Building a rig for WoW.

Yeah, by the way... just tested a few things:

Max Settings (absolute max, including setting high quality for shadows) in regular Azeroth (not even a city mind you) -- I'm getting ~25-40 FPS. This is 2560 res w/ 8x Multisample.

If I run the above in Window mode I get 6 FPS.

I also don't think it's using SLI. It doesn't show up in the control panel (Nvidia one) to even enable it. I know both cards are showing though, as each one is listed in Device Manager.

Yeah, I really want to run that at 60 FPS in all areas (besides Dal, obviously, which would be acceptable at 30-50 or so.. but I would like it to run as best as possible).
 
lloose said:
Honestly if cost is an issues, I would go for the following..

-Core 2 duo 8400 and overclock. Having a cpu that starts off at 3ghz will help a lot. Wow will benefit clock for clock. Don't bother with an entry level quad.
-4gb of ddr2 800mhz. Get some that will support your overclock. 2 sticks of 2gb. Don't fill up the slots.
-Decent overclocking motherboard. Theres a lot of them, just pick one that fits your budget.
-Pick any card that fits your budget. I would not go below a 4850 or 9800gt in performance.

You wont be able to run on "Ultra" settings but you wont get much further with an overclocked i7 setup either due to engine issues.
Click to expand...


News Flash!!!!! - i5 and i7 eat the Core2 for breakfast.

Author said the i7 EE would cause an issue with cost.....

Suggesting a Core 2 Duo is a very very bad idea for a new system at this point.

Even running a Core 2 Quad at 3.84Ghz WoW will be CPU limited in some places.

Clock for clock, the Core i5/i7 are way way way faster than a Core 2 based system.

According to Sandra, My Quad running at 3.84Ghz is a little slower than an i7 running at 2.66Ghz.

Calculation wise and RAM throughput wise it isn't even a contest.
 
cyclone3d said:
News Flash!!!!! - i5 and i7 eat the Core2 for breakfast.

Author said the i7 EE would cause an issue with cost.....

Suggesting a Core 2 Duo is a very very bad idea for a new system at this point.

Even running a Core 2 Quad at 3.84Ghz WoW will be CPU limited in some places.

Clock for clock, the Core i5/i7 are way way way faster than a Core 2 based system.

According to Sandra, My Quad running at 3.84Ghz is a little slower than an i7 running at 2.66Ghz.

Calculation wise and RAM throughput wise it isn't even a contest.
Click to expand...

He was just trying to help, regardless :) Be easy on the guy.
 
cyclone3d said:
News Flash!!!!! - i5 and i7 eat the Core2 for breakfast.

Author said the i7 EE would cause an issue with cost.....

Suggesting a Core 2 Duo is a very very bad idea for a new system at this point.

Even running a Core 2 Quad at 3.84Ghz WoW will be CPU limited in some places.

Clock for clock, the Core i5/i7 are way way way faster than a Core 2 based system.

According to Sandra, My Quad running at 3.84Ghz is a little slower than an i7 running at 2.66Ghz.

Calculation wise and RAM throughput wise it isn't even a contest.
Click to expand...

When did I say that the i5 wasn't faster than a c2d? Did you even read my post? It clearly says..

if cost is an issue
Click to expand...
 
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3 30" screens is def overkill for WoW. You planning on running in full windowed mode on one of the screens I'm assuming?
 
I have been playing Wow on a 30" monitor for at least a year now.

I have switched back and forth from an ATi 4870x2 (Wow will only use 1 gpu in the x2) and an Nvidia gtx280.

Neither of these gpus give me the fps I would like (usually in the mid 40s). I am planning on buying a 5870 when they are more available.

But keep in mind that for good fps you need a good network connection too.

Also I am using a q6600 oc'd to about 3.2ghz.
 
DMystikaLD said:
When did I ever say I was running WoW on 3 screens :confused:
Click to expand...

The original post you made;
3) This is running on 3 x 30" Dells (will have a secondary card for two of the screens)

And because the new AMD 5870 has "Eyefinity" it can handle up to three 2560x1600res displays, we just assumed your were going that route ?
 
FYI, unless ATI & Nvidia have specifically fixed this "issue" -- Triple Buffering (the option in the drivers) only applies to OpenGL. If you are using DirectX then this will do nothing unless the game itself has the option built in (meaning you set it in-game vs the driver control panel). I did a cursory look on the net and have not seen anything indicating that this has changed. I also do not know if WoW provides this option natively or not. Just some food for thought.
 
Honestly, if you have 3 30" monitors why is cost any concern? Pick up an i7 860, and good quality P55, 4-8GB of good DDR3-1600, a single 5870 and have a ball. You can't play on a 30" and have a budget machine, thats why most 30" cost over $1000 (atleast the decent ones).
 
Or contrariwise we spent all of our money on our 30" monitors so we can't afford core i7 systems. :eek:

Actually I am planning to build a core i7 system real soon now.
 
Dual said:
Or contrariwise we spent all of our money on our 30" monitors so we can't afford core i7 systems. :eek:

Actually I am planning to build a core i7 system real soon now.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats true, I just figure people who buy big ass monitors got money for big ass systems ;D
 
I'm building an i7 860 rig with a 5870 at the moment for playing WOW as well and have every intention to eventually chuck in another 5870 by the time Cataclysm hits for CF ! It's NOT overkill as many people report... if you take a look at the last couple of WOW expansions they have upped the graphics somewhat and with shadows and all the high particle effects and draw distances on it's actually becoming quite demanding in the newer areas/content, at least on my 30" Dell at 2560x1600.

