New Computer Question

[Smithnweson]

Hello,

I am in search of the most bang for my buck on a new computer. Attempts in the past of trying to achieve a good computer have fallen short. Now let me set the perameters.


1. I don't want to buy parts, just a desktop pre-built

2. $750 not including Shipping and Handling is the max that I am willing to go at this time.

3. The ability to smoothly 5 box on medium settings in any major city.

4. I live in the USA (NJ to be exact)

5. I've heard terrible things about liquid cooling, perhaps my ignorance but I prefer not to deal with any set up that includes that.

I appreciate all the help I can get since I am not very knowledgeable on PC inner workings. I just want to enjoyably play wow.


TY ALL ahead of time and I hope you guys can point me in the right direction. If links are not allowed in the forums, then just PM me. Again I appreciate the help!

- Rob

Madoran - PVE - Horde - Unified - Dr. Insano

[Apps]

Your parameters are ok, until number 3. I built a solo machine able to host 5 clients at one time. one client (main window) is running full graphics, while the other 4 (which are hardly every switched to.. , are running minimal.

Game play is exciting, fun, no problems... except when I enter major cities. I can run 2 clients in a city, with minimal stresses. But the graphics load on 5 clients is 100% unplayable for me.

Now, my pc isnt the top of the line Alienware knockoffs or self made imitations, but point is, its decent enough to level toons.


Im curious, how many clients are you looking to run at one time? and further, WHY in Gods name would you WANT to be in a major city with all of them at the same time? There are soooo many ignorant people in those cities, you will be reported for haxing in under 3 mins.

[Smithnweson]

I have 8 accounts, however I plan to only use 5, never to go higher. I've dealt with people who claim hax, i /ignore and await the gm ticket response. I've never had an issue.

Again I don't want to build a computer, I want to attain a prebuilt machine.

any help in that direction would be great.

[Apps]

I suspect you will be hard pressed to get anyting over an i3 on a less than $800 budget. Perhaps you hit the standard spots like www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) , www.tigerdirect.com (http://www.tigerdirect.com) , www.intrex.com (http://www.intrex.com)

5 accounts in major city, on a <$800 computer... might be tough. Perhaps if you listed your current specs, people here can help tell you what items to purchase, and how to set up stuff... sort of get the best bang for your bucks.

[MiRai]

Have you looked at any sites or stores to compare prices to see what you can get for a max of $750? If you go with a nice
processor you get a shitty video card and vice versa. You could try to find an AMD system that fits your budget but I would
never recommend that at this point in time. Intel has been reigning for 3+ years now and they've been keeping the prices
high because they can. When AMD gets it together and makes Intel sweat then we'll hopefully see more affordable rigs,
but until that time expect to pay more.

Your best bet may be getting a machine from IBuyPower (http://www.ibuypower.com/) or hoping for a crazy deal from another online retailer. There are
rarely ever, if ever, crazy deals on PCs that actually have any real power in them, though. I've always been a fan of saving
up more money to get a computer you really want instead of just shooting for something low end and hoping it'll do what
you need.

[Smithnweson]

My current computer I can 3 Box in any major city but its rough at best.

I use a stock HP Pavilion dv7 laptop. It has overheating issues that I have tamed for the most part with a giant fan, however I just want to get a new system.

I was really hoping for some suggestions on systems rather than naysaying the possibility of it being possible. Again I don't know hardware so trying to build or pick my own system is a major problem.

[Apps]

I was really hoping for some suggestions on systems rather than naysaying the possibility of it being possible. Again I don't know hardware so trying to build or pick my own system is a major problem.


I dont get the impression we are "naysaying" just for the sake of being frugal or combative. I surely didnt intend as much.

Ill simply answer your inital question, rather than try to help.

"No."

[MiRai]

My current computer I can 3 Box in any major city but its rough at best.

I use a stock HP Pavilion dv7 laptop. It has overheating issues that I have tamed for the most part with a giant fan, however I just want to get a new system.

I was really hoping for some suggestions on systems rather than naysaying the possibility of it being possible. Again I don't know hardware so trying to build or pick my own system is a major problem.
Naysaying? I'm sorry that you can't get a very nice machine for $750. Just because new technology comes out does not mean
that the old stuff automatically gets cut 50% in price to alleviate the stock. Maybe by telling you that $750 is too low of a budget
for medium settings on all your clients is helping you. Also, do you currently have a monitor attached to that laptop? If not, that's
almost a quarter of your budget right there.

