How many wows could i logically run on my pc?

[Alcsaar]

I couldn't afford to buy seperate pcs for 5 boxing, but I could afford to pay the cash/month if just to try it out.

I am really interested in 5 boxing, I loveee the idea of being able to hit >2k rating on a 5 man team with a healer and 4 people i play myself.

So I am wondering just how many instances of World of Warcraft I could run, and if anyone has any pointers for a new multiboxer.

My PC is about 4 years old, my specs are:

P4 3.2 ghz
3 gigs ddr2
BFG 6800 GT (Factory overlocked)

[Wilbur]

I'd say that PC could probably run two.

[Xzin]

I would say 2 as well. 3 would be pushing it with that video card and single core.

[Alcsaar]

I would say 2 as well. 3 would be pushing it with that video card and single core.

Okay thanks guys.

I've got a question

Normally I'm good with computers, but the processor is listed twice(?) in my system. It says "Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20 Ghz, 3.20 Ghz"

Also, in my Task Manager my performance for CPU Usage History has 2 different boxes, which leads me to believe that I have two processor chips.

I'm under the impression that my computer is old enough that it probably does not have a dual core processor.. especially a 3.2 one..but could it?

It ran about $3,000 4 years ago, but my brother paid hard for the brand name (Alienware).

Heres a screenshot I threw together real fast.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3540/compspecscf8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Assuming it is indeed a single core processor, how much do you estimate it would run me to upgrade the CPU and graphics card, and more than likely the Motherboard which is probably to old to support dual core processors?



Also, I've heard there is a guild of multiboxers on mag horde side...Is it "The Zerg"? I did a /who but noone was online...is it relativaly inactive, or is it just because its 5 am ? Lol.

I'm wondering if it would be worth it to leave the support of my Penny Arcade fellows of Dark Iron in order to multi box on Mag.

[Xzin]

Hyperthreading. Single core.

And 5 am EST on a Sun morning is....... not exactly prime time :) We do have several members who play in other timezones though, so /who Zerg later today.

[Alcsaar]

Hyperthreading. Single core.

And 5 am EST on a Sun morning is....... not exactly prime time :) We do have several members who play in other timezones though, so /who Zerg later today.

<3 Are you (or the other members) into helping out a new multi boxer via power runs through instances? That is some insane XP.

[Xzin]

We tend more toward gold/bags but ask around. It is hard to powerlevel 5 chars though.

[Alcsaar]

We tend more toward gold/bags but ask around. It is hard to powerlevel 5 chars though.

This is assuming I can only end up doing 2-3 chars (in which case they could be power leveled at the same time by one or two 70s)

If by some miracle I win the lottery or something, and I can 5 box, I'd rather just do instance grinding by myself, anyway :)

What would you suggest for a 2man or 3man group? For leveling I'm looking more towards being able to just grind (aoe) a lot because I'm not sure how I'll enjoy trying to micromanage all the quests on all three chars.

Are there addons out there that you know of that help with quest acceptance/turn ins for things like this? For example, an addon that auto accepted shared quests would be great so that I only had to accept it from the npc once, then I could simply share it and it would get accepted a automatically. Currently I use one addon that auto inserts the progress of your quest into party chat. I've found that is useful so I don't have to alt tab or turn around and look at my other pc to make sure my secondaries are on track with me.

P.S.: Why are you awake?

[Xzin]

Why are you awake?

[yarr]

this is the setup i use for 5boxing

Intel Core 2 Duo 644 @ 2.13GHZ
3.25 MB Ram (4gig but only goes to 3.25 due to 32bit OS)
NVIDIA 7800 GEFORCE graphix

not exactly top of the line, in fact everything is over 1 year old except the RAM. I get about 30fps in org and all around azeroth so far (didnt take it to outlands yet so i cant comment on that) which is enough for me.

So it doesnt take the best machine in the world to handle 5 boxes on 1 computer, but i would recommend a dual core (core 2 duo or AMD equivalent) at the minimum. NVIDIA 7800 handles 5boxes surprisingly well but everyone here swears by the 8800... apparently its got the best performance/cost ratio =]

[Robash]

My PC is about 4 years old, my specs are:

P4 3.2 ghz
3 gigs ddr2
BFG 6800 GT (Factory overlocked)

I had a similiar setup about a week ago (except I had 1gig ram) and I could run 2 pretty good, never tried 3 though. but that would probably be pushing it.

As for addons, I use twoboxtoolkit for auto excepting quests, and it has some other nice features for boxing, but I would suggest you take a look at the addons forum.

[henrik.falk]

I run 5 wow with my 1.7 GHz Pentium-M laptop with 2 GB RAM and Nvidia 6800 GO. All resolutions are 800x600. That works just fine.
I do run those five wow with one single data directory, but i don't think that matters.

[Robash]

I do run those five wow with one single data directory, but i don't think that matters.

It matters, on my old system I could barely run 2 wows using multiple directories

[henrik.falk]

It matters, on my old system I could barely run 2 wows using multiple directories

Great :-) I didn't even bother to try with separate data directories. Seemed like a waste of hard drive.

