noob shizz this look ok...+question

[bob]

first post /wave

hi to all

i have looked over the forums over the past week after seeing Aelli's shammy vid, that was just crazy and i am trying to absorb all the info on offer.

conveniently i am due for a new comp, just wanting to get some opinions on what i am looking at doing (5xwow on the 1 pc).

what i was looking at:
XFX GeForce 8800GT 512MB XXX 670MHz
Quad Q6600
Corsair Micro 4GB PC-6400 (800MHz) DDR2 RAM
GIGABYTE, GA-P35-DS3R, P35, ATX, FSB1333, PCIEx16, DDR2 motherboard
running on vista 64bit

i also have a 26in and a 17in monitor, i was thinking i could have 4xwow on the 17in and the main on the 26in.

question time:)
Q1) in order of importance is it gpu then ram or the other way around?
Q2) 4gb or 8gb, or up the ram MHz?
from what i have read it sounds like a helpful and easy going community looking forward to becoming part of it

thanks

[Wilbur]

Thats a good spec for a 5-box machine, it'll work fine.

The most important thing with WoW is the Graphics card.

The new 8800GTS is great and well worth buying in my oppinion.

You'll do fine on PC6400 RAM, but if you want to make it PC8500 or so, then do it because you'll notice the diffrence for other stuff :-D

Best of luck.

[bob]

thanks Wilbur thats what i was looking for

[Zseth]

first post /wave

hi to all

i have looked over the forums over the past week after seeing Aelli's shammy vid, that was just crazy and i am trying to absorb all the info on offer.

conveniently i am due for a new comp, just wanting to get some opinions on what i am looking at doing (5xwow on the 1 pc).

what i was looking at:
XFX GeForce 8800GT 512MB XXX 670MHz
Quad Q6600
Corsair Micro 4GB PC-6400 (800MHz) DDR2 RAM
GIGABYTE, GA-P35-DS3R, P35, ATX, FSB1333, PCIEx16, DDR2 motherboard
running on vista 64bit

i also have a 26in and a 17in monitor, i was thinking i could have 4xwow on the 17in and the main on the 26in.

question time:)
Q1) in order of importance is it gpu then ram or the other way around?
Q2) 4gb or 8gb, or up the ram MHz?
from what i have read it sounds like a helpful and easy going community looking forward to becoming part of it

thanks

From what I see here everything should be fine with running the game. 4 gb of RAM is more than enough for 5 wows, internet explorer, windows media player and watching dvd movies in the background. I do see the Q6600 in there though and I have to say nay on that. Go the true Quad-Core route with the Phenom's and I can say you won't be dissappointed.

The extra money you save by buying (in my opinion) a better quad-core can be spent on upping your GPU to the 8800 GTS 640MB

[Wilbur]

Phenoms? Are you joking?

Phenoms fail, they simply aren't as good as the Core 2 Quads.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=10427&page=9

Observe the Benchmarks. AMD Fail.

[unit187]

this is good computer for 5-box, but there is a weakest link - vista. Since vista does not suppot horizontal span you will get significant fps drop.

[Wilbur]

No you wont.

The DirectX Bug is fixed in Vista, you will only suffer a minor FPS drop from the extra resources Vista uses. However you do get nice sized Windows on one screen only :-)

[Zseth]

The Phenom= Win
Intel = Fail

Intel can say it has 3 GHz quad core processing because of the architecture. Intel has an L1 cache that goes to two L2 Caches and then those go to two L3 caches. So it's two DUAL cores smacked together and linked by an L1 cache. It will back up, things get jammed in there, and it slows it down. AMD avoided that problem by actually creating an L1 cache that went to 4 L2 caches. It creates less back up, they go directly to the cores which goes for more reliability, and more speed.

Therefore your silly benchmarks are worthless because when handling multiple applications the Intels fail because of their little traffic jam for information. I'll take my four completely independent processors that work together over the 2 crap dual cores from Intel anyday.

More so, I'd rather spend $200 on a chip that I can easily upgrade in a year when the 8 core chips come out rather than be stuck with an outdated architecture that will be burnt out once Intel realized it can't keep overclocking old chips and getting inferior results. My Phenom(9500) slightly overclocked to 2.4 GHz a core got a 3750 3D Mark Score compared to the Q6700 which costs almost twice as much which scored a 3800. So for $200 more I can get 50 more points with something that can't handle different affinity? AMD > Intel anyday of the week.

[Contents]

Ohhh, this looks like it could get heated.

