Is my 1080 Ti enough to meet my expectations in WoW

[Archer27]

Hey all,

Before I renew my WoW subscription I would like to make sure the game will run smoothly on my system and meet my expectations.

Previously I was playing the game(Legion expansion) with a GTX 970 @1455mhz and it was not the smoothest 4K experience. The card was always maxxed out(even without antialiasing and some settings turned down)
and it just got unbearable as I want a constant 60 fps with all settings dialed up with little to no fps drops.

I recently obtained a EVGA 1080 Ti FTW 3 for Christmas and installed it and it's performance is astounding on all modern games at 4K as well as 3D rendering.

Is the card enough to meet my 4K 60 fps ultra exceptions on an old engine like WoW has?

 

[bystander36]

Maybe WoW had changed a little from my time, but WoW has never allowed constant 60 FPS no matter what your system was. While 4K probably pushed your 970, and the 1080ti would likely be enough the vast majority of the time, the game will still be CPU bound in a lot of situations, like in town and in raids. That's just one of those things you have to live with in MMORPG's.

 

[nathanddrews]

WoW's performance relies mostly on having the fastest single thread possible. A 1080Ti will eliminate most (all?) rendering bottlenecks, but CPU-limited scenarios will still tank your fps.

Check WoW support threads for detailed tweaks.
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20759270859

 

[wilds]

It will be fine at 4k, but no CPU, not even a 5.2 ghz Intel 7000/8000 with super fast DDR4 will be enough for 60fps when **** hits the fan.

 

[Malogeek]

It's basically draw call submission limited. It's an old engine that whilst it has been updated several times and does look gorgeous sometimes due to its artwork and design, it's all based on a single thread. My Ryzen 1700 basically yawns apart from 1 thread.

The 970 will perform badly at 4k because it's not designed for that. It will do the same in most games at that resolution. My 970 is fine at 2560x1080 and gets 60fps with 4x MSAA basically everywhere. In a big raid? No, everything dies during that.

A good test in Legion is to set absolutely everything to max (probably max 4x MSAA) and see if you get constant 60fps when out in one of the zones. Then fly (or take a flight path) over Suramar city and see if your performance tanks. Likely it will no matter what system you have. Then dial back View Distance and Environment Detail to 7 and see the difference.

 

[wanderica]

On ultra, I was in the high 40s if I recall (6 months to 1 year ago) depending on where I was in the game world. I'm sure, as many have said, this was due to the old engine's limitations in the CPU area. WoW has updated many times, and the most recent update to the engine expanded the graphics options. In addition to custom settings it allows you to go change settings from 1 - 10 with preset 10 being "ultra." 8 was the "ultra" setting prior to the latest graphics update, and at this setting I got a solid 60 FPS in all areas. Tweaking a few settings and I was playing with no noticeable difference to Max settings at 60 FPS except for a few weird spots that might dip into the low 50s. You should be fine if you're OK with tweaking a few settings. That's sort of the way with 4K it seems. Gone are the days of just turning the knob to 11 and playing away.

 

[tential]

So if we say no will you not renew your wow subscription?
Genuinely just confused since you have the card and the game, and you are yourself so it seems you're in the best decision to make the judgment and not us

 

[Tweak155]

You can always log in with a sub level 20 character and try it out before subscribing.

It won't let you know raiding performance, but running through Stormwind might at least give you an idea (assuming it's still somewhat populated).

 

[tential]

Just so we're assuring you're getting maximum performance, what are your PC specs and OCs?
What is your goal?
I Really think you need suggestions like @Tweak155 where he's telling you how to test without paying.

I understand the feeling, I literally won't play a game unless it's 4k native. I just enjoy my pixels! But you need to test and tweak the settings yourself OP because I would NEVER use AA. That's why I just keep rendering at a higher resolution. Someone else may find that they won't use 4k without AA, and there are a number of those members.
Some people are ok with tweaking certain settings vs others, so you'll really just needs to get in there yourself with the GPU settings. I see people talk about overwatch 4k Ultra, but I play Overwatch on the lowest settings but highest resolution. I can see better, without as many distractions.

Since it's an MMO and you're usually also CPU bottlenecked, we need your CPU specs. You'll probably need a thread in the CPU discussion section about OCing your CPU to get maximum performance in this game.

You already have a top of the line GPU, so you don't have much headroom there unless you're ok with a TitanXP or Titant V expenditure for WoW.

Basically, tell us your full system specs and what you're hoping to get from this so we can help you better.

