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Edited by Stoneblade on 6/19/12 2:58 AM (PDT)
The World of Warcraft Performance Guide For Macs - Updated 03/21/2012
--- Notice: This guide is now UP TO DATE! Table of Contents 1. Introduction - 1-A. Current Conditions of an Evolving Game - 1-B. Things To Know Before Changing Any Settings 2. The Settings - 2-A. iMac - 2-B. Macbook Pro - 2-C. Macbook, Macbook Air, & Intel-based Mac Mini 3. The Changelog - 3-A. Upcoming Revisions - 3-B. Past Changes Introduction Notice: Welcome to the Cataclysm! Azeroth has been shattered, and it needs YOUR help! To do that, you must make sure that you are able to do the heroic tasks required of you. Follow this guide, and you'll be much better prepared to do so! It's HERE! Blizzard's developers have finally bestowed upon us a functional 64-bit version of World of Warcraft! And we are seeing major performance increases across the board. Though it's still in beta, so there are a few drawbacks. First off, the system requirements for the 64-bit build are higher than it's 32-bit equivalent. In areas of the game where the 32-bit build can get by with 4GB of RAM, the 64-bit build will need a minimum of 6GB, preferably 8GB. More with lots of action going on. For those that wish to try the 64-bit build, you will need OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or later and a 64-bit CPU, such as the Intel Core 2 Duo or later. While I won't be covering the 64-bit version in detail here, there are plenty of other threads on the subject to get you started. I have revamped the settings across all affected models in light of this 64-bit change. The frame rate on most of the more recent machines had reached a point where it could be afforded to turn up a few settings at the frame rate's expense. Therefore, those who look solely at the expected frame rate on each model won't notice much of a difference. I aimed to keep all Mac models capable of such to stay within the 40-60fps range. Sunshafts, Liquid Detail, and Shadows being the most taxing setting that can be changed. 1-A. Current Conditions of an Evolving Game World of Warcraft is a constantly evolving and growing game. And as such, I felt the need to revise and revamp this old aging guide to better suit the readers. Due to this rapidly evolving nature, the game is constantly being updated, changed, and in the case of patch 4.3.0, entire sections of the underlying graphics engine are being completely rewritten. As such, the system requirements change over time. Right now, Sunshafts and Liquid Detail are sucking the life out of performance on most machines because of OS X being stuck on an older version of OpenGL. This may however see significant improvements with OS X 10.7 Lion and the yet-to-be-released OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Current End Game 25-Man Raid Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.8 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or later 4GB of System Memory ATI Radeon 4670 or nVidia GeForce GT260 with 512MB of VRAM or better Expect an average of 30fps on similar machines at minimum settings. Note that this is the estimated minimum requirements for a 25-man raid, not the minimum requirements listed on the box, which was balanced around solo-play. The following is a checklist of known, widespread performance issues with World of Warcraft on Mac OS X: 1. Sunshafts and Liquid Detail seem to tax older video cards horrendously. 1-B. Things To Know Before Changing Any Settings For the sake of keeping the actual settings section of this guide clean and easy to read, I'm going to list most all of the innate, machine unspecific requirements here. OS X 10.5 Leopard users should be at 10.5.8, 10.6 Snow Leopard users should be at 10.6.8, and 10.7 Lion users should be at 10.7.3. For starters, if you're running Leopard, most machines will indeed see a minor increase in performance upgrading to Snow Leopard, and decent improvement by upgrading to Lion. Though if you're on a pre-Intel PowerPC machine, the game will not run as of patch 4.0.1. Second, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't have the latest software for your chosen OS. This software fixes bugs, enhances your security, and improves the overall stability of your computer. It's free and its simple to get. To get the latest possible software for your Mac's version of OS X, go to the Apple icon on the top left corner of your desktop, click the "Software Update" option from the list, and then download everything on the list that pops up. You can check to see what version you're running by clicking on the Apple icon in the top left corner of your desktop, and then clicking the "About This Mac" option on the drop-down list. Limiting the in-game frame rate to 50 or 60fps will help keep your Mac cool and prevent overheating. The Macbooks and Macbook Pros especially tend to run a little bit hot being in that nice tiny form factor. To limit the frame rate, type in the following into the standard WoW chat box while playing the game. /console maxfps 60 "60" being the value of whatever number you want to cap it at. The Settings From this point on, this guide will assume the following: 1. You have at LEAST 4GB of RAM in your computer, 8GB is preferred. 2. You did not launch your macbook into low Earth orbit just to see how gravity works. 