Build my new 5Box computer

[Thrill]

Hi all,
I have not been here for about a year and I cannot even remember my old user name.

I am thinking about returning and I need your help. I have played around with ISBoxer and I really like the program. I am currently running 4 toons on my main PC + one toon on my laptop and everything works just fine. I am considering moving to 10 boxing WoW (again) and I need a new PC to run the other 5 (or ideally 6 to gain some performance on my now-main PC) boxes.

Unfortuately I know little about hardware except that bigger numbers are usually better so I hope to find some help here:

* What whould you suggest if you had a budget of about 1000$ for the whole PC (without monitor, keyboard, mouse)?

* What is the most important thing for multiboxing WoW and where can I save a few bucks?
- 8GB RAM
- Fast Graphics card (How much memory should that have?)
- processor
- 7200 u/min hard drive (Will a slower 5xxx do?)

* Anything I might have overlooked, general advice?

Thanks in advance,
Thrill

PS: I know what I am getting into having 5boxed most of BC and tried 10 boxing at the beginning of wotlk with little success (Archavon down). I stopped because I was frustrated with the performance of my hardware at the time.
PPS: Please excuse my english - it is not my native language.

[Pycno]

Get a minimum of 6gb ram and a fast CPU. You can save some bucks on the GPU as it doesnt do much for performance anyway (unless you need to use high shadow quality for some reason).

I would look for:

i7-930 CPU
3x2gb cheap ddr3 sticks, 1333mhz will work fine
a cheap x58 motherboard, gigabyte ud3 has support for usb3 and sata 6gbs if Im not mistaken
5770 1Gb GPU, or 5850 if you want better performance in (other) games

Have you considered ssd drives? I would get one and put the wow folder on it.

[mikekim]

Have you considered ssd drives? I would get one and put the wow folder on it.

cost would be the primary reason against going with one of these, even for a 30gb version they are far more expensive than standard HDD's. As Thrill only has a $1000 budget, I personally would get all the other bits sorted first before seeing if the budget would allow incorporation of one into the system.

[alcattle]

I am building a new system as I type. I went with a I5-750 as reports show it too be as fast as the i7-9xx series for most games. On the 3x RAM channels you can go with 6 gigs, on the 2x, I went with 8 gigs. I got a good Video card, you can do well with a cheaper version. The 5770 was $170. I got a 640g HD as I never fill it with junk and went with a SSD this time. That will save $150 or so right there. P55 motherboards are cheaper than x58 so that saved about $50. All total I spent $1100 so you can easily get under $1k