3 Boxing Hardware Evaluation & a Starter Questions.

[Whur]

Hello,

I have never multiboxed before, and I have tried to read up on how-to's and forums as much as I can, as the sticky suggested I shouldn't use my newbieness as lazyness. However, when it comes to computer hardware, I simply suck.

1. I'm currently stuck with my work laptop as I travel with work. I'm wondering if anyone could comment if it would be OK to 3 Box on my current laptop hardware (below)? I only ask, as I don't want to shelf out for the extra 2 accounts unless it meets a minimum requirement. I have tried to Google this and found evaluations of hardware setups, but to be frank, I have no clue what they are talking about.

Clevo W870CU Laptop
Intel® Core™ i7-840QM / i7-820QM processor
Intel® PM55 chipset
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 / 1GB GDDR5 Video RAM
8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz

2. My second question is, it seems that Keyclone would be the easiest for a beginner after reading about ISBoxer/Inner Space and Keyclone, and watching several Youtube and the instruction videos that are on the official sites.. However, I love the video of ISBoxer where the chap uses the mouse to hand in quests for multiple characters at once. So here is a silly question, is it wise for a starter to actually delve into ISBoxer and Innerspace or just stick with Keyclone?

If you have read this far, thank you for taking the time!

Whurwynn

[mikekim]

Your laptop will run three accounts fine.

As for mouse broadcasting, you would be better using hotkeynet or is boxer, as keyclone is rubbish as broadcasting

[Whur]

Your laptop will run three accounts fine.

As for mouse broadcasting, you would be better using hotkeynet or is boxer, as keyclone is rubbish as broadcasting

Greatly appreciated mikekim. I will take your suggestion and read up on Inner Space/ISBoxer (as I don't know to much except the Youtube vids).

Thanks!
Whurwynn

[Khatovar]

However, I love the video of ISBoxer where the chap uses the mouse to hand in quests for multiple characters at once.

Just so you know, you can also manage quest hand-ins {and a crapton of other stuff} through Jamba (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=12374) {Guide (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=28573)}. Mouse broadcasting isn't required for quests to be easy.

[mikekim]

Just so you know, you can also manage quest hand-ins {and a crapton of other stuff} through Jamba (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=12374) {Guide (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=28573)}. Mouse broadcasting isn't required for quests to be easy.

Khatovar is correct, you can perform quest hand-ins with any software (or hardware solution).
the easiest way is to have auto quest completion enabled using jamba and use IWT (interact with target) to open the quest dialogue box initially.

mouse broadcasting comes more into its own when you start to play around with character abilities that require ground based targeting (ie. Blizzard, Force of Nature etc)

[Apps]

Im only about 4 months into boxing now. I tried a few of them, and settled on ISBoxer and Jamba combination.

I encourage anyone to not confuse a ton of options as a negative. ISBoxer looks difficult to use, however, there is a quicksetup guide wizard that will get your team rollin in minutes with all the basic stuff already covered.

But, if youre like me, you'll get hungry for more, and want to simplify more, and you will need to learn the software to use it.

Im still learning.

[Whur]

Just so you know, you can also manage quest hand-ins {and a crapton of other stuff} through Jamba {Guide}. Mouse broadcasting isn't required for quests to be easy.

Thank you Khatovar! Just read the Jamba pages, and it looks fantastic, especially the quest one. Doesn't look daunting at all!


Khatovar is correct, you can perform quest hand-ins with any software (or hardware solution).
the easiest way is to have auto quest completion enabled using jamba and use IWT (interact with target) to open the quest dialogue box initially.

mouse broadcasting comes more into its own when you start to play around with character abilities that require ground based targeting (ie. Blizzard, Force of Nature etc)

I think I will try to stay away from ground based targeting for a while, but thank you for bringing it to my attention!


Im only about 4 months into boxing now. I tried a few of them, and settled on ISBoxer and Jamba combination.

I encourage anyone to not confuse a ton of options as a negative. ISBoxer looks difficult to use, however, there is a quicksetup guide wizard that will get your team rollin in minutes with all the basic stuff already covered.

But, if youre like me, you'll get hungry for more, and want to simplify more, and you will need to learn the software to use it.

Im still learning.

