[BOT HARDWARE] - VMware Multiple instances

[Dirtyangel]

Hey there, I plan on getting a server to run 6 - 8 instances of D3 bots in VMware using stripped down copies of Windows XP for highest performance.
1GB per Virtual Machine makes D3 run flawlessly!

I'm looking forward to having powerful SLI-GPU and enough free CPU & RAM to run other applications in Windows 8 without any interruptions or system lag. I'm trying to build all-in one botting/gaming and work PC.

My budget is 2,000 - 5,000 dollars.

Basically I'm looking for advice on hardware and/or anything that might help me in general.

UPDATED
/- DECIDED TO GO WITH 2 DIFFERENT BUILDS FOR BOT/GAMING & WORK -\
(MY CURRENT BOT HARDWARE BELOW)

so i really dont see the advantage in putting all on 1 box. you lose a lot of control and you are forced to buy highly overpriced hardware.

lets say you get a dedicated botting machine which can take way more then 8 vms at a time:

SSD: Crucial m4 SSD 256GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s (CT256M4SSD2) - $250
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K 4x 3.50GHz So.1155 BOX - Clocked to 3.9GHz - $350
GFX: Onboard Intel GFX
CPU-COOLER: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 - $80
BOARD: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 So.1155 Dual Channel DDR3 ATX Retail - $220
RAM: 32GB-Kingston-ValueRAM-DDR3-1600-regECC-DIMM-CL11-Quad-Kit $250
POWER: 650W Enermax Revolution 87+ ERV650AWT-G - $150
CHEAP TOWER: $30
CHEAP MONITOR: $100

So you get a kickas botting machine for ~$1400 and you have all the rest to get yourself a nice game/work pc

;
;
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I will give you my rig's specs: it cost me about 2500$

CPU : Intel 3930K (6core,12threads) 3.2Ghz
MOBO: Asus P9PX79 PRO
RAM: G.skill 32 gigs @ 1600 mhz
GPU : Nvdia Gefore GTX 670 2 Gb ram
SSD: 128 Gigs Samsung 830


I Overclocked my CPU to a ''safe level'' at 3.9 Ghz using a Corsair H100 water cooling system

I am running 15 D3 accounts with Immortal and it's taking 50% of the CPU, I think I could push my system up to 25 Accounts easily.

Good luck!

[simko1ra]

To my knowledge, VMware doesn't support GPUs so save your money on those.

[psychoangler]

1. you dont need a powerful gfx card for vmware. all direct 3d is emulated by cpu.
2. dunno i tryed to get d3 done on vmware using windows xp it lagged horrible

im running the vms on win7 with 2gb ram each and they run fine. and if you get 32gb-48gb ram you cannot hit the ramlimit before cpu starts crashing. maybe there are dual xeon solutions, but i dont think its effective. for 2000-4000$ i would consider getting 2 machines with a quad core intel (8 codes hyperthreaded) and a lot of ram. you dont need to spend money on gfx at all if your purpose is to run vms

but for instance if you want to run 8 instances, i got the intel I7-3770k with 32GB of ram and some random asrock board and a nice ssd (i recommend crucial m4) and that machine can handle 8 vms running windows 7 - only problem is ati gfx driver doesnt like my vm so id go for nvidea

btw at 8 vms my cpu is round 50-60%

[Dirtyangel]

1. you dont need a powerful gfx card for vmware. all direct 3d is emulated by cpu.
2. dunno i tryed to get d3 done on vmware using windows xp it lagged horrible

im running the vms on win7 with 2gb ram each and they run fine. and if you get 32gb-48gb ram you cannot hit the ramlimit before cpu starts crashing. maybe there are dual xeon solutions, but i dont think its effective. for 2000-4000$ i would consider getting 2 machines with a quad core intel (8 codes hyperthreaded) and a lot of ram. you dont need to spend money on gfx at all if your purpose is to run vms

but for instance if you want to run 8 instances, i got the intel I7-3770k with 32GB of ram and some random asrock board and a nice ssd (i recommend crucial m4) and that machine can handle 8 vms running windows 7 - only problem is ati gfx driver doesnt like my vm so id go for nvidea

btw at 8 vms my cpu is round 50-60%

I'll be using this build for work/gaming as well.

That's the main reason behind SLI GPU.

