Micro Boxing?

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05-17-2010, 03:07 PM
Hor

Micro Boxing?

Hi Guys, I'm getting into 2 boxing again, and really thinking seriously about doing 5s and maybe even 10s again. We bought a new house which has given me my own office space, so definitely more room for this kind of project. I've been thinking lately though about the viability of boxing using a primary machine and several mini or micro PCs, I was wondering if anyone's had any experience with these and if it's viable. It seems like it could be a great space saver and possible power saver. Thoughts?

My own plans are a pc for each character, my main machine powering my main (A DK tank) and a sixth machine for web browsing/videos while grinding. My main concern is I don't want to build anything more than is necessary to run wow bare bones on the other machines... Since that's going to be their sole purpose in life.
05-17-2010, 04:40 PM
Kicksome

I think you're better off getting a powerful machine and running multiple instances on it. I run 5 copies of wow on an i7 with a nice video card and the performance is 60fps, I can't ask for more. I used to have 2 machines, but it was a pain to sync them up, copy files install patches etc... Just a lot easier with one IMO.

Just 6 copies of windows is like $800 alone. You can get a 6 monitor video card as well.

But if you want to use 6 different machines you certainly can. I'm sure it would work well. I looked into it, but I think you'd need to spend like $500-$600 per machine at a bare min to get decent performance.
05-17-2010, 06:20 PM
zenga

Back in november i played around with EEE netbooks. Was discussed in this thread, though i never shared my 'final conclusion'. Which is simple: i got it working, though never entered any zone that put a lot of stress on the machine. With more recent netbooks it should even run smoother. But then again, with cata around the corner this was an option i dropped really fast.
05-17-2010, 07:44 PM
kate

If you run WoW in Wine, does that require a Windows installation? If not, you can avoid the cost of an OS by running cheap Linux boxes.

Even so - a behemoth rig that'll easily run 5 instances would be more cost effective. If you really want, get 2 and do 10s :)
05-17-2010, 08:12 PM
zenga

Quote:

Originally Posted by kate

If you run WoW in Wine, does that require a Windows installation? If not, you can avoid the cost of an OS by running cheap Linux boxes.

Even so - a behemoth rig that'll easily run 5 instances would be more cost effective. If you really want, get 2 and do 10s :)

Well I have a clean XP vm on my box (used one of the many OEM's i collected throughout the years). Installed wow on a virtual shared drive and then copied the whole wow folder to the machines i want over ssh. The only times i run this VM is to do an update after a patch.

And yeah, a gaming desktop might be more cost effective with regards to future upgrades. But if you have to travel a lot then 'mobility' is a nice thing to have. Not to mention if you have limited space (a few netbooks will fit on a shelf above your monitor), the smaller netbooks offer a good alternative.