Thinking about a new computer. (Your Thoughts?)

So I have been green with envy over everyones 5 Computer Setups in the screenshots area but just can't bring myself to spend $3k on four computers and four monitors.... but I could bring myself to spend $2500 on one kick ass computer and another monitor.

In other words I am thinking about five boxing on one machine with two monitors.

Here is what I am looking at:
Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
MONITORS 20 inch E207WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel edit
VIDEO CARD 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX edit
SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

It's a Dell (I know I know "dude you're getting a dell", but I have had success with dells).

Questions:
1) Anyone heard of any (or had any) great success with doing five boxing on a Core 2 Quad-Core? Is it worth the extra money?
2) I have seen people talking about getting 70+ FPS when five-boxing on one comp if the comp is good enough. Any thoughts on if this is "good enough"?
3) When I switch from my four laptops and a desktop arrangement I have now one of the things I'll miss is the dance of the synchronized mice on the four laptops. Any way of getting that to happen when all five toons are on one machine?

I enjoy the four laptops and one desktop but kinda wanting to stream line my desk a bit.

Thoughts?

I would suggest building it yourself, if you really are not tech savvy enough to build it yourself take it to a mom and pop shop. I personally think that it is much better to build it yourself considering the benifits.

I have read about people using C2Quad to 5box, and after trying on my 2gb C2D rig I would have to say it is much better.

I think that good enough is in the eyes of the beholder, I enjoy running at over 20fps for WoW because I play in windowed mode and alt tab a lot, but for CS:S I usually notice anything below 50fps, so it is up to you how you want to decide.

I can build it myself... I am not the IT Monkey for nothing. I parted it out though and it's only about $150 extra to have dell do it. If you take into account that the computers I build never seem to want to work the first time, sometimes the parts are incompatible for esoteric reasons, I think having it arrive ready to run as opposed to fu&$ing with it for two days is worth the $150.

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Originally Posted by The IT Monkey

I can build it myself... I am not the IT Monkey for nothing. I parted it out though and it's only about $150 extra to have dell do it. If you take into account that the computers I build never seem to want to work the first time, sometimes the parts are incompatible for esoteric reasons, I think having it arrive ready to run as opposed to fu&$ing with it for two days is worth the $150.

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As with alot of things, it comes down to how much is your time worth, and what's the "stress-free" version worth? :)

I would honestly go with 1066 DDR for the ram, I have it now and when I overclock the processor and memory the extra speed is worth it when 5 boxing.

Also, your only going to be able to use 3 gigs of that ram with Vista 32-bit. You could always go with Vista 64bit, but there are things like apps and driver conflicts that arise.

The 8800GT that just came out is quite close in performance to the GTX (i think like 14% lower) for around %50 of the cost (if you can find one). That could save you $200 right there, almost enough to upgrade to a 24" monitor or something.

Check with Pokyson in-game on Mag. He runs a 5-box-on-one-quadcore-PC setup.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The IT Monkey

Here is what I am looking at:
Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
MONITORS 20 inch E207WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel edit
VIDEO CARD 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX edit
SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

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I just bought an almost identical machine. Same CPU, 4gb 800mhz ram. The only diff is I got the new 8800 GT card (alot cheaper than the GTX).

I got the new vid card in today and put it in (I was using an 8600 GT, before).

I run 5 windows up on two monitors at 30-40 fps on the main (with lots of graphics enabled) and 50-60+ on the 4 quad-screened alts (with minimum graphics setup).

Quote:

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It's a Dell (I know I know "dude you're getting a dell", but I have had success with dells).

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I bet you are paying alot. I got mine for about 1100$, without monitor. How does your price compare with that? (after accounting for diff vid card)

Just parted it out without the 2 monitors and came to $1600.
Case
Power Supply
Mobo+CPU
8800 GTX
Ram

This is with all premium parts and including 4 gigs of Crucial Ballistix 1066DDR2. Of course this is without software, but I build my own systems so I always have Volume OS licenses.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The IT Monkey

Questions:
1) Anyone heard of any (or had any) great success with doing five boxing on a Core 2 Quad-Core? Is it worth the extra money?
2) I have seen people talking about getting 70+ FPS when five-boxing on one comp if the comp is good enough. Any thoughts on if this is "good enough"?

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1- I have not 5-boxed on one computer, but currently I run one character on one computer and four characters on another. The second computer initially had an Athlon X2 4200+ CPU with 3GB memory, now it has an Intel Q6600 2.4GHz quad and 2GB memory. I have four windowed WOW running at 800x600 tiled on a 1600x1200 monitor. Before the upgrade I would get 20-35 FPS and the animation was always choppy. Now I get 40-80 FPS and it is always smooth.

EDIT- guess I should add that in addition to running at 800x600, I have pretty much all of the graphics options set as low as they are able to go. Mostly the second screen is just so I can quickly check on the rest of the group and take over an individual character if I need to.

One thing to consider-- I have two copies of WOW running on one hard drive, and two copies running on a second drive, both SATA so they have their own direct channel to the motherboard. I don't know how much of an effect that has on performance, but it could make a difference to have the data from that many copies split up.

Also, the video card for both pre-and-post-upgrade setups is a GeForce 7800GTX with either 256 or 512MB of memory. So the 8800GTX with 768MB should have no problems at all with four copies of WOW.

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