World of Warcraft (WOW) and Everquest/2 - What Graphics card needed 1920x1200?

[ajgoodfellow]

I'd seriously consider the Antec Sonata over the stacker

Very nice solidly built case with a thought given for quietness. I've built a few PCs in the original Sonata and I've been very happy with it - the only problem I have with the case is the lack of a removable motherboard tray

The Zalman VF700 is a good option for a third party cooler. Nicely made and very quiet on 5V

 

[Big.Wayne]

Groovey!

I am now researching SLI compatibility with these games! what little I have read so far seems to say that SLI causes problems and even runs the games slower than a single card??

Its hard to get the good info these days, quite a lot of mis-informed people all playing chinese whispers, so one person has a slight issue, say with refresh rates and he tells someone else, who in turns tells someone else . By the time it has travelled around the world and I get to read about it the original report has mutated into some guys machine bursting into flames after installing SLI lol.

Gonna hunt me down an Everquest 2 hardware review or similar, I thought 1920x1200 max everything was in the bag, now its looking like a Radeon 1900XT or maybe SLI when the new nVidia cards come out!!

 

[ajgoodfellow]

From what I've gathered EQ2 prefers ATI and that Crossfire (at least the new version with the X1000 series) is less troublesome with some games than SLI so I'd look at Crossfired X1900XTs

These are going to be seriously pricey PCs by the sounds of it though! (£1k graphics, £800 monitor, etc...!)

 

[BigDom]

Don't worry too much about max everything in EQ2.. it really is beautifull even on non-full settings. If I was you I'd get a copy of EQ2 and try it out so you can play with settings then advise your customers.


As for Crossfire - I believe your right AJ. From what I can gether, especially with some SLI testing of my own, SLI uses the OS for some of it's work. I believe Crossfire doesn't as it just sends instructions through the driver to the Master card which the decides who to process the signal and which card does the work. Thus SLI plays up with some games but Crossfire works with all.

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Just had a thought about Crossfire - depending when you're planning on selling the PCs I'd wait for RD580 as I've read about a fair few problems with RD480 based boards. There's a thread in the motherboard forum where someone has got old of one of the new RD580 based boards here. I'd also get one with the ULI southbridge and not the ATI southbridge

 

[BigDom]

The SLI testing I did btw so far shows all sorts of odities. I'm running a matched pair of 6600's and when I clock them the 3dMark 05 score drops O.o - but natureally the score goe's up when running single card.

 

[Big.Wayne]

These are going to be seriously pricey PCs by the sounds of it though! (£1k graphics, £800 monitor, etc...!)

Top end!

I am hovering around the £2,500 mark in hardware alone, not including my time and support.

There is a nice high end market being revived now, people realise that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. It seems there is a large group of males in (or near) their 40's who have worked hard and have plenty cash to splash!

What more could they want than a guy who will come round and have a cup of tea, talk to them in person to find out their needs and then *custom* build a designer PC to their specifications 100%, using only premium, mature and tested components, fully installed and on the end of a phone/skype to be of service in case anythings up. I also use Remote Assistance to take control of the computers remotely every month or two to keep an eye on the system!!

Then once a year the system gets a service and after two years or so its time to upgrade!!

 

[Big.Wayne]

Don't worry too much about max everything in EQ2.. it really is beautifull even on non-full settings. If I was you I'd get a copy of EQ2 and try it out so you can play with settings then advise your customers

Lol no way, no no no!!! (Ever-Crack right!)

I'd seriously consider the Antec Sonata over the stacker

Thats the entry level machine in the pics, the one I want to use costs nearly double!!

Big is good and a removable mobo tray is needed, so in the case of something really bad like a failed mobo I can just turn up with the new mobo mounted in a spare tray and clunk-click, system swap in five mins. Long gone are my days of fiddling in a cramped case, cursing because the HSF is too close to the PSU, or stuff like that. Of course its horses for courses and there will be times when a compact machine is needed so. . .

I will try out a sonata though, I have used plenty of ANTEC stuff before and I like, just the stacker appeals because its BIG = Powerful!!! (Its my clients haha)

But for *quiet*cooling its hard to beat a huge thing like that eh!

 

[Dureth]

For a really high end completely silent solution you could build one in the zalman case. Although at £900 for a case and PSU alone it may be a bit much even for your clients.

 

[Big.Wayne]

Hehe yeah!!

I would imagine that case being handy where you really *must* have silence like in a recording studio or similar, but for a personal gamer its a bit ott as the wind blowing outside or a car driving down the street would be louder than the systems I have done so far using the coolermaster. .

 

[Nelly]

Hi m8,

EverQuest player since June 1999 here, this was my old spec:-
My PC Specs: (Running at stock speeds - ram on auto settings)
Asus A8V Rev-2|FX-53|2 x Crucial 512MB 4000 DDR|Tagan 480W PSU|1 x WD 74GB Raptor|1 x Maxtor DiamondMax Plus D740X 40GB|Pioneer DVR 108|Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS|MSI 256MB X800XT PE|19” Viewsonic VP191b TFT|NTL 2MB BB.