I'm sure that for those plugging away at 1680x1024 etc are fine with dual cores and 48XX cards but to drive a 30" panel properly you need the horsepowere if you want to run with the settings, AF, AA etc turned up where they belong.

Dalaran, forget trying... I've turned my res down to 800x600 and it's still lagging around 40-45fps.. it's just too much in one place for an internet connection and CPU to handle.

1000
 
Zorachus said:
The original post you made;
3) This is running on 3 x 30" Dells (will have a secondary card for two of the screens)

And because the new AMD 5870 has "Eyefinity" it can handle up to three 2560x1600res displays, we just assumed your were going that route ?
Click to expand...

Na, I have 3 screens because of work. I will only run WoW on one.. may try it on 3 I guess.. probably will run bad.
 
Shadowssong said:
Honestly, if you have 3 30" monitors why is cost any concern? Pick up an i7 860, and good quality P55, 4-8GB of good DDR3-1600, a single 5870 and have a ball. You can't play on a 30" and have a budget machine, thats why most 30" cost over $1000 (atleast the decent ones).
Click to expand...

I can justify screens for work... but not that kind of horse power. It's unreasonable to spend more than I need to. 101 ;) I suppose most of you guys here probably have no idea what I do on a day to day basis, so that's fair. But yeah, I spend the cash where I get the ROI. For me that happens to be screen space. I can't really get the ROI out of going to the Intel EE instead of i5.

I guess it doesn't really have anything to do with "If you have the money for 3 Dell 30's, you have the money for a big ass rig." I have the money, but it doesn't mean I want to spend it poorly. If I wanted to spend money poorly, there's much more terrible ways of doing that that I can think of that would result in much more fun, and they have nothing to do with computers :)
 
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ivandurago said:
All I know is you need 6x30" monitors now :D
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Trust me... I've debated it. I would need a bigger office though, ha! Any more and I'm staring straight up... or having to turn my chair completely around. The extra 2 20" Dells I have help because I'm putting them under my glass desk... positioned right below the 30's at an angle.
 
DMystikaLD said:
I can justify screens for work... but not that kind of horse power. It's unreasonable to spend more than I need to. 101 ;) I suppose most of you guys here probably have no idea what I do on a day to day basis, so that's fair. But yeah, I spend the cash where I get the ROI. For me that happens to be screen space. I can't really get the ROI out of going to the Intel EE instead of i5.

I guess it doesn't really have anything to do with "If you have the money for 3 Dell 30's, you have the money for a big ass rig." I have the money, but it doesn't mean I want to spend it poorly. If I wanted to spend money poorly, there's much more terrible ways of doing that that I can think of that would result in much more fun, and they have nothing to do with computers :)
Click to expand...

How much ROI are you getting playing WoW?
 
DMystikaLD said:
I can justify screens for work... but not that kind of horse power. It's unreasonable to spend more than I need to. 101 ;) I suppose most of you guys here probably have no idea what I do on a day to day basis, so that's fair. But yeah, I spend the cash where I get the ROI. For me that happens to be screen space. I can't really get the ROI out of going to the Intel EE instead of i5.

I guess it doesn't really have anything to do with "If you have the money for 3 Dell 30's, you have the money for a big ass rig." I have the money, but it doesn't mean I want to spend it poorly. If I wanted to spend money poorly, there's much more terrible ways of doing that that I can think of that would result in much more fun, and they have nothing to do with computers :)
Click to expand...

Haha I completely understand, I just assumed (making an ass of u and me! /laugh) that someone with 3 30" was throwing down mad money for the baddest rig on the block. Now if you actually use those monitors for more than playing video games and taking pictures to show off on forums then maybe you could get by with an i5 (lol!).
 
1000 said:
I'm building an i7 860 rig with a 5870 at the moment for playing WOW as well and have every intention to eventually chuck in another 5870 by the time Cataclysm hits for CF !
Click to expand...

WOW still doesn't have support for multiple GPUs. So that second HD 5870 is a bit of a waste.
 
x-fire in wow is still a waste simply becuase it maxes out on one card AND you can't do eyefinity on X-fire yet. Once that is fixed then there will be a reason to X-fire in wow.
 
Danny Bui said:
WOW still doesn't have support for multiple GPUs. So that second HD 5870 is a bit of a waste.
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I think any game can work with Eyefinity. From what I understand Eyefinity turns your multiple monitors into a single logical monitor that's then presented to the game (super high res).
 
sirmo said:
I think any game can work with Eyefinity. From what I understand Eyefinity turns your multiple monitors into a single logical monitor that's then presented to the game (super high res).
Click to expand...

pretty sure he mean crossfire/sli
 
I can confirm that Crossfire works quite well in WoW and there is a noticeable difference between one 4850 and two.

That being said, I think the anandtech benchmarks are a little silly. I know few people who run at a res like that and of those who do none have an expectation or really even a desire to run at 8xAA. If they had run at more common settings (like say 1920x1200 at 4xAA) I think there would have been much less spread among the cards.
 
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