3. You have all of the latest updates for your version of OS X. 4. The Multisampling option in the resolution settings should never be set above 2x. 5. If you can run the 64-bit build of the game, I will assume you are. 2-A. The iMac Mid 2010 Core i7 iMac with ATI 6790 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 2x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: High Texture Resolution: High Texture Filtering: 8x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: High Environmental Detail: High Ground Clutter: High Shadow Quality: Good Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 60fps Mid 2011 Core i5/i7 iMac with ATI 6770 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 2x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: High Texture Resolution: High Texture Filtering: 4x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: High Ground Clutter: High Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 60fps Mid 2010 Core i5/i7 iMac with ATI 5750 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: High Texture Resolution: High Texture Filtering: 4x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: High Environmental Detail: High Ground Clutter: High Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 60fps Mid 2010 Core i3/i5 iMac with ATI 5670 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: High Texture Filtering: 4x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: High Ground Clutter: High Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 60fps Late 2009 Core i5/i7 iMac with ATI 4850 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: 4x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 50-60fps depending on CPU. Late 2009 Core 2 Duo iMac with ATI 4670 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: 4x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 40-50fps. Early 2009 iMac with 256MB or 512MB nVidia GT130 Graphics Cards Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: 2x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Fair Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Fair Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 30-45fps. 2009 iMac with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Low Texture Resolution: Low Texture Filtering: Bilinear Projected Textures: Disabled View Distance: Low Environmental Detail: Fair Ground Clutter: Low Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Low Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 20-30fps. It's running on integrated graphics. 2-B. The Macbook Pro Late 2011 Core i7 Sandy Bridge Macbook Pro with 1GB AMD 6750 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: High Texture Filtering: 8x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Good Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 70-85fps. Early 2011 Core i7 Sandy Bridge Macbook Pro with 512MB AMD 6750 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: High Texture Filtering: 4x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 70-85fps. Early 2011 13-inch Macbook Pro with Intel 3000 Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: 2x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 30-40fps. Integrated graphics. Mid 2010 Core i5/i7 Macbook Pro with 256MB or 512MB nVidia GT330M Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: High Texture Filtering: 4x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 45-50fps. Gets hot if FPS is not capped. Recommend 40fps. Mid 2010 13-inch Macbook Pro with nVidia 320m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: 2x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 30-40fps. 2009 Unibody Macbook Pro with 256MB or 512MB nVidia 9600M GT Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: High Texture Filtering: 2x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 45-50fps. Make sure to enable "Higher Performance" under "Video" in OS X's Energy Saver prefs to turn on the 9600GT. Uses Integrated Graphics otherwise. 2009 13-inch Unibody Macbook Pro with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Low Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: Bilinear Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Fair Environmental Detail: Fair Ground Clutter: Low Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Low Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 25-30fps. Late 2008 Macbook Pro with 256MB or 512MB nVidia 8600M GT Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: 2x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Low Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 40-50fps. 2007 Macbook Pro Core Duo & Core 2 Duo with 128MB or 256MB ATI X1600 Graphics Card Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Fair Texture Filtering: Trilinear Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Fair Environmental Detail: Fair Ground Clutter: Fair Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 30-40fps 2-C. The Macbook, Macbook Air, and Mac Mini Late 2010 13-inch Macbook Air with nVidia 320m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: 1x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Fair Environmental Detail: Fair Ground Clutter: Good Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 30-40fps. Integrated Graphics. Mid 2010 Mac Mini with nVidia 320m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Good Texture Resolution: Good Texture Filtering: 2x Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Good Environmental Detail: Good Ground Clutter: Fair Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 35-40fps. Late 2009 Polycarbonate Unibody Macbook with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Low Texture Resolution: Low Texture Filtering: Bilinear Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Fair Environmental Detail: Fair Ground Clutter: Low Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Low Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 25-30fps. Late 2008 Aluminum Unibody Macbook