$2200.00 Budget..what should I do?

[Sam DeathWalker]

Ya my suggestion is if you insist on one computer but multiple mid level computers for the same total price will always be better then one super computer at the same price, I have 6 computers.

Although if its for 5 boxing or less 48G ram on one computer might still do better then multiple computers (but he can 3 or 4 for that much with older parts), as he will have the whole wow folder in ram. You just might not want to be stuck with a server computer.

[eauxfolles]

Actually I plan to go with a similar setup, so I have exactly the same components in my mind. Two things I'm thinking about...

- Regarding SSD I'm not sure yet if I should go with 2 drives (one for OS, one for games).
- With the 3 GB version of the GTX 580 I'm not sure if the additional memory is useful at all.

But apart from that... same box.

[mikekim]

Actually I plan to go with a similar setup, so I have exactly the same components in my mind. Two things I'm thinking about...

- Regarding SSD I'm not sure yet if I should go with 2 drives (one for OS, one for games).
- With the 3 GB version of the GTX 580 I'm not sure if the additional memory is useful at all.

But apart from that... same box.

running an ssd for the os will speed up your startup and shudown times, and the opening of programs. depends if you are impatient

an ssd for the games on the other hand is a must.

the 3gb version of the 580 will help alot if you are 10 boxing on one card, no real benefit on 5 box setup

[Tonuss]

48GB of memory is severe overkill. 8GB should do fine for four or five copies of WOW, and if you find that to be a bit tight, just double it to 16GB. RAM costs are rising a bit, but are still pretty low.

And I would also agree with building two less powerful systems as opposed to a single more powerful system. I don't know if you can do it for $2,200, but it's possible you can even do it for less depending on where you decide to make trade-offs. Just as a quick rundown of some prices (via Newegg):

Core i7-2600 is $300, Core i5-2400 is $185 (or $370 for two).
3GB 580GTX is $540-590, 1GB Radeon 5770 is $120 (or $240 for two).
128GB SSD can be as low as $150-200, 750GB 6Gbps/64MB 7200RPM SATA drive is $70 (or two for $140).

And so on. Again, it depends on how much you are willing to give up (you may feel that the 5770 just isn't going to cut it, for example). If you prefer a single machine (for reasons of space, or heat, etc) then a Core i7-2500K can provide the horsepower you need (and then some, since the "K" models are easy to overclock) at a savings of around $60.

[Ashley]

If you want to save some money you can get 4 HDD's in a RAID0 array, this has like 250MB/s writes and 280MB/s reads, which basically means 500gb 'SSD' equivalent for about £800 less. There is a slightly higher chance of a fault, but, minor really.

So, a 500GB set up that's very nearly an equivalent to an SSD for only £120.

Debunk all the myths people will try and tell you though, we're in 2011 now, not 2000.

Only problem with this set up is that it's heavier, requires a proper RAID card, and probably slightly warmer.


-- This is what I'll be doing. Maybe using drives smaller than 500gb though so I don't feel reluctant to store all my data there.

[Ashley]

P.s. people mention the i7-2600k but not the i7-970 that has six cores?

[Lyonheart]

P.s. people mention the i7-2600k but not the i7-970 that has six cores?

From what i have read, the Sandy Bridge CPUs are better..run very cool, even when OCd. And are best CPUs for games?
Not sure, If I'm wrong..fill me in!

[Tonuss]

The Sandy Bridge versions are faster, even when comparing quad versus hex cores. If you want to overclock, they seem to have a fair amount of headroom for it. And the "K" versions are multiplier-unlocked, meaning that you can increase the multiplier instead of the bus speed, which can result in more stable overclocking. They are much cheaper as well, if I am not mistaken.

As for a RAID array, if you are worried about the lack of fault tolerance, just go with a RAID-5 setup. A dedicated RAID card should have support for RAID-5. You lose some drive space but gain redundancy; if a drive fails the array can continue to operate until you replace the bad drive, and you won't lose any data. The dedicated card adds to your costs, but it can provide a very nice performance boost via less expensive SATA drives.

[Sam DeathWalker]

48G is not "overkill". You are going to put the entire wow folder into a ram disk (5 clients will take maybe 5G or less and the OS about 2G.), so that you don't need SSD. System Ram is WAY better then SSD.

3G video ram is also not overkill ....

Read the other threads on the front page here. Even SSD has only 20Mb/sec when accessing 4K random chunks like wow does with random textures. All this talk of 400Mb/sec etc. just only happens during loading and zoneing, during running around in Org your SSD is down to 20Mb/sec and raid Velociraptors are down to under 4Mb/sec .....

Look at the chart "4K"

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1437&pageID=5993


Not sure what system ram is during 4K random chunks but its going to be WAY WAY faster then 20Mb/sec


http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=44099

[Ashley]

As for a RAID array, if you are worried about the lack of fault tolerance,

My angle on it was that, why buy an SSD (zero fault tolerance) when you can make an equally as fast (if not faster*) Quad RAID0. If you're installing WoW onto it and other applications then you don't need fault tolerance providing you keep your saved files elsewhere.


@Sam: Cool you've got 48GB of RAM, loading an entire copy of WoW into it might actually be against the TOS lolz. Isn't that how Glider got done over? Anyway, not saying you will get done but, the way WoW has been written has improved efficiency A LOT and long gone were the days of loading screens when zoning from Elwynn into Redridge.

The only benefit I see of 48GB of RAM to load WoW into is so you get an extra 30 seconds of buff time in WSG lol............................................... ...............................