Should HardOPC do a new WoW Gameplay article?

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evilsofa

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The recent graphics upgrade in WoW seems to be hammering video cards that used to play WoW with all settings maxed out with ease. Should HardOCP do a gameplay article to see how much video card is enough for the new WoW graphics?

If they do, I'd like to see particular emphasis on the budget cards (9600GSO, 9600GT, 9800GT vs 4670, 3870, 4830) since a lot of people spend thousands of hours playing this game at lower resolutions (like 1280x1024) than the usual hardcore gamers.
 
I thought WoW was CPU bound? RL friend plays it with an onboard GeForce 6100 @ 1280x1024, and according to him the game runs fine.
 
The [H] shouldn't encourage anyone to play WoW. That is just wrong.
 
Yes, no one's done one in a long time. I don't play but I recently advised a friend to go with a 280 for his new computer because he only plays in windowed mode and wanted the best performance. It would be interesting to see how all the recent cards hold up to the new client.
 
Evil should be attacked at every opportunity. This also isnt a cutting edge game, not sure that it ever was.
 
You could throw two hamsters in a barrel and throw them some d-cell batteries and still pump out 70 fps.
 
Yeah, I'd like to see it.

The so-called conventional wisdom about running the game at maximum settings with high FPS on obsolete hardware is a lot of nonsense. I'd like to know what hardware I need to buy to make that a reality.

I'd PAY to read such an article because is about the only PC game I care to play.

E
 
World of warcraft has changed a lot since 3.0 and Wrath of the Lich King. I don't think it merits going back on the test list. Pretty much anything 4380 and up on Ati and 8800gts and up will be able to play it +50fps with everything minus shadows. gtx260 and 4850 you can start looking at turning up everything including shadows.
 
lloose said:
World of warcraft has changed a lot since 3.0 and Wrath of the Lich King. I don't think it merits going back on the test list. Pretty much anything 4380 and up on Ati and 8800gts and up will be able to play it +50fps with everything minus shadows. gtx260 and 4850 you can start looking at turning up everything including shadows.
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At what resolution?
 
New budget systems could easily be considered an e8400 and HD4850 on a 22" screen with 4gb ram which will still max out WoW. Not needed, but I'd still read it! =)
 
Eradan said:
At what resolution?
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more or less any resolution.

i have a single 8800GT with 512MB of RAM in my system (which still consists of just a dual-core socket 939 opteron @ 2295Mhz & 2GB of regular DDR RAM) pushing a 28" LCD @ 1920x1200, and except for the main cities, i get 60fps (vertical synch enabled) pretty much everywhere (shadows disabled, of course)...and my addons use more than 50MB of RAM by themselves.
 
Interesting that your system performs better than mine at the same res.

E
 
I do believe that a WoW performance article would be very appropriate and a great thing. Why? It is a game that is played by a LOT of people, and there have been quite a few thread here asking about how to improve WoW performance.

Sure, not everyone likes WoW, but is it really that hard to ignore an article? You may not benefit, but some will.

There are TONS of threads made on WoW forums on how to improve performance. And there are lots of different opinions. I think a well reputable site like[H] would be a great source of putting this case to rest of how to improve performance.
 
Much rather let Kyle and co. spend their time testing and writing about i7 gear or the newest gpu than about a game thats been out for years.

If you want a guide, heres one: You get low fps, upgrade your hardware.
 
Don't play WOW but many of my Co-Workers do (All of which I built systems for).
Everyone here says with an 8800GT you can play with everything maxed at 1680*1050 with extra eye candy enabled through the config file.
So I'm not sure evaluating performance of a game that's that old is really something we need.
Unless of course you propose we start Benchmarking DoomIII and NOLIF2 again....
 
Yup, let's keep H cutting edge and new. I'm sure there are dedicated wow sites that have the info requested.
 
I get 30ish FPS with a Q6600 @ 3ghz and my 8800GT (i have SLI disabled in WoW, it screws up the shadows). It is surprising how poor performance there is with such an old game. Playing in windowed mode kills the performance too, it isn't even an option imo.
 
Ah is that what's cocking up the shadows in WoW. Must try it with SLI disabled sometime.

I have a Q6600 at stock and 8800 GTS 512 SLI and am running 1920x1200 with everything except draw distance and shadows maxed with 2xAA. Both of those dropped by only 1 notch tho.

My frame rate moves around between 40 and 90 depending on if I'm near Shat or not.
 
