1st attempt at building comp - need advice

[Verriit]

I have been dual/tri boxing for about a year and a half and it's now time to move up to 5. My old comp is a POS laptop that get's around 11 fps at its very best and that was 2 years ago... I can't even go to Dalaran. I want to build my own system but have NO idea what to get. I've been looking on here and newegg for the past couple weeks and I just get more confused.

I know I want to 5 box, I have about $1,500 to spend on parts, and like the subject says I've never done this before if that plays into ease of building. So, since most of you are infinitly smarter then I am when it comes to this.... can someone tell me exactly what I should get to 5 box? I am assuming I can get more for my money if I build it myself or would I be better off just finding an already bulit system? I want to have 1 computer and I really only play WoW (may get into more graphic intense games in the future). Thanks in advance!!

[Oatboat]

Lots of topics on this.

Quad core processor
6+ gigs ram
64 bit os
nice vid card

[Verriit]

I know there are lots of topics on this...

It would really help if instead of just saying Quad core processor you said i7-920 or AMD Phenom II x4 etc.

Like I said, I'm really clueless when it comes to deciding on what part to get and why.

[Oatboat]

Maybe if i were a computer salesman I might take the time to build your rig, but alas i'm not.

Do your homework or get screwed by someone who just wants your money

[falsfire3401]

* Core i7 processor - just the cheap one the 920 I believe, the other ones are WAY too expensive right now
* 12gb triple-channel RAM. Buy two 6gb kits, it's cheaper than a 12gb kit and many mobo's don't support 4gb per slot anyways
* Buy Win7 (releases in October), if you can't wait til then buy a copy of Vista that includes the free upgrade to Win7. Go 64-bit to make use of all your RAM
* GeForce GTX285 or equivalent ATI graphics card or better
* SATA 1TB HDD, maybe buy a smaller 2nd drive to run WOW on a drive separate from the OS.
* ****BUY A GOOD NAME-BRAND HIGH QUALITY POWER SUPPLY!!!*****
* ****BUY A GOOD NAME-BRAND, HIGH PERFORMING AND QUIET AFTERMARKET CPU COOLER!!!*****

Also, go dual-monitor! It's *WAY* easier to 5-box if you have two widescreen LCD's. You run your main WOW on your main screen and divide the other four onto the 2nd monitor into four 800x600 regions (fits nicely on a monitor that does 1680 resolution with just a bit of overlap)

[Psych]

For what it's worth, here's what I'm using to 5 box on one machine. Granted, I run one a full size resolution and the other 4 at quarter-screen resolution in low detail, so bear that in mind if you want high detail and larger versions for all.

- Core2Duo e8400, it's only a dual core, but I doubt you gain much by quad core in games that don't support over 2 cores (ie: WoW). Approximately $175

- Gigabyte P965-DS3 v3.3 motherboard, older but able to support the above chip just fine, probably find something comparable for $75 or so

- 4GB of cheap RAM. Running Windows 7 RC (64bit), and having 5 copies of Wow open, I never go above 2.8GB used. So 4 is all you need unless you insist on having a million apps open in the background and watching a movie or something... $100 max, probably more like $50

- BFG 8800GT 512MB graphics card, getting a bit on the older side but still, I can keep my main window at 60fps and the child windows at 30fps pretty much anywhere now. I paid $100 for this over a year ago, so you should be able to get comprable or better for cheaper now.

That's about all that matters for running WoW, hard disks don't matter, I'm using a crappy old IDE drive and a SATA I drive. Better performance there will only affect loading screens and initial generation in massively populated areas where it needs to load lots of new textures.

I run one 21 inch widescreen monitor and a 19 inch older monitor, both LCDs though. The 21 has my main window maximized, the 19 contains four equal sized smaller WoW's. I run my main window in "Good" graphic quality, with the viewing distance cranked up to full, and the child windows at Low for everything.

I'd say it's important to run a 64bit operating system these days, for more than just WoW. It's mainly so you can take advantage of over ~3.6GB worth of memory though, 32bit versions max out around there. That's about it, if you're reusing existing parts and even if you need to buy another rmonitor, it should be cake for under 1500 bucks.

Good luck!

[Ogloo]

ok ill help you out, I am actually building a system right now, and its 1400, and will cooook butt 5 wows.
What you need when you are setting up a computer.

First of all you need a CPU (processor), this is what runs ur computer, there are choices hear based on how u want ur comptuer to run, the Q9000 or w/e will prolly give u good proformance but if u want 0 lag in dalaran and in wintergrasp or in big raids, go with the i7 920. This will give u all the power ull need for 5 wows. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...sku=CP1-I7-920

Then you need a motherboard that will support your CPU (the i7 920), it will tell u in the specifications if it supports the i7's.) Then you need to look in the motherboard how many memory slots it has. Depending on the amount of memory/type you want each one will support difffernt ones. For wow to cook 5 wows i would reconment 8gigs or ram, but I like the motherboard i got because it supports 12, which gives me ram to have itunes, vent, skype, and internet open and all that also. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=A455-2868

Memory goes with ur motherboard. I would reconment Corsair because it has a lot of great reviews, go with DDR3 memory, and get 8-12 depending on ur motherboard. the motherboard above supports 12 memory of 1000Mhz, to 2k mhz. So for memory I go with http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...8&sku=C13-7100

The you need a video card, for the most FPS, go with the nvidia gtx 275, this will give you extreme FPS in all windows, like 60 or 80 in main, and like 30 in others hopefully, depending on settings. It is cheaper than the 280/85, but it gives you the power, go with the 85 if u want more proformance... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=E145-0276

Then next, you need a power supply, 750watts is good but more is better, giving ur computer more juice to run on. A corsair 750 is like 140, but for some reason on tiger direct.com, there is a 1,000watt for only 99$... So go with that one http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=A406-1116

Then cooling, this is important to keep all this awsome rig cool so it doesnt crash while going to work on the wows. I would go with a big CPU/case cooler for ur main cooling like a cool master v8, or this one http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=C283-1202 Then you will need some fans for you computer, most cases come with fans in them, so that helps, but they are soo cheap it doesnt hurt to lower temps maybe 10 degrees C. so i would get a fan like this.http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...5&sku=V13-4200

Then A case, you can use whatever case, but everything needs to fit in there, but u can get really nice cases that keep everything not hot inside, old small cases will not cool enough. So go with one like so, http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=A406-1102 it comes with fans inside all ready to go, to get everything going..

After that all you need is to install any 64 bit operating system, so like xp 64 bit, vista if u like it 64 bit, or upgrade to windows 7 64 bit.. just make sure you have 64 bit or it will not see anymore than 4 gigs of memory which is bad...

Thats all hope that helps

[Ogloo]

What I just linked there will get you really nice proformance, that will not slow down or lag or anything.. personally little jumps and stuff make the game so un-enjoyable to me.. so I would go with this if u really want everything clean and slick.. if ur ok with lowwww settings and not so hot profanace other than just like getting through a instance or 2 or leveling quests. go with some lesser costs.. but all i just linked you is 1,370.. Which is a really good price (not including the operating system) or tax./shipping