Ok guys...im goin hardware, lets see some suggestions PLZZZ!

[omgwtfmoo?]

Hey guys and gals, i am currently "trying" to run my 4 shaman box off of my 1 pc 2 monitor setup but tbh its terrible...my pc is about 4 years old and can only handle 2 accounts at a time without any severe fps loss. i was thinking about getting 3 of those lan boxes or lan pc's i have seen in some of the screenies and just load em up with some new hardware just for WoW. im pretty new to multiboxing and trying to deal with FPS bull doesnt help the learning process so anything that you guys think would work well with those cases please let me know. also if anyone knows where i can find ones like the ones X-zin used in his picture: http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x45/Xzin-WoW/equipment1.jpg it would greatly appreciate it. newegg has some similar ones but i want to check all my options first.


-moo

[Wilbur]

You want to buy a Mini ATX machine which can handle 1 PC per instance?

newegg.com

[omgwtfmoo?]

well i either want one of those per each instance of WoW aside from my PC that would run my main's account...OR i could just totally re-vamp my computer to make it able to handle 4-5 instances of WoW. currently my PC is running off a AMD Athlon 64 3200 processor, ATI Radeon graphics(forget model but its about 3 years old). so lets see what you guys would suggest for a motherboard, Processor, and graphics card(s). thanks in advance guys i gotta get to work.

[Jafula]

Hello,

I run 5 instances of wow on my machine.

I like this because I can use one keyboard and mouse and don't need to worry about key sync software working over the network.

I have my main on one monitor (1680x1050) and my 4 alts on another monitor (1280x1024) - each takes up a quarter of the screen (640x512). This setup allows me to mouse over (not click into) an alt wow window and press a key to loot ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=6898') , mine, etc, without losing focus off my main's window. I use hot key net ('http://www.hotkeynet.com/wow/wow-quick-start.html') to sync keys.

Machine Specs: Intel Q6600 Quad Core, 8GB Ram (4GB Ram works fine), 2 x Geforce8800GT 512MB, DFI LanParty X38-T2R X38 Mobo, 500GB WD HDD, Win Vista 64bit.

Note: I did have an Asus Striker II Extreme 790i (Nvidia) mobo for SLI, but the chipset (790i) seems to have a lot of issues ('http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=Striker+II+Extreme&board_id=1') and I could not get my system stable at stock speeds. So unless you really, really want SLI, I suggest you get an X38 or X48 chipset (I think even X48 is too new and unstable). At least with X38 you can use crossfire.

I have read some posts that say that you can use one high end GFX card for 5 wows; but I have not tried this myself.

I have 2 wows CPU affinity set to cores 0 and 1 and the other 3 wows CPU affinity set to cores 2 and 3.

The alts are all frame-limited in wow to 15fps background and 30fps foreground. All the GFX settings are set to low.

My main has all GFX settings on high and I get an average of 50fps.

I love it and it works very well for me. I hope this helps you.

Jafula.

[omgwtfmoo?]

thanks alot jafula, thats just what i needed. people always say their setup but dont always describe how it affects their ingame performance. what manufacturer did you go with for the GFX cards? too many to choose from. also, assuming that i upgraded the rest of my system, OS mobo etc...could i run my 4 copies of WoW on one GFX card? or would that second card make a huge difference? please lmk, thanks =D

[Jafula]

Check out this thread ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=72511') - discusses which GFX card to buy. So far:
8800 GTS 512 (had an ATI 3850 but shelved it due to poor game/driver/vista support) i heard that the 9800 is like the 8800, but a hole lot more expensive, i have a Q9300, its amazing, and i have 8gb of ram(4x 2gb 1066), i have a 8800gts 512mb OC, vista ultimate 64, and i can run 5 (at 45, 15, 15, 15, 15 fps), with almost every thing maxed.I think 1 x 8800GTS 512 would work for you; if you get a mobo will take 2 gfx cards, you can always add another one later.

I've never been happy with ATI drivers either. Nice cards on paper, but RL performance seems lacking (IMHO). As for the manufacturer, some of them like to cut corners and remove certain chips from their cards ('http://www.levicki.net/reviews/hardware/2008/02/01/ASUS_EN8800GT_G_HTDP_512M_no_temperature_and_fan_c ontrol.php') , which is what I ended up with. So not ASUS... at least not the cards I got!

I have had Leadtek, Gainward and MSI cards with no problems, but not 100% happy with Asus. Lots of folk have EVGA and XFX cards. Just pick one and google it; also check out the manufacturer's forums if you can find them.

[Vyndree]

Eww... Shuttle PC's.

They're more trouble than the space they save, honestly. They heat up quickly and sound like jet engines.

I have one shuttle PC that I built specifically for its mobility (bringing it over to a buddy's house -- in fact when I first met Suvega I camped out in his apartment by carrying my shuttle PC over there). In comparison to my standard size PC's it gets really hot really quickly and where my other PCs are nearly silent the shuttle is a constant ambient hum when it's on.

Stacking standard PC's really isn't all that bad, but if you're really looking to save space, go with a rack system.

Take a look at Suvega and my setup in this thread ('http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=1455'). The standard cases really don't take up THAT much room.

You WILL have heat issues if you don't have AC in your room or live in a temperate climate. Suvega and I have turned off the heat in the gaming room because our 10 computers in one corner of that room is more than enough to heat it. Also, make sure you can handle the power drain the extra machines will suck out of the wall socket -- some homes are wired pretty funky.

