Not impressed, and I feel I should be...

[zanthor]

Ok... so here it is.

I'm running an AMD X2 6000 (3ghz dual core), 4GB Ram (Crucial), an XTX 8800GT with 512mb ram, a DFI Infinity NF570 M2-G mainboard, as you may suspect, the mainboard uses the nForce 570 chipset... onboard sound, vista 32... Dual monitor, a 22" LCD @ 1680x1050 and a 19" LCD @ 1280x1024. Nothings overclocked from the manufacturers spec (The video card is OC'd from the chipset spec, however that was done at factory.)

And I'm just not impressed with how wow runs at all, a single instance is far from unplayable, in fact I can run three copies without any problem with the out of focus windows getting a locked in 15fps and the in focus swinging anywhere between 15 and 40fps. I'm running wow from a hybrid single/multi install. The data folder is shared, the interface folder is shared, the game executables are not, the WTF folder is.

If I try and run 4, it is playable, however the sound goes to complete shit... so I guess CPU upgrade is in order and/or I'm looking at not 5 boxing on the one system.

I am sorely tempted to try a hardware sound card as I understand the onboard sound cards put a significant drain on the system resources.

[-silencer-]

Thanks to MS for trashing hardware audio support through DirectX. If you want an aftermarket sound card, I'd go with a Creative Labs X-Fi card and download their Audacity(I think it's called?) package. It's basically a bunch of software wrappers for using Vista's OpenAL support to directly access external sound hardware from DirectX games - WoW is supported. Without that, even with an aftermarket sound card, it won't be used - Vista will still use the CPU for software sound processing. Note that currently only the X-Fi series is supported by Audacity.

Based on those specs though, it's most likely your CPU slowing you down with that many instances of WoW. The Core 2 Duo architecture is that much better than the X2. I had my E6600 at stock speed running 5 instances in XP with 4GB memory without fps issues on my main screen (4 alts are now capped at 15 or 20 fps). I overclocked it to 3.2GHz and it bumped the fps even more. I do have an X-Fi Elite sound card though, so that does help with the audio processing being off-loaded from the CPU..

[Wilbur]

You *could* try buying a Phenom, but I doubt that'd have a huge impact.

Best bet?
Swap out your motherboard and processor for some Intel kit.

[zanthor]

I disabled the onboard audio and there was a notable performance gain, things ran smoothly in shattrah with all 5, it's playable without audio but I am one of those freaks that loves hearing the same sounds over and over again... I'll have to look into that soundcard and software... the other t hing I'm going to test is my dual boot to XP, however since my LCD's dont match resolutions I don't believe I can do span... so that kills the 2nd monitor...

[-silencer-]

The least expensive X-Fi isn't that expensive.. I'm pretty sure it's under $150. Plus, the Audacity software package is free on creativelabs.com - they're making it to support their hardware in Vista, since DirectX scrapped all hardware audio support.

I agree with Wilbur on this one.. a Q6600 & motherboard would be around $400, and you'd most likely be able to use all other components of your current machine.

[Djarid]

I am running an X2 4600 with 2Gb and a Radeon X1950XT and can run 3 and 5 instances of Wow on it. albeit on one screen (I have 3 attached, 2 through a 2400pro) but unplayable on all if I have them split over more than one screen.

I am running XP

resolutions for my windows are
main : 1200x600 with sound
1: 720x700 no sound
2 - 5: 640x500

[zanthor]

Djarid, is that in the old world? Or out in the new world? Because mine runs just fine in Durotar but out in the world of level 70... not so much.

[Djarid]

unfortunately it is the old world.... haven't taken 5 to a city yet

I guess I am gonna have to upgrade before I hit 58!

[Fragmad]

According the CPU question. I am gonna buy a new computer myself very soon. Right now I'm looking at two different CPU's:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0GHz Socket AM2,2MB
or
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz 1333Mhz Socket LGA775, 4MB

Someone above me said the Intel would be better. But i've looked at some cpu comparison charts, and from what I've seen there's barley any different between these two.

Comments or suggestions?

[-silencer-]

According the CPU question. I am gonna buy a new computer myself very soon. Right now I'm looking at two different CPU's:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0GHz Socket AM2,2MB
or
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz 1333Mhz Socket LGA775, 4MB

Someone above me said the Intel would be better. But i've looked at some cpu comparison charts, and from what I've seen there's barley any different between these two.

Comments or suggestions?

At stock speeds, they're comparable. However, the Core2Duo can *easily* overclock beyond 3.0GHz, and the X2's don't have at all as much OC headroom. Run a compare of the X2 6000+ against the E6850 - that's the equivalent CPU the E6650 becomes at 3.0GHz.