[psychoangler]

hm if you want to stress your machine heavily besides running 8 vms you probably need a real badass cpu like the big i7 exteme edition 6core cpu or so

[psychoangler]

so i really dont see the advantage in putting all on 1 box. you lose a lot of control and you are forced to buy highly overpriced hardware.

lets say you get a dedicated botting machine which can take way more then 8 vms at a time:

SSD: Crucial m4 SSD 256GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s (CT256M4SSD2) - $250
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K 4x 3.50GHz So.1155 BOX - Clocked to 3.9GHz - $350
GFX: Onboard Intel GFX
CPU-COOLER: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 - $80
BOARD: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 So.1155 Dual Channel DDR3 ATX Retail - $220
RAM: 32GB-Kingston-ValueRAM-DDR3-1600-regECC-DIMM-CL11-Quad-Kit $250
POWER: 650W Enermax Revolution 87+ ERV650AWT-G - $150
CHEAP TOWER: $30
CHEAP MONITOR: $100

So you get a kickas botting machine for ~$1400 and you have all the rest to get yourself a nice game/work pc

[MMOServices]

Why you need this vmware? if i have this money i go for it:



Socket 2011
I7 3930K (6 cores/12 threads) or Intel Xeon E5-2650 2GHz (8 cores 16 threads) ( you can go to doble CPU motherboard to ^^ and put 2x I7 Xeon or 3930k)
32/64 gb ram
SSD 512 GB
Geforce GTX 690 4gb

With this you can fly to the moon might no need socket 1366!

[Dirtyangel]

so i really dont see the advantage in putting all on 1 box. you lose a lot of control and you are forced to buy highly overpriced hardware.

lets say you get a dedicated botting machine which can take way more then 8 vms at a time:

SSD: Crucial m4 SSD 256GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s (CT256M4SSD2) - $250
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K 4x 3.50GHz So.1155 BOX - Clocked to 3.9GHz - $350
GFX: Onboard Intel GFX
CPU-COOLER: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 - $80
BOARD: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 So.1155 Dual Channel DDR3 ATX Retail - $220
RAM: 32GB-Kingston-ValueRAM-DDR3-1600-regECC-DIMM-CL11-Quad-Kit $250
POWER: 650W Enermax Revolution 87+ ERV650AWT-G - $150
CHEAP TOWER: $30
CHEAP MONITOR: $100

So you get a kickas botting machine for ~$1400 and you have all the rest to get yourself a nice game/work pc

I'm going to side with you.

[Mustack]

1. you dont need a powerful gfx card for vmware. all direct 3d is emulated by cpu.

GPU Virtualization on VMware's Hosted I/O Architecture


This is an article about how VMware uses the gpu to render graphics. (including Direct3D)

[mnogodobaracc]

When we're talking about vm requirement, I'm wondering, does anyone have idea why does my vmware workstation starts crashing/lagging when I run more than 2 VM's running diablo 3 with lowest settings (1920x1080). When I'm running 1, it's working flawlessly, or when I'm running 5vm's but only 1 in Diablo, but as soon as I open diablo in 2nd VM, it starts crashing/lagging and similar things.

I got i7-2600k OC-ed to 4.2GHz, 4x4gb ddr3 ram, gts 450 glh. 1tb sata III, no SSD tho.

I'm using vmware workstation 8.x, latest tools, and assigned 1 processor 2 cores, 3gb ram, 40gb hdd space per VM.

If anyone got idea what should I do to be able to run multiple VM's running multiple diablo's, please enlighten me.

[kpewpew]

Try putting your CPU back to default speed. I had my i5-2500k overclocked to 4 GHZ, put it back to normal speeds just because of heat in the summer.

[mnogodobaracc]

I tried removing OC as well, but it still behaves weird, and I got noctua nh-d14 and my computer(s) are in room with air conditioner working 24/7 pretty much, so shouldn't be affected by the heat anyway.

[Mustack]

Try assigning just 1 core. I don't know this for sure but I've always figured that giving it 1 core would be best, specially for windows XP because then the OS doesn't have to schedule both cores which causes overhead and is not as advanced in WXP. I use XP because it requires less RAM but that's another thing I'm not sure about.

What video card do you have? You could be running it at capacity. Try finding a bot that will run at 800x600 resolution because that will be MUCH easier on your gpu. Most people tell you to run window mode but I think I get less lag with fullscreen... I could be wrong but it's not a big difference anyways.

[ziggo0]

Try assigning just 1 core. I don't know this for sure but I've always figured that giving it 1 core would be best, specially for windows XP because then the OS doesn't have to schedule both cores which causes overhead and is not as advanced in WXP. I use XP because it requires less RAM but that's another thing I'm not sure about.

What video card do you have? You could be running it at capacity. Try finding a bot that will run at 800x600 resolution because that will be MUCH easier on your gpu. Most people tell you to run window mode but I think I get less lag with fullscreen... I could be wrong but it's not a big difference anyways.

3 bots @ 1920x1080 is like 70% of my GPU (6870 1gb) - 4 bots at 800x600 is like 0 ~ 5%...crazy the difference.

[mnogodobaracc]

Try assigning just 1 core. I don't know this for sure but I've always figured that giving it 1 core would be best, specially for windows XP because then the OS doesn't have to schedule both cores which causes overhead and is not as advanced in WXP. I use XP because it requires less RAM but that's another thing I'm not sure about.

What video card do you have? You could be running it at capacity. Try finding a bot that will run at 800x600 resolution because that will be MUCH easier on your gpu. Most people tell you to run window mode but I think I get less lag with fullscreen... I could be wrong but it's not a big difference anyways.

im using win 7 x64, and i got gts 450 glh edition