Currently, the best we can do I think is give you a great OC on your CPU/GPU and recommending the cooling you need to get there so you can get the maximum performance in WoW. Whether that's acceptable is too personal a decision for us to decide.

 

[Headfoot]

WoW's graphics are ancient even with the upgrades, a 1080 ti would absolutely destroy it even at 4k. But the game is CPU bottlenecked to a ridiculous degree.

 

[Guru]

WOW is a garbage looking game, issue is its developed on an engine created for WC3 in 1998. It can not take advantage of more than 2 core and, there is some stuff that gets transferred by other cores, but it will primarily use 1 core, up to 2 cores, with 2nd core as support.

So your GPU will be held back by the game's ancient engine!

 

[Archer27]

Maybe WoW had changed a little from my time, but WoW has never allowed constant 60 FPS no matter what your system was. While 4K probably pushed your 970, and the 1080ti would likely be enough the vast majority of the time, the game will still be CPU bound in a lot of situations, like in town and in raids. That's just one of those things you have to live with in MMORPG's.

WoW has changed quite a bit. I started in TBC and over time, it has utilized more and more of my computers resources. They have done a miraculous job tweaking the old engine to use 4 cores, and make use of high end GPUS. It did indeed push my 970 to it's limits, while my CPU was laughing.

WoW's performance relies mostly on having the fastest single thread possible. A 1080Ti will eliminate most (all?) rendering bottlenecks, but CPU-limited scenarios will still tank your fps.



Check WoW support threads for detailed tweaks.
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20759270859

Right, but I was graphics bottlenecked at 4K. My 7800X was having a good time at the 970s expense.
Thank you for the link. I don't need to Use AA with 4K as the edges are so smooth!

It's basically draw call submission limited. It's an old engine that whilst it has been updated several times and does look gorgeous sometimes due to its artwork and design, it's all based on a single thread. My Ryzen 1700 basically yawns apart from 1 thread.

The 970 will perform badly at 4k because it's not designed for that. It will do the same in most games at that resolution. My 970 is fine at 2560x1080 and gets 60fps with 4x MSAA basically everywhere. In a big raid? No, everything dies during that.

A good test in Legion is to set absolutely everything to max (probably max 4x MSAA) and see if you get constant 60fps when out in one of the zones. Then fly (or take a flight path) over Suramar city and see if your performance tanks. Likely it will no matter what system you have. Then dial back View Distance and Environment Detail to 7 and see the difference.

I see. Suramar and Valsharah pushed the 970 and made it cry. I had the dials back to 7 for those two and AA off at 4K

On ultra, I was in the high 40s if I recall (6 months to 1 year ago) depending on where I was in the game world. I'm sure, as many have said, this was due to the old engine's limitations in the CPU area. WoW has updated many times, and the most recent update to the engine expanded the graphics options. In addition to custom settings it allows you to go change settings from 1 - 10 with preset 10 being "ultra." 8 was the "ultra" setting prior to the latest graphics update, and at this setting I got a solid 60 FPS in all areas. Tweaking a few settings and I was playing with no noticeable difference to Max settings at 60 FPS except for a few weird spots that might dip into the low 50s. You should be fine if you're OK with tweaking a few settings. That's sort of the way with 4K it seems. Gone are the days of just turning the knob to 11 and playing away.

4K hasn't required any compromises with the 1080 Ti on any other game for me. This has to be a engine limitation on WoW

So if we say no will you not renew your wow subscription?
Genuinely just confused since you have the card and the game, and you are yourself so it seems you're in the best decision to make the judgment and not us

I will likely still renew, but I wanted opinions to get myself over the fence.

You can always log in with a sub level 20 character and try it out before subscribing.

It won't let you know raiding performance, but running through Stormwind might at least give you an idea (assuming it's still somewhat populated).

That is true, i didnt even think of that!

Just so we're assuring you're getting maximum performance, what are your PC specs and OCs?
What is your goal?
I Really think you need suggestions like @Tweak155 where he's telling you how to test without paying.

I understand the feeling, I literally won't play a game unless it's 4k native. I just enjoy my pixels! But you need to test and tweak the settings yourself OP because I would NEVER use AA. That's why I just keep rendering at a higher resolution. Someone else may find that they won't use 4k without AA, and there are a number of those members.
Some people are ok with tweaking certain settings vs others, so you'll really just needs to get in there yourself with the GPU settings. I see people talk about overwatch 4k Ultra, but I play Overwatch on the lowest settings but highest resolution. I can see better, without as many distractions.

