"New" Multi-Boxer With Questions.

[fostot]

Howdy all,

I'm a fairly "new" multi-boxer. I've been using 2-3 even 4 computers for a long time but i've always done it the manual way using Multiplicity and running my mouse over and hitting keys, all running on separate computers, however last night I decided my desk was an absolute wreck and it was time to remedy that. Below are my thoughts, please let me know what you think about the setup I have, the setup I will be shooting for, and the class choices i've made and how you think they will function.

#Current Setup#
Vista 64bit with SP1
Asus Crosshair Mobo w/AMD X2 6000+ Dual-Core Chip
8gb of Corsair ram (sadly a bit slow, just bought it last night loved the price (200 for 8gb not bad)) (5-5-5-18 CAS LATENCY) DDR2 800 PC26400
2 SEAGATE 320gb SATA2 Drives, (wondering if running the copies of wow split between those drives would be fast enough or should i stripe the drives and run wow from 1 folder)
NVIDIA 8800 GTS 640mb (I'd like more but too expensive)
NVIDIA 7950 GTOC 512mb (Contemplating SLI'ing this, but would it be just as good running as a separate card since DX10 handles Dual View properly)

1x 28" HANNS-G Monitor for my main character. (Most likely using PiP to quickly switch the "main" char to what's needed)
1x 22" Samsung WideScreen

#Possible changes that i'm toying with#
Switching the AMD X2 6000+ for a PHENOM quad core

Adding 1x 22" Samsung WideScreen to the mix to have 2 clients and sitting them in a vertical view.



#Class Choices#

Currently i've been throwing around the idea of the following:

4x Demo Warlock (I have 1 at 70 and they are really fun and powerful)
4x Tanks with the FelGuard
12x DoTs or 8x DoTs and 4x Seeds (May be useless due to the fact that the main character wouldn't be hurt but at least any adds would be mowed down also i dont know if SoC stacks)
4x ShadowBolts (wow)
1 Word (fear)
1x Holy Priest (Circle Spam, efficient group targetted heal that should get all of the pets and all of the locks)



Please let me know what you think or let me know some tweaks i could do to achieve what i'm looking for. I've toyed with the idea of running 3 separate computers for all of this, but 1 computer should be enough as I see ya'll doing 5 on 1 computer. However, if it's not I can always have 3 to run the 5.

I

[The IT Monkey]

Fostot,
Welcome to the forums.
It looks like you have a pretty good handle on the equipment issues inherit with multiboxing on a single pc.

I suggest splitting the WoW's up on as many drives as possible. Something I did not do when I started 5-boxing on one PC (and still have yet to move them) and I think I am seeing very noticeable lag due to this... my comp will kind of freeze up and I hear the computer hitting the HDD pretty hard.

Ram Choice: You went BIG... I like that. I have only 4 gigs (taking up all four slots sadly) and plan to upgrade to 8 sometime in the future.

I suggest, if you can afford it, the third monitor if only for the relief to your eyes when trying to read anything on the alt toon (without having to do the PiP shuffle).

I think your best bet is to build the best rig you can afford and go for it. That is the only way you are going to be SURE... but I think what you have outlined will be excellent for four or even five boxing.

Again, welcome to the forums.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Locks are very, very useful from a utility standpoint. They're also very nice for being able to run away from someone while dotting them up. 4x pet tanks are hugely useful in PVP and felguards are lethal to rogues who pop Cloak of Skill thinking it'll work on you like it does on solo squishies. Seed of Corruption is also a very nifty ability. Downside to them is the lack of burst damage when things get hairy, IMO. I'm rolling up a 4x mage team to see how they compare in PVP.

[fostot]

Above was listed what I started out with, and after a lot of talk in the multiboxing irc channel this is where I'm at now. I built out a 3rd computer and am (as soon as i can get Multiplicity to actually work right on the 3rd) will be running 5 accounts on the following machines.

#1 Orion
AMD X2 6000+ (Dual Core 3.0ghz)
28" Hanns-G LCD
8GB Corsair XMMS2 5-5-5-18(ickslow) ram
320gb Seagate 7200.10 (Let's get perpendicular)
nVidia 8800GTS 640mb
Windows XP 64Bit

#2 Crux
AMD X2 3800+ (Dual Core 2.1ghz)
22" Samsung 225bw (portrait view)
2GB Crucial 4-5-4-15
500gb Maxtor 7200 (Well, PPD was fun while it lasted)
nVidia 7950 GTOC 512mb
Windows XP 64Bit

#3 Stardust
AMD X2 5200+ (Dual Core 2.6ghz)
22" Samsung 225bw (portrait view)
2GB OCZ 4-5-4-15
320gb Seagate 7200.10 (PPD FTW)
nVidia 8400 GTS 512mb
Windows XP 64Bit.

And for piccies http://ss.ohnoes.cc/multibox/ to browse the folder

http://ss.ohnoes.cc/multibox/IMG_0009.jpg <-- it was night, and my iPhone doesn't have a flash so it's kinda dark but you get the jest)
.................................................. ..................

Now we come to the problems i'm having, maybe you guys know of a fix.

I'm running Multiplicity on all 3, XP 64bit on all 3, all 3 plugged into the same switch.

Middle == Primary, connected to left & right secondaries. At first I could connect to all 3 with multiplicity. But when I would move my mouse to the one on the left it would get lost forever, however the one on the right worked fine. Now I can't even connect to the one on the left. The one on the right still works fine.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Now we come to the problems i'm having, maybe you guys know of a fix.

I'm running Multiplicity on all 3, XP 64bit on all 3, all 3 plugged into the same switch.

Middle == Primary, connected to left & right secondaries. At first I could connect to all 3 with multiplicity. But when I would move my mouse to the one on the left it would get lost forever, however the one on the right worked fine. Now I can't even connect to the one on the left. The one on the right still works fine.Are you running DHCP for your IP addresses on the machines? I found that Multiplicity doesn't like dynamic addresses for some reason and will suddenly start skipping over connected units for no apparent reason. Changed my boxes to static local IPs and that problem went away.

[fostot]

I use "DHCP" Assigned addresses. I bind my MAC's to guarentee i get specific private ip's... I know i'm a weirdo :P.

I'll try removing that.. turning back all the dns settings and going to straight up static addresses that i manually set.