with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Low Texture Resolution: Low Texture Filtering: Bilinear Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Fair Environmental Detail: Fair Ground Clutter: Low Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Low Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 20-30fps. Late 2009 Mac Mini with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Low Texture Resolution: Low Texture Filtering: Bilinear Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Fair Environmental Detail: Fair Ground Clutter: Low Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Low Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 20-30fps. 2009 Macbook Air with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics Graphics > Display Multisampling: 1x Vertical Sync: Disabled Graphics > Graphics Graphics Slider: Low Texture Resolution: Low Texture Filtering: Bilinear Projected Textures: Enabled View Distance: Fair Environmental Detail: Fair Ground Clutter: Low Shadow Quality: Low Liquid Detail: Low Sunshafts: Disabled Particle Density: Low Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect an average of 15-25fps Older Macbook, Macbook Air, and Mac Mini You will NEVER get frame rates higher than 15-20fps. Those machines do NOT have independent 3D graphics cards. They are using the computer's motherboard itself to render those 3D graphics, and it REALLY bogs the machine down. Period. Set everything to Minimum Settings. The Changelog 3-A. Upcoming Planned Revisions - Tweaked settings as Blizzard improves performance. - Updates for new Mac models 3-B. Past Changes - 03/21/12: Added Late 2011 Mac Models, updated to represent 64-bit performance. - 04/22/11: Added Late 2010 Macbook Air, notes on integrated graphics. - 12/14/10: Updated for Cataclysm, lowering some settings to accommodate slow performance. - 10/14/10: Revamped settings for new graphics interface. Removed older Mac Models. - 04/28/10: Added newest Mac models, revamped settings to uniform 60fps across all models. - 02/12/10: Revised, condensed, and corrected small typos. - 12/01/09: Added Snow Leopard and newest Mac models. Removed PowerPC Macs. - 04/21/09: Updated settings to match the new scheme in patch 3.1. - 03/13/09: Added early 2009 Mac models. - 11/20/08: Updated new information after Wrath of The Lich King launched. - 10/08/08: Complete & utter overhaul in preparation for WoTLK. - 03/30/08: Updated findings for patch 2.4. - 02/13/08: Added details concerning the OS X 10.5.2 Leopard Graphics Update. - 02/07/08: Included PowerPC G4, G5, and newest Core 2 models. |
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Just adding the existing performance guide to the new forums. Hope people find it useful.
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Ooo! Thank you!
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I strongly suggest you add Mac Pros to this list including the standard video cards and the upgraded cards if at all possible. (I game on an '09 Mac Pro myself).
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As I mentioned in the old forums, I didn’t add them originally because at the time I made the first iteration of this guide, the “Video Card Upgrade” sticky already had the Mac Pros covered. However that thread soon fell to neglect and disrepair. So I was going to add the Mac Pros to this thread a revision or two ago.
But my working situation changed, and I don’t have access to any Mac Pros anymore. I can only add the models I can personally test. The moment I get my hands on multiple Mac Pros to test the variances between them, I’ll do so. |
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I'm assuming this guide is for when 10.6.5 is actually released, seeing as unless I've been under my rock for too long, it's still in pre-release starus (latest dev seed came in about 10 hours ago).
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Edited by Grumak on 11/6/10 8:56 AM (PDT)
I appreciate your efforts. I too will be looking forward to the Mac Pro updates. Just bought a 2.8 Quad core with the upgraded HD 5870 card. Only 6GB RAM atm, not sure if anymore would help.
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I appreciate your efforts. I too will be looking forward to the Mac Pro updates. Just bought a 2.8 Quad core with the upgraded HD 5870 card. Only 6GB RAM atm, not sure if anymore would help. I'd kill to know why there are plenty enough 5870s out there for BTOs, but not one single kit available for sale retail for the rest of us Mac Pro owners wanting to upgrade. |
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Edited by Omegal on 11/7/10 9:58 AM (PST)
I appreciate your efforts. I too will be looking forward to the Mac Pro updates. Just bought a 2.8 Quad core with the upgraded HD 5870 card. Only 6GB RAM atm, not sure if anymore would help. actually, the apple store has FINALLY started selling them in last couple days (at least they are taking orders now). however they still have no available ship time. but it's a step up. Maybe they were waiting for 10.6.5 all this time before selling kit? BTO they kind of had to ship with crappy drivers, cause it'd be dumb to not offer them card then make them upgrade 2 months after buying a new mac. But for everyone else maybe they just wanted to wait for 10.6.5 so the card wouldn't suck so bad for us? http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC743ZM/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY |
54 Tauren Hunter
600
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I have a iMac (Core 2 Duo 2.8 Ghz), 4 GB memory, and a ATI Radeon 2600 video card with 256 MB Vram.
