Do I need more RAM, CPU speed, or Video power to run multiple games simultaneous

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Hi,

I am currently shopping for an alienware laptop that will be suitable to my needs. I have been researching different cpu's and video cards and I'm still not sure what to get.
I need to know the minimum components needed to run 4 games simultaneously without having any lag or skipping issues, especially the mouse cursor- it needs to be smooth. Actually, 3 instances of one game (Diablo 3) minimized while playing another graphics intensive game. What is the minimum RAM I should have? Is a Quad core 2 ghz such as Q9000 too slow and do I need hyperthreading? Should I get SLI video or single dedicated video? I'm also concerned about battery drainage on the laptop, I'd rather get components that will help save battery power if possible and no doubt SLI takes more power, correct? Thanks for any accurate information!
 
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simon12

simon12

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I think the 3930K 4.8GHz quad 680SLi will do it buy nothing that fits in or could be cooled in a laptop unless you want to play them all at low setting and res. Also Alienware are overpriced and all high spec gaming laptops can have overheating issues.
 
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Brett928S2

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Hi :)

GAMING + LAPTOP = OXYMORON

For what you want it would cost well over £3000/$4000 and probably wouldn't work well , if at all...

And as far as battery power is concerned, I seriously doubt you would get ONE hour... :(

And my shops sell Gaming Laptops & Gaming PCS...

BUILD a gaming PC... CHEAPER AND much MORE POWERFUL...

All the best Brett :)
 
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x100xPercent

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My current desktop is an Alienware with i7 920 2.6 ghz, 12G ram and an HD 5870 video card. This system is about 2-2.5 years old. It runs the 3 instances of Diablo 3 + another game perfectly well with no issues at all, in fact with all this running it still shows over 95% system idle in the task manager. So I think you are all very wrong so far, anyone agree?
 
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Brett928S2

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Hi :)

You ask a question and get expert answers from people trying to help you and don't like the answer lol...

This is obviously a Troll... I am gone...


All the best Brett :)
 
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x100xPercent

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My point is obviously these guys are not experts in this area because theres no way my 2 year old desktop is better than a bran new laptop with better hardware. One guy said I need over 4 ghz, so obviously he doens't know what hes talking about. The other guy said no laptop can do it. So... still waiting for someone who can help me choose the minimum hardware I need, which is at least an HD 5870 12 gb ram 2.6 ghz, but that is a bit expensive for a laptop. Most of the alienwares come with 4 -8 G RAM and SLI video.
 
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blake1243

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Diablo 3 could probably run on my 6 year old laptop. It really doesn't take much to run that game. I assumed you were talking about 3 games (Diablo 3 + 2 or more games).
 
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x100xPercent

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Oh no, my original question says "3 instances of Diablo 3 and one other game". I've been doing this for a few months now on my desktop and I can play a game while leaving 3 copies of Diablo 3 minimized, everything runs smooth and I can alt+tab between the 4 applications freely. I'm thinking that you are correct that Diablo 3 just doesn't take very many resources. It sure doesn't take much processor speed, each of the 3 diablo's running are only taking about 1% each according to task manager. I don't need to run more than 2 games, but I do need 3 instances of Diablo 3 to run while playing any other game as this is the most I will need my computer to handle.

Thanks for the help.. I just chatted with an alienware "expert" on alienware.com and he said the guys hes working with said I need a GTX 680 and that "might" run it, so basically those experts say the same thing as you guys, but also he said none of them have tried to run that much at once. I guess I just have to spend what I'm willing to spend and get what I can and take a risk. Alienware is definitely a must for me, both because of how cool they look and my faith in the quality.

Thanks again
 
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x100xPercent

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I have made a very profitable "job" out of auction house trading, I run 3 accounts so that I can trade 60 items (10 gold and 10 real money auction limit on each account). I am getting a laptop so I can can work from anywhere, and I need one soon for a vacation coming up so I'm kinda scrambling to get something soon, but also don't want to spend too much so I'm looking for a used one but not too old on eBay (I'm a big fan of eBay and always buy used electronics) But since it's from eBay it obviously can't be returned so whatever I get needs to work for me or I'll have to resell it and find another, so you can understand why I'm trying to figure this out. I'm trying to spend no more than $1200 - there's one I found with a Q9000 processor, 8 G RAM and GTX 260M SLI that I'd like to get and I think it should work but not too sure now.
 
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1zacster

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What do you mean at the same time? you mean virtualized systems with extra displays and keyboards?
 
