Multiboxing Computer Build Assistance

Hi all,
I've been out the game world now for about 4 years, have 4 children that are growing very rapidly & now I'm also looking to multibox 5 instances of WoD from a single PC, if I could run mid to high graphics setting on main screen that would be gr8, but essentially want best performance.
I have a few old systems, but I'd consider their components obsolete for this purpose, so if anyone could recommend the minimum system I'd need to build from scratch for this, It would give me the basics to build up on.
Thanks all GLHF n keep up the great software

Topic split into its own thread.
Please do not necro old threads.
-MiRai

[bob]

Start simple. You haven't provided any info about what you actually need (screens/os/case etc), or budget, so this is more general.

You generally want 1 core per game instance, so to 5 box, 5 cores. You can get by 4 (an i5 - people do get by with less!), but if you budget will allow, you should be looking at 4+4HT (an i7), or better. From there it is about MHz. Faster the better, but you don't need to get the total top end as there are diminishing returns for that last 200Mhz that are better spent on Gfx. AMD chips are useful for some things, but for multiboxing intel is currently the preference.

As for Gfx. The better buy at the moment is probably a GTX970, in terms of performance per $. Yes it has had some bad press because there was a f/up on the marketing, it was not fully disclosed about a small part of the internal operations. That said, the performance stat's still speak for themselves, and are still the same performance that was published before people knew that their box was slightly incorrect.

If you happen to be able to fork out for a 4K screen, then you'll be disappointed with the graphics output, until maybe the TitanX comes out (5 more days before we know more about it, ?? how long before you can consider shelling out oodles of cash) because running 5 copies of anything at 4K will just be murder on the card.

Monitor(s) are important, but these are pretty personal. Generally it is about resolution and most 1920x1080 are a dime/dozen these days. After that you're looking at 2560x1440, or 2560x1600, or maybe an ultrawide (21:9) 3440x1440, or 2560x1080, and then you get into 4K territory.

You probably want a nice SSD. The 500GB/512GB's are coming down in price, but the ~250GB is about a good compromise between price and space. I can fit just about everything I use for fun and work onto a 250GB SSD, and I run a lot of programs. All my big data like photos and videos sit on an external storage array, but an internal HDD works well too.

16GB of ram is usually decent enough starting point. 8GB will be limiting once you get 5 copies of anything along with OS, and background services. As a rule of thumb, I tend to allocate 1.5 GB per game instance, along with 1GB for OS, and then another 1GB for other stuff, at a minimum (actually my PC runs about 6GB as the base - but then I have a few things running that most people wouldn't).

Motherboards are usually a bit subjective, depending on whether you like specific brands and/or want upgradability (and you should consider whether you really will get a SLI setup or whether that is just a pipe dream and plan accordingly - most people I know with SLI setups buy them initially).

Power supplies are easy enough, get one suitable for your setup. Most of the time this will be in the 550w - 750w, depending on SLI. A new PSU is preferable to an old one that has been around the block. Do some research here, and pickup a recommended one (places like anandtech.com/tomshardware.com and others are useful here).

Then it's down to little stuff. OS, DVD/BluRay, KB, Mouse, CPU cooler, fans etc.

The pcpartpicker.com is a useful site to start from, build a list, then get realistic about your budget (I'd make you a list but it's not working for me atm).

Wow, thnx for great & very rapid response

I have plenty of screens, about 9 just collecting dust, have loads of old cases of all sizes & formats for a variety of psu's / mobo's, idc which os, still run xp on some
I'm just going for the most basic functionality atm that will allow me to enjoy my quite time, I can always upgrade components 1by1 if the bank & lead pipe permits.

So I'm looking at an i5 + GTX970, currently running 1280x768 on a Thomson 42", I let the family have my 50" that I used to use for ps4 ;-(
A 250Gb SSD is exactly my thought, will be dedicating this pc solely for isboxer & my main games, wow, hots, lol, maybe rom+... Isboxer & WoW is my core escape from RL

Now, RAM & Mobo's, the only bad experience I had was with an MSI motherboard, but that was years ago & now I see plenty of gamers using them, so no real preference; maybe just one that gives me future expansion possibilities & connectivity.
Is there any major benefits of an SLI setup for isboxer with WoW?
16GB sounds good, ddr3/4/other? Will MHz be a big difference? Does number of banks/slots or size of each individual one affect anything nowadays?
PSU will depend on motherboard expansion options, graphics power drain & connections... Already blown enough mobo capacitors from old psu's also

I've got dozens of cd/dvd/bd drives, kb's, mice, programable input devices, kvm's, bla bla bla

Thanks again for the great help & if you could just give me a hand with those last doubts I'd be even more thankful

Then time for the price hunt & hopefully instance pawning w/o hours of LFG just to find my missing keyboard keys are stuck to my face ;-p
Thnx again.

[bob]

Running multiboxing at a low resolution may be problematic due to the lack of real estate to view/monitor your other characters. If possible a second may be in order. In multiboxing, 1920x1080 is less about HD quality, and more about being able to run a reasonable number of pixels on the main character and have enough to spare to view the others. This is because when you have 4 toons on follow, you can't always see them while driving from your main as they're behind you!. But if it is free at the moment, worth a shot, see what it's like.

For the i5, I'd be looking at the top end, like 4670, 4690. Pricing varies a little but these are usually going to be around $200-220 (I'm guessing your US based) If you need to save that little extra, a 4590 or even a 4570. There is also the 4460, which on the main stats is on par with a 4570; in the fine print there is probably some difference. Personally I'd go for a K version. Even if you're not into overclocking, you can usually get an extra 200Mhz or so without any effort. The gamer oriented motherboards tend to do it all for you.