Should I follow the "Core 2 Duo iMac with ATI 4670 Graphics Card" guide? Also, if I want to set my view distance to high, what should I lower to compensate? Thanks! |
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Edited by Stoneblade on 11/8/10 3:35 AM (PST)
Sadly the ATI x2600 Apple used in itâs iMacs was severely underclocked, and performed WORSE than the x1600 card at just about every test I threw at it. I removed the model completely from the list when I couldnât get it past 15fps in any kind of party or city situation after 4.0.
Follow the GT130 set if you want to, but know that the 2600 wonât perform well no matter how low you set the settings. The GT320 integrated solution actually does almost twice as good. |
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54 Tauren Hunter
600
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Sadly the ATI x2600 Apple used in itâs iMacs was severely underclocked, and performed WORSE than the x1600 card at just about every test I threw at it. I removed the model completely from the list when I couldnât get it past 15fps in any kind of party or city situation after 4.0. Ugh. Fantastic. :-( Well thank you for the info. I suppose there is not much I can do except hope that 10.6.5 will fix this a bit. Or get a new machine. |
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Edited by Strict on 11/11/10 9:18 PM (PST)
Greetings.
While your efforts here are appreciated and laudable, I must point out that your information- at least as it pertains to the system specs of my own computer- are frankly WRONG. On a late 2009 iMac i7 (ATI 4850), the sunshaft/water settings you list drastically reduce performance. Raising the water effects level above fair reduces the frame rate to 15fps, regardless of any other setting. Turning on sunshafts AT ALL reduces the frame rate to 15fps, regardless of any other setting. This is on a computer with 4gb of RAM, the above-mentioned processor/graphics setup, and running the fresh and new 10.6.5. This is with GLL. I'm not sure what is going on now, but it is very frustrating to have a machine running at ULTRA settings in 3.3.x now reduced to "good" settings with bad water and no sunshafts. |
I'm not sure what is going on now, but it is very frustrating to have a machine running at ULTRA settings in 3.3.x now reduced to "good" settings with bad water and no sunshafts. Because what was Ultra in 3.3.x is probably somewhere between Good and High in the scale of 4.0.x. Every expansion Blizzard ups the graphic quality but they don't add 'Super Ultra' or anything to the end of the scale, instead they recalibrate it. The new Ultra is designed for the very latest and most powerful gaming machines. |
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I'm not sure what is going on now, but it is very frustrating to have a machine running at ULTRA settings in 3.3.x now reduced to "good" settings with bad water and no sunshafts. you're complaining that your ultra settings from before match your current settings? ultra in 3.3.5 was old water, no sunshafts, so running 4.x at those settings is still your old ultra, but with a new name. nothing more. just like ultra view is equal to high view now, fair ground clutter, and fair or good object view distance (not sure which)...settings have a new names but your 3.3.5 fps shouldn't be any different than 4.x fps at the actual equivilent settings. if you think the new ultra is same as old ultra you are very incorrect that said, 4.x still has some stutter bugs, which isn't so much related to fps but in loading, but it makes fps tank as a side effect (they climb back up once stuff is loaded)...this happens regardless of settings but naturally gets worse the more loaded at a time (such as view distance)...THAT i hope the devs address. but the majority basis of your complaint is that you don't like that your setting doesn't say "ultra" anymore, even though nothings changed visual wise from what you had going on in 3.3.5 |
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Edited by Strict on 11/12/10 4:44 AM (PST)
Fine. All of that said, the water and sunshafts issue is unresolved, as is the fact that the graphics listing in the ORIGINAL POST in this thread is incorrect, at least for my machine.
Sunshafts at anything other than "off" and water at anything above "fair" dumps fps to 15. The guide here says I should be at "good" and "low". It is incorrect. |
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Edited by Omegal on 11/12/10 9:51 AM (PST)
yes that much is true strict. they take way more performance than they really should. i use sunshafts off and water fair on my system cause i know they subtrack about 30fps. I also see a lot of bad stutter in certain areas, worst being strand of the ancients.
however, i still get 62fps everywhere but dalaran with my settings just as i did in 3.3.5 cause they are compariable to 3.3.5, not ultra across the board, when not stuttering from the bad loading bugs in 4.x |