If you're currently using an old laptop then almost any desktop that you buy is going to be better than what you currently use.
Most people have (or should have) a macro that changes video settings on the fly so that the slaves have lower settings than
the main which relieves stress on the system overall.

I'm obviously the wrong person to be answering these questions because I like a system that can do more than the bare
minimum. You'll have to wait a day or two to see if other people chime in with their setups which might better fit your budget.

EDIT:
Just thought of this. I know you don't want to build your own system but Tom's Hardware does a cheapo gaming system build
almost every month. You can use it as a reference on what it costs to buy a pre-built system.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-gaming-pc-phenom-ii-radeon-hd-6850,2903.html

[Smithnweson]

I apologise, I was not trying to be heavy on the attitude. I guess for me $750 is a lot, and I expected medium settings to not be that difficult to achieve if my crappy laptop can handle 3 on medium settings, barely. This is where my ignorance in the technology and the specifics of the parts shines. And the reason why I searched for help by people who would know.

I look online and all the systems are $1500+ and I just don't have that kind of money and with my laptop having heating issues, I do believe time is a factor.

I don't know what to do, I enjoy boxing, I love the ability to play the game how I want, when I want. :/

Again I apologise.

[Khatovar]

Personally, I've never had a prebuilt system, I've been building my own boxes for years.

As Fenril said, there's no reason for slaves to be on the same settings as the master. My current system is beefy and I still don't run slaves on much higher than the lowest options. Something as simple as capping the slaves at 15 FPS vs 20 FPS can be a pretty noticable impact on performance. You simply don't need all the bells and whistles on windows you can barely see anyway.

Also, there's always the option of using a desktop and a laptop, with the laptop handling half the accounts if you don't have the money to spend on a beefy multiboxing system. Personally, I'd rather save up and buy a good system that I wouldn't have to turn around an upgrade the crap out of in a year, but it's a better option than trying to let the magic smoke out of your laptop.

[shadewalker]

Another option may be to buy a new computer that will run 3 instances and keep 2 instances on the laptop. Of course that would require setting up the communications between the two different computers if you don't have that set up already.

[Smithnweson]

Ok, how about this,

PC with the ability to do 3 box medium or high settings on the main and low on the boxes with no issues for around $850 not including shipping and handling. I have decided that 3 will be fine, since if I ever wanted to 5 box I could use the laptop to duo or I could get some guildies to play with me.

If there are specific computers on newegg or tigerdirect that will do these, I would liek to know which one would be best. I appreciate the continual help and responses.

Also as a separate question, for the future. What current PC (no cost limit, but would liek to know the cheapest I would have to pay). would be able to 5 box without issue, main pc on ultra, boxes on low. Just curious, never know when one could win the lottery or otherwise come into money :P

[Apps]

Ok, how about this,

PC with the ability to do 3 box medium or high settings on the main and low on the boxes with no issues for around $850 not including shipping and handling. I have decided that 3 will be fine, since if I ever wanted to 5 box I could use the laptop to duo or I could get some guildies to play with me.

If there are specific computers on newegg or tigerdirect that will do these, I would liek to know which one would be best. I appreciate the continual help and responses.

Sill in the mindset of being curious, why exactly are you interested in having (3) clients on med, or high, or better? Perhaps understanding the relavance to this may help point you in a more appropriate direction.


Also as a separate question, for the future. What current PC (no cost limit, but would liek to know the cheapest I would have to pay). would be able to 5 box without issue, main pc on ultra, boxes on low. Just curious, never know when one could win the lottery or otherwise come into money :P

This comment, I like to see. Given you are willing to (lets say for the sake of argument), conform to what the vast majority of us do... How open are you to building your own pc, with LOTS of assistance from the tech savy lurkers? I.e. If you were provided a list of items for purchase; you purchase those items, and install the hardware and software yourself.

I realize you said you didnt want to do this, as a result of simply not knowing what to do... yet I would argue, that doing it yourself, you will learn more about computers, the hardware, and how it all fits together.

