Would this system serve the needs of a 5boxer

[David]

Last few months I`ve been looking around for a new computer to continue my boxing. I want it to be high end but still cheap. So cheap parts.

Bad thing is that I don`t know how good the hardware really is, so that is why I`m asking here for some tips and comments on the parts I`m interested in.

Processor: AM2+ AMD PHENOM II X4 940 BOX 4x3,0
I can`t seem to find the link for it. Doesn`t seem to be on the website of AMD. So I only have a link of the shop .

Mainboard: ASUS M3N78-SE GBL/RAID/D2 AM2+
Same story, can`t find the SE version on the AMD site so another link .

Grapics: GF 9800GT 1024MB GAINWARD HDMI / DVI
Link (This one is DX9 to keep it cheap. Or would it be recommanded to get a DX10 card? Kinda weird because this one is slower, costs less but is slower)

Memory: DDR2 2GB 1066 KINGSTON HyperX Kit C5
Thinking of 3 or 4 of those. The mainboard supports 4 of them.

Hopefully there are people around who have more experience with pc parts then me :-)

Thanks in advance.

[zanthor]

If you do this system with 4x2gb ram sticks (8gb) and Vista 64 you should be rock solid.

[Chranny]

Just too clear things up, the 9800GT is a DirectX 10 card, and almost all (if not all) new cards is. :P

[Ellusionist]

I say yes, but remember, do *not* skimp on the memory. I started with 4GB, and even sitting at the login screen and pressing "ESC" to make all 5 clients close caused a 20-second lag (sometimes more). Went to 8GB, everything is as fast as if I were running just one client.

I five-box with the 512MB version of the 9800GT, so you should be fine there. I use 1x22"(1680x1050, main maximized) and 1x17"(1440x900, 4 slaves in 2x2 layout).

I'm sure Dalaran could be smoother, but honestly it's 20fps+ on all clients and looks fine to me. If I raided in Dalaran, I'd care.

Wintergrasp doesn't lag (video) at all. When everyone is inside the courtyard and the WG match is almost over, that's a different story. It's still not local lag though. It's server-side lag. Can't fix that!

[confusedtx5]

I would definitely recommend 8gB of RAM (using 9gB myself and use up to 80% of it with wow only open, Core i7 system). And get a graphics card with the most GRAM you can afford (again using a 1GB GTX280 myself). And use XPx64, ive used XP64 and Vista64, and with Vista my latency goes up by 100-150ms, even when only playing 1 character (worse if my virus/firewall is running) - its almost always in the red on 1 char in Dalaran, compared to low yellows under XP64.

[Ellusionist]

I would definitely recommend 8gB of RAM (using 9gB myself and use up to 80% of it with wow only open, Core i7 system). And get a graphics card with the most GRAM you can afford (again using a 1GB GTX280 myself). And use XPx64, ive used XP64 and Vista64, and with Vista my latency goes up by 100-150ms, even when only playing 1 character (worse if my virus/firewall is running) - its almost always in the red on 1 char in Dalaran, compared to low yellows under XP64.

I'm going to take an educated guess, being in the IT field, that you just had a bad experience with Vista. 64-bit Vista has wayyyyy less driver- and software-compatibility issues than 64-bit XP did. I'd almost bet that it would be a good 25%/75% split in an Operating System poll in which OS people use for their boxing computer. With Vista winning...

[David]

IMO - install 5 clients (trial accounts!) and see what happens.

I haven`t bought the parts yet. Still trying to figure out what to get.
Besides it is not the same, when I turn off all details on my current shitty single core system it runs starting area prefectly. BC and further is a far different story.

I say yes, but remember, do *not* skimp on the memory. I started with 4GB, and even sitting at the login screen and pressing "ESC" to make all 5 clients close caused a 20-second lag (sometimes more). Went to 8GB, everything is as fast as if I were running just one client.

I were also looking at the new AMD3 mainboards and processors but the best quad core my shop had was a 2.6 which was slower by far. I was hoping to get a mainboard that supports 16gigs of ram and the AMD3 mainboards did. But this 3gig quad core seems far more superior so I`ll just have to do with 8gig max.

I'm going to take an educated guess, being in the IT field, that you just had a bad experience with Vista. 64-bit Vista has wayyyyy less driver- and software-compatibility issues than 64-bit XP did. I'd almost bet that it would be a good 25%/75% split in an Operating System poll in which OS people use for their boxing computer. With Vista winning...

I`ll be going with Vista. Vista has something build in that improves loading times. The difference with my ingame load times (in and out instances for example) was over 5 times faster with Vista.

Just too clear things up, the 9800GT is a DirectX 10 card, and almost all (if not all) new cards is.

That is what I thought as well. Seems that the review site I visited was incorrect.


Btw. I assume I can run all 5 clients at max detail (except shadows) with this setup. Maybe someone with the same or even lesser setup can awnser that question. 8o