I am considering taking a look at a new config for my gaming pc. My main question is.. Does wow use SLI correctly? I know several games have issues with it. Same goes for dual core/quad core. Any comments on it? I'd like to hear from a few who have sli and or a quad core cpu, I am curious how much performance you gain by it.
What I would like to achieve :
- Run dual monitor set up. 1 for games etc (the "active" monitor in front of me, which would be the biggest of both) and 1 for sites. I hate alt-tabbing.
- Be able to perhaps have wow and photoshop open (so that'd be 4GB ram? lol)
Ok, and play COD4 etc, but honestly any new machine will pull it, so it's cool. I am not sure if I want to get Vista or just use Wine for WoW, Steam and Photoshop.
Speaking as a person who just built a new computer:
RAM == Really, really cheap (unless you get DDR3), get 4 gigs!
Quad core == Good. WoW is only dual threaded as far as I'm aware, but a quad core will still allow for a multitasking extravaganza.
SLI = I run a single monitor, but I'd rather have a single fast card than two ok cards. WoW, from what I understand, does not take advantage of SLI in full screen maximized mode. The Geforce 8800GT 512mb is the current best bang for the buck card. New nvidias due out in March (same time the 45nm quads are).
That was why I was checking. I mainly play wow, DoD, DoD Source, CoD 1, 2 and 4 .. LOL Other than that, I don't play that many games. Though POrtal I have got to get.. (OK, and I play Garry's Mod.. so sue me)
Quote from Tuller »
WoW's only dual threaded, too. But hey, you can still use your extra computationalobsters for multitasking. At least that's what I do. Also, ram is really cheap. 4 gigs!
So then, dual core is more than sufficient :) And SLI not needed either ;) That way I get to buy a much heavier Gfx card :P
A Quadcore SLI system is definitely a good investment if you intend to play other games on top of WoW. As for WoW itself, such a system is overkill, because WoW does really take advantage of SLI, and the drivers under Vista has issues with SLI from even affecting performance in WoW.
SLI is only good if you've got the cash to buy two top of the line cards. Same with quad-core. If you're on any sort of budget, bypass both. I actually had to shut off SLI for WoW because it was causing issues with v-sync awhile back. Blizzard's official response was "we don't support multiple GPUs".
I'd just go with Windows. It's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be so long as you're careful when you buy your hardware. Try to match brands as much as possible. Linux support for modern hardware was severely lacking last time I tried, and emulation easily halved my frame rate.
Oh, and there's a fix for the SLI issue in Vista, check Nvidia's page. It works fine for me.
When I built my computer the difference between a quad core and a dual core was about $100 so I went for the quad core. It's awesome to be ripping/encoding DVDs in the background while you're playing wow. I couldn't justify SLI though. The $200-$280 price range for video cards really seems to be the sweet spot for cost/performance.
I personally aim for $150 vid cards, but I'm not a performance freak. If it runs the game at a PLAYABLE framerate, I'm happy. I'm secure with my penis size and don't feel the need to compensate for it with speed like my roomie (he tries to get the most speed he can out of everything he owns).
From everything I've ever seen, SLI is just a stupid hardware gimmick to make the people who buy $400+ vid cards think that they need to buy two $400+ vid cards.
As for dual/quad core, by all means get it over a single-core chip, but don't go out of your way (I.E. don't blow more money on it than you were initially planning). It's certainly nice to have Firefox not bog down the game when it's refreshing your gmail, or some other rogue process bring the computer to a standstill by hogging CPU cycles *coughTrustedInstallercough*
No its not, I got a single GTX 8800, and with everything turned up @1920x1200 + high AA/AF, I get below 20fps in some raid situations. So with a highres monitor, high AA/AF and max setting its fully possible to slow down WoW a lot.
Quad CPU is a bit overkill for WoW though, but having a very fast multi-core CPU is good for your overall computer and gaming performance.
:)
Quote from Moon Witch »
What I would like to achieve :
- Run dual monitor set up. 1 for games etc (the "active" monitor in front of me, which would be the biggest of both) and 1 for sites. I hate alt-tabbing.
If you run full-screen on the first monitor you wont be able to pull the mouse out to the 2nd one without alt-tabbing or running Windowed. At least not in WoW afaik.
It's something to think about: For games that don't split up their cpu time into threads well (We've discussed here that wow only deals with two major threads), you will get better performance from faster cores than more cores. The current generation of dual-cores vs the current generation of quads, for example.