I am definitely going with ISBoxer/Inner Space even if the learning curve for a newbie (and especially with my computer skills hehe) will take a bit of time compared to say Keyclone.

[wakasm]

As a relatively new Boxer, I would also highly suggest iSboxer/Jamba.

All options are relatively easy to figure out once you understand the logic that the long-term Boxers and Programmers have implemented into the tools/function. The ISBoxer getting started wizard makes getting into boxing a breeze. The time it takes to create 5 accounts is longer and choose your characters LITERALLY takes longer than installing ISBOXER and running the wizard. Just make sure you at least have Jamba - you can always get the other add-ons later.

My only STRONG suggestion:

Read as much as you can reasonably absorb... but as soon as you can - just creating toons and start running

Don't get stuck on setting everything up right the first go. It's tedious and can overwhelm you. ISBoxer serves as a framework, so often if you add functionality as you need it, you will find it's reusable with all your other teams. IMO for your first team, do it as you come across challenges that require you to learn the software. Often enough they are trivial things that feel like they should be simple. They usually are. Then you will eventually run your first instance or two, and realize you need more functionality. Eventually - you will just learn how ISBoxer works and how intuitive it really is.

After a while, the solutions will become self-evident as you learn and slowly becomes - "Oh I need to set this up" rather than "How do I set this up".

[Jeremiah]

I would like to touch on a point that might have been overlooked.

He mentions that he will be using a laptop computer instead of a desktop. Whilst his system specifications are certainly powerful enough to run 3 clients, the real issue he is going to run into will be heat dissipation from his laptop.

The main problem is that with your HDD, GPU and CPU being pushed to their limits, I fear that your computer will overheat very quickly and run the risk of frying your GPU.

I would suggest you google your make of graphics card and find it's maximum temperature and the rule of thumb is (max temp - 30) = safe running temp for GPU

Secondly, make sure that when you play you either manually set your fans to overclocking or have a large amount of ventilation in your space, possibly with a portable fan blowing across your exhaust.

This will be the main problem I foresee with using a laptop computer

[Whur]

As a relatively new Boxer, I would also highly suggest iSboxer/Jamba.

All options are relatively easy to figure out once you understand the logic that the long-term Boxers and Programmers have implemented into the tools/function. The ISBoxer getting started wizard makes getting into boxing a breeze. The time it takes to create 5 accounts is longer and choose your characters LITERALLY takes longer than installing ISBOXER and running the wizard. Just make sure you at least have Jamba - you can always get the other add-ons later.

My only STRONG suggestion:

Read as much as you can reasonably absorb... but as soon as you can - just creating toons and start running

Don't get stuck on setting everything up right the first go. It's tedious and can overwhelm you. ISBoxer serves as a framework, so often if you add functionality as you need it, you will find it's reusable with all your other teams. IMO for your first team, do it as you come across challenges that require you to learn the software. Often enough they are trivial things that feel like they should be simple. They usually are. Then you will eventually run your first instance or two, and realize you need more functionality. Eventually - you will just learn how ISBoxer works and how intuitive it really is.

After a while, the solutions will become self-evident as you learn and slowly becomes - "Oh I need to set this up" rather than "How do I set this up".

wakasm, I took your advice, I purchased 3 accounts, and purchased a subscription from ISBoxer, and just went for it. I chickened out and did 3 test characters which were of course "Hunters". And it was awesome.... I am hooked. Thank you for the advice!

[Whur]

I would like to touch on a point that might have been overlooked.

He mentions that he will be using a laptop computer instead of a desktop. Whilst his system specifications are certainly powerful enough to run 3 clients, the real issue he is going to run into will be heat dissipation from his laptop.

The main problem is that with your HDD, GPU and CPU being pushed to their limits, I fear that your computer will overheat very quickly and run the risk of frying your GPU.

I would suggest you google your make of graphics card and find it's maximum temperature and the rule of thumb is (max temp - 30) = safe running temp for GPU

Secondly, make sure that when you play you either manually set your fans to overclocking or have a large amount of ventilation in your space, possibly with a portable fan blowing across your exhaust.

