5 boxing with a new Alienware

[ferretb]

I'm about to get a new computer and I'd like to be able to play 5 accounts at once on one rig. I'm fond of Alienware, and I wondered if any of you had suggestions on how to customize an Alienware rig in order to have decent performance. My computer before couldn't handle 5 accounts in Dalaran - I'd love to be able to solve for that. Thanks!

[Owltoid]

Why Alienware? I'm sure there are sites that charge much less for more power. Check out www.buyxg.com. This is what I was able to get for about $1,500, including full assembly, shipping, and warranty:

i7 920
12GB DDR3/1600MHz RAM
Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 Motherboard
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 1792MB Video Card
32GB RiData SSD (for WoW)
500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive (for everything else)
Vista 64 w/ free upgrade to Windows 7 once release
1,000 Watt Power Supply
AZZA Solano 1000 Full-Tower Advance Cooling Case w/ Dual 230mm Fan + Extra 3 Fans
LG 22X DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW

I may have forgotten some things, but basically for a little more than $1,500 you get a computer that handles 5 accounts in Dalaran and WG with ease. The only thing that isn't included is the monitor. I added on wireless keyboard, mouse, and headset which put the total around $1,650.

[zanthor]

Alienware is all about paying for the brand.

[Clone]

Yes I was once young and naive and bought an Alienware Pc. I wish I had known then what I know now. I could have got the same pc for half the price. I must say though that the pc itself was very well built and I had no problems with it. I did end up upgrading it 6 months down the line by myself though.

Im still paying for the original pc even though Ive changed the mobo, ram, processor and graphics cards. Take my advice and do some research into other pc building companys if you arent able to build yourself. You will save an awful lot of money, or get twice as much power for the same money.

[ferretb]

Fair enough. Then I want a good computer that can handle 5 boxing with ease in Dalaran+. I'm willing to spend a decent amount of $$$ to get it. Multi-boxing is just too fun.

[RdrckSmith]

Even if you've never built a PC before, if you feel brave enough to give it a try I would highly reccomend that route. For under $1000 you should be able to purchase all of the components you'd need for a rig with more than enough power to handle 5 accounts in Dalaran.

If you just don't want to go near trying to assemble yourself, Owltoid's reccomendation is great and a far better price than Alienware, or other "name" systems.

[ferretb]

What components should I be looking for piece by piece, then? It's been too long since I've built my own PC. I found that my upgrades to my current PC certainly helped with 5-boxing - but I wasn't anywhere need the sweet spot.

[Owltoid]

When I priced the components using Newegg, I found that www.buyxg.com didn't have any markup (or extremely small) on their systems... I was floored. Considering they assemble the thing for you and slap on a warranty I have made it my goal to recommend to anyone looking to purchase a computer. I love Newegg, too

[jak3676]

If you're shopping now - here's my recommendations

Intel Core i7 920. Nice archetecture, 4 cores and hyperthreading too. On-chip memory controller helps too.

12GB of 1066MHz DDR3 RAM. Brand doesn't really matter, but try to get CAS latency at 7 or lower if you can.

SSD - Solid state hard drive. Brand and model are very important here, depending what you want to do with it. If you want somethign for your OS as well as WoW, then make sure you get somethign that is optimised for random write speeds. All SSDs are optimised for sequential read and write (all that WoW really needs), but if you want do more than just WoW with it, then start reading forums. Anything from Intel is good, but spendy. OCZ Vertex drives are OK too along with anything that used an Indilinx memory controller. If you just want WoW performance you may be able to get away with a 32GB drive if you do some logical linking. With prices currently, there isn't much price difference between 32GB and 64GB, so I'd get at least a 64GB drive. But I'd recommend a 128GB drive if you want to put your OS and some other apps there too.

Video cards will somewhat depend on the monitor setup you want to use. If you want 4+ monitors on one PC, then snag an ATI 4850x2 - it comes with 4x DVI ports natively and 2GB ov on-board Video RAM. If you don't need to plug in that many monitors then check out any of the $200 video cards with at least 1GB of on-board video RAM. For ATI, 4870 (1GB version) or 4890 is good, 4870x2 if you're feeling rich. For nvidia, GTX 260, 275, 280, 285, are all good, 295 if you're feeling spendy. Crossfire/SLI don't really work all that well in WoW - you're better of spending more money on 1 card than you are to get to cheaper cards and put them in SLI/Crossfire.

As for monitors - I'm loving my Hanns-G 28" WUXGA (1920x1200), but anythign that has at least 1080p resolution is good for squeezing multiple windows onto 1 screen. If you are going for the 1 window per screen setup then go with whatever your budget and video cards can support. I think a popular option is to get 2 good sized monitors and put your "main" on one monitor by himself and then the other 4 can each have 1/4 of the 2nd monitor. Most good video cards can run 2 monitors just fine.

[suicidesspyder]

Man all i want to do is find a good gaming site which does payments lol i want computer now and cant afford to pay it all at once wouldnt mind payments tho. It would take me like 2 months to get the 3k i need and sadley i hate waiting i guess its the adhd in me. I like owltoids site i got my computer saved that i want but meh. Yea i know paying 400 dollers more for rdy by next day and overnight shipping but i want it like yesterday lol.

http://www.buyxg.com/cart/showcart.a...der%2F&ref=add

This is my shopping card ne advice or upgrades or downgrades let me know thanks. I got the 5 monitors for 700 dollers all so i told you i would be back. Laptop for vent and surfing and desktop for WOW WOW WOW can you say addicted. I only get to play 2 days a week now so i want to accomplish somthing like heroics and try and do them all each of those days.