At least, that's what I gather from reading about various gaming setups. My own humble early-prescott p4 doesn't really grant much actual experience in the matter.
This is only as far as gaming, though. As has again been mentioned earlier, the more the merrier for multitasking, obviously.
Another thing gleaned from similar setups, if anyone else cares to weigh in: I've heard that SLI and multiple monitors don't play well.
I just built a Q6600 with nvidia 8800GT comp during weekend. Wow is running 60-64 fps on 3200x1200 resolution divided on 2 screens. I'm using aperture to narrow the rendered area to left screen, leaving right screen for chat, omen, map (always open) and other information.
Lowest fps was in Shattrath at Scryer bank where it momentarily went to 47. I haven't raided, but AV keeps at 60 fps even in heavy combat situations. I overclocked the Q6600 from 2.4 Ghz to 3.0 Ghz and I am running WinXp Pro with 2 GB ram. No e-peening here, just pointing out some numbers for references sake.
I'm guessing running chatty add-ons in some raid situations could hurt the fps situation but for me this upgrade was very satisfying and I'm looking forward to having this setup for the next 3-5 years (given nothing breaks). The only forseeable upgrade could be upping memory to 4 GB when/if I will move to Vista-64, but probably I'm going to wait out sp1 and maybe even sp2 before that decision.
I'll have to check on AA/AF settings when I get back home - honestly can't remember now. I just remember tuning every setting to the max from video setup. But I only got the comp up Sunday evening and have been merely on a test drive for couple of hours.
My setup:
A64 3500+ singlecore, clocked from 2,2ghz to 2,6ghz
1gb quality ram (dont mock me)
GeForce 7900 GS (256mb)
I run dual monitors with wow on 1 and rest on 2nd.
Got 30-60 fps normally depending on situation, no problem.
Im gonna upgrade my system with a new mainboard (i have like oldschool one, 2 years old or so..), more ram and a new cpu.
going quadcore this time, sticking with single gpu
Thanks guys. I really couldn't justify SLI either in my mind, but I thought I could be wrong :P I mean, my main concern is to get over 2FPS in damn raids. It's starting to piss me off. If I have Opera/IE/Fx open with a tab or 5, my ram chokes. (I run WoW, Antivirus, Corecenter, Winamp/Foobar, Setpoint, browser, Notepad ++ and have an explorer folder open - addons :P) I only have 1GB of ram, but seeing as it's DDR1, my CPU socket is 754, it's ridiculous to upgrade anything right now. If I replace one part, I'd need to get the rest too - so it's just easier to save up for the new parts, shove the thing together and hope I didn't mess up. (My common mistake is the wrong jumper on my hard drive)
The only reason for Quad core would be future oriented. I like my machines to last me a while, this lil thing kept me going for about 4 or 5 yrs now. It's time to replace it, and I like a pc to last at least 4 yrs.
Tek, I do try to speed thnigs up on my pc too, but I don't overclock since my cooling doesn't allow it. I have to leave my room heating off (my case is too close to a radiator) or it jumps to 55C, which may not be a lot, but then I take a huge performance hit.
My experience: 30 degrees Celsius cpu temp after initial boot, rises a bit as the temperature in my small office room rises up as well. During game time some 45-47 Celsius. After couple of hours playing and then idling, it goes to 40 and stays there.
Just check your motherboard & box space so that the cooler will fit in. My mobo is MSI p35 Neo2 Fr, box is Antec p180.
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What I would like to achieve :
- Run dual monitor set up. 1 for games etc (the "active" monitor in front of me, which would be the biggest of both) and 1 for sites. I hate alt-tabbing.
- Be able to perhaps have wow and photoshop open (so that'd be 4GB ram? lol)
Ok, and play COD4 etc, but honestly any new machine will pull it, so it's cool. I am not sure if I want to get Vista or just use Wine for WoW, Steam and Photoshop.
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Curse PremiumRAM == Really, really cheap (unless you get DDR3), get 4 gigs!
Quad core == Good. WoW is only dual threaded as far as I'm aware, but a quad core will still allow for a multitasking extravaganza.
SLI = I run a single monitor, but I'd rather have a single fast card than two ok cards. WoW, from what I understand, does not take advantage of SLI in full screen maximized mode. The Geforce 8800GT 512mb is the current best bang for the buck card. New nvidias due out in March (same time the 45nm quads are).