/grabs popcorn and a drink

Round 1... FIGHT!


...I'm an AMD fanboy but I don't really have an opinion in this argument, as I have not worked with either of the quad core chips.

[MortimerDuke]

bob, that computer is more than enough to 5box on one comp.

[Zseth]

To Fursphere,

In applications that do not support Quad-Core architecture or performing operations using multicores, the Intel chips are superior in benchmarks due to their OUTDATED technology. Using older architecture to support older programs with faster clock speeds leads to greater compatibility. What AMD did was advance to the next level rather than trying to take baby steps up the stairs. The Phenom + Next-Gen games like Crysis is instant proof. Crysis was designed with a true Quad-Core in mind running with a high end graphics card, everything from weather, to landscape, AI, and physics runs smoother and more accurately because all the paths can be used actively and at the same time rather than using a Queue system to determine important in the Intel Processor intersection. While, even I was tempted to go the Intel Quad route permenantly, I noticed similiar performance using a 6000+ AMD in Current-Gen games (WoW, AoEIII, Far Cry) but I held out due to its lack of innovation in chipset design. In addition, you need to look at the whole picture of the AMD 7 Series Platform.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_15337,00.html

Motherboard, CPU integration and updates that don't need to occur at the same time, but when you finally do, the performance is night and day, while with Intel you are FORCED to get another motherboard that doesn't provide the same performance increase. I'll take my ability to string the 4 video cards together with each being able to use a processor on the quad-core independently over having to share time to do tasks.

Its not that I'm just an AMD fanboy, (I've owned pretty much a processor from EVERY release that occurs the past 10 years to include testing server processors) its just I'm tired of Intel not reaching for new innovation and I'd rather cheerlead for a company willing to taking computers to the next level.

[Zseth]

AMD 7 Series board just makes me happy :P

[bob]

Thanks ppl you’re all giving good and helpful info much appreciated
Didn’t they recall a bunch of the top of the line Phenoms?
Also
Would running the 5xwow’s all on different hard drives increase performance? eg 5x 80gb vs 1 400gb

Thanks again

[thinus]

More so, I'd rather spend $200 on a chip that I can easily upgrade in a year when the 8 core chips come out rather than be stuck with an outdated architecture that will be burnt out once Intel realized it can't keep overclocking old chips and getting inferior results. My Phenom(9500) slightly overclocked to 2.4 GHz a core got a 3750 3D Mark Score compared to the Q6700 which costs almost twice as much which scored a 3800. So for $200 more I can get 50 more points with something that can't handle different affinity? AMD > Intel anyday of the week.

All reviews I've seen has the Q6600 outperforming the Phenom 9500 consistently and Intel priced the Q6600 to be cheaper than the Phenom 9500, not to mention the difficulty of finding a decent spider board at a good price.

The Intel quad core technology may be just patched together processors but it works and it has been working for more than a year. There are almost too many motherboards to pick from.

I love AMD and I applaud their decision to go the true quad core route but the price and performance of the Q6600 makes it really difficult to justify buying a Phenom. Our local supplier sells on average a 100 Q6600s a month, he has yet to sell a Phenom.

[Skuggomann]

No you wont.

The DirectX Bug is fixed in Vista, you will only suffer a minor FPS drop from the extra resources Vista uses. However you do get nice sized Windows on one screen only :-)

It still does not change the fact that vista SUCS XD

[Zseth]

More so, I'd rather spend $200 on a chip that I can easily upgrade in a year when the 8 core chips come out rather than be stuck with an outdated architecture that will be burnt out once Intel realized it can't keep overclocking old chips and getting inferior results. My Phenom(9500) slightly overclocked to 2.4 GHz a core got a 3750 3D Mark Score compared to the Q6700 which costs almost twice as much which scored a 3800. So for $200 more I can get 50 more points with something that can't handle different affinity? AMD > Intel anyday of the week.

All reviews I've seen has the Q6600 outperforming the Phenom 9500 consistently and Intel priced the Q6600 to be cheaper than the Phenom 9500, not to mention the difficulty of finding a decent spider board at a good price.

The Intel quad core technology may be just patched together processors but it works and it has been working for more than a year. There are almost too many motherboards to pick from.

I love AMD and I applaud their decision to go the true quad core route but the price and performance of the Q6600 makes it really difficult to justify buying a Phenom. Our local supplier sells on average a 100 Q6600s a month, he has yet to sell a Phenom.


