New PC Guidance for Triple Boxing Classic WoW

[the1grimace]

I am planning on triple boxing mages in Classic, and I am looking for some guidance on the most economical way to build a PC for this purpose.

My goals:

1. Triple box three mages for farming and mass pvp. I want to be able to blink into a crowd of 80 enemies in Blackrock Mountain and have my PC not be responsible for any lag I experience.
2. I want the game to look very nice on my main monitor. On my main monitor, I would like to play at 1440p and 144hz with high settings. For my secondary monitor, I am fine with low visual quality, so long as my slaves do not experience any issues that make them less responsive.
3. I would like to be able to record/stream while I am playing, especially in hectic situations.
4. I am in no hurry. My goal is to have my new system up and running a couple of weeks before Classic. With a release announced for some time this summer, I figure I have until May at the earliest, so I want to take advantage of sales, but I need to know what will get the job done in order to confidently pull the trigger on a good deal.
5. My budget is ~$1200. Ideally, I would get a monitor for this price as well.

Questions for you:

1. Will I be able to get a product that can meet my goals for this price? Even with a monitor?
2. What range of video cards and processors should I be targeting as I search for sales?
3. For WoW, I have read that nVidia is considered superior to AMD. Confirm/deny? Should I be looking for any specific brands? Freesync vs Gsync?
4. Will 16 gigs of ram be adequate?
5. Is there a reason to expect a significant price drop of anything I could need between now and Classic's release?
6. I am currently using an I5-6600k 3.5 GHz and a GeForce 970. What would my triple boxing experience look like just using my current hardware?

Any additional input would be appreciated. Thank you!

[MiRai]

I think you may be setting your expectations a bit high:

• 2560 x 1440 (x3)
• 144 FPS (on main, at least)
• Zero loss in framerate in large-scale, 80-character fights (for all characters)
• Recording/Streaming at the same time
• $1200 (entire build, including monitor)

Questions for you:

1. Will I be able to get a product that can meet my goals for this price? Even with a monitor?
2. What range of video cards and processors should I be targeting as I search for sales?
3. For WoW, I have read that nVidia is considered superior to AMD. Confirm/deny? Should I be looking for any specific brands? Freesync vs Gsync?
4. Will 16 gigs of ram be adequate?
5. Is there a reason to expect a significant price drop of anything I could need between now and Classic's release?
6. I am currently using an I5-6600k 3.5 GHz and a GeForce 970. What would my triple boxing experience look like just using my current hardware?

1. Don't quote me, but no. The game client probably can't even deliver 144 frames-per-second in large-scale battles like that.
2. An RTX 2080 GPU and a 1440/144Hz display is practically your entire proposed budget, and a RTX 2080 Ti on its own is your entire budget. Will you necessarily need that much power? Honestly, I don't know, but I think 144 FPS is going to be quite difficult to maintain.
3. A) No one has done any real tests on nVidia versus AMD for WoW today, but nVidia is ahead of AMD in terms of top-tier performance.
3. B) nVidia just released a driver that enables GSync on any display that uses Adaptive Sync, although results may vary if it's not a "certified" display.
4. Probably
5. Unlikely
6. It'll probably be just fine by most peoples' standards, but it certainly won't meet your original criteria.

I'm sure I'll have some more to say after I see what thoughts you and others have.

[the1grimace]

Perhaps minimal lag during large scale pvp would be a more reasonable goal, or more accurately, fps that doesn't impede my ability to fight when triple boxing. Also, there's no need to record and stream; one or the other would be fine.

Reading your post, I may have oversold my goals. If I can maintain manageable framerates (40+) while tripleboxing, that would be acceptable, especially if I will need a $1200 video card to get exceptional performance.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I'm curious. Why do you want 144Hz framerate?

[the1grimace]

I am looking to buy a 144Hz monitor because I hear they are extremely smooth. I don't expect to maintain 144 fps at all times to take advantage of the monitor at all times. If I have a misconception about what I'm asking for, please let me know. I'm here to learn. : )

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I'm just thinking about the whole human eye not being able to differentiate above 60-80hz. If you're one of the superhumans that can tell the difference between 60 and 80fps, I would submit that as long as it will maintain 80fps, you're golden. Have you ever played a game on a monitor that will do 144hz and at 144fps?

Not trying to be a negative nancy. Just thinking you're probably misguided by some bit of subjective and incorrect data.

[the1grimace]

I have never used a 144Hz monitor, so maybe my original plan was overpaying for something that provides no value?

If I'm just looking for a smooth experience playing 3 characters (even in hectic situations), what kind of video card and processor should I be targeting? I have been told that I should be looking at a 2070 or 2080 for a card and a 9700k for a processor. Is that overkill?

[MiRai]

I have never used a 144Hz monitor, so maybe my original plan was overpaying for something that provides no value?

If I'm just looking for a smooth experience playing 3 characters (even in hectic situations), what kind of video card and processor should I be targeting? I have been told that I should be looking at a 2070 or 2080 for a card and a 9700k for a processor. Is that overkill?

I'd think that a 9700K and a 2070 will be sufficient for the job, but I am still not convinced that the game client is going to be able to deliver high framerates while in a large-scale battle, as the game should be mostly reliant on single-threaded CPU performance in that area. However, I could be wrong, especially since the game is expected to take up less resources due to the lower textures and view distance, so it's hard to say until we get access to a beta.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I did way more futzing around with numbers tonight than I should have but the short version is I would probably prefer to go with an i7-9700k and a 1080Ti with some good 3000MHz RAM. If you're living on Ramen and will be severely depressed by 70fps numbers, an 8700k and plain 2070 should be sufficient with some slot-swap-macro tweaks.

[the1grimace]

$1400 for a video card is a tad to rich for my taste.