That was why I was checking. I mainly play wow, DoD, DoD Source, CoD 1, 2 and 4 .. LOL Other than that, I don't play that many games. Though POrtal I have got to get.. (OK, and I play Garry's Mod.. so sue me)
So then, dual core is more than sufficient :) And SLI not needed either ;) That way I get to buy a much heavier Gfx card :P
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Curse PremiumI'd just go with Windows. It's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be so long as you're careful when you buy your hardware. Try to match brands as much as possible. Linux support for modern hardware was severely lacking last time I tried, and emulation easily halved my frame rate.
Oh, and there's a fix for the SLI issue in Vista, check Nvidia's page. It works fine for me.
nVidia GeForce 8800GTS 512MB
should suffice
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Curse PremiumFrom everything I've ever seen, SLI is just a stupid hardware gimmick to make the people who buy $400+ vid cards think that they need to buy two $400+ vid cards.
As for dual/quad core, by all means get it over a single-core chip, but don't go out of your way (I.E. don't blow more money on it than you were initially planning). It's certainly nice to have Firefox not bog down the game when it's refreshing your gmail, or some other rogue process bring the computer to a standstill by hogging CPU cycles *coughTrustedInstallercough*
No its not, I got a single GTX 8800, and with everything turned up @1920x1200 + high AA/AF, I get below 20fps in some raid situations. So with a highres monitor, high AA/AF and max setting its fully possible to slow down WoW a lot.
Quad CPU is a bit overkill for WoW though, but having a very fast multi-core CPU is good for your overall computer and gaming performance.
:)
If you run full-screen on the first monitor you wont be able to pull the mouse out to the 2nd one without alt-tabbing or running Windowed. At least not in WoW afaik.
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Curse PremiumAt least, that's what I gather from reading about various gaming setups. My own humble early-prescott p4 doesn't really grant much actual experience in the matter.
This is only as far as gaming, though. As has again been mentioned earlier, the more the merrier for multitasking, obviously.
Another thing gleaned from similar setups, if anyone else cares to weigh in: I've heard that SLI and multiple monitors don't play well.
Lowest fps was in Shattrath at Scryer bank where it momentarily went to 47. I haven't raided, but AV keeps at 60 fps even in heavy combat situations. I overclocked the Q6600 from 2.4 Ghz to 3.0 Ghz and I am running WinXp Pro with 2 GB ram. No e-peening here, just pointing out some numbers for references sake.
I'm guessing running chatty add-ons in some raid situations could hurt the fps situation but for me this upgrade was very satisfying and I'm looking forward to having this setup for the next 3-5 years (given nothing breaks). The only forseeable upgrade could be upping memory to 4 GB when/if I will move to Vista-64, but probably I'm going to wait out sp1 and maybe even sp2 before that decision.
I do get 60+ fps normally, its just with extreme number of mobs/spell effects it chugs.
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Curse PremiumA64 3500+ singlecore, clocked from 2,2ghz to 2,6ghz
1gb quality ram (dont mock me)
GeForce 7900 GS (256mb)
I run dual monitors with wow on 1 and rest on 2nd.
Got 30-60 fps normally depending on situation, no problem.
Im gonna upgrade my system with a new mainboard (i have like oldschool one, 2 years old or so..), more ram and a new cpu.
going quadcore this time, sticking with single gpu
The only reason for Quad core would be future oriented. I like my machines to last me a while, this lil thing kept me going for about 4 or 5 yrs now. It's time to replace it, and I like a pc to last at least 4 yrs.
Tek, I do try to speed thnigs up on my pc too, but I don't overclock since my cooling doesn't allow it. I have to leave my room heating off (my case is too close to a radiator) or it jumps to 55C, which may not be a lot, but then I take a huge performance hit.
As to cooling, I just have to mention I went with stock-cooling for gpu but for cpu I chose (a techy friend recommended) this: http://www.xigmatek.com/product/air-hdts1283.php
It has gotten praise on reviews, for example: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2233&page=1
My experience: 30 degrees Celsius cpu temp after initial boot, rises a bit as the temperature in my small office room rises up as well. During game time some 45-47 Celsius. After couple of hours playing and then idling, it goes to 40 and stays there.
Just check your motherboard & box space so that the cooler will fit in. My mobo is MSI p35 Neo2 Fr, box is Antec p180.