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Adamw0611

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That's not going to work for what you want, the q9000 is an old CPU, and I had a laptop with a single 260m a few years back, it was a cheesy video card back then when I had it... not sure even SLI could help it.

As far as Alienware quality, that video card was in there m15x, forget most of the specs but had an i7@2.4ghz 4gb's ram, and a 260m. It could barely even run WoW at high settings, had to even turn them down in raids. Either way about quality, it ran near TJmax all the time, overheated quite a bit, burnt the motherboard up twice and video card once. When the mobo went the 2nd time it wasn't under warranty and I was told 650 dollars to send me a new one. I don't have much faith in buying used PC parts from eBay, so I threw the thing in the trash, it was about 2,000 when I bought it. The battery life was atrocious too, about 1.5 hours on battery less when running games, battery was alright when just surfing the net and such.

So as the others here have said, there is no truth to Alienware Quality, the Alienware experts are nothing more than the "Dude, you're getting a dell guy" and no laptop that I know of is going to work for your needs, even if it did you'd be lucky to get an hour out of the battery.
 
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Sounds like you had about the same system as the one I'm looking at... I will be passing it up and looking for a much newer one. This laptop (and probably your old one) has a 9 cell battery also, I guess a 12-cell is a must-have. I've been reading about different video cards and yea, the 260m is basically crap and SLI doesn't help much in games as far as the memory goes.

Thanks for the info Adam
 
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x100xPercent

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I just bought a Samsung 700g7c, I think I'll be good to go now, it has an i7-3610QM 2.3 ghz, 16 G RAM, and a GTX 675M! $1200 used with existing warranty, not too bad I'd say considering the cost of an Alienware equivalent
 
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Scott_D_Bowen

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I need to know the minimum components needed to run 4 games simultaneously without having any lag or skipping issues, especially the mouse cursor
Click to expand...
...


*** I miss-read the question, but the idea's below are awesome and might help some other nutter so I'll leave it here ***

The problem about skipping issues, and perhaps input lag, is not really a hardware concern directly.

The drivers that render to a surface; cutting a long story short; are not designed to render to multiple surfaces at once when they're in a full screen 3D mode unless running a single process (game title) that outputs to multiple monitors.

- Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Display_Driver_Model

Your best bet may be to run 4 video cards, not in SLI or Crossfire(X), and try to configure/dedicate each game process (filename.exe) to a specific video card.

The driver isn't really geared for what you ask due to limitations in the driver model.

Some people will say it's a PCI Express x16 v#.# limitation, but that is total garbage, PCIe v3.0 has enough to do this, it's that the bottleneck is effectively the driver - or even the driver model itself.


You may also see significant gains doing this under Windows 8, as it's driver model is much improved... even over WDDM v1.1 which is nothing short of fantastic already (IMHO)


Another idea would be to run a very highly optimized para-virtual machine that supports high performance Direct3D, and OpenGL, with each Virtual Machine dedicated to a specific monitor in a multi-monitor set-up on the host, with just one powerful video card -as I doubt SLI or Crossfire(X) would work doing this- and multiple HDMI and/or DVI outputs for digital display.

 
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bemused_fred

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Just some friendly advice: don't come onto a thread accusing the OP of picking the "wrong" choice in desktop vs. laptop, shameless advertise your own shop and then accuse them of being a troll. Moderators don't take too kindly to that sort of thing.

OT: I'm not sure why you would want to run multiple games in tandem, since you can only really play one at once. but the main thing is RAM. I sometimes pause advanced 3D games while waiting for friends and play flash ones in the foreground, which eats up RAM fast. A good CPU helps too. Bear in mind that if you try and run multiple, high-graphics, AAA games, you'll quickly run out of VRAM. I tried keeping one FPS paused while playing another, and despite both being at "low" settings in 720p, 1GB just wasn't enough.

Really, if I were you, I'd learn to just be happy with the "save and quit" function in games and only run at once. But that's just me.
 
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Brett928S2

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Hi :)

You are TOTALLY WRONG....

Nobody knows what my shops in the UK are called (apart from the Moderators) and its deliberate, as it would bias my advice if I sold anything through my advice here...

YOU have NOT even read the whole thread... hes cannot run one window at once as hes making money, by doing something he shouldn't be doing in 3/4 windows... :(

And I AM CORRECT ... he cannot run games in 4 windows on any current laptop that costs 1200...

So first actually READ THE THREAD before you comment, and secondly at least TRY and get your facts correct....

All the best Brett :)
 
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