10 box - 1 machine...

[Shigan5]

Hmm, im not going to actually build this but i wanted to speculate and push the idea out to everyone else and get your input.

I was thinking the other day that with current hardware it might be possible to 10-box on one machine. Now the specs seem right, but the only thing that would drag this back would be the processor.But i wanted to get your opinions on this and see what you think this machine could handle, and how many instances of wow it could run simultaneously.

Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188025) EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI DDR3
Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115034) Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Yorkfield 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 130W Quad-Core Processor
Memory (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145190) 2x CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Video Cards (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130338) 2x EVGA 01G-P3-N891-AR GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB (512MB per GPU) 512-bit (256-bit per GPU) GDDR3
Hard Drives (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136012) 4x Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s
Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153054) Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU ATX12V / EPS12V 1200W Power Supply

Now this build is extremely expensive, but i forsee it having the potential to run up to 10 instances of wow, if not more. Granted it would take alot of cooling, up to water cooling.

Basically it would run 3 instances each of wow on 3 of the hard drives and 1 on the other. And the processor may have to be slightly overclocked to work.

What is everyones thoughts?

[Gallo]

It's very possible that something like this would work. You're right though... man would it take some major cooling. A better question though is... how do you set up monitors for something like this? 2 vid cards can handle 4 monitors. 2 monitors with 4x on each, then 2 with 1x on each? Would be pretty crazy to see. Imagine setting up BOOBS and PiP for that... heh.

[kenyu]

You can do better:

For HD, use solid state HD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609244

You don't have the get the biggest one.

This should be cooler and much faster.

For Motherboard why not 3-way SLi? Ofcourse get 9800GX2 on each. That you way u can have up to 6 monitors.

Just some thoughts :)

[bugilt]

I'd go with 8gb of ram. With a browser, 5 wow clients, vent, and a few other things 4gb is almost all gone.

[Diamndzngunz]

Holy Hell GL with that.

Sounds bad ass.

[Maxion]

Seeing how my not so extremely powerful computer runs fine with 6 instances of WoW running at the same time atm with minimum settings in game, I suspect I might be able to run 10 or somewhere in between, i just dont have the accounts to try, and i reached my cap for number of trial accounts per person :S (hopefully i'll get to make more trial accounts since I've started paying for all these.)

[Shigan5]

Look closer it says 2x the 4 gb kit so it is 8gb. And as for solid state i would agree, and since this build is already making the money fly away might as well swap those, and add in the third 9800gtx. With that and everything else in the build, i wouldnt doubt that this thing would fly with 10 wows on it.

And with three gfx cards u get 6 monitors. SOOOO
xx - xx - xx
x - X - x

thats how i would set it up

the small x's being alts and the Big X being the main.This would distribute the load on the vid cards well. each card would only have 3 wows running on it. This would distribute everything very very well. This looks like it could work. hmm.

I wonder how far you could take this.

[marvein]

couple things
1. you would not need 8GB of ram if you build the clients right, now if you are trying to run auctioneer on 10 clients for some reason then yes lol
2. 4 monitors setup would be easy. 3 clients on each with 1 for your "main" or since you have two parties do 4-1 1-4.
3. that machine is way overkill unless you want to run all 10 clients at 50fps or something. the newer quad cores would be fine. wow is not very CPU heavy, nor graphics heavy.
4. hard drives, I used to be the person that runs one client from its own folder until I tried it different. You dont need that. For any client that you want unique (which would be your two 'mains' make a seperate folder. Then have one folder for the rest and launch a seperate instance, it really is faster and since they will be seperate accounts your macros wont get messed up (or anything else) then just put those folders on a different drive (both mains on one, alts on a 2nd) and you definately dont need 150gig raptors either 1 install of WoW = 10gigs.
5. would I want a computer like this? sure, would I ever build one? heck no because it is way overkill and overdone than it needs to be
6. for displays I would do 4 22" widescreens, they are big but not too big. could do 24" if you wanted for your alts to give you a little more real estate.
7. @shigan, this board indeed has 3 PCIX slots. however only 2 of them are 2.0 which the video card listed requires. so you wont have 3 top of the line ones in there no matter what.

[Shigan5]

lol im trying to go for best performance for 10 alts here thus the 4 raptors.

and pci express2.0 is backwards compatible.

Hmm idk if it would be overkill tho, yeah GFX card wise sure maybe but otherwise 10 instances of wow would be pushing the processor and possibly the ram to its limits.

[marvein]

lol im trying to go for best performance for 10 alts here thus the 4 raptors.

and pci express2.0 is backwards compatible.

