Q9000 and 9800m GS w/ 6GB

Hey folks,

I've combed through the threads and couldn't find this combination addressed specifically.

Does anyone have any thoughts on a Q9000/9800m GT setup with 6GB RAM and 7200 rpm drive for 5 boxing? I realize that I will have to make a decision regarding Vista vs XP with respect to memory availability in order to hit the full 6GB.

Currently I'm using a T7500/8600m GT with 4GB and a 7200 rpm drive (ASUS G2S) on XP and have just moved to WOTLK. Things definetly seem to be a little choppier. Graphics settings wise I run everything at min/low settings (via the interface and the additional scripts found in the wiki) and keep the main widow maxed at 40 fps and the backgrounds at 8 fps via keyclone (thanks Rob).

Right now the local shop has the ASUS G71G-Q2 w/ Vista Home for about 2400 (Canadian dollars). Based on what others have been writing in this forums I know an i7 would be the way to go but in order to avoid wife Aggro I do my boxing in the kitchen/family room (so a desktop is a no-go).

At any rate if anyone has thoughts please post.

Yikes - just double checked the computer shop's page and that graphic's should read 9800m GS. Sorry about that.

As far as gaming goes, Vista-64 is far ahead of XP-64.
With Service Pack 1, it is a vastly improved operating system.
Still probably my least favorite windows OS.
Hopefully Windows 7 will be out soon enough.


I'm running a Q6600, 8 gigs of 800mhz ram, a 4870 X2 video card, 10k rpm Raptor with one install of wow.
My 5-boxing on minimal graphic settings is smooth almost everywhere, and playable everywhere as well.

Your processor will be a fair bit more powerful then mine, should be fine.
I rarely use all of my ram, 6 gigs should be plenty without background applications going.
7200 rpm hard drive might be a little slower load times, but the processor is faster.
Video isn't as good, but wow is not a video intensive game.

Overall, I'd say you'd be able to 5-box fairly well. A little slower in Da-lag-aron.

Thanks Ualaa. I think that the new sager 8920 might be worth taking a look at. It has a i7 in it so the heat might be a problem. With that said it does have a 280 so I'm think I may be able to get away with undervolting it to drive heat down. I'll be looking more into the undervolting option to see if that is possible.

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I realize that I will have to make a decision regarding Vista vs XP with respect to memory availability in order to hit the full 6GB.

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Actually that isn't Vista vs XP. That's 32-bit vs 64-bit, both XP and Vista (and Windows 7 which you can download now and use for 1 year before you buy Windows again!) will work fine. I have 12GB of RAM in my 64-bit XP box for example, and I'm installing Windows 7 on a different hard drive in the same PC at the moment.

That said, I dont have experience with that CPU or GPU but they should do just fine.

Edit: Gotta say, the difference in performance between XP and Win 7 is night and day -- huge performance increase for me. Highly recommend Win 7.