Upgrading my PC to multibox

[Cheesepile]

I purchased a new computer a few months ago which runs one WoW client fine on low video settings in full screen. The problem is, as you'll see from the specs below, my machine is lacking in a few areas - namely the graphics card and power supply.

Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual-Core processor E5300 [2.6GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB]
4GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs]
500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
Integrated graphics - Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 [VGA]
160W Power Supply

Now normally I would just go out and buy a new gfx card and psu, but the machine is an HP slimline. Nothing standard fits! lol... Does anyone have any experience with these machines? I believe this falls under the micro-atx form factor... I guess I just need to find upgrades that will actually fit in my machine?

As a temporary fix, can I dual/triple box in full screen on one machine? I created two trial accounts last night and in windowed mode (stretched to full screen) I was at about 9fps in mulgore ... although I forgot to turn the sound off of the two additional clients which I know does make a big difference in performance. I tried again in fullscreen and my fps was fine, but I'm not sure that this is setup is very optimal (or possible) using Keyclone...

Thanks for any help / advice!

[falsfire3401]

That's the problem with black-box computers (name brand), they're all proprietary components. The case won't accept standard motherboards or power supplies most likely, and the motherboard/power supply you have won't fit into a standard case.

Your best bet is probably to buy a new motherboard, case, power supply, and graphics card. Re-use your drives, cpu, and RAM from the HP.

Also to let you know, the 5000-series intel processors are not real Core 2 Duo chips, they're some sorta ghetto "dual-core" P4's, older technology and stuff. They're real low-end, too.

Depending on your budget, you might want to just buy the components I outlined above. I'd suggest:
* new atx case & power supply (can probably buy both as a unit for ~$80)
* new atx m/b (depending on budget, I currently use a budget board that only cost $60, problem is it doesn't do dual-channel RAM and has a limit of 4GB (only two slots))
* new PCI-Ex graphics card (budget will determine which one you buy)


Your most severe limiting factor right now is your graphics...the GMA graphics are not at all meant for gaming! They're more for internet surfing, office productivity software, etc.

[sackboy]

Question... If I'm triple boxing on one computer... would going from 4GB RAM to 8GB RAM help at all? I always see that one instance of WoW only uses like 500 MB of RAM so I don't even know if more would even help it...

[cybernerv]

I would do what falsfire3401 suggested and just get a new case, power supply, motherboard.. I am not to sure about that cpu though, it might become a bottleneck with a newer graphics card.