Overkill?

[Yo-Yo Freak]

ok so i have been doing a ton of reserch and i think i am going to start saving towards 5boxing with 5 computers. i have decided i am going to buy all the parts and build them myself, friend is going to help me build them. so i looked up all the components i would need (i think) on Newegg.com and was wundering if these computers would be overkill for just running 1 instance of WoW. here are the parts and links to them:

RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX-612WEBP 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156098

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262

BFG Tech BFGE86256GTSOCE GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143101

Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR667D2N5K2/2G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134046

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128359

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

all this totals just about $500 (US) and that isn't that bad, $2k for 4 comps and about $2.7k with monitors, keyboards and mouse. they seem like they would be overkill to me but if they are then i may even just drop to 3 comps and run 4 instances of wow on 2 comps and my main on 1 comp. that or revise my parts list and get 4 lower grade machiens and 1 of better quality for main. also i am not completely positive if i have listed all the parts to acualy build a computer, i think i have but i could be mistaken. i have never built 1 before and i have mostly been going off of whats on dual-boxing.com. thanks for all your help everybody!! ^_^

**PS**
also i would like to know if you only have to buy 1 copy of windows vista 64-bit and you can download it on all of your ystems or do you have to buy a copy of the sofware for each computer?
Thanks

[moosejaw]

I am pretty sure it is one license per machine.

Your setup may seem like overkill from the outside but I think it is best to be a little overpowered than be underpowered. Don't spend all of your cash reserve just in case you need to tweak the machines x4 once they are setup .

Don't forget to upgrade your power outlets to handle the extra load. I.E. run a new outlet (or 2) on a dedicated 20A service breaker or similar just for your gaming rigs. Last thing you want is a wall fire.

[Redbeard]

Rule of thumb: no such thing as overkill when it comes to computers. =P

Yes youll need a separate vista key for each computer.

[Clovis]

To answer your question, the parts you've selected will be sufficent to run WOW well, however given the total cost of everything I have a suggestion.

Your set up didn't include monitors so I added in an extra $700 assuming you buy 4 19" LCDs and 1 22" LCD for the main. This puts your total cost at roughly $3500.

For $500 cheaper, you can build a totally bad ass gaming rig and run 5 instances of WOW better on one machine then you will on 5 seperate low-end machines.

I've multiboxed with both methods - in EverQuest I used two systems each running two instances of EQ - This was a headache and I quit the game (after 3+ years playing) within 2 months of quad-boxing.

I currently 5 box in WOW and use Key Clone which in my opinion is the single greatest improvement in multiboxing which to me is funny given how simple the program is.

Playing five characters will be vastly easier to control with one machine then with five; one key board, one mouse. It helps if all 5 characters are the same class but I've successfully multiboxed multiple classes off one machine, including a healer and DPS. My advice to you is go with ranged classes, they're consideribly easier to multibox.

Also, if you build this new system instead of 5 machines you'll be able to play (on high or ultra settings too) the new DX10 games that are coming out, likely for the next 3+ years too.

Anyhow, if I had a budget of $3000, here is what I would recommend - I spent about an hour picking these parts out and actually had this reply ready to go until I accidently clicked back (damn mouse button #4!).

Mother board / CPU - $810

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor / The mother board supports up to 3 video cards for SLI. While SLI wont help you in WOW, it will help in other games. This combo also comes with a free copy of FarCry 2, a $60 value!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.146168

Video Card: $840 for a dual SLI set up or $420 for one.

EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Oddly enough, this also comes with a free copy of FarCry2 - maybe see if they'll send you a different game or just sell the second on craigslist. One reviewer said that he upgraded to this single card from his previous dual 8800 SLI set up and saw a huge upgrade in performance (I run a single 8800 GTS w/ 640mb)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130365

RAM: Go with 4 Gigs - That's currently the max most games can utilize but it's so cheap, you could easily pick up 8gb too.

G.SKILL HK 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - My wife and I use G.skill - inexpensive and they work great, $55 for 4gb, $110 for 8gb

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231219

Case: Thermaltake Armor w/ 250MM side fan. - $170

This is the best case you'll ever own and what I use personally. It has FOUR 90mm fans and a giant 250MM side fan. "Large" is an understatement when describing the size of this monster, it is huge but it's small enough to fit under my folding table with about 6 inches to spare. All of the fans are super quiet, ie silent, it has lights for you ricers out there and is so large inside it allows you to place your hard drives in the rear and optical drives in the front. It also uses quick release tabs to remove the side case for easy access and has a small draw at the buttom for storage (screws, computer screw driver, ect)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133021

Optical drive - I didn't see this on your system build, if you want to install games, you'll need one.

Get at least a DVD, or better yet get a BlueRay/DVD - DVD is the current PC standard but Blueray will likely take over in the next couple of years - in the mean time its great for watching movies in true HD. Here's one for $90 (DVDs run $40)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106273

Monitors, don't skimp on these. The best gaming system will look like shit if you have a shitty monitor. If you're going to multibox on one machine, you will need dual monitors - okay, well you don't "need" it, but it makes it a lot easier. Don't get a clunky CRT, they're just too big and bulky and LCDs are so inexpensive these days the cost advantage to CRT doesn't outweigh the benifits of LCD. Whichever monitor you chose should have a 5MS or faster response time (I use a 2MS LG personally). Get a 22" or a 24" - that range is the sweet spot in my opinion - while a 26" or 30" looks nice, running two is going to be overwhelming - consider that your face is at the most only 24 inches away from the screen.

Samsung has a line called "Touch of color" which everyone loves - these monitors have VGA, DVI, HDMI and even coax cable imputs (yes, it's also a 1080p HD TV!) With HDMI you can hook up your Xbox 360 and play those games in HD. Both of these monitors feature 5ms, if you want 2ms go with an LG brand, specifically the Flatron widescreen series.

22" $300 x2 = $600 - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...261&CatId=3648

24" $430 x2 = $860 - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...547&CatId=3648

Power supply - 600watts minimum for SLI - I would recommend 800-1000watts.

NZXT PP-800 800-Watt Power Supply $140 - This powersupply is specifically designed for SLI set ups.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=A406-1085

Hard drives: Get two 500gb drives for a terabyte of total space.

Maxtor 500gb drive, 7200RPM, 3gb/s transfer speed (SATA) - $70 each, x2 = $140

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=M122-8048

Total cost: $2840 with dual 22" monitors or $3105 with dual 24" monitors (and this is running a top of the line SLI set up)

With this set up you'll probably get FPS in the 50-60 range on all 5 instances (wow caps out at 60FPS, at least for me it does) - with the 5x set up you'll get 30-40. Playing the new DX10 games such as Crysis, Bioshock, ect will blow you away and in the right circles this will get you laid or at least a blowjob while you blow shit up; this system is cheaper and is the porshe of the gaming world.. not the $250k ferrari, but the $140k Porshe.

If you spend a few days researching and shopping you'll probably make some tweeks and find some of these items cheaper as I only used newegg and tiger direct (they generally have the best prices but I have found some parts cheaper elsewhere).

I hope this helps!

-Clovis

[Vyndree]

Rule of thumb: no such thing as overkill when it comes to computers. =P

QFT.