Since it's an MMO and you're usually also CPU bottlenecked, we need your CPU specs. You'll probably need a thread in the CPU discussion section about OCing your CPU to get maximum performance in this game.

You already have a top of the line GPU, so you don't have much headroom there unless you're ok with a TitanXP or Titant V expenditure for WoW.

Basically, tell us your full system specs and what you're hoping to get from this so we can help you better.

Currently, the best we can do I think is give you a great OC on your CPU/GPU and recommending the cooling you need to get there so you can get the maximum performance in WoW. Whether that's acceptable is too personal a decision for us to decide.

My CPU is a 7800X, @ 4.0ghz and water cooled with a fractal deign Celsius s24 240mm.
Corsair Vengeance RAM in Quad channel clocked at 3000mhz 16GB
EVGA 1080 Ti FTW 3
TUF Mark 1 X299 Mobo
Seasonic 850 watt Titanium rated PSU
Windows 10 Pro 64

I can live without AA @ 4K but I would like to crank all the other settings up and not have any drops below 50fps(not including big raids which I know I can't possibly keep from dropping lower)


I use this rig for rendering and editing as well, which the 1080 Ti makes quick work of along with the 7800X.

WoW's graphics are ancient even with the upgrades, a 1080 ti would absolutely destroy it even at 4k. But the game is CPU bottlenecked to a ridiculous degree.

WOW is a garbage looking game, issue is its developed on an engine created for WC3 in 1998. It can not take advantage of more than 2 core and, there is some stuff that gets transferred by other cores, but it will primarily use 1 core, up to 2 cores, with 2nd core as support.

So your GPU will be held back by the game's ancient engine!

The game now uses four cores, pretty well I might add from what i've seen. Since Legion anyways. It makes alot of use of GPUS now.

 

[bystander36]

Even if WoW has improved, it still likely won't allow 60+ FPS at all times. Every MMORPG I've ever played or heard of runs into the same issues in raids and populated cities. There is an inherent issues with this types of game, and you should be prepared for a little disappointment in at least raids, and likely in populated cities.

 

[Malogeek]

Note that WoW has a very nice system feature that allows you to have 2 separate graphics details configurations between normal and raid/battlegrounds. So feel free to enable that feature and turn down things like particle effects, lighting etc. which can cause huge slowdowns in raids.

 

[tential]

Your CPU looks like it will be the bottleneck at a lowly 4 ghz. I would upgrade to the 9700k when it comes out, assuming it can hit close to 5 ghz, and assuming the IPC gains/ghz gains are meaningful. Otherwise,
Intel's 10th gen.
This will be a cheaper upgrade for you moving back to the mainstream platform.

Otherwise, I'd just renew asap, and get to tweaking/enjoying the game.
You literally have a GPU people dream about using to play games. I would get yourself over that hurdle ASAP, and enjoy your games =D.

Your main hurdle is singlethreaded performance, so if you need the HEDT platform for other things, you may just keep this box as a WOW box and use your HEDT box for something else when/if you do switch to the mainstream platform for the single threaded advantage which is useful in games like WoW.

Lucky for us that the 9700k and beyond processors are expected to be an 8c/16t processor, so you really shouldn't feel much of a change!

Just also keep in mind 4k 144hz monitors come out this year, and will definitely be great to have. If that's something that interests you, you may want to focus on that upgrade.

 

[Archer27]

Even if WoW has improved, it still likely won't allow 60+ FPS at all times. Every MMORPG I've ever played or heard of runs into the same issues in raids and populated cities. There is an inherent issues with this types of game, and you should be prepared for a little disappointment in at least raids, and likely in populated cities.

I fully expect some disappointment in raids and places like Dalaran. Orgrimmar I was getting a good very high framerate, even near the AH!
My issue was that the 970 was struggling in the world itself. Particularly Legion zones. Valsharah, Azuna, Suramar and even parts of Highmountain were loading my 970 to its power limit and 100% usage.
If I can get great fps in the world, particularly 60 fps in the legion zones with settings cranked(which i cant really test with a level 20 character lol) I will be happy. I excuse Suramar from this because Suramar is a known fps tank for all hardware.

Note that WoW has a very nice system feature that allows you to have 2 separate graphics details configurations between normal and raid/battlegrounds. So feel free to enable that feature and turn down things like particle effects, lighting etc. which can cause huge slowdowns in raids.

I did notice this feature and I am glad they added it. I will have some settings set for that because raids and large scale PVP battles fps matters much more than visuals.