[glo]

I'm using these old Dell optiplex GX280 SFF machines. There is no updgrade path at all but they run wow real nice.

Total with shipping and everything is $150 off ebay, adding 2 gig of ram is another 20 bucks.

[Bovidae]

I had to run an additional 20A circuit to my desk when I started boxing. Yet another hidden cost, but well worth it. No need to burn down my house because I was playing video games too hard.

[Vyndree]

I personally used to have a 400 gallon marine aquarium in my computer room / built into the wall (don't ask). I ran 2 isolated 20amp circuits to run my tank (lights, pumps, heaters... etc..), so after I broke that thing down, I left the circutis intact. When I started multiboxing - hey! dedicated power lines already in place! w00t!

YOU HAVE A MAIN TANK TOO?! :O 8o

My fish tank is also in my gaming room but on a different circuit. I don't exactly have a reef, though.

Suvega's 5-box system and mine are on 2 seperate breakers. Thankfully that part of our house was remodeled recently, so we've got plenty of powah. Our electricity bill did go up quite a bit though ;)

[omgwtfmoo?]

ok guys so instead of burning my house down OR causing a noise violation with shuttle pc's....lets say that i wanted to re-build my PC from the ground up, besides the case of course. i plan on using my single PC with keyclone to run my 4 shamans. i am currently struggling with fps issues etc.. so lets get some specs for my new rig...MOOOOO!

[Vyndree]

About a year later, that thing cracked.

Wow -- you must've had alot of strain somewhere. Not often does acrylic crack.

I prefer acrylic for that reason -- instead of bits of glass glued together they actually bend and fuse the plastic acrylic sheets together.

In any case, I'm done with thread hijack. :)


ok guys so instead of burning my house down OR causing a noise violation with shuttle pc's....lets say that i wanted to re-build my PC from the ground up, besides the case of course. i plan on using my single PC with keyclone to run my 4 shamans. i am currently struggling with fps issues etc.. so lets get some specs for my new rig...MOOOOO!

I hear quad cores with 4gigs of ram work nicely... But the software stuff I will leave to the experts...

[Ramesses]

This is a great thread! Main tanks and multi-boxing hardware. Shawinnnngg!!


Hello,

I run 5 instances of wow on my machine.

I like this because I can use one keyboard and mouse and don't need to worry about key sync software working over the network.

I have my main on one monitor (1680x1050) and my 4 alts on another monitor (1280x1024) - each takes up a quarter of the screen (640x512). This setup allows me to mouse over (not click into) an alt wow window and press a key to loot ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=6898') , mine, etc, without losing focus off my main's window. I use hot key net ('http://www.hotkeynet.com/wow/wow-quick-start.html') to sync keys.

Machine Specs: Intel Q6600 Quad Core, 8GB Ram (4GB Ram works fine), 2 x Geforce8800GT 512MB, DFI LanParty X38-T2R X38 Mobo, 500GB WD HDD, Win Vista 64bit.

Note: I did have an Asus Striker II Extreme 790i (Nvidia) mobo for SLI, but the chipset (790i) seems to have a lot of issues ('http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=Striker+II+Extreme&board_id=1') and I could not get my system stable at stock speeds. So unless you really, really want SLI, I suggest you get an X38 or X48 chipset (I think even X48 is too new and unstable). At least with X38 you can use crossfire.

I have read some posts that say that you can use one high end GFX card for 5 wows; but I have not tried this myself.

I have 2 wows CPU affinity set to cores 0 and 1 and the other 3 wows CPU affinity set to cores 2 and 3.

The alts are all frame-limited in wow to 15fps background and 30fps foreground. All the GFX settings are set to low.

My main has all GFX settings on high and I get an average of 50fps.

I love it and it works very well for me. I hope this helps you.

Jafula.

Awesome info. This is exactly what I plan to do. But im curious: everyone seems to be using keyclone; is there a particular reason you are using "hotkeynet"? Also was it tough to setup your multiple windows that allow you to just mouseover and click to loot? Havent done this yet as I dont have my new PC yet and cant run multi-wows on my old-ass piece.

[Jafula]

Awesome info. This is exactly what I plan to do. But im curious: everyone seems to be using keyclone; is there a particular reason you are using "hotkeynet"? Also was it tough to setup your multiple windows that allow you to just mouseover and click to loot? Havent done this yet as I dont have my new PC yet and cant run multi-wows on my old-ass piece.
Sorry, didn't see this question until now; hotkeynet is currently free, keyclone requires payment AFAIK. I was just testing out multi-boxing with trial accounts when I started and I didn't want to spend additional cash if it didn't work... I've just used hotkeynet ever since; although keyclone looks like it has more features.

The multiple windows was easy; just used hotkeynet (keyclone does the same apparently) to set up the windows on the correct monitor, in the correct position and without borders or title. When mousing over a window, my guess is that when hotkeynet sends the keypress to the slaves window, that the slaves window gets focus while the keypress happens. As the mouse cursor is at the correct place on the slaves window, the slave loots. Then hotkeynet sets the focus back to my mains window. I hope I described that properly...

Have you got a new PC yet?

EDIT: Actually having read a bit about keyclone and its window swapping abilities (PIP?) I might be giving it a go real soon.