Multiboxing on a Laptop

[mrdsp]

cpu.png

Humm. So I know I'm on a desktop so slight different comparison but this machine is like 7 years old or so.

Ran 5-box wPvP for around 2hrs and had a look at my CPU activity (as above).

Will 10 box really need the huge grunt of a full fat i7-7700k or will a i7-7820HK cope ok?

My box is currently 2x Xeon E5620's (2.4Ghz) but very old!

[MiRai]

What is the screenshot of the Task Manager showing us? Were you in the middle of large-scale combat when you took that, or were you just standing around in an empty area?

[mrdsp]

I was playing wPVP in the Guru arena for 2 hours Outland-Eu around 30 players or so. When I did that screenshot I was doing some mouse broadcast as that's what's lagged on other machines for me.

Trying to see if there is any motion in the newer chips being so much better now that the mobile variations of the i7 will out-perform a desktop Xeon from 7 years ago.

Edit: On paper the Alienware chip 80% faster, grunt wise but the Xeons are 2 chips and therefor double the cores;

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-7820HK-vs-Intel-Xeon-E5620/m224965vsm6971

Have a friend with a i7-6700k so might borrow his laptop for a bit and see if he'll let me install WoW.

Suppose what I'm trying to find MiRai is somebody who is doing it mobile at the moment to give me the head nod or shake as to if it's worth investing the money into a gaming laptop to multibox on.

From this thread I'm pretty sure I now need to be looking at 17" so been a big help that way, now at the point of basically do I get a mainstream unit like Alienware or MSI etc and take the hit on 30% less i7-7700HQ or go for a monster looking thing and get a fullfat i7-7700k.

Second Edit: I suppose the real point of the screenshot is the numbers are very small, like very very small considering it's running 5 game instances. I suppose this continues some talk on the IS-Boxer discord that the CPU's on laptops are going to work hard or struggle. I'm thinking out loud sorry.

[mbox_bob]

I think the reason MiRai was asking is because Task Manager is a snapshot of a point in time, not a historical record. As soon as you stopped playing the game and switched to Task Manager, then the profile of the CPU usage is different to you running around controlling your toons and killing stuff, which is causing the game to use a bunch of processing power, rather than idle because nothing is going on in the game. If you happened to have been standing around in Dalaran or somewhere busy, the game would still be doing updates, although it would still not be the same as you actually playing.

If you want a record over time, then perfmon would be more useful. Even OpenHardwareMonitor would be more useful as it least it tells you the min/max over time. (i.e. since it was started), so it would give you at least the max CPU usage while playing (assuming you start it, then go playing for a bit).

As for CPU, and whether you go for a desktop replacement or a luggable (neither are really laptops in the 17" gaming category), then it is as you say, either you need someone with the current mobile gear (or close enough) who is 10 boxing or more to chime in, or you'll need to test it out yourself, or just suck it and see.

A desktop CPU is always going to outperform the current mobile model as they are build for different purposes, and the desktop has higher base clock (2.9GHz vs 4.2GHz), although that gap is smaller in Turbo, it is still between 600MHz and 1GHz. Memory bandwidth is also slightly lower on a 7820HK

It is possible to overclock a mobile CPU to around similar levels as the desktop, and in fact most of the time they will even outperform the desktop while being undervolted, but the downside of this is the cooling systems are limited in the amount of heat they can remove. A desktop CPU cooler is large, a mobile cooler is not. Less surface area means less ability to remove heat, so fans spin faster, louder, etc. As the desktop CPU will be limited with the same mobile cooling solutions (or at least not full desktop cooling solutions), then they will be stuck with the same limitations as the mobile CPU.

The other problem with desktop CPUs/GPUs in laptops is the bricks that come with them. They are usually much bigger, or there are two of them, or they actually down supply enough juice so the components underclock to compensate. A

All in all, it's about trade offs. If you want to have the power of a desktop, then you need a desktop (I have known people to build themselves a mITX system and take that to their hotels with a 24" monitor). If you want to have something portable (and contained), then you get a luggable, and cope with the inevitable loss of grunt. Whether you can then still 10 box on it is about testing it out.

Also, get the right to return on your purchase. State up front what you want it to do, and then your purchase is conditional on the item being able to perform the job. I.E. get it in writing as part of the purchase - you send them an email saying what you want to do and ask for their recommendations for suitable gear, then if it doesn't perform you have a leg, because you made it clear at the outset the task the item was required to perform.

[mrdsp]

Quick update on this - started the job and done my first 4 nights away!

Going to wait for the i7-8700k - apparent release is this week so will order from PCSpecialist or similar and get the full desktop CPU, I think it will work fine with the extra cores.

In the meantime, I've managed to plod around running 5x toons on a Surface Book, it's not ideal but can do WQ and a little light wPvP (random people attacking whilst questing.. wouldn't like to be in fights that I need more coordination).

Have had a play with LiquidSky.com (some sort of cloud VDI for gaming) will let you know how that goes.

[totalbest]

Do you have any knowledge of how the Alienware stuff is these days?

[mrdsp]

I am pleased to give an update on this. My new laptop came yesterday, I went with a custom from www.pcspecialist.co.uk (UK custom builders).

Running 10x toons, I've had zero problems (the fans hardly kick in). Run my main toon at quality 5 with max view distance and 9 slaves at quality 1.

I've only tested 8 in full PvP (when doing 10 had trial accounts) but the workload is not even kicking the fans in playing all night and even Dalaran / other high pop areas.

Specs of note are;

Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1

I would highly recommend for anybody looking for a mobile game rig that has the CPU grunt for a bit of multi boxing.

@totalbest

I looked at AlienWare but was worried they run the mobile chipsets when it comes to CPU.

[Megaman3]

I know it’s and Old thread but can you or anyone update how the multi boxing has gone with crap hotel WiFi ? I travel weekly for work and real hit or miss with the hotel WiFi even with same hotel brands ?

[MiRai]

I know it’s and Old thread but can you or anyone update how the multi boxing has gone with crap hotel WiFi ? I travel weekly for work and real hit or miss with the hotel WiFi even with same hotel brands ?

WiFi is still garbage; don't necro old threads.

Thread closed.