-EVRE-
02-12-2009, 05:59 PM
This is intended to be a general hardware guide to single computer software multi-boxing-to hopefully clear up some FAQ's
For running multiple computers please see other posts in these forums. (Octopus is really cool!)
Computing horse power has really grown in years and a single computer is capable or running many instances of WoW.
SLI/Crossfire don't work for multiple monitors.
Get a single fast graphics card.
Adding a second graphics card to get that 3rd or 4th monitor will seriously harm FPS but its possible.
(all the video is still rendered on your main graphics card, then sent to the other graphics card, this takes up a lot of system resources. WoW only renders on a systems primary graphics card)
A much better and elegant solution is getting a Matrox triplehead2go or dualhead2go. The way it works your computer sees 2560x 1024 for example for 2 19" monitors. The device then splits the video signal to the monitors.
There is an analog and digital editions of both. I would go for the digital edition.
For more information:
Matrox site ('http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/')
Newegg.com dualhead2go link ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=dualhead2go&x=0&y=0')
Newegg.com triplehead2go Link ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=triplehead2go&x=0&y=0')
Retail prices are spendy, search Ebay for a better deal.
Keyclone has a handy utility called maximizer, it can make multiple copies of wow shrink to fit onto a single monitor. It also can make each copy start on the monitor you want it to.
Operating System:
Vista 64 is the way to go. It has support for more than 3 or so GB of ram.
Vista 32 can only support 4gb or ram minus your video ram.
XP does not play nice with multiple 3d applications across multiple monitors.
Ram wise 4gb in a minimum, as cheap as DDR2 is (at time of witting) I'd buy 8gb.
(Three copies of wow will just about max out a 4gb system)
Processor AMD or Intel, get quad core, the fastest you can afford.
Graphics card, I'd steer clear of internally SLI'd or Crossfire'd cards personally. A GTX280 has finally come to a reasonable price. (if I'm wrong about cards like the 4870x2 or the GTX295 I will change this)
WoW can run all copies from a single folder or disk.. or
Running multiple hard discs can improve load times when each has a copy of WoW on it (for each instance of WoW you run). This is the more complicated solution, each time there is an update, you must copy WoW to each disk again.
You can run WoW from two hard disks, you main, then alts on the other. This makes updates and mods simpler to manage. (the performance difference is only a big deal if you hate looking at that load screen O.o )
You can get real fancy with SSD's or ramdisk's but it will greatly increase your computers cost and the complexity of getting it all working.
Please comment on additions to this guide or further questions you may have!
-EVRE-
Feathermoon triple boxer
Druid tank, shadow priest, shadow priest
For running multiple computers please see other posts in these forums. (Octopus is really cool!)
Computing horse power has really grown in years and a single computer is capable or running many instances of WoW.
SLI/Crossfire don't work for multiple monitors.
Get a single fast graphics card.
Adding a second graphics card to get that 3rd or 4th monitor will seriously harm FPS but its possible.
(all the video is still rendered on your main graphics card, then sent to the other graphics card, this takes up a lot of system resources. WoW only renders on a systems primary graphics card)
A much better and elegant solution is getting a Matrox triplehead2go or dualhead2go. The way it works your computer sees 2560x 1024 for example for 2 19" monitors. The device then splits the video signal to the monitors.
There is an analog and digital editions of both. I would go for the digital edition.
For more information:
Matrox site ('http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/')
Newegg.com dualhead2go link ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=dualhead2go&x=0&y=0')
Newegg.com triplehead2go Link ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=triplehead2go&x=0&y=0')
Retail prices are spendy, search Ebay for a better deal.
Keyclone has a handy utility called maximizer, it can make multiple copies of wow shrink to fit onto a single monitor. It also can make each copy start on the monitor you want it to.
Operating System:
Vista 64 is the way to go. It has support for more than 3 or so GB of ram.
Vista 32 can only support 4gb or ram minus your video ram.
XP does not play nice with multiple 3d applications across multiple monitors.
Ram wise 4gb in a minimum, as cheap as DDR2 is (at time of witting) I'd buy 8gb.
(Three copies of wow will just about max out a 4gb system)
Processor AMD or Intel, get quad core, the fastest you can afford.
Graphics card, I'd steer clear of internally SLI'd or Crossfire'd cards personally. A GTX280 has finally come to a reasonable price. (if I'm wrong about cards like the 4870x2 or the GTX295 I will change this)
WoW can run all copies from a single folder or disk.. or
Running multiple hard discs can improve load times when each has a copy of WoW on it (for each instance of WoW you run). This is the more complicated solution, each time there is an update, you must copy WoW to each disk again.
You can run WoW from two hard disks, you main, then alts on the other. This makes updates and mods simpler to manage. (the performance difference is only a big deal if you hate looking at that load screen O.o )
You can get real fancy with SSD's or ramdisk's but it will greatly increase your computers cost and the complexity of getting it all working.
Please comment on additions to this guide or further questions you may have!
-EVRE-
Feathermoon triple boxer
Druid tank, shadow priest, shadow priest