What do i need to play WoW?

[Thinkzy]

Hey,
Im in the process of buying a new computer and i was wondering what specs will help me run WoW smoothly on medium to high settings, any help much appreciated, im not good on stuff like this

 

[imaheadcase]

Are you serious? Well if you have to ask. Any cheap video card will do. You can buy one from wal-mart, any dell computer, etc. WoW is not a graphically intense game..never was. Even some newer onboard motherboard video will do ok.

 

[Bateluer]

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home...6&s=dhs&cs=19&ref=dthp

Bump up the CPU a to an Athlon X2 and slap in a Radeon 4350 video card and you're good to go. Bout 380 at Dell with a 2.5Ghz AX2 and a 4350, everything else standard.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

What resolution are you going to be running at? Get at least 4GB of RAM. A faster CPU make a difference in WoW.

Whatever you get, make sure you have room for expansion in the future. Like if you wanted a higher end video card.

 

[KMFJD]

a large supply of Cheeto's and Coke

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Something just a little more powerful than an e6400 2 gigs of ram 7900gt (I hear WoW favors nvidia, but I only have experience using nvidia with it so I have no first hand comparison). That's what I have and I'm a little unsatisfied with the performance (13x7 all settings maxxed except shadows). Something like a e8500 or q6600 (or a 720 BE) and a 9800gt would kill wow; maybe get a little more power if you want to be ready for cata (that's a year away though so probably not worth thinking about)

 

[soccerballtux]

I'd get a Tri or possibly cheap Quad core.
Modify config.wtf to have
SET processAfinityMask "15" for quad
"3" for dual
"7" for Tri

It didn't detect my quad correctly. Had to set to 15. Better performance now.
My 8800GT plays with all things on high (except AA) great.

 

[Lorne]

Hmm.

Minimum requirments are.
A parrent with a creditcard or you get a job at 7/11 or Mac Donalds.
Any computer running Win2k or newer.
Have no girlfriend but you can have a wife if married over 10years already.
private dark room where you can come up with conspiricytheories.
Give up on life and socializing with real people.

 

[lurk3r]

8800 GT's are cheap and easy to come by, 4 Gb ram helps alot. I run at max settings with these, an abit ip35 and a q9450.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Originally posted by: Lorne
Hmm.

Minimum requirments are.
A parrent with a creditcard or you get a job at 7/11 or Mac Donalds.
Any computer running Win2k or newer.
Have no girlfriend but you can have a wife if married over 10years already.
private dark room where you can come up with conspiricytheories.
Give up on life and socializing with real people.

Basic English grammar and spelling skills are apparently not requirements.

:roll:

If you're going to troll, at least do a better job about it!

 

[brblx]

insert comment from random WoW player about how you need an i7 and gtx295 because performance in some areas is invariably shit and apparently blizzard has implemented the most poorly optimized shadows in the history of gaming.

for the record, i played the game maxxed out on an athlon xp and radeon x800.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Originally posted by: brblx
insert comment from random WoW player about how you need an i7 and gtx295 because performance in some areas is invariably shit and apparently blizzard has implemented the most poorly optimized shadows in the history of gaming.

for the record, i played the game maxxed out on an athlon xp and radeon x800.

Yes, a mid-range computer works fine in about 99% of the areas with settings set to max, but if you're in packed Dalaran or in a raid with the magic flying, the frame rate drops like a rock...



At least, those are the only times I experienced slowdown on my Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM and an 8800GT...

 

[CKent]

Don't listen to the general consensus from people who don't play it. Unlike most games, WoW demands the fastest CPU you can possibly throw at it, overclocked if possible, and doesn't focus on GPU as much. Not that integrated graphics is an option, but a 4870 should be more than enough.

As for the processor, I have an x2 6000 and I bog pretty bad in dalaran and wg, down to as low as 15 fps average depending just how many players are on-screen. I haven't done much raiding yet in wolk, but in BC a year ago I was averaging 15-20 in 25man raids with an x2 4800 --- there's been an engine update since then though, and I probably wouldn't see that same performance now. I run it at 1680x1050, full settings except 20% shadows, no aa/af. GPU is a 512mb 4850. I'd go with at least a q9 series processor, or better yet an i7 / fast phenom. If it were only dalaran that bogged, I could handle it. But low fps in raids and wg is not cool. If you're the casual type who will never raid, you'll get excellent performance with far less under the hood, and when you do bog it won't be nearly as big a deal.

 

[lifeobry]

I'd get the best computer you can. The game looks pretty great with everything cranked, don't want to turn down any settings.

 

[dguy6789]

I find it pretty strange. When Wow first came out, a bottom end Athlon 64 single core(1.8Ghz, 512k L2 cache) and a Radeon 9800 Pro and 1GB of ram could run the game at maximum settings flawlessly pretty much all of the time. Now the game needs a Geforce 8800 class card and 4GB of ram? The game doesn't even look 2x as good now as it did at launch, yet system requirements went up by 10 times?

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: CKent
Don't listen to the general consensus from people who don't play it. Unlike most games, WoW demands the fastest CPU you can possibly throw at it, overclocked if possible, and doesn't focus on GPU as much. Not that integrated graphics is an option, but a 4870 should be more than enough.