This will be the main problem I foresee with using a laptop computer

Thank you for bringing it to my attention Jeremiah. I actually ran out and bought one of these at a local computer shop for about $20.00 US, Cool Master NotePal (if for some reason the image doesn't show, just a laptop mini desk that elevates the laptops back and has two cheap fans beneath it.)

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/927/unnamedw.jpg

This sort of brings me to another question. I have a Mac Mini (2010) at home (that I can take with me), which is at the moment not being used a lot as I am not at home. I am wondering if anyone would have experience with these and WoW? I would run Win7 or WinXP on it, and is possible 3 clients to take the burden of the laptop, and 2 clients on the laptop, as I just decided this is way to cool and want to run 5 clients, 5 boxing that is!

Any advice on this would be great, again I am terrible with hardware and graphics cards and CPUs.

Thanks,
Whur

[EDIT]: I forgot to mention I did many searches on mac minis, not many people favor them apparently because they have a crappy hardware history, but some people apparently like the 2010 Mac Mini and WoW (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiX-B8RE7-0), however these were not multiple client tests.

The hardware specs on the newer ones are these, copy pasting:

NVIDIA GeForce 320M using 256 MiB of DDR3 SDRAM
4 GiB (2×2 GiB) 1066 MHz
2.66 GHz (P8800) Intel Core 2 Duo
2 × 500 GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA

[Whur]

This might also be a very stupid question, but when I run 3 clients with Inner Space, I get the windows 7 bar at the bottom overlapping? And if I do auto-minimize it pops up if I go near the bottom?

[MiRai]

This might also be a very stupid question, but when I run 3 clients with Inner Space, I get the windows 7 bar at the bottom overlapping? And if I do auto-minimize it pops up if I go near the bottom?
Either stay away from the bottom or manually adjust your Window Layout to account for the task bar. I want to say the task bar
is 30 pixels... or something like that?

[Khatovar]

30 with small icons, 40 with regular icon {rightclick taskbar > Taskbar > Use Small Icons}

[Whur]

Thanks Fenril & Khatovar!

[Jeremiah]

I am off a mac and am quite capable of running 3 clients in native OS X. I can't comment on the running in bootcamp/parellels software for WoW.

In terms of mac mini, your main drawback will be your graphics card. As the 320m was designed as a mobile graphics solution for laptops and mini desktops, I don't think you'd enjoy the game quality from running 3 clients off the mac mini.

So, if you were to run 3 clients off of the mac mini and 2 off the laptop, I'd set it up like this.

Have your main client (master) running on your laptop and reduce all your settings down to low (recommended)

On the mac mini, set all the video settings to low and then go to advanced and limit your maximum FPS to 10 or so. That is quite important as the graphics card will be pulling power from your RAM and thus your load times in cities like dalaran etc will have an inverse load speed relation to the settings of your graphics.

I know that a lot of programs exist that can run cross system and even cross OS but I'm unsure about IS boxer. Those who use it might be able to shed light on that.

P.S-You had a mac and then you went back? Tut tut :P

[Whur]

I am off a mac and am quite capable of running 3 clients in native OS X. I can't comment on the running in bootcamp/parellels software for WoW.

In terms of mac mini, your main drawback will be your graphics card. As the 320m was designed as a mobile graphics solution for laptops and mini desktops, I don't think you'd enjoy the game quality from running 3 clients off the mac mini.

So, if you were to run 3 clients off of the mac mini and 2 off the laptop, I'd set it up like this.

Have your main client (master) running on your laptop and reduce all your settings down to low (recommended)

On the mac mini, set all the video settings to low and then go to advanced and limit your maximum FPS to 10 or so. That is quite important as the graphics card will be pulling power from your RAM and thus your load times in cities like dalaran etc will have an inverse load speed relation to the settings of your graphics.

I know that a lot of programs exist that can run cross system and even cross OS but I'm unsure about IS boxer. Those who use it might be able to shed light on that.

P.S-You had a mac and then you went back? Tut tut :P

Hi Jeremiah,

Really appreciate the 'how-to', I will try it this weekend to transfer 2-3 accounts to the mac mini to unburden the laptop.

I am definitely running Windows in bootcamp on the mac mini. No parallels or vmware for me.

To answer your question, I would never go back, I am temporarily visiting this world called Windows.