Computer spec for 6 slots

Hi;

I have been using ISboxer for a few weeks, it is a blast controlling 4 toons at once. My current computer is a few years old, with quad cores. So it can run four toons, sort of, but not 6.

I think I will need 6 cores which means I am looking at i7-3930K minimum. I don’t know what kind of graphics card, everquest graphics are pretty dated.

I am thinking about Gamer Paladin F875. Just wondering if anyone else has tried 6 toons. I have dual 1920x1200 displays.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[MiRai]

I wouldn't say you're looking at a 3930K at a minimum, because the next step up would be the $1,000 Intel EE or Xeon processors. However, the 3930K would be perfectly fine for whatever you want to do in terms of multiboxing with any video game currently on the market.

If you don't feel comfortable piecing together your own PC, then the one you're looking at is alright. Do know that the 600W PSU that they offer with the build is the bare minimum required to run that video card. If you expect to be overclocking that CPU (which you can because it's very easy) or you ever want to add in a second video card, then that PSU is not going to cut it and you'll be forced to upgrade; in fact, the site warns you that the PSU is not enough if you choose to either overclock the CPU or go with dual video cards. The brand of the PSU is also unknown which is never a good thing.

I would also bump the video card up to a 4GB model. You can either drop down to the 670 4GB model if you don't want to drop $100 more on the 680 and you won't lose very much performance overall (the GPUs are very similar).

I don't know where IBuyPower's reputation currently falls, but they're usually able to offer cheaper prices because they offer cheaper hardware where they can sneak it in (which is obvious from the unknown brand of PSU they're offering). On any PC that comes pre-built, I recommend getting a nice warranty and learning what you can and can't do to it so that you don't void your own warranty accidentally.

[Ualaa]

If you want six cores, that means the i7-3930K.
That's one generation older.

You can go with an i7-3770K, which is the current generation.
That only has four cores, but each core is individually more powerful.
According to Intel, they're about 10-15% more powerful at the same clock, and they run at 3.5 GHz stock (as opposed to 3.2 GHz for the 3930K).

The 3930K allows for quad-channel ram, up to 64GB.
The 3770K allows for dual-channel ram, up to 32GB.
You'd only need/want more than 32GB, if you were running a boat-load of clients or wanted to make a ram drive.

A recent benchmark showed the 3930 and the 3770, as being very comparable for a single client game.
Meaning the increased bandwidth on the 3930's ram roughly offset the increased performance of the 3770's CPU.
The more clients you're planning on running, the more of an advantage you'll get out of six cores (plus six logical cores) compared to only four cores (plus four logical cores), and the increased amount of ram.

The 4770K is scheduled to be released in June of 2013.
Intel expects it to be 10-15% faster, at the same clock speed, compared to the 3770K.
The onboard video card is supposed to be a lot better (+60%, give or take), but anyone that games will likely get a discreet video card anyway.
The 4770K is again 4 cores, dual-channel ram with 32GB max... very similar, but a bit more powerful than the 3770K (going purely by the chart, on Intel's page... not any kind of a benchmark).

I have liked the performance on my EVGA GTX 670 4GB Superclocked card.
It was the top card, in the 'Bang for your Buck' category, on Tom's Hardware at the time of my purchase.
The card could barely handle five clients in Warcraft, on Ultra settings DX11... I wouldn't recommend playing that with settings that high, but Good settings (or better) on the main and Average or lower settings on the slaves, should be smooth pretty much anywhere.
The system is: 3930K, Noctua NH-D14 cooler, 32GB (low profile) DDR3 1600MHz CL8 ram, GTX 670 4GB, 2x OCZ Vertex 3 in Raid0, playing on a pair of 27" widescreen monitors (both at 1920x1080 resolution).

Everquest is a much older game than Warcraft.
I'd imagine a system that five-boxes Warcraft would six-box Everquest, at least as well.
But that is a hypothesis, not actually tested.
Still, it gives you an idea on what your system might be like, rather than a shot in the dark.

[Rattenmann]

I am not into PC Specs all that much as i only ever buy a new PC every 3-4 years and set myself a budget of 800euro tops. So i never have any top of the line parts.

Talking about Everquest tho... i am 6-boxing it right now. And i am FAR (like, really far) away from those i7s and i don't experience any issues at all.
For reference: i5-2500k, gtx 560-ti and only 8gb of ram.

I did not limit background FPS as well, due to Everquests follow not working with less then 30+ fps for some reason.

So you might just as well be able to handle 6-boxing EQ without spending a ton on hardware

RAM DRIVES Everquest on a RAM drive?

Wow. Just wow. That would be so great!

Any pointers about how to do it? I have basic RAM drive software but I find it a bit... Well potentially I could lose data.

6 BOX SPECS

I 6 box smoothly.

CPU: i7 950 (1st gen) 4 core.
GPU: GTX 680
RAM: 16GB (18 actually, but only 16 supported by motherboard).

Main thing with EverQuest performance is particle effects. Keep those set low. Also turn off shadows because they look terrible in the game anyway. A few graphics tweaks like that and you will notice performance improve.

My main concern now is loading speed. It would be nice if every client zoned in to a new area almost simultaneously.