You can purchase a bare-bones kit, and then a motherboard, processor w/fan, ram, power supply, video card, HDD and be very close to your budget. Then get an el'cheapo mouse and keyboard, and whatever monitor you want, when you have the time and a little more cash. Wal-mart sells a decent 22"+ monitor. Hell, I saw one, just this weekend on the clearance, (no box), for $82.

Point is, I think you will do best with guidance from people here to build what you want, over time...even with a tight budget, all the while play on your laptop.

[Ualaa]

Buying a case of beer and pizza to share with a friend or college who can build a system for you, will be much cheaper than paying a store to pre-assemble a system for you.
Plus, it is done right and you learn a bit in the process.

If you're buying a new system, I'd really look towards the newer i7 or i5 systems. If at all possible, go the 2500k or 2600k route.
They're not that much more than an i7 930, but much more powerful systems.

If you're going to be five-boxing tops and won't be doing videos while playing or having nine other windows open in firefox... you'll likely get by with 6 (if triple channel) or 8 (if dual channel) ram.
Ram is pretty dirt cheap and I'd recommend 12/16, as it allows you to do more on the system if you choose to.

Video card is not the bottleneck for most wow systems.
But better cards will let you play with more eye-candy.
If you're using IS Boxer, you can have the main on higher settings (mine is max view distance and medium for most other settings) and the slaves on lower settings (I have my slaves with medium view distance and everything else low; both master/slaves have some things like Shadows set to off)... and they will dynamically change as you switch which toon is the master.
My main is capped at 60 FPS, and the slaves at 20 FPS.

If you can get a cheap SSD, purely for the gaming folder... that will help a lot.
Doesn't have to be anything fancy at all; the better SSD's are only really required if you want your operating system on them too.

[coglistings]

Well, obviously no one wants to answer your question as we just keep ignoring your specs, but it is for good reason. You have seen alot of people encouraging you to get into pc builds yourself, not because you need this info to multibox, but because you can save alot of cash and get a better system for a mimual amount of effort if in the right hands. another reason you won't find alot of prebuild advice is because the experience isn't here except for the people who are willing to pay out the arse for alienware, and others alike. However, you seem intent to go about this with the spec you provided, so I will assist as best I can / as best it pleases me :D.

prebuilds tend to cost more for i7 technology than AMD's do. so even though its not recommended, go with an AMD build if you must do a prebuid at this price point.

tiger direct $769, pre shipping handleing http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7278038&CatId=4928

newegg $899 plus 19 shipping / handeling for my zip code http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229221

Honestly, didn't spend too much time on this as it isn't really something that interests me personally. You can be cheap with multiboxing if you can do some component installation or complete builds. But if you must buy prebuilds, then you aren't going to come in at the price point you have and still have the expectations you have. These two should get you by though you may still have to limit your framerates on slaves and make sure to not have too much visual candy settings turned on those slaves as well

[Smithnweson]

thank you for all the responses.

Computers are just too confusing and expensive to experiment with when it comes to putting a cpu on a board and putting a fan/heatsink on a cpu. I tried it about 4 years ago on the endless suggestions to try it myself. I ended up with a large paperweight. I understand how it is cheaper and i understand how it would be overall better to build my own system. Alas, at this point in my life, I just don't feel comfortable throwing more money down the drain on a mistake that leads to another paperweight.

To be honest I don't know what i did wrong that it fried out... all I know is that I heard a pop fizzle and it never worked again.

So while it is more expensive and I am making what you all feel is a mistake, a prebuilt system feels like the only way to go for me. I don't have any tech savvy friends around me, just seems to be how it goes I guess.

Many thanks for all who have attempted to assist me. I do appreciate even though i may have sounded combative, it was not my intention.

I will have to continue to look and research and save more money as time goes along.

[Ualaa]

As long as you are aware of the extra cost, going pre-built can be an option if you want a warranty or whatever.

My local computer store has a program called IPR.
That stands for Instant Product Replacement.
If the part goes for just about any reason, they replace it immediately.
That is not a repair or RMA process, but a brand new piece.
The same as you had originally, or if that is no longer available then the next piece up in that line.

IPR is not really that expensive, as warranties go.
But as with all insurance, it is not a loss for the company offering it.

[Smithnweson]

Sounds great Ualaa!

