New guy starting out with a PC question

[Rodskii]

I know this is very typical question and I apologize if you guys get irritated answering it over and over. That being said, I just ordered a new gaming PC. Always been interested in multi-boxing but never had the hardware to do it. I originally intended on this PC being an all around gaming PC. Never meant to do a lot of multi tasking. Well apparently that changed seeing as I finally realized multi-boxing is a viable option. How many instances of WoW can I effectively run with this setup? I am currently considering doing 4 Warlocks or 4 Shamans. Here's the setup and thank you in advance for any advice.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 - Retail

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 Nvidia nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

EVGA 896-P3-1264-AR GeForce GTX 260 SSC Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI

CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model

Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

PC Power & Cooling PPCS750QBL Silencer 750W Quad Blue ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, ULC, CE, CB, RoHS - Retail

[Rodskii]

Just realized this is probably in the wrong section. I apologize in advance if it is.

[Talos]

that will do just fine !!

the 'standard' minimum for 5 boxing is
dual-core processor
2gig ram
'decent' video card

will give 25-30 fps outside
15-20 fps and lag + loading lag in towns
but doable

the 'standard' medium is
good dual-core processor, or quad-core (process affinity, more cores to divide the 5 wow's to)
4 gig ram
good video

30+fps in towns, with clones 'maxed fps' on 10
almost no load lag
good enough to pvp with

and the over the top pricey i want i likey minimum ;)
latest quad core
8 gig ram (need vista64)
latest video card

50+ fps on main + clones
no load lag
pew pew pew

But of course, others are with the
'and the over the top pricey' pc for main char
and 4x 'the 'standard' medium' pc's for the clones

... ill start saving those penny's ;)

[Lorune]

Personally i would change the Duo Core to a Quad core, but thats just personally, since if you want to run 4 or more accounts setting affinity to the CPU's it will run more smoothly.

[Rodskii]

Thanks for the response guys.

I originally had planned on going with a quad core but thought I wouldn't be doing much multi tasking. That was until I realized that I could effectively multi box now and it's something I had always been interested in trying but never had the comp to do so. So I ended up going with the core 2 duo because they have outperformed the quads in single game applications and that will always be my primary concern outside of multi-boxing WoW.

How effective would it be to add another GTX260 Video card into the mix? How much impact do video cards have on multi-boxing? The motherboard can effectively run triple SLI so if push ever came to shove I could run 3 GTX260's.

[Thulos]

In my experience the biggest draw on boxing is cpu and memory. A mid range video card is going to be just fine without running SLI. The card you are running is probably well beyond overkill for 5 boxing one pc. As already stated the best way to go for 5 boxing is to get a quad core. I just upgraded from a dual core to a quad core yesterday and I now have zero lag or stuttering in shattrath.

Edit: I'm only running 4 on one machine. I like running my 5th guy on a seperate computer although with the quad core upgrade I have no real need to do this.

[Rodskii]

Alright, Well I get all my components this Friday. God willing UPS doesn't delay it. I will give it a shot with the Core 2 Duo. If I have any lag or stuttering I will look into doing an RMA and get the quad core. You guys kick ass. Thanks for taking the time to help a noob...

On a positive note I did set up a dual box last night with 2 shamans and successfully configured Octupus. Of course on my currently crappy PC i had to turn all settings to minumum and disabled all addon's but was able to get the basic macros functioning.

[Rodskii]

Well I finally got everything in and assembled. I did break down and am returning the processor and hard drive. Found some good deals on components from a local store that I am using in the meantime. Final setup is as follows.

Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4 Ghz

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 Nvidia nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

EVGA 896-P3-1264-AR GeForce GTX 260 SSC Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI

CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model

2 x Western Digital 500gig Hard Drives - Raid 0 Setup

PC Power & Cooling PPCS750QBL Silencer 750W Quad Blue ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, ULC, CE, CB, RoHS - Retail


All I can say is omfg... in the process of installing WoW but damn this thing is fast. Boots fully into windows in around 20 seconds.... So far I am lovin it. Now once I get the game installed I can finally start my Quad Shaman Team...

Thank you so much for the input everyone. You guys kick ass!!!