Your CPU looks like it will be the bottleneck at a lowly 4 ghz. I would upgrade to the 9700k when it comes out, assuming it can hit close to 5 ghz, and assuming the IPC gains/ghz gains are meaningful. Otherwise,
Intel's 10th gen.
This will be a cheaper upgrade for you moving back to the mainstream platform.

Otherwise, I'd just renew asap, and get to tweaking/enjoying the game.
You literally have a GPU people dream about using to play games. I would get yourself over that hurdle ASAP, and enjoy your games =D.

Your main hurdle is singlethreaded performance, so if you need the HEDT platform for other things, you may just keep this box as a WOW box and use your HEDT box for something else when/if you do switch to the mainstream platform for the single threaded advantage which is useful in games like WoW.

Lucky for us that the 9700k and beyond processors are expected to be an 8c/16t processor, so you really shouldn't feel much of a change!

Just also keep in mind 4k 144hz monitors come out this year, and will definitely be great to have. If that's something that interests you, you may want to focus on that upgrade.

A 4ghz bottleneck? 4 ghz on all 6 cores seemed like nothing to scoff at lol. Overclocking would help I assume?
If I were to overclock to 4.4ghz, do you think it would be alleviated?

The single threaded performance is not bad at all, at least for me. Clock per clock it matches a 6700K in a CPU-Z benchmark,as well as real world results on my Z170 system. My board's BIOS runs the mesh at a higher frequency than usual 2.7ghz instead of 2.0-2.3ghz which is the contributing factor to this I would assume?

I need the HEDT platform for editing and rendering work and as this platform just released this year(or rather summer last year 2017), it has a lot of life left in it and I want to get my moneys worth.

I do have a 6700K Z170 System and a 4790K system, however I see no benefit due to the 7800X beating the 4790K clock per clock single thread(and having more cores for current and upcoming games which utilize them!!!)
and matching the 6700K single thread clock per clock.
I need the power of the 1080 Ti for rendering and editing. It is far better than the 970 and I consider myself lucky to have gotten one.
But, that also means I cannot transfer it to my mainstream systems.

The HEDT games very well and suits my hybrid needs.
I have an 1800 dollar Dell Ultrasharp UP3216Q 4K monitor for my rendering and editing work that is 60hz that i also use for gaming. I just got it this year so there is no new monitor in my near future lol. It may be blasphemy to say this but I am ok with 60hz for a good while. If my primary game genre and use for my PC was first person shooters, I would lol.

The 970 will be going to my 6700K rig for it's retirement from being my main card.

I suppose I will renew my sub and enjoy the game!
If i need to I will overclock the processor to 4.4ghz. My maximum would be 4.5 ghz without a custom loop.

 

[tential]

To be clear, I'm not saying your gear is bad, obviously not. I'm just saying to get the MAXIMUM performance.
4ghz on 6 cores is GREAT.
The problem is, the application you're using it for doesn't care that you have 6 cores. It cares how fast ONE core will go, and because the mainstream platform has less cores to power, it can go faster on a single core.
As others have said in the thread, single threaded performance is PARAMOUNT for getting the best performance in an MMORPG. Having more cores on your 7800x really won't benefit much for WoW.
The 4790k you mentioned clocks higher, so your 7800x is basically slower/equal to the 4790k in many gaming scenarios since you need that singlethreaded performance.

I see you need the 1080ti and 7800x together.
I didn't realize the 7800x is "only" a hexacore. So the i7 8700k that is released today is simlar, except clocked WAY higher.

I just don't know how the HEDT platform works as a complete platform enough for me to say that you should upgrade to the 9700k to improve your whole experience. the 9700k should be a complete upgrade for you all around, while being stupidly cheap compared to what you have but I'll let others confirm based on your workloads.

You really are at the top of the performance line, anything we tell you is only going to move the needle slightly. Let us know how the game plays at 4K, and just remember that MMOs like WoW just really do need insane singlethreaded performance levels.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I've currently got two systems that are running wow. Mine is an oc'd 8700k, paired with a 1080gtx on a 1440p 144hz monitor. I don't keep everything capped at max settings as I value fps over quality to a degree, but generally I'm at what would be considered 'high' settings, 7's on view distance, etc. Runs generally >100fps, with few exceptions.

GF has a 6700k oc'd paired with a 970 on a 4k monitor, and while it can push wow at ~40fps or so, we resolution scale her down by 50% or so so she's essentially at 2k for most purposes. She's also at vaguely 'high' settings, so essentially we're using mostly the same settings overall. She stays right at around 60fps, with some dips.

