switching from software to hardware, considering switching from pc to mac.... advise please

[TEEJ]

i recently had the idea to try ice/rad also (x4 + a brute)

not as good aoe damage, but insane single target damage and the -slow/-speed effect stacks.

the only aoe is ice storm which makes stuff run away, but with 4 of them stacking -speed and the lingering radiation, everything will try to run but stand still dying to ice storm ticks, which recalcs scourge chance every hit.

frost breath doesnt count.... cones are too hard to aim while boxing.

aoe is important, which rad, fire, and elec have... but i could set record speed times for killing huge bosses with ice/rad... and ice storm might be enough aoe to farm with.

either way i'm sure to have a ton of alts that i take to 25-35 just to farm prestige and have some fun.

[Desible]

If it's any help. Just a little something to show what a Mac Pro can handle, you don't need to buy five of them.

My Mac Pro:
2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
2 GB Memory
With one 7300GT

I can run all 5 applications of WoW on my mac at once. Having the graphic settings set to medium, and multisampling to 16x1 I get ~15fps not in a major city (thats with all 5 windows on the same screen, 32', none hidden). I'm sure if you threw another gig of memory and upgraded the video card to 8800GT you would have no issues of running 5 instances of WoW at once. I intend on getting the 8800GT once some other programs that I use become compatible with Leopard.

[TEEJ]

i fully get that 1 mac pro tweaked out is badass, and i totally agree it would be cool/fun...

but i am adamant about wanting 5 separate computers. city of villians doesnt work with keyclone, so i'll be hardware boxing. plus i just want to have 5 computers. i 5box wow already on 2 computers and it works great, but i both want to switch to 5 computers and try out mac if the imac can handle it.

5 computers = new for me. if i was gona stick with 2 computers, i'd use my current setup... not buy a brand new mac pro to do the same thing i'm already doing. plus i like the idea of 4 small keyboards/trackballs set up so i can have exact control of individual alts without caring about macros. 1 other keyboard kvm'd to all 4 at same time for synchronous attacks, of course.

i've done the multiple accounts on 1 comp a whole bunch, in eq.... daoc.... wow.... you name it. 5 comps is my next step. i'm either getting 4 imacs or 4 new pc's. already have the kvm...

[Gadzooks]

i fully get that 1 mac pro tweaked out is badass, and i totally agree it would be cool/fun...

but i am adamant about wanting 5 separate computers. city of villians doesnt work with keyclone, so i'll be hardware boxing. plus i just want to have 5 computers. i 5box wow already on 2 computers and it works great, but i both want to switch to 5 computers and try out mac if the imac can handle it.

5 computers = new for me. if i was gona stick with 2 computers, i'd use my current setup... not buy a brand new mac pro to do the same thing i'm already doing. plus i like the idea of 4 small keyboards/trackballs set up so i can have exact control of individual alts without caring about macros. 1 other keyboard kvm'd to all 4 at same time for synchronous attacks, of course.

i've done the multiple accounts on 1 comp a whole bunch, in eq.... daoc.... wow.... you name it. 5 comps is my next step. i'm either getting 4 imacs or 4 new pc's. already have the kvm...

Okay, gotcha, you want the hardware challenge, that's cool.

I would look and see if Clone Keys (Mac version of CloneKeys) works with CoV, tho. It's pretty simple, I would think it would work.

I guess the 4 iMacs would be fine - at least they're all pretty. And I think they're VESA compliant, so you can use that kind of gear to mount them on some kind of rack system. There are freeware temp monitors for Intel Macs you could use to keep an eye on temp, and a couple of well placed fans or A/C should help a lot.

Stupid question, but the KVM is USB, right? If it's not...won't work with iMacs.

I'm wondering if you can pair one wireless keyboard to all of the iMacs...they all have Bluetooth standard...not for your set up, I'm just wondering out loud. Makes me wonder if I should just get an iMac for now, get a tower later...nah, I WANT a tower for Photoshop/ZBrush goodness.

[Schwarz]

Macs suck. Nuff said. ESPECIALLY the imacs, if I recall right they're mac-only, no PC parts/windows installability.

QQ more Macs are great they are based on a solid operating system and the gui is better than windows. Just because they don't tailor themselves towards gaming doesn't mean that they suck.

[TEEJ]

Stupid question, but the KVM is USB, right? If it's not...won't work with iMacs.

I'm wondering if you can pair one wireless keyboard to all of the iMacs...they all have Bluetooth standard...not for your set up, I'm just wondering out loud. Makes me wonder if I should just get an iMac for now, get a tower later...nah, I WANT a tower for Photoshop/ZBrush goodness.

the kvm i bought is uber, here's some of the description pasted. by the way it was 180 bucks with tax.

8-Port USB PS2 Combo KVM Switch with Cable - Retail [*]Console your Keyboard/Mouse via either way of PS/2 and/or USB arbitrarily. [*]Complex connections with PCs via either way of PS/2 and/or USB arbitrarily. [*]Controls 8 computers from a single console (Keyboard/Mouse) over PS/2 and/or USB connections. [*]Supports Windows, Linux, Mac OS9/OSX, Sun Microsystems. [*]On-Screen-Display (OSD) & Daisy Chain functions. - OSD is intuitive menus driven for quick and efficient navigation. - 3 level cascades: up to 3 levels; control up to 64/512 PCs, from a single console; cascaded units don’t need special configuration [*]Emulates a keyboard on each PC to allow your computers to boot normally without a keyboard error.

not sure if this link will work, but http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

it's product id 3407 on monoprice.com if you want to search for it cause the link doesnt work. i think its better than the vetra, its cheaper, and you can order it without calling some company in new york that doesnt sell through a website.



i also am curious if 1 wireless imac laptop could control all 4 imacs. would be easier than a kvm but i got a kvm anyway, and i hate when the wireless batteries run out.

[Suvega]

USB KVM will kill your perf in PVP.

you want something that can switch control < 250ms. Look towards prof qual server farm stuff.

[raz]

One app that's great for macs while gaming is SMCFancontrol. It's on versiontracker, but allows you to set a higher minimum fan setting so that you won't have any heat issues. I crank the fans up a bit when I game on my macs and they stay plenty cool. The default settings are nice and quiet but when listening to game sounds I don't care if the fan is a touch louder but keeping everything barely warm to the touch.

[TEEJ]

ok. i dont know how much pvp i'll be doing. with wow my eventual goal was soloing heroics with ease on my 5 druids, 1 feral 4 balance/resto that stack lifebloom then nuke. if i did pvp i'd mostly mess with people in av popping out of cat stealth to 5xstarfire people for fun.... not really counting on dominating waves of alliance.

in city of villians i'll mostly be solo pve also. if i pvp i doubt it'll be a challenge with the autoassistviatarget'starget feature combined with autofollow and fly. there isn't really an arena style setup that is active with rewards. just a few zone pvp places. i may assist nuke heroes while bored, but it isn't my goal to do pvp as much as dominate pve.

hey suvega, do you advise against getting 4 imacs for my 4 alts? 2 Ghz 2 Gigs ram 256 mb vid... more expensive than pc of same hardware level but i suck at building/installing/fixing pc's.

[TEEJ]

One app that's great for macs while gaming is SMCFancontrol. It's on versiontracker, but allows you to set a higher minimum fan setting so that you won't have any heat issues. I crank the fans up a bit when I game on my macs and they stay plenty cool. The default settings are nice and quiet but when listening to game sounds I don't care if the fan is a touch louder but keeping everything barely warm to the touch.

Does SMCFancontrol come with the mac operating system or is it an extra thing? sounds great!