To Upgrade or Start Over (Please Help)

[jesseinpreston]

Greetings all, I have just started to multibox as an easy way to use the RAF to level. I have caught the bug and am looking to either upgrade my current system or build a new one to run 5 accounts on one box. Currently I am playing 3 toons, one on my PC listed below and 2 on my laptop. I have some macros but am doing everything manual. I would like some advice on if I should upgrade my current set-up (and what with) or if I should build the spec’ed out machine listed second. If I go with option two, what would be the best video card to prevent bottlenecks in the 300-350 or less range. Also looking at advice on multiboxing software, but i'm sure that belongs in another place.


Thanks for your time.

Jesse

Current Build:
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601920
EVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ
ASUS EAH5770/2DIS/1GD5/V2 Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

Projected Build:
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL
Video Card: ???
Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (Already Owned)
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 (CMPSU-850AX) 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply (Already Owned)

[Bollwerk]

IMHO, the best video card in that price range is the GTX 570, but I may be biased, as that's what I have.
Otherwise, your projected build looks good. For what it's worth, if you plan to OC the proc, you may want to consider the MSI boards with one-button overclocking (I have the P67A-GD65 and love the feature - works perfectly and my system has been rock solid). Here is one of their Z68 versions. (http://gr.msi.com/product/mb/Z68A-GD80--G3-.html)

[Bollwerk]

Sidenote regarding your Intel 320 series SSD - Looks like there may be an as-of-yet unsolved firmware bug. (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4604/the-sandforce-roundup-corsair-patriot-ocz-owc-memoright-ssds-compared)


It's a depressing time to be covering the consumer SSD market. Although performance is higher than it has ever been, we're still seeing far too many compatibility and reliability issues from all of the major players. Intel used to be our safe haven, but even the extra reliable Intel SSD 320 is plagued by a firmware bug that may crop up unexpectedly, limiting your drive's capacity to only 8MB (http://communities.intel.com/message/133499).

[jesseinpreston]

Thanks for the reply!! Sucks about the SSD, my boss bought it and then changed his mind, so i convinced him to donate it to the cause.

Any thoughts about radeoncards? Eyefinity sounds interesting, not sure if it is as nice with multiboxing though.

Any suggestions/comments about refreshing my old system?

[Sam DeathWalker]

Check out the list of video cards on my web site.

GTX 590, HD 6990 (best)


GTX 580, HD 5970


GTX 295, GTX 480, GTX 570, HD 6970


GTX 470, GTX 560 Ti, HD5870, HD6950


Get one of the above with 2G or more ram (this is a must) toss it in your current system and see if you are happy. If you don't like it then upgrade (you will still use the same video card you just bought) the rest of your system.

[pinotnoir]

I have an AMD HD 6970 card and its pretty nice.

[Kimchee]

SSD and Video card is the best bang for the buck.

I had no issues with the i7-920 and a GTX280 Video card. My comp at the time could handle 5 wow accounts without any issues. of course all the settings were set to minimum, except on my main.

Good luck with your purchase decision!

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Yep, the only thing that really needs an upgrade in that system is the 5770. The HDDs will cause you some lag while loading textures in org/IF/raids but otherwise that system should do fine.

[jesseinpreston]

Thanks for all of the replys. I will let you guys know which way I go and how it turns out. To tell the truth, I have the new PC bug and will prob build a new one and then turn my old one into a media center PC.

[Sajuuk]

Yep, the only thing that really needs an upgrade in that system is the 5770. The HDDs will cause you some lag while loading textures in org/IF/raids but otherwise that system should do fine.

This this and this.

Don't bother upgrading your whole system right now. There are new platforms coming out from both Intel (Socket 2011) and AMD (Bulldozer) within the next year. Wait and see how those turn out.

You can five box (or ten box if you work the settings right) on that.

[jesseinpreston]

This this and this.

Don't bother upgrading your whole system right now. There are new platforms coming out from both Intel (Socket 2011) and AMD (Bulldozer) within the next year. Wait and see how those turn out.

You can five box (or ten box if you work the settings right) on that.


So, if I get a better video card, like say

ASUS EAH6950 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5 Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

And also use the SSD mentioned above, I would be good? What about adding more Ram. Would that be a good thing or overkill. As it uses triple channel, I would double what is currently in there if I did add more.

Thanks,

Jesse

[Ughmahedhurtz]

A 6950 would do fine. SSD is fine as well, though you really don't need to upgrade the hard drive if you don't mind stuttering a bit in org/IF while the textures load. You'll love it to be sure but if you're trying to save money, I'd probably just grab the video card and see how that goes for now. If you get really annoyed with lag in org/IF/etc. then you can upgrade the SSD later. You might be surprised at how well it works with just the new video card.