Trying to run multiple WoW accounts

[Rocky514]

I have recently built a new computer completely from scratch... and I can't understand why I am having problems running 2 WoW accounts. This computer IMO should be able to tear up 2 WoW accounts with ease. Well let me give you the details.

*Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 965 Nehalem 3.2GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115200)
*COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-C50-EMBA-D2 1250W ATX Form Factor 12V V2.3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171029)
*EVGA 017-P3-1294-AR GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 Bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130473)
*EVGA E759 CLASSIFIED LIMITED EDITION 3-Way SLI (x16) + PhysX w/ECP & NF200 1366 Intel X58 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188047)
*COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160)
*CORSAIR Dominator GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Triple Channel Kit
*Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322)
*Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284)
*Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608007)
*Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116511)

Any suggestions would be very much appriciated...
Thanks again

[Zub]

lol, this looks sooo much like a advert

[Zub]

ok, assuming it is not an ad.. we're here to be helpful after all.

Can you tell us more about your problem?
Can you load both Wows and they are slow? or is it just that the second one won't load?

when you run only one, what is the frame rate (Ctrl-R in game) , and is it laggy?

[Fef]

Sensing you computer's specs, WoW must have defaulter to max settings, including advanced shadows. Turn these off, and everything should be fine.

Also, Windows XP and 6GB RAM ?

[Rocky514]

Sorry bout the links... I just copied and pasted from my invoice. The main problem is when i try to load two accounts it frames bad. Like i tried to log my hunter and my death knight for tanking purposes and at times its almost impossible to move.. like in shatt or dalaran.

[Rocky514]

Yah, I had to go with XP cause a program i was originally looking to go with for a buisness i was looking into starting up only supported xp.

[Zub]

Fef probably has it right, go into video settings and turn shadows off for a test.

[Silence]

Shadows is definately worth a try... but don't forget the AA setings. Using 4x or higher has a serious impact on your system.

I had issues running 2 copies on my new uber system... lagging like hell. I turned the AA to 2x and am now running 5 copies without difficulties.

[mikekim]

Yah, I had to go with XP cause a program i was originally looking to go with for a buisness i was looking into starting up only supported xp.

upgrade to windows 7 and pickup a copy of vmware to run xp in a virtual machine if needed

[Rocky514]

By AA do you mean the multisampling?

[Shibbyking]

AA = Anti Aliasing
Go for Windows 7, will also improve FPS! :cool:

[Rocky514]

Thats what i thought but there isnt an anti aliasing option so thats why i was asking if it was the multisampling cause thats the only video option with 2x,4x,8x.... but yah ive been really considering Win7.. I just didnt want to accept the fact that i had to turn stuff down with how much i put into this machine.... heh =/

[siwoolley]

Also a small side note, windows xp home won't recognise all that ram you've got. Make sure you download windows 7 64bit if you end up pursuing that route.

[EaTCarbS]

AA = anti-aliasing

[Jaly]

Are you loading wow 2x from the same folder or do you have 2 separate folders for each account?

Try copy/paste the whole wow folder and load the 2nd account from the 2nd folder.

Also shadows, they hurtses us.

[Rocky514]

I was running both from the same folder yes. I didn't know that could cause that. Mainly cause i was able to run 5 EQ accounts from one game folder, but I will try this as well. Thanks again

[Silence]

Thats what i thought but there isnt an anti aliasing option so thats why i was asking if it was the multisampling cause thats the only video option with 2x,4x,8x.... but yah ive been really considering Win7.. I just didnt want to accept the fact that i had to turn stuff down with how much i put into this machine.... heh =/

You're correct, it's not really called AA in wow... but I am talking about the multisampling option in wow.

I run 5 wow's from 1 directory, there's no performance gain to run it from different directories.

[JackBurton]

Try disabling your SLI from your display settings. No snap, im not kidding.

[Otlecs]

How did you get on with this?

I haven't seen anyone mention memory yet.

With your video card (1792Mb) and a 32 bit os, you're going to have very little usable system memory available.

Probably around 1.5GB of the 6GB you have installed!

I would therefore put good money on your performance being entirely constrained by memory rather than by your graphics settings.

I had first-hand experience of this when Dell helpfully sold me an XPS730 with 2x1GB video cards, 4GB installed memory and a 32 bit os... it was a complete waste of time until I installed Vista 64.

[Wokomehee]

I had first-hand experience of this when Dell helpfully sold me an XPS730 with 2x1GB video cards, 4GB installed memory and a 32 bit os... it was a complete waste of time until I installed Vista 64.

Same here.. how to upgrade to 64 bit? Buy, install and play? ...or do i need to change drivers, progs etc?

