Multiboxing Benchmark Full Review - Doghouse Systems Multiboxing Solution

[Sina]

Ok guys, the store page is up. Go here to check it out: http://www.doghousesystems.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Armor%5FTS%5FMB

Use the coupon code "dualbox" at checkout and receive free residential ground shipping in the continental US.

Phew, where do I start....
First I should apologize for the delay in posting the scores as we have been waiting on the 285 test scores to come in as well as some extra ddr3 to test 6g v 12g.

How to duplicate my scores:
I use 2 displays:
On display 1 ( KDS 26') : Client 1 at 1280x1024 ( although this may not be the usual res that you play at, for all practical purposes for benchmarking it allowed for a more stable test )
On display 2 ( 22'): Client 2, 3, 4, 5 at 800x600 FPS cap at 15 ( again, this allowed the main client to be the true benchmark. )


NOTE: I personally play 1900x1200 and 800x600 with no cap, but for the sake of benchmarking I lowered the res. In contrast to the scores, 1900x1200 will lower your frame rates by 9.81%. Affinity profiles were also tested. Scores 1 are with NO affinity profile, all clients are running on i7 default profiles. Score 2 affinity profile is Client 1 : core 1 Client 2: core 2 Client 3: core 3 Client 4: core 4 Client 5: core 2




Take all 5 accounts to Howling Fjord and type /timetest on all accounts. Fly ( simultaneously ) to the farthest west fp near nexus. This will give you a flight over Dalaran and some of Dragonblight.


Here are the scores:
7200 RPM WD 500Gig
Asus P6T Deluxe
CPU AS STATED
GPU AS STATED
6GiG DDR3 Hyper X Kingston 1333mhz
Corsair 1000w PSU
Windows Vista 64-Bit

Hosted PDF of scores : LINK ( COMING IN A SEC )





Here is the same test with 12gig rather then 6 in comparison. Although there maybe areas in World of Warcraft that 12 gig will shine in, on an average situation like a flight path or zone in's and out's 12gig seemed to be way overkill. My suggestion is to throw the funds for 12gig into a higher CPU or GPU.


Conclusion: How do we pick our parts?
Well, unless you have a money tree in your back yard, you are probably trying to maximize your PC's performance by placing a larger percentage of your budget into specific components. As you can see in this test, the 2 major variables that changes the FPS is going to be your CPU and your GPU.

Part by Part build analysis:

Motherboard: Asus P6T was selected over Intel's DX58SO because of one main factor, 6 Dimm slots. ( allowing up to 24gig of mem but as our tests have shown, 6 gig was plenty, but for those who feel more comfortable with 12 GIG it is being offered as an upgrade option. ) Only reason we did not offer 12 gig as our default was the prices of DDR3 are hard to justify the minor increase in performance.

CPU: Intel's Core i7 920 is a good starting point. Although the 965 is going to increase your frames, the price is WAYYYYY to much to call for a default position. If you feel the need to push your frames another 10%+/-, the 965 upgrade is a good one.

GPU: 285 and the 4870 are great price points, although the scores you can receive from the GTX 295 are absolutely mind boggling in other games. If you are an avid gamer and want to see SLI performance in games like Crysis, Farcry 2, ...ect I would encourage you to upgrade your video card from the 285 default to the 295. (see scores of other games below) If you only play wow, I would suggest the 285, the 295 and the 285 will have no difference in performance. As we all know, SLI does NOT function in wow correctly.

920 CPU + GTX 295 Scores


Memory: OK, here is a touchy subject. I ran multiple tests with 6GIG and 12GIG and saw no difference in FPS. BUT, I did see a minor differentiation in load times and an overall "smoother" feel to the game. For those who feel the need 12 GIG is an option but again I would recommend upgrading your CPU over memory if you haven't already.

Hard drive: Another touchy subject. With an Intel SSD we did see a small jump in FPS and faster load times ( and smoother ) in heavy areas like Dalaran and WG. I couldn't think of anyway to test this numerically besides using a stopwatch for timing zone ins, but its impossible to recreate these numbers consistently. A 32GIG SSD is a good upgrade but don't expect anything more then cleaner load times. Raptor drives are also a good option and have more storage space per dollar.

Feel free to leave a constructive comment on improving this method.

Doghouse systems has created a system specifically for the dual-boxing community and multiboxers in mind, including a 3 years parts and labor warranty.

Doghouse Systems Multiboxing PC COMING SOON! ( Check back in an hour )

[ghonosyph and the moocrew]

okay sorry sina apparently the forum timer i see isnt in my time zone and i'm an idiot... hell its been a damned long day at work... but still! ROMG POST IT! Lol <3
[s]okay sina, i'm pretty sure its been more than an hour! lets go! post this puppy before i drool my bottom lip off! lol!![/s]

Couple questions for you, as this seems to be a great way to start:
1. How well do 5 clients perform in busy areas where lag would be prevalent on a crappier system ie dalaran, 25 man raids where lots of stuff is goin down, busy instances where lots of aoe is going on? Only reason i ask is because some of the newer non superduper geeks(no offense im a nerd at heart) who dont know squat about the importance and intricacies of computer building, but would love to build/buy a system capable of handling our performance needs without trial and error need to know(woo hoo go run on sentence ftw!)

2. Are we looking at a cost of around 2000 to 2200? I'm hoping for 12 gig and the "smoother" feel of load times and gameplay as i'm really wanting to be able to raid with my guild on my 4 box team... is this gonna be achieveable via a 2 monitor setup(2 22 inch hp widescreen monitors **monitors already purchased**) for around that price?

3. if we have a positive response from 1 and 2, when /how soon do i get my new baby!