Retail Price of the Phenom 9500 = $200
Retail Price of the Phenom 9600 = $240
OEM Price of the Q6600 = $260
Retail Price of the Q6600 = $280
Retail Price of the Q6700 = $540

All prices taken directly from newegg.com

[Wilbur]

So for $20 extra you can get a Q6600, Motherboards loaded with the Intel Chipsets which perform better with the Nvidia kit...

No contest.

[Zseth]

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128070

My mobo, solidly overclocking my 9500 at 3.1 GHz per core with no over heating. AMD proves once again a solid chip that you can overclock as much as your heart desires.

[Wilbur]

/me sighs

The Q6600 can be overclocked to in excess of 3.2GHz

[Zseth]

I stand by AMD. DEATH TO THE INTEL!!!!

Hope we were able to help the poster make an informed decision...

[Wilbur]

Intel are teh pwn.

AMD are noobs.

Hell, Intel have even delayed release of the Penryn processors because they don't consider the Phenoms to be a 'sufficient challenge' Thanks to AMD not being able to make a decent chip I've now got to wait another TWO MONTHS to get my luffly Penryn.

DIE AMD, DIE!

[marvein]

Thanks ppl you’re all giving good and helpful info much appreciated
Didn’t they recall a bunch of the top of the line Phenoms?
Also
Would running the 5xwow’s all on different hard drives increase performance? eg 5x 80gb vs 1 400gb

Thanks again

Intel>AMD anywho back on topic

5 seperate hard drives is overkill, I currently have 3, 1 for my solo play wow and operating system and the other two have the 5 multibox clients spread out between them. The biggest factor in running multiple WoWs on one box are graphics/CPU and memory. 4gb of ram is plenty. the 8800GT cards are excellent and the mid range or greater C2Ds or quads are plenty. PC6400 is enough speed for WoW, wow is just a hog for memory it doesnt really care what speed it is. SLI is definately not needed for this but it wouldnt hurt to get a board capable of doing it for a bit of future proofing.

Vista is fine but if you are going vista make sure to get the 64bit edition, no point wasting that last gig of RAM, if you want a 32bit OS just use XP instead, its cheaper.

[bob]

i cant go past intel atm (q6600) and the 8800gts looks to be the shizz

[Teze]

I went through the decision of a phenom vs a q6600 last week.

You can't go wrong with a q6600. I used to be a die hard AMD fan, but face it the current Phenoms just don't perform like they were expected to/should. AMD used to be pay less get more, but with phenoms its pay less get less :?

Maybe in the future when they have been tweaked a little bit more and there are more quad cpu oriented applications you will see them start to shine, but by then it will be about time to replace my hardware and move on to whats new/best at the time anyways.

The q6600 is rock solid and reliable - I had mine running at 3.6GHz stable, just didn't feel comfortable keeping it there because of cooling limitations. Phenoms are still new, and with that comes weariness of how reliable the platform is. AMDs historically have always been very solid overclockers, but this is an entirely new chip...

I agree that AMD is heading in the right direction with computing advances, however they have yet to deliver performance on par with Intel chips for current applications. If it doesn't do current stuff better, I lose hope that it will do future stuff better, all programming optimizations aside. Like I said before, by the time stuff comes out to take full advantage of it, something new and improved will be out anyways. DX10 and full DX10 hardware support has been around for how long and Crysis finally comes out...

[amalgam]

Yes, bob, more HDDs will lower your lag and wait time by a margin. Don't expect amazing "OMG 2.5 second wait gone" results, but you will see a difference.

As far as Phenoms and the rest of the debate there is concerned, I bought a 6600 based on the price. I know I'll upgrade in 1.5 or 2 years and when the time comes, maybe we'll have octocores. I just wanted to avoid spending $400+ on a proc for a machine that I don't do amazingly high-end gaming on. I only run one vid card ATM so SLI is not relevant. Yet.

[binkiebink]

amd = pwn as far as im concerned

[Wilbur]

Negative sir.

Intel = greater pwn.

[binkiebink]

yes sir, that is extremely correct.

wilbur = wets his bed.

exactly

Wilbur is teh wrongz , amd is always better
Edited by Wilbur

[sikerdebaard]

[..] I've now got to wait another TWO MONTHS to get my luffly Penryn.

DIE AMD, DIE!

/tar Q9550ES
/pat

I love my engineering sample.

[Wilbur]

/tar Q9550ES
/pat

I love my engineering sample.

!!

GIEF!