...ty in advance for answer on noob questions :P

And tbh its stupid to sell a computer with 4GB +graphic cards when it "dosent work" :mad:

[Otlecs]

Same here.. how to upgrade to 64 bit? Buy, install and play? ...or do i need to change drivers, progs etc?
It's a complete re-install I'm afraid, Woko :(

You need to buy the 64bit OS and do a fresh install (being sure to backup anything you need beforehand).

In my case I was using all stock hardware, and the setup process found all the drivers it needed as part of the installation. In fact, it was incredibly easy and took an hour from start to finish.

If you use any "odd" hardware, you'll need to make sure the manufacturer has 64 bit drivers available, but for regular applications the 32 bit version still works on a 64 bit OS.

It was a walk in the park for me and I never looked back, but as always with such things your experience may differ :)

A word of warning though... if you have a Dell 730 and dual ATI cards, you're going to have to jump through alot of hoops to get Crossfire working again.

I never managed to do it, and having been bounced from Dell to ATI (who don't support Crossfire on the Intel motherboard Dell were using when I bought mine ~15 months ago!) I just gave up and went for single, higher spec, Nvidia card instead.

The horrendously expensive (at the time) ATI cards are now gathering dust in my "spares cupboad".

[Drew]

He could also put in a second hard drive and make that his Windows 7 drive. I have my system set up that way to dual-boot XP and Win7.

[Wokomehee]

Thank you guys, for fast answers! =)

My pc is 7 months old, so hopefully i can get drivers etc for everything. I will check tho, before i start =) The price for the os itself was not scary, and im using only 1 graphic card atm (NVIDIA) so it should not be a problem.

What os would u guys pick tho? I use XPpro atm...

[Otlecs]

I only have experience with Vista 64, and can say that I've had no problems whatsoever with it. I haven't played with Windows 7 yet, but all reports here suggest that it's excellent.

If I was building a new machine today, that's what I'd go with (assuming you can still get a license for it this close to release).

I'd recommend against XP64 though. I know people whos swear by it (including some here) but I know far more who swear at it! I think it's true to say that Vista was the first 64 bit OS from Microsoft suitable for general consumption, with wide-spread support from all quarters.

[Drew]

I stand by my original suggestion - XP and Win7 installs on separate drives to dual-boot.

I built my system last November (C2D 3.0GHz, 2gb ram, HD4870 512MB) and it solo-boxed fine with 32-bit XP Pro. I started dual-boxing in April, but that was proving a bit much for my rig. When I got a bonus in June I bumped the ram up to 8gb, added a second monitor and put Win7 (64-bit) on the second hard drive. It's been running like a dream since then.

When I started dual-boxing I was using Keyclone under xp and was pretty happy with it. After I migrated to Win7 I didn't want to buy a second license (or transfer my old one), so I gave HotKeyNet a shot and it's been perfect for me. I don't regret dropping the $20 on Keyclone, since it got me up and running and showed me that dual-boxing was definitely for me.

The only recent addition to my setup has been a Logitech G-13, which I now consider indispensable. I simply can not imagine dual-boxing (or even soloing) without it. :)

[Wokomehee]

Ok, thanks alot =)

I found out u can buy 3 different vista's atm:

Microsoft Windows Vista Business Eng SP1, OEM, 64 bit.,

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Eng, SP1, OEM, 64 bit, and

Microsoft Windowsa Vista Ultimate Eng, SP1, OEM, 64 bit.

Either one will give a free upgrade to Windows 7 when its realeased 22/10-09. It looks like its the "Home" one that is mostly sold here. Then its just to check if drivers are avaliable, then gogo =)

This became a long post a bit off topic i guess, but hopefully someone else might benefit =)

... gl to you Rocky 514!

[Otlecs]

I stand by my original suggestion - XP and Win7 installs on separate drives to dual-boot
That's always a good opion if you have legacy apps, simply don't want the hassle of a full reinstallation, have reservations about whatever OS you're migrating to, or installing an incompatible OS (a Linux installation for example).

I don't see any of those issues here though, so don't really see why either of the protagonists in this thread would need to go that way.

In fact, for both of these specific cases, I would argue that the case is crystal clear for a full migration to a 64 bit OS to start getting the most out of the machines they've invested in.

[Drew]

Rocky said, back on the first page of the topic:


Yah, I had to go with XP cause a program i was originally looking to go with for a buisness i was looking into starting up only supported xp.

I kept my XP drive so my gf and her friends can play Mu (their MMO of choice) when they hang out at our place. That's really the only reason I still have that OS installed, since it won't run under Win7.

[Otlecs]

Ah yes. I took the past tense of the way it was phrased to mean that it was no longer a consideration. Good catch.