Hmm idk if it would be overkill tho, yeah GFX card wise sure maybe but otherwise 10 instances of wow would be pushing the processor and possibly the ram to its limits.

my point was hard drive speeds are not required to make it run really fast, not having to read from multiple places of a hard drive at once does, hence one single folder.

as for pci express I meant the slot not the card. it was inrefernce to the person just above my post not yours, since you specd only 2

[Shigan5]

true, but harddrive speeds can potentially cause problems and this is a just in case precaution. And there really is no point in having the third GPU, as most of the time a third GPU can cause problems, but in this case it would be a 5th and 6th gpu as each GX2 is 2 gfx cards built together.

[Majestic_Clown]

hehe just imagine....1 Tank paladin & 9 Ele shammies

THE POWA!!!

[Shigan5]

itd be extreme power but thered be no way of questing all 10 at the same time. Which wouldnt be very fun, would probably have to level 2 groups seperately and then group them up in the end.

:O Three of these and you could 30 box, or 25 box.

Rofl. 1 Prot pally, 24 ele shammys.......

[marvein]

while 10, 20, 25 ele shamans would be funny wyou should set it up as if to raid.
that will also allow you to quest as 5packs since you really cant do anything as 10. Such as lvl 2 sets of 5 then xfer 5 of them to new accounts and bam, you got your 10.

[kermitforney]

Not sure when, but I will be getting a QX9650 from a friend. HOPEFULLY SOOOOOOOON it's taking forever. 8|
So I will have the processor, but only 4 gigs of Ram and I don't need those HD's because I use one shared directory.
The only place I feel I am lacking is the video card, I can run 1 main 1280x1024 and 4 alts @ 1280x1024 split in 4 (whatever
thier resolutions are I am NOT doing the math) with an 8800GTS (not G92) split between two 19' monitors
(alts capped @ 15fps low settings). So I was just going to purchase an 8800GTX for $300 or maybe two if the prices keep falling.

I will keep you guys posted if I ever get the QX9650 ;( .

?( Does anyone actually have an 8800GTX or two 8800GTX's and can give feedback on performance and numbers????? ?(

[keyclone]

my US$0.02 worth...

dual quad core, 8G of memory, and an 8800 driving 2 digital screens @ >1600x1200 each

then i would put my main on the left screen... and a 3x3 grid on the right.
each clone would be 500x400 and i would make my main 1500x1200 to keep the same aspect ratio

be sure to set your maxfpsbk ...

should have plenty of memory, plenty of cpu, and the grfx would be minimal while you aren't on those screens. the real issue would be memory... you may even be able to get away with using a single quad core.

and of course... i'd use keyclone's commands, maxmizer, and PiP to do it

[Toned]

That setup is almost similar to what I'm trying to build except I'm going to try and do 3 video cards so I can have 5 monitors. Make a 6 monitor array, but the top middle is an LCD tv instead of a monitor so I can hook up an xbox360/ps3 :).

[Shigan5]

lol i said the 25 shammy thing in response to Majestic Clown. But yeah this would certainly be possible for 10 manning things, granted the two ram sets are horridly expensive but i could see this doing it fine. I think i might be giving Xzin ideas.

[Sarduci]

I'd go with 8gb of ram. With a browser, 5 wow clients, vent, and a few other things 4gb is almost all gone.Out of my 8, only 2.7 is used for 5 clients, vent, firefox, google sidebar, keyclone, and a few other misc apps that l use for work like a vpn client and that kind of stuff.

[Shigan5]

So many variables here. Such as what os, how many clients etc. but overall this build looks like 10 boxing is a possibility.

[kermitforney]

Soooo, I got the QX9770 and I bumped it up to 4ghz air cooled and this thing is only kicking 36C!!!! :thumbsup:

SUPER Psyched this things kicks ASS, my 1 main and 4 alt windows take little to no time to start up and I have
absolutely no slowdown whatsoever. I havent tried to bump up the settings of my alts yet, but I will try in about
5 minutes!! :D

I am ready to get to 10 boxing, but how do I get the 30 day trial period accounts?? HEEEELLLP!!

[Suvega]

Hmm, im not going to actually build this but i wanted to speculate and push the idea out to everyone else and get your input.

I was thinking the other day that with current hardware it might be possible to 10-box on one machine. Now the specs seem right, but the only thing that would drag this back would be the processor.But i wanted to get your opinions on this and see what you think this machine could handle, and how many instances of wow it could run simultaneously.

Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188025) EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI DDR3
Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115034) Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Yorkfield 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 130W Quad-Core Processor
Memory (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145190) 2x CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Video Cards (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130338) 2x EVGA 01G-P3-N891-AR GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB (512MB per GPU) 512-bit (256-bit per GPU) GDDR3
Hard Drives (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136012) 4x Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s
Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153054) Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU ATX12V / EPS12V 1200W Power Supply

Now this build is extremely expensive, but i forsee it having the potential to run up to 10 instances of wow, if not more. Granted it would take alot of cooling, up to water cooling.