Ihaveworms said:
I get 30ish FPS with a Q6600 @ 3ghz and my 8800GT (i have SLI disabled in WoW, it screws up the shadows). It is surprising how poor performance there is with such an old game. Playing in windowed mode kills the performance too, it isn't even an option imo.
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Disable some AA/AF dude... I get damn near 80fps all the time, and my stuff isn't overclocked.

Q6600, 8800GT 512MB, Asus P5K-E, 4GB DDR2-800 on Vista x64 @ 1920x1200.

My new MBP pushes 1440x900 at 100fps w/o any extra multisampling.
 
Kyle will never go for it, he has a hard on for new age games only.

WOTLK has made WoW alot more GPU dependent now then most people realize. WoW is no longer the red headed step child of gaming that can be run on Joey Blowys computer he got from his grandparents 5 years ago
 
So many people who play WoW suddenly having their requirements upped might be good for the pricing on graphics cards though.
 
Nzo said:
Much rather let Kyle and co. spend their time testing and writing about i7 gear or the newest gpu than about a game thats been out for years.

If you want a guide, heres one: You get low fps, upgrade your hardware.
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Gee, that's super helpful. Thanks, buddy. I get 10 FPS in Howling Fjord with the system in my sig. What should I upgrade to?

E
 
Eradan said:
Gee, that's super helpful. Thanks, buddy. I get 10 FPS in Howling Fjord with the system in my sig. What should I upgrade to?

E
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You should upgrade your computer to the new "format your system and reinstall cuz there is something fucked up and you are obviously too stupid to notice" hardware.

L
 
Nzo said:
Much rather let Kyle and co. spend their time testing and writing about i7 gear or the newest gpu than about a game thats been out for years.

If you want a guide, heres one: You get low fps, upgrade your hardware.
Click to expand...

QFT
 
Sorry, mate. Insult all you like, but this is what I've done for a living for the last 15 years. Nevermind the fact that my system runs everything else very well.

So I say again, I'd like to see an article about current hardware and WoW performance.

Happy Thanksgiving.

E
 
Eradan said:
Gee, that's super helpful. Thanks, buddy. I get 10 FPS in Howling Fjord with the system in my sig. What should I upgrade to?

E
Click to expand...

From what i've seen, turn off AA and AF and notice the difference as your hardware is pretty close to mine sans the quad which WoW won't take full advantage off, it likes its higher clocked CPU's more. Shadows are also the big FPS killer next to the increased draw distance in WOTLK
 
There will never be a new WoW graphics performance article because there are too many people out there who either never played WoW or quit playing before the first expansion even came out that still think it'll run on an ATI 9800pro and Athlon64 2400+ w/1GB of RAM. That would net you at about 3-4fps at 1680x1050 with max draw distance and minimal shadows at 4xaa 16xaf. You won't convince them otherwise because they KNOW it will run fine. They just know it... somehow... even though they haven't played in years and never liked the game at all. If you still play WoW and only get 20fps then obviously you are a noob that doesn't know how to configure your system because WoW is a simplistic game with crappy graphics. :rolleyes:

Get over yourselves... WoW has evolved with the times. Any idiot that tells me WoW runs fine on their laptop with some underpowered integrated graphics chip is obviously lying, trying to bash WoW for other reasons, or likes playing the game at 10fps.

I just about cried when I started getting 25-30fps in Grizzly Hills (new zone in WotLK with lots of hills, trees, structures, critters) with the rig in my sig @ 1920x1080. I was used to 60fps except in busy areas like Shattrath or the like.
 
It's definitely time for me to build a new rig for WoW. I've been playing with this system since 2005 in 1920x1200 with max settings getting 30-40fps no problem. Then WotLK comes out and I am getting 20-30fps in BC environments and 15-20 in WotLK environments. Even turning everything down except the resolution keeps my framerate that low. I hope the improved graphics are worth the new build... but either way, it's getting to the point I don't want to play anymore because of performance issues so I'm gonna have to build any ways.
 
Yeah, I get 50-60 FPS in CoD4 at Max Settings with 4x AA (Large Amount of Corpses, not the max setting) at 1920x1200 on a 40 player Broadcast 24/7 server. Then I go and get 20-30 FPS in the middle of Howling Hjord at Max settings at 1920x1200.

The reason for this is because Blizzard has never once optimized their games, they're too worried about making it just "work" on PC and Mac simultaneously then putting it out.
 
what the hell is HardOPC?
 
WoW is soul sucking life stealing monster :) Any reviews might be the last thing we ever see from said reviewer !!
 
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