New Multiboxing Build [Complete & Upgraded]

[Oatboat]

*edited* content unrelated.

Looks like a good build. Have fun with it!

[rfarris]

To do SLI do the video cards have to be the same? I have a 670 w/4GB. Should I add another 670 and SLI them or should I buy a 770?

[MiRai]

To do SLI do the video cards have to be the same?

They have to be the same.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/sli/faq#c16 (and the few entries below that as well)

I have a 670 w/4GB. Should I add another 670 and SLI them or should I buy a 770?

A GTX 770 ($500) isn't that much of a boost over a second GTX 670 ($350) for SLI; but with SLI, your mileage is going to vary from game to game.

[rfarris]

I only play WoW. But I'm thinking that the price difference isn't all that significant to me and it would leave my next upgrade open to going 770 SLI. I'm also worried about the power in my current rig with two 4GB 670s. Is this a good brand choice? http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Classifie...dp/B00DN43X22/

[MiRai]

Is this a good brand choice? http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Classifie...dp/B00DN43X22/

Yes. EVGA is pretty much the only GPU manufacturer I would consider buying from these days because of their great warranty and customer support.

[moosejaw]

Great video Mirai. I am still running a LGA 1366 hex core i7-980 but your LGA 2011 parts list is very nice. I think it is time for an upgrade.

[MiRai]

Great video Mirai. I am still running a LGA 1366 hex core i7-980 but your LGA 2011 parts list is very nice. I think it is time for an upgrade.

Thanks. If you were going to go with a higher-end motherboard, then I would not recommend this eVGA Dark at the moment. I took a chance with it and, while I didn't get burned (as of writing this post), I don't think the board is very friendly to those who are new to building their own systems (or at least willing to spend time troubleshooting things).

The BIOS is loaded with options, some of which don't even work at the moment but the documentation is heavily lacking and I feel like I'm bug testing this BIOS for eVGA because they rushed it. In eVGA's defense, they have released two BIOS updates in the past two weeks which have corrected a handful of problems, but, in my opinion, these "fixes" should have been in the BIOS that shipped with the board last month.

For the record, in the video I stated I had to use their beta BIOS in order to get the IVB-E chip to work, but the bugs I'm referring to are affecting SB-E users as well (and they're not using the "beta" BIOS).

[fleaplus]

How is the processor performance? I have a 4770k (at stock speeds) but I can still hit 100% utilization in busy areas, even with only five WoW clients running. I would like to also be able to run a sixth every now and then as well.

[MiRai]

How is the processor performance? I have a 4770k (at stock speeds) but I can still hit 100% utilization in busy areas, even with only five WoW clients running. I would like to also be able to run a sixth every now and then as well.

My 2600K @ 4.6GHz was my bottleneck before I upgraded, and now I can max out the GPUs before I can max out the CPU (and I still have yet to overclock it).








I'm always trying to push the limits of quality while doing my best to maintain at least 30FPS on all clients at once. Settings on all clients are as follows:

Resolution: 1920x720
VSync: Off (capped 30/30 fore/background via Inner Space)
Multisampling (AA): 4x (w/ 4x SGSSAA for transparency)
------------
Texture Resolution: High
Texture Filtering (Anisotropic): 16x
Projected Textures: Enabled
View Distance: High (Ultra doesn't offer much more)
Environmental Detail: High (No reason to use Ultra here if my View Distance isn't Ultra)
Ground Clutter: Low (Don't like a bunch of crap on the ground -- Personal preference)
------------
Shadow Quality: Good (Ultra x5 is too much outside of instances (Limited on GPU power/memory) and 'High' doesn't work well with SLI)
Liquid Detail: Low (The load caused by the new fancy reflective water is unpredictable and I almost prefer the old water)
Sunshafts: High
Particle Density: Ultra
SSAO: High
------------
CPU Strategy: All Clients = All Cores
Graphics API: DX11


EDIT: Let me rephrase... Ultra Shadows x5 is definitely do-able depending on the zone that I'm in. A zone like Elwynn Forest tends to stutter a bit when I'm riding or flying through it, where as, Swamp of Sorrows is seems to handle the setting on every client incredibly well.

I plan on doing another Multiboxing Science thread soon™ which will cover more of this stuff.

[moosejaw]

Thanks. If you were going to go with a higher-end motherboard, then I would not recommend this eVGA Dark at the moment. I took a chance with it and, while I didn't get burned (as of writing this post), I don't think the board is very friendly to those who are new to building their own systems (or at least willing to spend time troubleshooting things).

The BIOS is loaded with options, some of which don't even work at the moment but the documentation is heavily lacking and I feel like I'm bug testing this BIOS for eVGA because they rushed it. In eVGA's defense, they have released two BIOS updates in the past two weeks which have corrected a handful of problems, but, in my opinion, these "fixes" should have been in the BIOS that shipped with the board last month.

For the record, in the video I stated I had to use their beta BIOS in order to get the IVB-E chip to work, but the bugs I'm referring to are affecting SB-E users as well (and they're not using the "beta" BIOS).

I read a lot of negative reviews on their other LGA 2011 boards on newegg. Most of those referenced actual component failures instead of bios/function problems. Yet, the Dark had glowing reviews. /boggle
Thanks for being a good beta tester!!