Basically it would run 3 instances each of wow on 3 of the hard drives and 1 on the other. And the processor may have to be slightly overclocked to work.

What is everyones thoughts?

I basically have the above except for only one 9800gx2, and only 2 of those harddrives.

Just got my iFX-50 heatsink, plan on overclocking to around 4ghz with a 1600 mhz fsb.

[Shigan5]

whats the max amount of cliens your able to run? or have you tested?

[Suvega]

whats the max amount of cliens your able to run? or have you tested?

Haven't even tried. I use it for my main account, as the monitor I drive is a 30" apple cinima display. 2560x1600 takes a bit to run...

However I can tell you I get around 40-120 fps at all details up, 16x aniscopic filtering and 8x antialiasing at 2560x1600 :D

[Shigan5]

at dead nothing settings you should be able to get alot off the one card. now you said that was almost the exact same setup, do you have the intel extreme and 8gb of ram?

[Suvega]

at dead nothing settings you should be able to get alot off the one card. now you said that was almost the exact same setup, do you have the intel extreme and 8gb of ram?

I have the 9650 currently running at a 1333mhz fsb and 3.0ghz.

I'm running the DDR3 ram at the same frequency (linked mode). 4gb currently.

I plan on (after installing this massive heatsync), moving the FSB and ram clock up to 1600mhz, and clock the cpu to around 3.8-4.0ghz.

[kermitforney]

I have the 9650 currently running at a 1333mhz fsb and 3.0ghz.

I'm running the DDR3 ram at the same frequency (linked mode). 4gb currently.

I plan on (after installing this massive heatsync), moving the FSB and ram clock up to 1600mhz, and clock the cpu to around 3.8-4.0ghz.

That frequency should be no problem attaining, I have my Qx9770 running @ 4ghz on air cooling alone. This was just by adjusting the FSB and bumping the
multiplier up a notch and the CPU voltage a tad. I think the QX9650 comes with an unlocked multiplier as well. I still have my QX9650 here, but I haven't tested it out yet, still trying to
sell it. My only bottleneck now is my graphics card which is an 8800GTS (non G92). I just read the review of the 9800GTX and think I am going to purchase one ASAP. I need a card
without a major amount of heat to be dissipated and a lower PSU requirement. After I get my 9800GTX in the mail I am going to try for the 10box 1 computer scenario.

FYI ~ Still wondering how I would get 5 more trial accounts . . . anyone?? ?(

[Shigan5]

best way would be to ask a friend who plays wow for his trials if he has any left. Or you could look online but theyre all probably already swiped.

[marvein]

Is blizzard not doing the free trial accounts anymore?

[kermitforney]

Is blizzard not doing the free trial accounts anymore?

I dunno, I don't know the first place to look.

[marvein]

Is blizzard not doing the free trial accounts anymore?

I dunno, I don't know the first place to look.

looks like they still are
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/trial/index.html?referrer=WORLDOFWARCRAFT&source=wowhome&promo=1

[Shigan5]

Good way to go but only thing i would say about free trials and dual boxing is the fact you cant trade, which could kill some dual-boxers. But just my 2 cents.

[marvein]

Good way to go but only thing i would say about free trials and dual boxing is the fact you cant trade, which could kill some dual-boxers. But just my 2 cents.

trial accounts would be for testing to see if its something you liked anyways before you commit to purchasing more accounts

[kermitforney]

trial accounts would be for testing to see if its something you liked anyways before you commit to purchasing more accounts

True! Only problem is I sold some of my old parts and I sold my 8800GTS320mb. Yes, the one I had in my current system that also was the last graphics card I had in the house. :thumbdown:
So now I am planning on purchasing a 9800GTX and using the EVGA step up program to get a 9900GTX when they come out (July). Sooooo, basically I am holding out on timing so I will be able to Step-Up
but I think im pretty much f*cked. No video card so no gaming whatsoever and I am stuck with my laptop . . . :S

No WOW for me for a long time it seems. :huh:

[Shigan5]

ouch. you can get a few good graphics cards for cheap.

XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150229') is only 104.99

or you could go with

SAPPHIRE 100218L Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102703')
for 84.99 (also comes with a $15 rebate, so 69.99)

granted the second you my not be able to dual box, maybe 2 instances of wow, maybe(ive never ran ATI so idk how well they run). The first you could get 3 easily. 5 if the rest of your specs work well

[kermitforney]

ouch. you can get a few good graphics cards for cheap.

XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150229') is only 104.99

or you could go with

SAPPHIRE 100218L Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102703')
for 84.99 (also comes with a $15 rebate, so 69.99)

granted the second you my not be able to dual box, maybe 2 instances of wow, maybe(ive never ran ATI so idk how well they run). The first you could get 3 easily. 5 if the rest of your specs work well

Naw, I need something that is going to really haul ass at high resolutions because i'm picking up two Samsung 226BW 22' monitors in a day or two. I am so broke it's not even funny! :D

[Suvega]

FYI,

With the above system I described with 0 overclocking, I got 5 wow windows...

4- 512x400
1 - 2048x1600

Stable framerate of 15-30fps on all of them. Throtteling down back windows to 15fps, resulted in a more stable 30fps on the main 2048x1600 window.

Ram used was approx - 3.3gb of physical. Therfore I would recommend 8gb of ddr3 ram for 10 windows.

Boot time was very fast, I would say from pressing start, to seeing 5 wow windows was <10sec.

[Bravo]

Wouldn't it be ALOT cheaper to run two nice machines like q6600, 4 gig blah blah blah.. across a network? Higher end computer equipment tends to cost like 4x the money for barley double the performance.

[kermitforney]

Wouldn't it be ALOT cheaper to run two nice machines like q6600, 4 gig blah blah blah.. across a network? Higher end computer equipment tends to cost like 4x the money for barley double the performance.

Depends?? I got the QX9770 for free and I will be getting the Samsung 22' monitors as a trade from a buyer I sold some stuff too. The only items I have had to purchase were a motherboard and now a graphics card . . followed shortly by 2 320gb Hard Drives. :thumbsup:

So long story short, I got a computer that is twice as fast as a comparable Q6600 (stock) for half the price. :thumbsup:

[kermitforney]

FYI,

With the above system I described with 0 overclocking, I got 5 wow windows...

4- 512x400
1 - 2048x1600

Stable framerate of 15-30fps on all of them. Throtteling down back windows to 15fps, resulted in a more stable 30fps on the main 2048x1600 window.

Ram used was approx - 3.3gb of physical. Therfore I would recommend 8gb of ddr3 ram for 10 windows.

Boot time was very fast, I would say from pressing start, to seeing 5 wow windows was <10sec.

Yeah, I experience the same as far as WOW clients windows and loading times being DRAMATICALLY faster. You have the GX2 though I am only going
GTX and praying my Trade-Up lasts until the 9900GTX comes out :pinch: (fingers crossed) :pinch: . I will however only have 2 22' monitors so my max
res on my main would be 1680x1050, so maybe I won't have the low fps situation that you have with your main. Also, I want to go SLI in the future
and having one dedicated card per display wouldn't hurt. As far as 10 boxing goes though, I don't have the memory for it right now. :(

Have you tried overclocking that bad boy, Suvega? I have to get a different Heatsink/Fan, to push mine further, but I think I am content with 4ghz.

[Suvega]

Vyndree bought the identical setup, and got the fans I was looking on getting (2 x 140mm fans).

These fans I'm waiting on are for this heatsink - >
http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/cpu/ifx-14/product_cpu_cooler_ifx-14.html?art=MTQyMywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

It rated the best on Tom's Hardware review of cooling for processors->
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/03/cpu_cooler_charts_2008/page10.html

I think I shoudl be able to hit 4ghz with a 1600mhz fsb with great stability hopefully :)

[kermitforney]

Should be no prob hitting 4ghz, but that depends more on the stepping of the processor and other misc. info. Good Luck, and let
me know what you hit (frequency).

I just picked up the 9800 GTX and haven't even been able to test it out, though I have installed it. Keep you guys posted.

[kermitforney]

Stats thus far:

Main - 1680x1050 Hovers around 55-60 fps Max settings (Usually at a flat 60fps)
Alts - (Split on 1280x1024 monitor) Capped @ 15fps Lowest Settings

All in all I am VERY satisfied with the performance of the system as a whole, but no way
could I push 10 clients without more ram. Maybe 8 . . . nevermind :whistling:

[Fear The Wrath]

quick question.. what OS supports 8GB? my XP 32bit doesnt recognize all 4.. but my vista 64bit does..
if its not recognized its not used right? anyways can someone please help me with my growing knowledge?

[kermitforney]

quick question.. what OS supports 8GB? my XP 32bit doesnt recognize all 4.. but my vista 64bit does..
if its not recognized its not used right? anyways can someone please help me with my growing knowledge?

Only a 64bit OS can address that much memory. I will try to shoot you M$ link, but I am calling it a night. Try to remember tomorrow.

64bit - >4GB
32bit - <4GB