Problems with older computers?

[Gallo]

IS anyone multiboxing with 1 good computer and multiple older crappy computers?

my 2 mains run off a nicer AMD 64 XP 4000+ while my clones run each on these old AMD 1.6ghz comps with 1gb ram each. The clones are having a tough time rendering NPC's and characters and its MAJORLY interfering with /follow and clicking on NPCs. It basically makes it impossible to 5 box.

Is anyone else having these problems? I was going to upgrade to a sweet quadcore at the end of the month anyways, but this friggin sucks!

[Diamndzngunz]

Older computers just cant handle IMO. I comp which was an ok one barly could do 2. So yeah

[marvein]

Its likely a graphics limitation, what video card are you using in these old PCs?

rendering things in game (assuming not lag based) relies on video card, RAM and then CPU.

[zanthor]

I setup a Dell D505 laptop and got it running last night, runs around 10-20fps in shatrah and slightly better in the world. All graphics settings are totally set for performance (lowest settings possible). I set the game to 16 bit color 16 bit depth with 1x multisampling, etc...

At first it wouldn't load NPC's and players wouldn't load at all... finally I found out that the network driver was crap and updated from Intels site (intel NIC) and that resolved it...

1.4ghz laptop with intel graphics and 1gb ram.

[Eteocles]

As stated in another thread, CPU tends to be a big factor too; especially if the processors are single-core, that's gonna hurt.

Overall, WoW is by no means graphics intensive but multiboxing, even split among machines, introduces unique issues, like -always- having other players on screen, extra spell effects/totems/etc, only thing you can do on those is either upgrade or tone down settings + resolution and disables every mod you don't need on it lol

[Gallo]

Its likely a graphics limitation, what video card are you using in these old PCs?

rendering things in game (assuming not lag based) relies on video card, RAM and then CPU.

I'm running cheapo Nvidia N6200's (128mb) on them... but I've had no problem with it for 2 months of WoW.

It's a sign to buy my quadcore.

[marvein]

As stated in another thread, CPU tends to be a big factor too; especially if the processors are single-core, that's gonna hurt.

Overall, WoW is by no means graphics intensive but multiboxing, even split among machines, introduces unique issues, like -always- having other players on screen, extra spell effects/totems/etc, only thing you can do on those is either upgrade or tone down settings + resolution and disables every mod you don't need on it lol

for only 1 client per machine his rig is just fine. the min specs for wow are far below that anyways.

My addons use around 30MB per minion and 60mb on main (running things like enchantrix, auctioneer, cart, atlas, and so on.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

LOL...I think I have you all beat. My 3rd account's machine is a P4 1.2Ghz non-HT single-core with an ATA/66 HDD and an AGP NVidia GeForce 4 Ti4200 with 32MB of VRAM. That thing takes FOREVER to boot and launch WoW. It gets about 7-19 FPS in Shattrath or Orgrimmar when lotsa folks are around...and that's with the graphics sliders all turned to the minimum and all effects/shaders turned off. :P

This is the PC that I use when I get nostalgic and wanna play around with some of my old Win95/Win98 games.

[marvein]

LOL...I think I have you all beat. My 3rd account's machine is a P4 1.2Ghz non-HT single-core with an ATA/66 HDD and an AGP NVidia GeForce 4 Ti4200 with 32MB of VRAM. That thing takes FOREVER to boot and launch WoW. It gets about 7-19 FPS in Shattrath or Orgrimmar when lotsa folks are around...and that's with the graphics sliders all turned to the minimum and all effects/shaders turned off. :P

This is the PC that I use when I get nostalgic and wanna play around with some of my old Win95/Win98 games.

Heh I dont run wow on it but I have a similiar PC an old netvista small form factor HP machine, its a P3 800 with 512MB of RAM and runs windows 98. some old games just cant be beat lol

[Gallo]

Yeah, for 1 instance of WoW with the settings all the way down, I never had a problem. I played around with it a little more and I started getting dc'ed on those computers as well. It almost reminded me of the /follow bug of last major patch.

Here's whats weird. I'd be standing next to a flightmaster with my group, and on my 2 characters on the main rig, I could see the NPC. On the other 3, I couldnt see the NPC so I did a /console reloadui, and the NPC popped up. But then, a few mins later when I was at a quest giver, I couldnt see the NPC on the 3 clones again... and 2 eventually got DCed.

This is so frustrating. That, and theres no "deals" on 8800GT's for my new rig that I can find. ARGH! I might just cancel my clone accounts until my new rig is up and running in a few weeks. Le sigh.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

ARe you running a software firewall by chance?

[Vyndree]

When "testing the waters", I used some old laptops that had built in graphics cards and barely any RAM.

Somehow I managed to get to level 40 like this before purchasing actual decent hardware. I could never enter major cities with all of my shaman, as I would constantly have to take two steps and wait, take two steps and wait, take two steps and wait in order for my laptop chars to catch up.

My RFK video in the movie forum shows how I fared with sh*tty laptops, 1 old PC with OK specs, and 2 higher end PCs. Compare to say, my ZF video or PvP video and you can see that my lightning bolt casting is much better synchronized. Running damage meters, my higher end computers were pulling almost twice the sustained dps as the sh*tty laptops.

[Skuggomann]

I runn 4 wows on 1 normal PC

Setupp:

AMD 4200+
2GB RAM (it was 1GB but tahts way to little :S)
Normal HD
GeForce 7600 GT


I have noo lag problems, not even in Shatarath XD

[Gallo]

ARe you running a software firewall by chance?

I only run a software firewall on my main rig (ZoneAlarm). The others I do not.

Edit: Actually, Windows Firewall is set to On, for all of my 3 problem computers... think that I should disable that?

[Wilbur]

Do you have a hardware firewall on your network?

[Zutok]

Video cards w/ low VRAM, or those that are integrated and share PC RAM (slow as hell)... you should get some performance increase settings on the "16 bit color 16 bit depth with 1x multisampling". Renderings take up less memory using this method, making for faster reads/writes... especially if your card shares it's memory w/ the PCs RAM. I used to use my wife's laptop as one of my "boxes", and it had an IGP (integrated graphics processor) that used it's DDR for VRAM. Switching to this setting upped my average fps from 9-12 to 18-24. You may notice some slight color shifting (since it's rendering in less colors); however, if it's not your "main" box (which you look at 70%+ of the time)... does it really matter?

[Gallo]

Do you have a hardware firewall on your network?


I do. So, software firewall isnt TOTALLY necessary. I think I'll keep it on my main rig though :)

[Ughmahedhurtz]

ARe you running a software firewall by chance?

I only run a software firewall on my main rig (ZoneAlarm). The others I do not.

Edit: Actually, Windows Firewall is set to On, for all of my 3 problem computers... think that I should disable that?
The ONLY reason I mention this is that software firewalls require CPU and system resources to process network data. If your WoW is running on old/low-spec hardware, it may be sucking up so many resources that software firewalls will start choking and strangle your WoW data pipeline, which will probably exhibit itself as lag, getting out of sync (NPCs/objects missing, invisible mobs, etc.) or disconnects.

I had this problem on one box but fixed it completely by setting the WOW.EXE process priority to LOW via ProcessLasso. Try this and see what you get. I doubt it'll solve everything but it may just make things bearable. ;)