Looking to purchase a machine to multibox

Hi there! I didn't know if this should be in the newbie forum, or the hardware forum. If the newbie forum is the wrong spot, feel free to move this thread, mods. :)

I'm heavily considering beginning to multibox WoW, as single player has little appeal left and i'll be able to have a new challenge as well as leveling up some otherwise painful-to-level classes more easily (priest, especially). I've looked over the hardware recommendations, but I must confess that I'm *not* up-to-date on current hardware. So, here's the system i'm considering buying.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...ails~xpsdt_720

Yes, it's Dell. Yes, I agree that building my own computer up from scratch would be better. It would also have the side-effect of driving me insane, so I'm not going down that route. I'd like to 4-box with the option to expand to 5 at some point. Mainly, I want to level as my own group and get to 70. After that, I can raid individually or as a multibox to get gear. This machine looks to me to have what folks say you need:

4 gigs of ram
nVidia GeForce 8800GT512MB
Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad-Core

Am I missing something, though? I'd hate to buy this computer and have it not perform.

Should I upgrade to the dual nVidia cards for extra graphics power? I do have a 2nd monitor, so i'd like to put my main on my nicer monitor and the 3 others on my old 17" CRT monitor.

Is the processor powerful enough? Do I need to upgrade the hard drive?

Any input that experienced multiboxers would have is welcome. Right now i'm playing on a Mac mini, and getting under 10 fps (and have been since long before BC came out, hehe). So, I don't need 90 fps or to have the fastest thing out there. If I could boost my fps to the 20-30 range on my "main" and run 4 copies of WoW i'd be thrilled.

Thanks in advance for your input!

(For those curious, i'm considering three different groups of 4. The first would serve to level a priest to 70, so it'd feature a priest healer along with likely 3 of a dps class--most likely elemental Shaman, probably all Draenei, RP'd as a Priest commanding his escort of bodyguards. The second would likely be a dwarven prot pally that's taken a trio of hive-minded gnome mages or warlocks under his protection. Finally, a feral druid teamed with 3 balance/resto hybrids would add a stealth group of spies to the party. Yes, I play on an RP server, hehe)

Dell sucks. We've had quite a few threads about them lately and the concensus isn't the prettiest ;p I got a brand new system off newegg for $900 this last week and it's been great playing ever since; quadcore, 4gb ram, 8800 GT, case/dvdrom/new mobo the works. Spent 4hours wednesday evening putting it together and had no issues, lag or computer-wise since :p

Link to cart of what I bought; the burner is optional, I just needed one personally :p(I thought it was SATA though, and sadly, it's not, It was IDE, so I'm short a HD atm lol)

Yeah my brother just bought a pretty sweet computer from newegg. I cant link the specs at the moment but I am pretty sure it was around 1 grand.

$1900.

That computer can be bought and put together with a legal windows copy for much less than that (think about taxes also).

Mobo 200
CPU 220
vid <200
raptor 170
RAM 170 for faster stuff
Windows 170 vista ultimate 64bit
Case 150 for a nice case

So less than 1300 dollars would save you around 700bucks after taxes and whatnot. Add another 200 and you can get a nice DVD burner, mouse, and standard keyboard.


As for the specs that system is pretty good. I have that system to a T except my RAM is faster, I have XP pro 64bit, and thats about it. I run 2x monitors 5boxing. 1x 1920x1200 & 4x 960x600. The main is fully loaded graphics and the alts are minimal. 30-60fps pretty easy overclocked in shat. Running 2.8ghz on the CPU & about DDR2 1000

Oh, and with multiboxing, SLI/Crossfire actually DOWNGRADES performance, most of the time; stick with 1 card.

The estimates above are high too..check my cart link and it'll show you a 100 mobo, under-100 for 4gb of ddr2 800mhz g-skill ram, and other same-power, much cheaper setups :p

I got a quad-core, 8 gigs ram, 9800gtx v/card. Vista 64 Home Premium. Decided not to bother with a Raptor drive for the time being anyway.

Works beautifully. I can run around in Orgrimmar as much as I please with 40-60fps on the main, and the 4 followers limited to 30fps by KeyClone. Loading times are extremely fast (the map you get when using the zeppelin from org-->UC is up for less than a second on the followers, and less than 2 on the main).

Main runs with full graphics settings on everything, 30fps background, 60fps foreground. The followers run low-graphics on all, sound disabled, 30fps of background, 60fps on foreground as well.

No issues so far - and I couldn't be happier with its performance.

Edit:

Oh, and originally I had dual vid-cards, but due to a problem with them I was able to return them, which was great, because they're useless for dual-monitor multiboxing. Stick with one card like the poster above said I reckon.

If you want a Dell I would suggest you check out the Dell Outlet store for scratch and dents/refurbished models. I bought three XPS420s from Dell Outlet in January and am still very happy with them. Buy it configured the way you want it rather than going cheap with thoughts of upgrading later.

If Money is no object for you, you may want to check out
HP's Blackbird 002 gaming systems...

High end stuff with a High end price
but for the most part they look fairly decent
parts wise...

but personally I build my own systems and if
you do it right you can usually get a really
nice system for almost nothing

We have a FRY's store just 20 miles from my house
my second and third systems cost me just about 300$
each...

2.4g Dual core w/ECS motherboard 78$ after mail in rebate
4g RAM $40
160g SATA 300 Drive Free After mail in Rebate
20x SATA DvD +/- burner $17
7600 Nvidia EVGA PCI-E Free After mail in rebate
Emprex 22" monitor $138 after mail in rebate 1000:1 5mil refresh
Miss parts Keyboard/mouse etx $14

all in all a great back up system for just about dirt
Look Around if you have the knack for building your own system
and you can get great stuff for practically free.

Thanks for the number and helpfulness of the replies, I really appreciate it.

I'm still reluctant to put together my own system. I used to do it (back in the DOS through Windows95 days), but i've been out of that game for a *long* while now. I know I could get the same performance for a lower price, but the added price to me would be a hit to my sanity, I think. :D

Thanks a ton for the info regarding 2 video cards. :thumbup: As I said, I've been out of that game for a while now, so I'd have had no idea that I would be spending money for no improvement. For running two monitors, do these new video cards just have 2 video outputs? Yeah, i'm that far behind the tech curve! :D

Any other input from experienced folks would be greatly appreciated, so keep 'em coming! I can't wait to join the ranks of the multiboxers. :)

As to the video cards - all the high-end ones (that I'm aware of) nowadays have dual outputs to run 2 monitors. I dropped a Nvidia 9800GTX in mine and so far it's handling it extremely well running 22" LCD's.

Carcharoth, like you, I used to build my own PC's. (But not in DOS days -- my DOS era PCs were factory built, first an original IBM, then a couple of ASTs.) In the 90s I got tired of building and started buying ready made. Since then I've owned four Dells all together, or maybe five, including two that are on my desk now.

Last year I built a PC for myself for the first time in about a decade. The reason I started building again was that I compared what I could get from Newegg in the form of parts with what I could get from Dell, and the difference in quality at the price was so big, I decided to build. I'm not trying to talk you into doing something you don't want to do, but I should mention that building was much easier than I remembered from years ago. It took maybe two hours total or even less with zero problems.

But as for your Dell -- unlike a lot of folks here, I think Dells are pretty good. As I said I've owned a bunch of them and they all stll run, including an eight or nine-year-old one which ran almost continuously 24/7 until a few months ago when I unplugged it. That whole time the only thing I replaced in it was the CD drive. If you define "excellent engineering" as "delivering a machine that peforms as described and is unlikely to break," then Dell's engineering is excellent.

The problem is that a lot of people (including many people who have posted here in various threads) define excellent engineering in a different way. They define it as "I should be able to upgrade the machine later and make it do more than it was designed to do when it was built." If that's your definition of excellent engineering, then Dells can be disappointing. They are often hard to upgrade, either because they use non-standard parts or because some system components aren't beefy enough to handle additions.

In short, Dells are good if you don't plan to upgrade, but if you do plan to upgrade, you better look over the spec's really carefully before you buy.

I don't know anything about the XPS 720 you're considering but I just read its spec's on the "Dell XPS 720 Product Details" page. The thing that jumps out at me is that it uses a BTX motherboard. As you know, the main industry standard is ATX, not BTX. If you need to replace that motherboard you're not going to have a lot of choices. It's almost certainly a proprietary Dell design, and that may make it incompatible with something you want to add down the road.

On the good side, the power supply and cooling seem to be adequate for additions, which isn't always the case with Dells.

Whatever you decide, good luck and enjoy.

Thanks for the info re: video cards!

Also, Freddie, thanks a bunch for your input. I think you make some very good distinctions in your post. Especially helpful was you pointing out the motherboard difference, as i'd have never have figured that one out. I'll admit that does give me a little pause, but I generally use my computers for 2-5 years before even thinking of upgrading them, so i'm still considering my options.

Thank you all for your input! I can see, just in the few days i've been reading these boards, that i've joined an incredibly helpful community!

Some decent boutique shops that are > Dell:

digitalstormonline.com
ibuypower.com
cyberpowerpc.com

Unplugged my liquid cooled, SLI, extremely upgradeable cyberpowerpc after a year and went back to Dell. Noisy mutha that was. A coolant hose prevented adding ram without (quoting from tech support) "forcing it in".

That's what you get for using liquid cooling :p More trouble than it's worth lol

Aye, lesson learned!

OPTIONS! Now that's a ton of help, too! Thanks, d0z3rr!

Now I have some other options to look at, especially the ones that will install the OS and drivers and all that stuff themselves. Very cool stuff, and I'm off to look over them right now. :thumbup:

I'm not too concerned with how loud the machine is, but I do know that liquid-cooled is generally louder than i'd like *and* it's way beyond what I need to do performance-wise. :)

You must be sure and tell us what you end up with so we can properly chastise or praise your decision. ;) You should prolly expect both.

Yea, even though you have said a few times you wouldn't want to build it - I also have to throw in my word on it. Building PC's today is muchhhh more user-friendly then it was back in windows 95. 2-4 hours max, and just looking at the dell i can tell the price difference is huge - Could probably build that same PC for nearly half the price.


I've paid 800 or so for my new PC:

New Case
8800 GT
Core 2 Duo 2.66
150 gig raptor HD
600 watt PSU
mobo
Zalman cooler

Well, much to the dismay of many of you I'm sure, I now have a Dell heading to my home. :P The Digital Storm folks impressed the *heck* out of me, but my wife overruled me (even though the Dell was a bit more expensive). But you know what they say, "Happy wife, happy life." :thumbup: I sincerely thank all of you that gave input here, and if I fall flat on my face with this purchase, feel free to laugh at my expense. :D

That said, now all I've gotta do is get my 3 new accounts and patiently (yeah right, lol) wait for my new computer to arrive.

THEN, the fun begins. :)

If you're interested to see what other peoples' hardware is and how they multibox with it, you can go to:
http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Rigs

I hope more people will add their configurations soon. *wink*