[Apps]

As long as you are aware of the extra cost, going pre-built can be an option if you want a warranty or whatever.

My local computer store has a program called IPR.
That stands for Instant Product Replacement.
If the part goes for just about any reason, they replace it immediately.
That is not a repair or RMA process, but a brand new piece.
The same as you had originally, or if that is no longer available then the next piece up in that line.

IPR is not really that expensive, as warranties go.
But as with all insurance, it is not a loss for the company offering it.

Mine is www.intrex.com (http://www.intrex.com). Local place I mean.

They have the same replacement policy for custom systems they build for the customer. Unfortunately their build cost, includes the failsafe that if that situation were to happen, they were paid up front for it.... subsequently, if the custom system a customer has them build, DOESNT have any problems,... well, then you paid WAY too much for it.

I.e. $100 Case; $300 MoBo; ~CPU+35% cost, same for RAM etc etc..

For Smithnweson,

I'll share a "potato" I build too. Water cooling was new and all the rage. Course at the time I got myself a fancy STATE of the ART Intel P3-600. (OMG, I know right?) It worked brilliantly for about a week. Then... yup, "if it holds liquid, it'll leak"..

It did.

Everything was ruined. Even the Power supply. It was as you said, a $650 paperweight.

But thats the key. It was $650. Even then. I could afford to replace everything.

Today, I dont have the "creme de la creme" for Gaming computers. (the industry changes so fast, id speculate no one does), but what I started boxing with, was sufficent. 1066 bus, Socket 1155 Mobo; Intel 2.4GHz Dual core; 4GB (800)RAM; GForce 240G video card; 500GB HDD (7200rpm); 50X DVD drive; 650W PwSpply) - Total cost then = $ 612.56 after tax.

I already had the case, (and also already had the DVD drive, and the HDD, but i bought one to put in the closet, as a "just in case")

Since then, I have upgraded each item. Now running 12GB RAM, (3) Video cards, i5 Processor, tons of fans..lol.

Point is, if you are patient, and do your homework. (enlist a friend as Ualaa said), or link EVERY item here. I still feel strongly, you can get a very nice system (minus keyboard, mouse and monitor), for your money.

A lot of these guys that frequently troll the hardware forums are very savy and intelligent.

[Bollwerk]

I haven't seen the OP mention what resolution (s)he wants to run at.

You might be able to run 5 toons on medium in a city on a $750 box IF you're at something like 1280x1024 or lower resolution. But I'm not even sure that's feasible.

[Apps]

I haven't seen the OP mention what resolution (s)he wants to run at.

You might be able to run 5 toons on medium in a city on a $750 box IF you're at something like 1280x1024 or lower resolution. But I'm not even sure that's feasible.


Nah, I fired up my old system last night, just cause I was curious. I took (5) level 2 shamans to Org. Set the video to medium, and before I even finished going through the front gate hallway, (2) clients crashed, and the other three were just standing there for about 35 mins...

then I plug pulled.

I retried it on LOWEST settings for all accounts. 1 crashed, and (4) were so choppy, i think I moved 8 yards in 20 mins. I gave the system a full hour to load all the graphics from players, and it was still frozen.

then I plug pulled, and thats when I remembered why I upgraded in the first place.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Ya forget "major cities" you can 5 box elsewhere though but its just to much to expect a mid level system to 5 box in org. Still that leaves a lot of the world available for that price range.

As stated Ram is dirt cheap right now.

Frankly unless you have deep pockets mutiboxing almost requires computer knowledge. Just read all the posts in this forum and you will get a lot of info's espically focused on multiboxing.

Its not hard to build your own systems but I can understand its dauting at first. Maybe get some old computers people is tossing out and tear them down and build them up against to get a feel for what you need to do without taking a chanch on destroying your main system. Ya its easy enough to make a simple error and blow a card or board thats for sure.

Don't they have computer repair corses somewhere? Its just to handy to know how to fix computers considering how dependant everyone is on them now days.

[Smithnweson]

Computer within my specifications found.

I ended up asking a guildie and they did some research and found a prebuilt machine for me.

Thank you all for your help and I understand your urging for me to build it myself but its not for me.

When I get a link to the computer I'll post it, just about to hit the bed and wanted a quick post.

[Grail]

Good luck Smithnweson! Hope all works well for you.

-Grail