As for the processor, I have an x2 6000 and I bog pretty bad in dalaran and wg, down to as low as 15 fps average depending just how many players are on-screen. I haven't done much raiding yet in wolk, but in BC a year ago I was averaging 15-20 in 25man raids with an x2 4800 --- there's been an engine update since then though, and I probably wouldn't see that same performance now. I run it at 1680x1050, full settings except 20% shadows, no aa/af. GPU is a 512mb 4850. I'd go with at least a q9 series processor, or better yet an i7 / fast phenom. If it were only dalaran that bogged, I could handle it. But low fps in raids and wg is not cool. If you're the casual type who will never raid, you'll get excellent performance with far less under the hood, and when you do bog it won't be nearly as big a deal.

No one needs an i7 or the fastest processor to run WoW on the highest everything. The best price/performance processors right now are the Phenom II Tri-core. Of course your X2 6000 is going to chug. It's old.

 

[Superrock]

time

 

[brblx]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
I find it pretty strange. When Wow first came out, a bottom end Athlon 64 single core(1.8Ghz, 512k L2 cache) and a Radeon 9800 Pro and 1GB of ram could run the game at maximum settings flawlessly pretty much all of the time. Now the game needs a Geforce 8800 class card and 4GB of ram? The game doesn't even look 2x as good now as it did at launch, yet system requirements went up by 10 times?

i don't get it, either. now that i think of it, i think what i had was a 64, not xp, but still. that, 1gb, and an x850 ran that game maxed at 1680 just fine. the only added feature that i know of it shadows, which i'm sure has some impact. but the slowdown in the high level areas seems to be more related to the limits of the game- it just shouldn't chug on any modern system, ever.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: brblx

Originally posted by: dguy6789
I find it pretty strange. When Wow first came out, a bottom end Athlon 64 single core(1.8Ghz, 512k L2 cache) and a Radeon 9800 Pro and 1GB of ram could run the game at maximum settings flawlessly pretty much all of the time. Now the game needs a Geforce 8800 class card and 4GB of ram? The game doesn't even look 2x as good now as it did at launch, yet system requirements went up by 10 times?

i don't get it, either. now that i think of it, i think what i had was a 64, not xp, but still. that, 1gb, and an x850 ran that game maxed at 1680 just fine. the only added feature that i know of it shadows, which i'm sure has some impact. but the slowdown in the high level areas seems to be more related to the limits of the game- it just shouldn't chug on any modern system, ever.

People are overestimating alot. WoW just isn't that intensive. A good IGP system will run it at decent details settings unless your in a raid or heavily populated area.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: imaheadcase
Are you serious? Well if you have to ask. Any cheap video card will do. You can buy one from wal-mart, any dell computer, etc. WoW is not a graphically intense game..never was. Even some newer onboard motherboard video will do ok.

too bad video card has next to nothing to do with how smoothly wow will run

at 1680x1050 with a E8600 OCed to 4GHz and 4 gigs or ram running a GTX285 i sit at a max of 25 FPS in dal and i don't run all setting fully maxed

An I7 at the same rez running 6 gigs of ram and a 9800GTX gets ~80 FPS in dal with every setting fully maxed

yes wow is coded for shit, no it doesnt need the BEST CPU to run well however they sure help

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: KMFJD
a large supply of Cheeto's and Coke

And the willingness to give up anything even remotely close to a life.

 

[Craig234]

You don't need this.

But it helps.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
No one needs an i7 or the fastest processor to run WoW on the highest everything. The best price/performance processors right now are the Phenom II Tri-core. Of course your X2 6000 is going to chug. It's old.

It's not *that* old. People OCing i7s are only seeing 40-60 fps in dalaran on ultra. Anything slower and you might have to turn down shadows - who wants to play on below-max settings? It's not like WoW is an amazing looking game anyway, get as much image quality ouf of it as you can. And ofc if you raid or want lag-free wg you're looking at dalaran-like fps.

 

[BenSkywalker]

You need a balanced system to run WoW well. Some people will try and push a fast vid card, others a fast CPU. A fast CPU is more important overall, but with a slow vid card your framerate will still choke. Those charts demonstrate a GTX 260 is about 50% faster then a 4770 across the board(although that is largely due to nV being clearly superior in WoW across the board- the GTS250 does fairly well in the comparison). A 9800GT or better nV card paired with the fastest CPU you can throw at it would probably be a good way to go.

WoW is not a graphically intense game..never was.

WoW at comparable settings is slower in Dal during peak time then Crysis. That isn't to say it is always like that, but it rather sucks when your framerate falls through the floor and you cause a raid to wipe because 'WoW doesn't need much hardware'

the only added feature that i know of it shadows

Poly counts have been increased ~400% since launch, textures loads in some areas have been increased by ~800%, enormous amounts of new shaders have been added everywhere in the game(more obvious in newer regions) and the draw distance has been increased by ~200%, that is on top of the shadows. End impact on visuals is very clearly superior to the original, but like all older engines tweaking in new elements for an engine not built for it has a larger performance hit then one within its target range.

at 1680x1050 with a E8600 OCed to 4GHz and 4 gigs or ram running a GTX285 i sit at a max of 25 FPS in dal and i don't run all setting fully maxed

With your vid card you should be able to crank everything up to max without hesitation except shadows(8xAA should actually be quite reasonable).

 

[nick1985]

I can tell you what you dont need.

1. A social life

2. A girlfriend