Salutations, Questions: Suggestions Pertaining Setup and Hard/Software Control

[Qlimax]

Salutations,

I am proud to be a new member and I hope to add as much input that I can, but I do have a few questions.

1. I know I am able to run 5 instances of wow (1 1920x1050, 4 800x600) on my main computer with about 23 FPS on the main and 15-19 on the latter. Once I level them to cap, I plan on doing heroics, arena and 10 mans with my co-boxer. I do not trust the survivability of my raid on one computer, impart because I have not tested this setup in intense instances, such as in a Battleground or 10 man. Question: Would it be wise to setup another computer that would run the 4 shamans and keyclone, while using a y-splitter with xkey (or another product similar) between the two computers. That way all the controls will occur simultaneously, is this a wise decision?

2. I currently receive only 1 internet connection of ~6700 kbps down and ~400 up rates. If I were to attach a network 4 port high speed switch to this cable and branch off the two computers and still attain a playable condition to the as-stated setup? I do not get problems running 5 accounts on 1 pc, but would I receive the same success using 2 pcs or 3 pcs to run the same 5 accounts, all linked by a xkey and keyclone configuration?

3. I am hesitent to purchase the xkeys due to the potential redundancy of keyboard buttons. I have a RAZR Tarantula keyboard now that claims to have 5 "R" and 5 "L" keys. When I use Bongos bindings to bind these keys, they are simply just F1-F5, and F5-F10 respectively... I was horribly dissapointed by this, so my question is whether or not Xkeys use unique 'button codes' such as X1-X50, or it is a program.

Your support and effort is highly regarded and appreciated.

Sincerely,

Qlimax

[BobGnarly]

Greetings to you,

1. Well, define "wise." I'm personally not sold on the redundancy argument much myself. If you're saying you don't "trust the survivability", meaning you want to have another computer so that you have some toons up if your main one fails - well, if my computer fails, I'm actually not too concerned what happens to my wow chars, honestly. I'm more concerned why my computer just went north. Now, if you want to do it for performance reasons, I can certainly see that, but I've had pretty good luck with 5 toons on one comp. I say give it a try, and if something doesn't work to your liking, buy a new computer then. You might be like me (was planning to by 4 other comps until I tried it on one) and be pleasantly surprised with how it works on one.

Plus, you can PiP - BOOBS if you use keyclone ;) (leave it up to you to look that up).

2. No problem. That's tons more bandwidth than you'd need. Incidently, the bandwidth used is going to be the same if you use one computer or two.

3. I don't have an xkeys, but read up on it in the hardward forum. My understand is that it works by duplicating keyboard scan codes, so whatever you can do with one or more keypresses on the keyboard, can be replicated with this device. Again, I'm not an expert here.

Good luck.

[Qlimax]

I purchased a Netgear Gigabit 5 port switch recently. My father needed a switch, so if all failed, it would work out in the end. I hooked up everything with Cat6 wires and ran speedtest.net. I obtained the same results with a direct connection, so I was overjoyed. I went to log on WoW and wanted to obtain a 'raw' ping estimate with the new system. Unfortunately, I went from a previous 44-60 ping to a 1400-2600 ping that maintained this high peak for the duration of the test. I went back to speedtest.net and now I was receiving 4,500-5,200 down rates (previously 6800-6900) and when loading web pages, I could notice the difference. Is there something I did wrong here in setting it up? Setup is:

Cable--->Router(10/100)[Linksys]--cat5-->5 Port Switch(10/100/1000)[Netgear]--cat6-->Computer

Or Is this just not a viable solution for setting up multi-computer clients.

-Qlimax

[OzPhoenix]

Ok, well, first up, there's nothing inherently wrong with using the switch, typically the issue your seeing results from a mismatch in the speed and duplex settings on the switch. All my experience is with Cisco technology (it's what I do for work), so I can't give you exact commands or the like, but there should in the switch configuration commands for both port speed and duplex settings. Typically these default to auto-negotiation which often has some troubles.

[keyclone]

G'evening Qlimax and welcome to the forums!

