HD: WD Caviar SE16 320GB SATA II 16MB

[Haruko]

For anyone saying 700W is limiting future expansion needs to really look at the actual wattage. Even a Quad-core SLI machine isn't gonna pull more then 600 & that's with like 4+ HD's & dvd-roms, Fans, lights..etc. If you get a quality PSU Brand example: Corsair 750w TX, PC Power & Cooling, Silverstone, Enermax, even thermaltake's high-end is good & plenty more. 1K watt PSU's are for simply show, nothing more.

CPU's are being made to use less wattage, not more. The only thing to worry/consider is the GPU's involved, & quite frankly if you don't SLI/CF than 1K is wasting wattage. For a system you listed above, the Corsair 750w is $110.00 @ newegg.com & will last even for future builds.

Overall welcome to the forums & congrats on the build. The 280GTX is the best bang for youre money, the 4870 1GB is the best single card under $300, anything more & you should just be CF 4850's (in +1 solutions) & calling it a day. The 9-series is last season as well. Raid 0 over Raptors, more space less money, & great performance. Tom's Hardware does great things for reviews & card(s) of the month.

[Niwroc]

Just wanted to update everyone, I received my new system and spent all day loading windows vista ultimate 64 bit, updated drivers and all the software I use to multibox! All I can say is WOW!!! I was used to playing my other computer and a laptop linked, five boxing on one computer and two monitors rocks. Any suggestion on how I can tweak windows vista for max performance? Website?

I now need to find a multiboxing guide to speed me though leveling, Have been using Zagor's 1=80 guide but it has too many collection quest. It rocks if your leveling ONE toon, not five!!!

Thanks again for a great site and I admit, I'm hooked on multiboxing!

Striker Force: My multibox team.
x4 lv 71 mages and x 1 71 Shaman.

x1 lv 72 priest
x1 lv 70 hunter
x1 lv 70 Paladin
x1 lv 72 Mage
x1 lv 70 Rogue

[mikekim]

i found that i got better performance once i dumped the black dragon ram for 2sets of OCZ 4GB (2x2gb) PC2-6400C4 800MHz ReaperX HPC Enhanced Bandwidth Edition Dual Channel DDR2 ram
(better ram timings and seemed to give more throughput)

otherwise looks like you bought a good spec system - I love the GTX 260 :thumbup: far better than the 9800 series

on another note getting a OCZ V2 SSD 30 gb would help with performance after symlinking the data and interface directories onto this drive

[Niwroc]

Will look at upgrading ram sometime next year, I love the GTX 260 and plan on getting another one for SLI, I was looking at the OCZ SDD, my question is this, do I use this as a game drive only and keep my Raid 0 as my system disc??

I've tried symlinking with winxp, do you have a link for vista 64 bit?

Thanks! :thumbsup: