Minimum Spec for running 5 WoW

[Cruelty]

I was thinking of moving up to 5 accounts from my current 3 but not sure if my PC will handle it. What is the lowest spec of machine that someone has boxed 5 accounts on?

I am going to try with 2 trial accounts plus my 3 normal ones to see how it goes but that might be fine in starting areas but is no indication of how it will handle in an instance or busy areas of outland/northrend.

[emesis]

Giving it a shot with trial accounts is an excellent idea and the best way to get some feedback for your actual machine.

I can't say what's the lowest spec machine someone has boxed 5 accounts on - but I can this it depends on what your requirements/goals are. If you can accept having very low resolution & refresh settings on your 4 slaves and just living with one main screen, the requirements will be much lower. If you plan to be able to switch leader among toons, which frankly is pretty key, running 5 accounts on one machine is pretty darn demanding on the hardware. For myself, using a quad-core CPU, 8 gb RAM, and a solid-state drive for the data cache, I considerable my system performance basically adequate. Not great. I still get substantial lag in Dalaran, for instance.


As far as starting zone versus instances versus major cities for testing, instances aren't really any more demanding than the starting zone, and may even be less demanding. Major cities is another matter altogether. You can bring the trial accounts to Stormwind/Org though to test this out; while not the lag fest that Dalaran is, these areas are still fairly busy at least at peak times on my server.

[TheBigBB]

It totally depends on what will satisfy you. My Mac is now running Dalaran with no problems on 5 windows, but it's a dual quad core Mac Pro with 8GB RAM and 2x NVIDIA 8800 512MB video cards. My PC runs 5 with 4GB RAM and the same dual video card setup, but of course its specs will be much lower to handle Dalaran the same.

I will say that when my Mac had 4GB RAM and one video card, it could barely do Dalaran with 5 even on very low settings. I had to single box them the hell out of there sometimes.

[-silencer-]

To give you an idea of what *can* be done..

I've run 6 instances of WoW in outlands instances on my old setup:
E6600 at stock speed (dual core)
4GB of ram in WinXP 32-bit (~3.15GB available)
8800GTX
24" LCD & 20" LCD in dual-view mode
OCZ Core SSD to host /data directory via symlink.

It was playable (10fps on 5 /followers, 15-30fps on main during outlands combat), and I never lost /follow after installing the SSD.

That's 3 instances of WoW per core, including an OS, Ventrilo, Firefox running and taking a performance hit by using dual-view mode in WinXP. I would recommend at least a quad core now though - they're cheap enough.

[wowphreak]

depends on memory with xp yeh need 4 gigs
with vista yeh need about 6 gigs

One of the things yeh gotta be aware of is that the starting zones are relatively small and dont require much.

[Coltimar]

depends on memory with xp yeh need 4 gigs
with vista yeh need about 6 gigs

One of the things yeh gotta be aware of is that the starting zones are relatively small and dont require much.

64 bit, I assume you mean. Since neither XP or Vista 32 bit can read 4gb of RAM.

To the OP having your WoW's on a drive separate from Windows and Symlinking the cache and data to one folder will help with video lag.

[cmeche]

AMD Athalon64 3200+ 2.00 GHz

1 GB of good ram

Radeon X1950 Pro AGP



I dont know how it runs 5 versions of WOW...but it does the job in instances with a little lag now and then. Questing, I can only run 4.......going to a major city......2 max. If I happend to forget and 3 or more get to a city....wow crashes......lol

[Cruelty]

Well I have found I can run 4 on my main PC (AMD x2 4200 with 2GB ram and a Nvidia 7600(512MB) video). Got settings turned down and I get about 25-30fps on main and 10-15 fps on 4 slaves. Tried with 5 and the 5th toon just lagged behind breaking follow within a couple of steps. So now have 5th account running on a laptop get about 15fps on it.

Went to Stormwind without too much trouble but it was quiet. Do you think that this setup will allow me to evetnually run 5 man heriocs?? Or should I just spend £200-300 on upgrading?

[cmeche]

Do you think that this setup will allow me to evetnually run 5 man heriocs?? Or should I just spend £200-300 on upgrading?

I find that running instances are easier on my computer than doing anything outside an instance. So, from my minimal experience on this subject....I would say if you can run 5 wow's outside of an instance...you can do it inside as well.

I am guessing that instances run better because of the lack of outside objects(other players, mobs, terrain distance).

[wowphreak]

depends on memory with xp yeh need 4 gigs
with vista yeh need about 6 gigs

One of the things yeh gotta be aware of is that the starting zones are relatively small and dont require much.

64 bit, I assume you mean. Since neither XP or Vista 32 bit can read 4gb of RAM.

To the OP having your WoW's on a drive separate from Windows and Symlinking the cache and data to one folder will help with video lag.

4 gigs with winxp 32 If yeh dont see all 4 gigs is because its being used.
6+ gigs with vista64