4. cooling issues? i play upwards of 7 hours or more a day some days.... will my baby die of heat stroke? and what kinda colors for the guts can we choose? =)


ROMG! Hello money, meet pocket.... welcome to hell! BURN BEESH BURN!

[Sina]

okay sorry sina apparently the forum timer i see isnt in my time zone and i'm an idiot... hell its been a damned long day at work... but still! ROMG POST IT! Lol <3
[s]okay sina, i'm pretty sure its been more than an hour! lets go! post this puppy before i drool my bottom lip off! lol!![/s]

Couple questions for you, as this seems to be a great way to start:
1. How well do 5 clients perform in busy areas where lag would be prevalent on a crappier system ie dalaran, 25 man raids where lots of stuff is goin down, busy instances where lots of aoe is going on? Only reason i ask is because some of the newer non superduper geeks(no offense im a nerd at heart) who dont know squat about the importance and intricacies of computer building, but would love to build/buy a system capable of handling our performance needs without trial and error need to know(woo hoo go run on sentence ftw!)

2. Are we looking at a cost of around 2000 to 2200? I'm hoping for 12 gig and the "smoother" feel of load times and gameplay as i'm really wanting to be able to raid with my guild on my 4 box team... is this gonna be achieveable via a 2 monitor setup(2 22 inch hp widescreen monitors **monitors already purchased**) for around that price?

3. if we have a positive response from 1 and 2, when /how soon do i get my new baby!

4. cooling issues? i play upwards of 7 hours or more a day some days.... will my baby die of heat stroke? and what kinda colors for the guts can we choose? =)


ROMG! Hello money, meet pocket.... welcome to hell! BURN BEESH BURN!

1) Dalaran is going around 25-30 (using an my 7200 rpm raid edition drive) at worst. I have seen it over 50+ before but it just depends on the resolution you play on. If you want to play it safe and pull 40+ i would play at 1280x1024 with everything turned up except shaders. Looks great and doesnt slow the system down one bit.

2) YES i just completed some heroics and i have raided with 4 in nax 25 man without any issues. In fact i get better frames in instances with raids then i do in some zones. ( IE DAL WG) Yes 2 22' will not be a problem.

you are SPOT ON, on the price. More info soon cant disclose much

3) it will be up today i promise. We usually take 2-3 weeks after payment to be at your door step.

4) no cooling issues as i have left it running for 72 hours as our standered burn in. Gut colors are blue, if that needs to be changed we MIGHT be able to work something out.

[ghonosyph and the moocrew]

woooo hoo ~! frame rates from what i see can be high, but you can still experience choppiness, and thats what i'm hoping to avoid** but im sure thats what you're talkin about =D

i was hoping for a green glow in the center of the system with the blue kinda outlying the rest of the box, perhaps we could dump two little cathode lights in the middle behind something to give the multilayer experience i'm lookin for color wise (perhaps make it an option for an extra 40 bucks or somethin theres a couple ideas i have, and i dont think it'd be out of the ordinary to at least add them myself later too =) hehe

what about noisyness? how quiet is the system in question? my hearing is very sensitive and i think i'd kill myself if i could hear my fan running lol

Thanks for putting in all the leg work, i'm really excited to see this happen right before my BIG tax refund lol makes spending the money on a new box this much easier, knowing im buying a system that will be built EXACTLY for what i'm wanting to do

YOU ROCK! |,,| >.< |,,|

^.^ :love:

2-3 weeks? ACK! =/ hmm, i suppose you've gotta wait for parts to come in and what not, lol impatient i am! I cant wait to see what you post for us next! 8o

[Zal]

And this computer costs how much?

[ghonosyph and the moocrew]

hell i dont care, i planned to spend 2200 or so on my new rig, and thats about right where the cost will be according to what sina just posted in response to my post... i'm thinkin i'd pay just as much to buy all the crap and pay for it to be put together(cause i dont know how myself lol) so for me this is a plus. considering i spent almost 1900 on my first rig from best buy 2 years a :thumbsup: go, 2200 isnt as bad for something custom and awesome

[Sam DeathWalker]

The i7/x58 and asus motherboard (maybe go rampageII) and 920 and single 285 are all excellent choices, giving first quality performance without wasting your money. But this has been known for some time.

The question is would you go Raid0 X 2 36G raptors or Acard or my pick of the Day the Sandisk 5000 SSD or the Intel X-25 SSD, as the place to store your wow folder.

Thats the performance test (go into a big city during prime time and see fps running though encounting many new characters, and see if the individual character textures get loaded or not and how fast they do) we really need. Unless you are 100 percent sure that when you zone into a big city it loads all the character textures of every character in the zone at the time.

Out of curosity, when you have 12G ram and 5 instances of wow how much memory does wow use for itself total? If it uses most all of the 12G then where the wow folder is isnt as important as if its useing under 3G or so of Ram.

[Valdemarick]

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366, $290
ASUS P6T Deluxe LGA 1366 Intel X58, $300
EVGA 01G-P3-1281-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3, $355
Kingston 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333, $120
WD 500GB 7200 RPM SATA, $75
CORSAIR 1000W ATX12V, $260
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit, $100

Minimum cost: $1500

This does not include the case nor the surcharge for labor involved with building this system. My estimate would be between $1800 and $2000. Anything more and I would call shenanigans.

[Sam DeathWalker]

You are not including the Case, CD rom or DVD rom drives, or the Heatsink.

And this is the better motherboard, for $60 more:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ASUS-Rampage-II-...3A1%7C294%3A50

[Valdemarick]

You are not including the Case, CD rom or DVD rom drives, or the Heatsink.

I noted that the case was omitted. Since the others were not even mentioned, I did not either. I sure hope they include those things... but who knows?