SLI is beneficial in multiboxing because it works in windowed mode, and because you can't run multiple games in FullScreen at the same time, you are instantly in windowed mode. Crossfire doesn't work in windowed mode. So you can get extra processing power if you need it, but a single 970 will allow you to multibox just fine with 1 client on quite decent graphics and the rest on lower settings at 1920x1080 so at your resolution you'll be fine.

I tend to prefer ASUS motherboards. Personal preference and I've not had a bad one previously (I don't count the one I shorted out by having cables plugged on the wrong pins - it was over 5 years old by the time this happened anyway). I did have a gigabyte board with issues once. I've never bought one since. It's funny the prejudice you keep.

DDR3/DDR4 depends on the motherboard and CPU. You'll generally be DDR3, unless you really splash out for a 6 or 8 core CPU. As for Mhz. You are aiming for about 1866 at CAS 10. Seems to be about the sweet spot. Usually as MHz goes up (data transfer rate), so does the latency, so overall there is not much difference between a CAS7-1333 and a CAS12-2400. In some software, like video editing you may notice the difference between latency and data transfer rate, but for the most part, you wont as they cancel each other out. You usually want to have as few dimms as possible for the most ram. The more dimms the more the memory controller is doing more work, and this increases latency. This means that 2x8GB dimms are better than 4x4GB dimms, if only slightly. Would you notice, probably not, but hey, why risk it, the pricing difference is minimal. It also allows you to go to 32GB if you ever need to (not likely in the short term, but give it a few years).

I also chucked in the 650W PSU, so if you want to SLI it up you could without any hassle. If you aren't going down that route, you could probably get away happily with a 500w-550w. It just limits the number of additions. On the other hand, PC parts are becoming more energy efficient again (the GTX970 is far more efficient than the previous generation).

Anyway my piss poor attempt at a list turned out as this. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yjJ3Mp It's not the best, but should certainly be suitable. I tried to rein in the cost a little here and there as I'd originally whacked in a more expensive mobo (ASUS HERO VII) and some different ram, but the changes were reasonable compromises. Of course if you don't need a case, that's another $100 off (I just happen to like the FDD, I have 2 of them)

edit: duh, I see you put Spain in your profile, so I figured on the wrong country, I'm such a clown sometimes. The Espana version of PCPartPicker is much more limited sadly, but this updated list is reasonable too, and turns out pretty good. There just aren't any prices on the graphics cards so you may be forced to look around. http://es.pcpartpicker.com/p/HFCRhM. I notice you have the "Not in the US" price differential too.

Hi again to All
Finally back after loads of hours turning my eyes square.
In the end I've actually gone an extra yard, with the intention to expand the system & make use of any surplus components to setup a second rig, who knows, might get 10 boxing
Here's most of it, some parts were not in the ES site

- http://es.pcpartpicker.com/p/vvTQNG

All feedback will be noted & appreciated.
Bob, thnx for all your input so far, I will probably end up running the dual SLI, you got me curious, & it might kill a few trolls & orcs
Have I done the right combo of 2400Mhz with 10 cas, opposed to the 1866? Have upped the cpu to a i7 4790k, my thinking was that it would be able to push the speed without the cas12 latency. The MSI GAMING 5 has the direct port for the SSD, only putting in a 250 for now & the Samsung EVO seems to have the fastest transfer rate which will be well used in the M.2 port
For sure I'll expand on it, but want to get a feel for how it performs

OH! BTW SORRY MiRai, didn't realise thread was that old & the subject was on track so I just jumped in, oops!

Need to get some good z's in now, managed to squeeze running 3 chars on old system yesterday, didn't run too bad tbh
Let me know what you think & if it seems good, the euros are going bye bye, just like Kansas ;-p

[bob]

It all looks good.

The CPU is not needed to push the RAM. RAM is several orders of magnitude slower than a CPU. It is unlikely you will notice any difference on the RAM side unless you are performing heavily intensive activities in RAM (unlikely during gaming which are more a load and forget type process), but the CPU is better for multiboxing. That said, if you can afford something a little faster, go for it.

I note you are talking about the direct port for the SSD, which I assume you mean the M2 port, but then you don't have the M2 SSD listed. If you can get one, great, as they do have extra bandwidth available and do perform a little snappier, but other than that, the normal Samsung SSD's are very good and are mostly the top of the retail board.

Finally
All ordered & on route, last items should arrive Monday

http://es.pcpartpicker.com/p/46ybZL

Extra memory module is Samsung XP941 512GB M.2 still unsure if OS will boot from it, kind of mixed messages from web, mostly pessimistic.
I get "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" for free as part of the MSI promotion till 31st of this month on select items, think it's for their "gaming" series.
I've also got an offer on a Lavolta x4 monitor bracket/stand, don't need it but if my existing TV doesn't satisfy, it gives me a nice alternative with my existing monitors, even though they're not the same, but aprox in sizes.
Can't wait to put it all together & get isboxer & innerspace setup with at least my x5 accounts & then add more instances just see it's potential.
I finally took your advice on RAM & went with the G.Skill Trident F3-1600C7Q-32GTX kit, classed as CAS7 (CL7) 7-8-8-24-2N
All I need to do now is tweak them to look for that "Sweet Spot"

Thanks Very Much for all the info & help that pointed me in the right direction, thanks to which now I've read so many docs, data, reports, reviews... & had keyboard keys imprinted onto my face after falling asleep amidst it all... I have learnt a lot & know there's so much more to learn, next I'll have to learn (& get) an SLI setup, then, will be upgrading to an 8 Core multiprocessor with DDR4's &...To Be Continued... THANK YOU
Take Care & don't get gargel'd by a Murloc (Spoiler: carry a "Rabbit's Foot")