Cable--->Router(10/100)[Linksys]--cat5-->5 Port Switch(10/100/1000)[Netgear]--cat6-->Computer that's pretty much what i have, except the router isn't linksys but another 4-port netgear switch.

try plugging your computer directly into the linksys and see if you get lower latency. if so, then there is something up with the switch. try moving to another port (you never know.. i've had ports stop working)

if you still get the bad latency.. try replacing the cat6 with the cat5 directly. still a problem? could try directly from the cable modem... but make sure to have your software firewalls updated and running.

if you still get a problem, i'd look for a new machine to confirm it's not the machine or nic on the box i was testing.. and if both have the same latency, i'd look to the isp to explain it.

on cable modems... you can get 'leakage' which can radically increase your ploss which in turn will drive up your latency

i hope that helps.

Rob

[Qlimax]

When I plug directly in my latency is around 44. Switched around the ports, checked firewalls, use multiple combinations of cat 5 and 6. Im convinced the problem is with the switch, so I will give this to my father. When you have a cisco switch, do you notice any degrading in the signal from a direct connection to a router, even if the slightest? I know Vyndree had a setup that had 4 computers, therefore having to split the connection. Does anyone know if I should upgrade to the 15/20 mbps ISP package and keep the switch or is there another solution for maintaining a latency under 200 in wow with 5 characters on more than one pc.

Qlimax

Edit: (9:53 EST)

Well, I logged on right before I was going to head out and all of a sudden, the switch is now giving me the same latency in game, and kbps speeds as the ones with the direct connections. I appreciate all your input and I will definetly keep it in mind if I encounter this problem again ^^. Thanks

[Elektroz]

With my g15 Logitech keyboard, the G-keys work via the use of macros. One sets up the macros via a program that came upon purchasing said keyboard. With this program, one can enter into 3 different modes (M1, M2, M3) and program 18 G-keys in each setting (54 in total). Currently I have Gkeys G1-G12 with Shift + F(insert number here). After that, i just start with G13 as Alt + F1 and so on and so forth with any variation of Shift, Alt, Ctrl, and their combos (such as Shift + Alt + F1). With whatever action bar program you are using (I recommend Bongos), if you plan to keybind say fireball with G14 (Alt + F2) it will appear as "Alt + F2" on the console and button upon pressing G14; It will not show up as G14 on the tooltip or action icon for fireball. However, when you press G14, the key will automatically translate into Alt + F2 and cast fireball.

I am not certain if this is how X-keys work, but Im sure it'd have to be along these lines of macro management. :)

[Qlimax]

Thanks Z,

Unfortunately, I was ignorant and did not look it up on the site, so I will post my results for those who wish to know. Xkeys uses a macro utility that does he aforementioned process of binding to ALT+SHIFT+F etc. You can assign any key on xkeys to a certain macro of that sort, just remember when binding in WoW ^^.

[Djarid]

Re Networking, any particular reason for Cat6? it is a lot more delicate than cat-5, is there any damage to the cable? I understand that if the internal partition walls (of the cable) are crushed it can have a significant impact on throughput (I am not a cable engineer but used to work for a company whose major business was structured cabling)

Just a couple of questions... 1920x1050? are you sure? I would expect it to be 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 ;)

Software = win over all hardware imo with the following caveats: You are playing WOW, You are not having to compete in the top 10 arena in your battlegroup, you are using keyclone, you are playing with BOOBS in keyclone (why can we never resist that temptation? ;) ) TBH while PS2 broadcasting is the most efficient system it pales against the increased functionality provided by the key software solutions , Keyclone, Octopus, HotKeyNet etc.

The ability to swap any clone with your main window is invaluable in the event of the death of your main, it is also useful for admin and collection quests. If you are going to use BOOBS, I would recommend that you modify your resolutions to all have the same aspect ratio... I run 1538x1200 and 4x 380x300 (stacked vertically) although I am considering going to 1600x1200 & 4x 800x600 but the lack of mouse movement is beneficial atm ;)