[Wilbur]

If you are running 5 from 5 seperate directories you negate the usefulness of a) Processor cache b) Hard Drive cache.

Running all from 1 Directory gives you a noticable boost in performance when loading textures or joining a BG/Instance.

[perenor]

If you are running 5 from 5 seperate directories you negate the usefulness of a) Processor cache b) Hard Drive cache.

Running all from 1 Directory gives you a noticable boost in performance when loading textures or joining a BG/Instance.

Suggestions for boosting things on my setup?

Hardware
Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz
2 Gigs RAM
GeForce 7600 GS 256megs RAM

I run 2 toons and 2 WoW installs separately (Master & Slave).

The slave install is for all the followers, and master for the main.

Both run at the same resolution (1280x1024).
Both run in Window Mode Maximized. I noticed this saves me a TON for alt tabbing when I need to.

Things aren't really slow or choppy for me (actually quite nice), but if I want to try to get a 3rd on here, I'd like to make sure I can minimize the drags now.

The reason I run 2 like this is probably the same as most others.
1-Fewer addons on the slave. (I could always just trigger which get loaded where like any other time)
2-Lower graphical settings on the slave. (However, the difference isn't that much between the 2).

I was toying between setting affinity and not. I haven't noticed any major differences, but then I haven't gotten into any instances yet. My toons are still babies.

[Wilbur]

Aren't addons and such set per character?

If you wanted to upgrade your system to put an extra character in there, the only thing I'd suggest upgrading would be your graphics card.

512MB 8800GT should see you through up until around 5 characters.

[perenor]

Aren't addons and such set per character?

If you wanted to upgrade your system to put an extra character in there, the only thing I'd suggest upgrading would be your graphics card.

512MB 8800GT should see you through up until around 5 characters.

Yeah, I'm planning on getting a new video card soon as well as a 22in wide screen monitor, and maybe another gig of ram.

Addons are per character, but it's nice not having so many to click off for the slaves. However, that's a convenience I'm willing to lose if it means better performance if I run them both out of the same directory.

[Wilbur]

Give it a little try, you might notice it, you might not.

[ivoti]

I'm running four clients each in their own directory on a AMD 64x2 4400 with a gig of memory and a 1900XT 512MB. Three clients run at 560x525 and the main at 1680x525 and each one is getting over 40 fps at a minimum. Haven't taken them to a major city yet and I'm expecting that to be a slide show but who knows.

A couple months down the road I hope to add another monitor and some memory so I can add my fifth character. Adding another monitor will probably be a bit more resource heavy but I'm optimistic.

[Wilbur]

Using diffrent directories will not affect your FPS as such, it'll affect load times and time spent loading textures.

[Alcsaar]

Thanks, you've all been incredibly helpful :)

I believe I'll be Quad boxing shamans when I eventually can, and I've looked at newegg.com for upgrading my PC.

Currently I'd be picking up:

Intel BOXDP35DPM LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: BOXDP35DPM
Item #: N82E16813121314
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813121314

BFG Tech BFGR88640GTSOCE GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #: BFGR88640GTSOCE
Item #: N82E16814143081
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814143081

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6550 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115030



This'll be just under $700 and should run 4 (or 5) WoW's just fine, correct?
I've already got 3 gigs of ddr2, so that should be just fine?

If you have any comments on one of these I should or shouldn't get, please let me know. I just threw together 3 fairly quick, and I haven't had time to read anything. I just recently read some reviews on the mobo and it hasn't done to hot on ratings. Is it okay to go with a fairly cheap mobo ($80-$110) range?

Also, im curious about running multiple WoWs off one directory. I thought Blizz had some kind of block enabled where that wasnt possible, but it appears not. Can I just start 2 WoW's like normal now?

[Wilbur]

Instead of the E6550 go for a Quad-core processor instead, this'll make quad or quin-boxing far easier.

[Alcsaar]

Instead of the E6550 go for a Quad-core processor instead, this'll make quad or quin-boxing far easier.

Uhg, thats going to cost quite a bit more.

Hrm.

What about


Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115017

Then? About $100 more, but if its worth it its worth it.

[Wilbur]

If you are running all your characters on one PC, then I'd say a quad core is pretty essential to get a decent Frame-rate. Once you drop below 3 characters per PC Dual-core becomes perfectly viable.

You could probably save some money on the graphics card. a 512 MB 8800GTS or even a GT would probably do the job.

Take a look at Tomshardware.com to get a decent idea of FPS's and what you'd be best running with.

[Alcsaar]

So then


BFG Tech BFGE88512GTOCE GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143118

Would be good? That'd save me ~ the extra $100 the processor would be costing me, putting me right back under 700.

I have read however that it has cooling problems, and with 4 games running compared to just 1, I could see that being a problem so I'd have to drop some cash on a non-stock heatsink.

[Wilbur]

In my oppinion that'd be a great card and probably what I'm going for.

You might want to wait until some of the others comment though.

Although this might also be an option for you;

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/11/nvidia-reveals-geforce-8800-gts-512mb/

and as its a similar price, its full of win.