Build for multiboxing

[smilikin]

I need help with a new computer build to run my slaves on as my current one got fried last week. I have read a lot of guides and thinks that the build I have come up with is decent but the reason I want your help is that the test I have based my build on are not even close to what I am going to use the computer for.

I'm going to use my current computer for my main character and the new computer for my 4 slaves, but I want to be able to run as many slaves as possible since I want to expand later on. I don't need the graphics on my slaves to be high, in fact they can all be black and 1x1 pixel for what I care, I only want the computer to be able to run as many slaves as possible.

The build that I am considering now is the following

CPU - Intel Core i5 Quad Processor i5-2500K
GPU - XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5
RAM - Kingston DDR3 HyperX 1600MHz 16GB (Kit w/4X HyperX 4GB DDR3, CL9-9-9-27, 240pin)
SDD - Intel X25-M SSD 80GB 2,5"
PSU - Corsair TX 950W PSU


I know that WOW is more CPU heavy than GPU and that's why I have chosen HD 6850 but I don't know if this will be a bottleneck in this build.
As for the CPU, in the tests that I have seen i5-2500K is almost on pair with i7-2600k which I find strange. i7 is about 60% more expensive than i5 but will it allow me to run more slaves or are those test true?
I have chosen 16GB ram because I constantly run low on ram at the moment but I might have gone too far on this one.
The SDD is only for OP and WOW so I don't need a large one. I can get a Kingston SSDNOW V+100 64GB for same price, maybe this is a better choice.
The PSU was the most difficult to choose as I have no idea how much power this build will consume, is 950W sufficient?

If you have any tips on how to improve this I would be very thankful.

[Ualaa]

Video memory will likely be your bottleneck, if you're going for a massive number of accounts.
You won't need any kind of video power really, especially if you have the windows minimized the whole time.
But if there is not available video memory, the process won't even start.
If we're talking five accounts, with an initial four slaves, that's not even close to an issue yet.

Assuming enough ram (and 16GB is plenty), processor is the biggest thing for Warcraft. If you don't have the ram for what you're doing, that is more important. I generally like 1GB for the OS and 1GB per client; but you can get by with a lot less that that. An i5 will handle five accounts very well; not sure what the maximum would be on lower settings with an i5.

After processor, an SSD is the largest gain, and an X25-M is a very solid SSD drive. I would recommend running the slaves from a single warcraft directory on lower settings.
A lot of people have gone with two of the Kingston Value drives in Raid0 and seem very happy with those.
A single SSD, not in Raid allows for the Trim command which is a major plus for the X25.

PSU will be fine for that build, without crossfire/SLI a 700W would probably work well.
You'd need to be running a plethora of fans before the power supply is an issue.

[smilikin]

Thank you for the quick response.

I was actually planing to get 2 GPU, but after reading about SLI/CF and WOW I dropped one. If I wanted to increase video memory I have two options. 2x HD6850 or 1x HD6950, I prefer the 1x HD6950 (2GB GDDR5) since it's cheaper but does it matter which one I chose, only taking into account the video memory?

I guess that video memory will still be my bottleneck, even with 2GB, and that switching from i5 to i7 wont allow me to handle that many more accounts so I will stick with i5. Or do you think that i7 will be a large improvement.

[Tim]

Your best bet right now is probably to go the Nvidia route, as it can SLI with WoW just fine. Plus if you ever want to stream a nice stream in SLI, you're going to require Nvidia as AMD does not fully support SLI in windowed mode.