Based on what I've seen with the game, at 4k with a 1080ti, you should have no issues hitting 60fps pretty much constantly, as long as you don't insist on having every single setting capped out. AA can come down some, and one or two settings down a notch will net you like 10-15% fps boosts each.

The engine itself can be pretty demanding if you crank it fully, so don't. CPU limitations are overblown, the 6700k sleeps through wow, much less my 8700k.

 

[Headfoot]

If my 1080ti can run 60 fps locked on Mass Effect Andromeda at 5820x1080 everything at max except AA, and couldn't run WoW from 2004 at 60fps locked at 4k then WoW is hot garbage and the conversation about what GPU to get is moot anyways.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

If my 1080ti can run 60 fps locked on Mass Effect Andromeda at 5820x1080 everything at max except AA, and couldn't run WoW from 2004 at 60fps locked at 4k then WoW is hot garbage and the conversation about what GPU to get is moot anyways.

Wow isn't using the same engine from 2004, unless you use very loose definitions for 'same engine'. Poly counts are through the roof compared to then, raw texture quality is up, tons of engine changes, alterations, and improvements are in. Hell, I remember in beta you couldn't fly though Elwynn Forest without your pc grinding to a halt until you landed, now we have near-infinite view distance for terrain, water, trees, and whatnot.

They've kept the engine updated nicely, imho, and it *still* can run on a potato.

 

[nathanddrews]

Blizzard has done phenomenal work with WoW over the last 13 years, but at its core (pun intended) it is still mostly a single-focused affair:

Thank you for getting in touch with us, and I'm happy to be able to look into this for you. I understand that you're concerned that WoW isn't using all the cores on your CPU, and I'm afraid that this is just the nature of the game. WoW is a CPU intensive program, however due to how the game engine works, the majority of the work is done on a single Processor Core. This is true for a number of reasons, but in general is because most of the in-game calculations are linear, they require the results from previous calculations before being able to run the next operation (think in-game physics, character movement etc.), and this kind of programming isn't suited to multithreaded operations.

This is why you will see one of your CPU Cores capped, while the others are not working much at all, and sadly just due to how the game engine works, and isn't something you can improve through settings.

As my colleague mentioned, Addons can greatly affect performance, particularly if they're actively monitoring your gameplay, such as Damage Metres for example, these can delay new Frame Draws while they process data, so disabling these while you test things can potentially improve your performance.

 

[Headfoot]

If the fastest consumer video card can't run WoW at 4k, then WoW is junk. It's that simple. Doesn't matter how much lipstick is on the pig.

 

[bystander36]

If the fastest consumer video card can't run WoW at 4k, then WoW is junk. It's that simple. Doesn't matter how much lipstick is on the pig.

You are assuming it still looks and plays like it did 10 years ago. I do know major overhauls have been done, and major graphical changes. Have you played or seen it recently? (I haven't, just saying it may be way different than you remember). And let's not forget, it sounds like they added the ability to drastically increase draw distance, and features that would normally not be allowed to be messed with in games. All you have to do is turn some of that down, but it doesn't really mean anything in terms of the games performance, other than they allow their users to hang themselves if they chose.

 

[Headfoot]

You can run SWBF2 at ultra on 4k at 60 fps (http://www.guru3d.com/articles_page..._pc_graphics_analysis_benchmark_review,5.html) with a 1080ti. WoW isn't even remotely in the same ballpark in terms of visuals. WoW isn't in the same ballpark as Battlefield 3, or Witcher 3, or Mass Effect Andromeda, or any other AAA game in the last 3 years in terms of visuals. Lot of excuse making for WoW here.

 

[bystander36]

You can run SWBF2 at ultra on 4k at 60 fps (http://www.guru3d.com/articles_page..._pc_graphics_analysis_benchmark_review,5.html) with a 1080ti. WoW isn't even remotely in the same ballpark in terms of visuals. WoW isn't in the same ballpark as Battlefield 3, or Witcher 3, or Mass Effect Andromeda, or any other AAA game in the last 3 years in terms of visuals. Lot of excuse making for WoW here.

Just a reality check. WoW isn't the same game we played 10 years ago. It also is one of those games which allow you to do stupid things like near unlimited clipping range, which doesn't improve visuals, but tank performance. As said, it will run on a potato, but that doesn't mean it can't be made to push your system. Either way, it's still an MMORPG, so there are certain things you have to live with. It's an apples to oranges type of thing.