How to get two people playing a game on the same computer?

[swaab]

Hi, I was just wondering if ANYONE knew how to have two people playing a game (same or different) on the same computer? I want to use two independent mice and keyboards to do this.

I looked at Team Player but that doesn't give complete control to both parties, you have to click to become the main one, knocking the other one out.

The reason why I am trying to do this, I am picking up a new I7 within the next month and want to take full advantage of it. Also, I want to be able to game without having my gf kick me off because she will want to play a game or so.

Any advice would be helpful, thanks.

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, sorta new.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Consider 2 cheaper rigs instead of one perhaps. It may not be i7, but check out the Phenom 2 chips from AMD, you might save a bit of money if all you want to do is game, maybe grab at least a 4770 or 4850 for each. Sounds like a better solution to me, if feasible. How much are you looking to spend?

 

[swaab]

Well... I would consider it except that I work in a computer store (no one knows this solution) so I am getting good deals on everything. Also, Intel is having an AMAZING deal for people who sell intel so I am getting a good build for around $700 with upgrade rights to 7 , not including monitor.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

There is one device out there, look up some info on "N-computing". It's an add in PCI card and allows you to connect up to 3 other pc's. Basically, this card will have 3 outputs, and they will look like ethernet ports, you get 3 small reciever boxes, and into one you will connect one slot via ethernet cord to this pci card, and then it gives you hookups for mice, keyboard and seperate monitor. It basically allows you to use 1 pc as multiple pc's. Works good for a lot of tasks.

However, the downside is that on some things, particularly some things in MS office, it will not allow 2 users access to the same file at once. You may run into that. #2, If you used a solution like that so you both could use this machine for games, I think no matter how beefy this system is, i7 or not, and no matter what gfx card you put in, you will still be bottlenecked by the pci interface for the 2nd machine. So if you use a setup like this, for what you want, I'm just not sure it's going to be able to deliver as well as you are expecting, especially as more games are becoming multithreaded.

What system are you running now? You may consider toning down the i7 build a little, maybe a little less on the video card, but leave it room to grow, and if you have a socket 775 rig now, consider when you do the i7 rig, maybe toss a better cpu into the rig you have now as well, maybe upgrade it's video card and add some memory and let your gf have/use the older rig. Or if you have a good chip and 4gb of ram, maybe just toss a 4850 or better card in it, and let her use it that way, maybe overclock it as well, and you might be suprised that it still has life in it.

But it might be a better solution and then you have a pet project to keep working on. The other thing on phenom 2, also consider the mobo prices, and I think on phenom 2, you can still use the am2+ boards with ddr2 memory, so could save a little $$ there as well. But if you are getting that good a deal from intel, then you may not save that much on phenom 2.

 

[ryankn852]

I think what OhiGrad had to say is probably your best option. First time I've heard about that ncomputing stuff and it looks pretty cool. It's not TOO expensive either, and in the long run you could be putting 3 or 4 monitors on it for when the friends come over. Might as well pay a little bit more for the extra boom rather than downloading some program thats going to limit your use, or your gf's use. And as Ohi was saying bout MS Office, I doubt two people ever really need to access the exact same file, if anything he can turn around look at his girlfriends computer for a second then turn back around to fragging.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I'm just saying on that file thing, it's possible. I know we dealt with this at my work, and it's definitely interesting. The N-Computing, in theory it's good, seems to work ok, but really for it to work as well as you want, you might be better off with 2 systems as if you both want to game at the same time, you will probably have to really build the rig up.

 

[darkskoliro]

I think save the i7 and get 2 phenom 2s because theyre cheap and a core i7 multitasking for two games? Sounds alright but I dont think its a good idea