27" i7 iMac w/ ATI 5750 viable for 5 boxing?

[Vasyl]

Hey guys,

First off, hello! I'm new to the multiboxing community, though I have been lurking these boards for a while now. I'm looking towards multiboxing on one of those new 27" i7 iMacs once I get in my apartment [house warming gift from macfanboy dad]. Do you think this machine could viably run 5 instances with good graphical performance? I know WoW is a primarily CPU based game, so we are springing for the i7.

For those of you not acquainted with Apple's flagship iMac:

27" IPS display at 2560x1440 resolution (4x 720p!)
i7 (920 or 930 i believe) clocked at 2.93 gHz
ATI 5750HD w/ 1GB GDDR5 memory
1600 mhz RAM: I will probably upgrade it to 8GB at first, then 12gb and eventually 16 [gradually updating, since its the only thing to really upgrade on it]
The stock HDD is a 1TB samsung spinning at 7200, and there is an optional second hard drive bay SSD. Unfortunately if you don't order it with an SSD from apple they wont put the proprietary mounting bracket for the stupid thing in your machine. $750 is kinda a lot, though it is 256 gb. Is this a worthwhile upgrade?

Basically I plan to use this machine for 5 boxing until I can build a proper gaming rig to plug into it and take over the monitor [the minidisplay port on the 27" functions as an in and out]. But until then... do you guys think it can handle wow decently at least? I plan to start the RAF leveling fest probably early september so I can level some goblins and worgens at the beginning of cataclysm too.

All suggestions welcome! Please no mac hate, I realize it isn't designed for gaming, but i'm NOT turning down that sweet of a free computer.

Pleading the multiboxing gods [you guys] for advice,

Vasyl

[moosejaw]

You can still dualboot (bootcamp?) the mac's right? If so, I would dual boot that puppy with win7 and go to town. Your hardware is fine and you have addressed the only weakness, the ram. Otherwise start looking at which software you are going to use, the mac stuff or the pc stuff.

The SSD mounting is a non factor. Hell I mounted mine with velcro. They are super light and give off very little heat. So have no worries about that.

[Vasyl]

Ya you can still dual boot. I was debating whether or not to run it in Windows7 64bit with ISBoxer, as from what I've seen it's an insanely powerful app. On the other hand I do have limited experience multiboxing using just clonekeys. However in the end, the poweruser in me will probably end up just partitioning the drive and running Innerspace for all the bells n whistles. Does InnerSpace have core management? I could have sworn I read that App-which-is-not-to-be-named had something like that. I'd love to see a mac release of the IS suite... :rolleyes:

[mikekim]

the new iMac whould be a nice machine to multibox on with win7, running under bootcamp. 8gb will be fine for 5 instances of wow.

also if you need more real estate on the screen side of things, you can connect one of the new apple displays to it as well (via mini display port)

[Vasyl]

I've been kicking around ideas of how to manage the screens. It's my understanding that InnerSpace has a way to manage screen orientation/realestate? Does it actually tailor the individual wow instances Resolutions to provide better performance as well? Or is it being scaled somehow or how does that work exactly. Haha it can be rather confusing...

[mikekim]

i had a play with innerspace recently, and when you set it up it detects your screens and gives you options for all your window sizes, its really quite straightforward. your other window resolutions are rendered the same as your main window (to facilitate quick swapping), even if they are in smaller display windows

[moosejaw]

Innerspace/Isboxer does do core management among many other things. You would do well to use it. Check out the Getting started thread for IS, it has a lot of good info.

I was using Innerspace prior to the launch of IsBoxer and let me tell you, team set up is a snap now. You don't have to edit anything if you don't want to. -or- you can go all out with additonal mapped keys on game pads and large keyboards i.e. G15/G13/Xkeys.

[Vasyl]

Really now? Thats wonderful, because I have a Belkin n52 AND a Razer Naga :cool: I think between the two I'll have a really nice spread of keybinds, then my keyboard will be free for just typing... or better yet i won't have to replace the stock keyboard [which is pretty sweet tbh except for the lack of numpad]. So I guess it's decided. Dual-boot WIn7 and get ISboxer.

Moosejaw, did you really mount an SSD on an imac yourself with velcro? O.o

Oh and [insert professor from Futurama's voice here] GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! Today I found a job and an apartment, so I should be ordering my shiny new iMac oh, TOMORROW!!11!!!!!!!one!!!!!OMFG!!!!!!!

[lightstriker]

You can 5box with it. Its probably better than my 2006 Mac Pro. It was decent with the default graphics card. 8gig of ram is more than enough for 5. Each box uses about 350meg.

[Vasyl]

I should hope so. I'm gonna talk to my dad today about it, as I was at work until it was pretty late to call (3 hour timezone difference Hawaii -> Cali).

Hey Lightstriker, do you multibox under osX or win7?

And I had an epiphany of sorts... Could InnerSpace/ISBoxer conceivably be run using a windows emulation solution such as Parallels or.... CrossOver ?! O.O I'm sending the guys at codeweavers about this STAT

[mikekim]

i think you will have problems running on Parallels.. I run an XP VM using VMFusion and 3D performance is shockingly bad (on a 2008 MacbookPro), as you are essentially emulating the OS, not running it native, as you would under boot camp.

[lightstriker]

I box on osx with Plexor and razor Naga. I replaced my HUGE Logitech G15 with a simple apple keyboard with no number pad. 3D graphics dont run well on virtual environments. I haven't run a Window machine in years. If i did, i would box Guild Wars again. http://www.guildwars2.com/en/

[moosejaw]

I mounted my SSD in a pc box with 2 lengths of velcro. It was way over kill. I have to fight the velcro to remove the dang thing. Note that the SSD's are the size of a 3.5" floppy drive and have no moving parts. You can mount/install them anywhere.