I could run EQ on maximum settings at 1280 x 1024 with all spell effects on etc no problem at all, the only bottle neck for me seemed to be the ram which I would recommend having 2GB, Fast ram & decent hard-drives like the raptors for fast zoning, I use 2 accounts at once running on the same PC just for info.

So to cut the story short - X800XT PE is great! Anything better is overkill.

Also to verify what has been said! EverQuest DOES run more smoothly using an ATI card - Direct X game also.

Hope that helps.

 

[BigDom]

That's Everquest though.. NOT EQ2... EQ2 is an entirely different Kettle of fish.

 

[Big.Wayne]

decent hard-drives like the raptors for fast zoning, I use 2 accounts at once running on the same PC just for info.

Hi,

thanks, so it seems that the original EQ is no problem to run now on a modern machine, but EQ2 sounds as tough as the *FEAR* game to get running properly.

I'm interested in what you said about hard-disks and this *zoning*? Is this something important to the game or are we talking level loading here?

I normally use Hitachi drives as these seem as fast as raptors to me, but now I'm looking at making some machines as quiet as possible I will probably use a few Seagates or Samsungs. All the drives I just mentioned are quiet enough while idle (except raptors) but on disk seek the hitachi makes a little roar while the seagates I have tested are a lot quieter Ialbeit slower!)

Maybe even RAID-0 is thats helpful (does help load times) but I need clarifaction on this *zoning*

 

[FerretBoy]

but EQ2 sounds as tough as the *FEAR* game to get running properly.

Its probably at least 30times more demanding than fear on max settings, but it was designed to look good for years to come, your no supposed to be able to run max settings yet. Hell the eyelashes have their own shadows on max settings.

2GB is the main thing for mmorpgs.

 

[Nelly]

Zoning - I am talking about moving from one area to the next in which you have loading times, which needs to access your hard-drive where the zone files for each content is, the faster your hard-drives the quicker the zone access time is, ram seems to also be a factor as well.

I have played EverQuest II & it is indeed a very demanding game in terms of hardware, when I bought my system it was probally one of the best specs available at the time when EQ II was released, I coudnt use maximum settings without suffering from poor performance, not sure what difference the X1900's would make though.

 

[ajgoodfellow]

The Raptors are very quiet on idle - I've got one (74GB bought Jan 06) and you honestly cannot hear it above a Zalman VF700Cu @ 5V, Akasa EVO120 @ min rpm, one 300rpm Amber mounted with rubber grommits, Antec silent PSU and an Antec Sonata case - my PC is very very quiet.

It makes a fair old noise when seeking though - you can get silentmaxx hard drive enclosures which virtually eliminate this

 

[Teal]

Plenty of people running SLI rigs with EQ2 now, people report issues with some driver versions but for the most part they work without significant issues.

Forget trying to build a system capable of handling max settings and remaining playable for now as the hardware doesn't exist.

You will occasionally find people claiming they have done it but most often they have turned down something like shadows, or they are suffering unplayable lag to enjoy the graphics which won't do for a serious player.

The guys running multiple PC's are doing it to allow them to play multiple characters in the same group at the same time. This can let them level up a lower character quicker, or tackle mobs they would not otherwise be able to take.

You can run two accounts on opne PC but with EQ2 it leads to lag and you can't drive 2 screens accelerated from a single card so that is usually out.

 

[fanboy69]

for MMO's RAM, stability and silent running is the key.
EQ2 and indeed any of the MMO's produced by SOE(sony online entertainment)
Eq2 will require an absolute beast of a machine to attemp to run at max settings.
A radeon 1900 XtX however will run both games just fine.
sound quality is an often overlooked factor of playing an mmo so make sure you include a good soundcard and speakers in the final spec.

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Teamspeak is very handy so include a microphone with the system

 

[Big.Wayne]

Plenty of people running SLI rigs with EQ2 now, people report issues with some driver versions but for the most part they work without significant issues.

Forget trying to build a system capable of handling max settings and remaining playable for now as the hardware doesn't exist.

You can run two accounts on opne PC but with EQ2 it leads to lag and you can't drive 2 screens accelerated from a single card so that is usually out.

Good to know thanks! I figure a X1900XT is the way to go for the moment, then have a closer look at the nVidia situation in a few months once some newer cards are released. I can see a top-end SLI solution adding £700-£1000 to the machines budget!! but if thats what it need to see your enemies eyelashes @1920x1200then I will try and make it an option. .

sound quality is an often overlooked factor of playing an mmo so make sure you include a good soundcard and speakers in the final spec.

Does EQ2 have advanced sound options and positional audio? I had been intending to use the onboard audio but will have a closer look at the sound requirements of this game. A decent soundcard and speakers will be adding £200 or so to the budget but if the game playing experience can be enhanced through advanced audio I will look at this more closely,

Many thanks all, very helpful replies!