World of Warcraft and SLI

[opti2k4]

Does WoW support SLI? I am playing that game most of the time so i am thinking about getting 9600GT SLI or maybe 9800GTX. SLI is faster then 9800gtx for sure, just don't want to buy sli and then find out only specific games can use it.

 

[tuteja1986]

You know you don't need SLI for World of Warcraft. A card like 8800GTS (G92) or 3870 can run WOW at 60FPS at crowed section. WoW runs fine on SLI as far as i know , i know one player on WOW with 3x8800U SLI.

 

[opti2k4]

Well i have 8800GTS 320mb e6700 and 2gb and i get lowest of 20fps while raiding black temple at 1680x1050 all to max, no AA. So i need new gfx, dunno which one yet... Prolly i'll go for 9800GTX as it has more OC potential then 8800GTS.

 

[sutahz]

From all the threads that have come up w/ how to improve performance of a 4 year old video game I have yet to see a solid answer. Given that some people run the game w/ a 8800 Ultra and an overclocked processor and the game is still laggy just shows how crappy the game is. After all this time blizzard still hasn't gotten the game working properly. It's a shitty game but people still play it w/ blizzard jerking them around.

 

[soonerproud]

The best way to improve the performance of WoW is to buy the beefiest CPU you can afford. A 7600GT will run WoW in all it's glory with all settings on high at high frame rates. The bottleneck in WoW is that it is a CPU intensive game. The faster the CPU you have, the better the frames you will get in high population areas, like Shattrath City.


A 9600GT will tear through WoW's graphics easily without SLI. Use the extra money to buy a better CPU in this case.

 

[Owls]

Originally posted by: sutahz
From all the threads that have come up w/ how to improve performance of a 4 year old video game I have yet to see a solid answer. Given that some people run the game w/ a 8800 Ultra and an overclocked processor and the game is still laggy just shows how crappy the game is. After all this time blizzard still hasn't gotten the game working properly. It's a shitty game but people still play it w/ blizzard jerking them around.

OP is absolutely right. Those that haven't played the game obviously haven't heard of "lagrimmar", "lagrath", etc. A single 8800ultra in shattrath and an E8400 running at 4.3ghz, 1920x1200 no AA, will bring down my fps into the 30s, with SLI its in the 60fps range, throw in 2x AA and it's hovering around 40-50fps.

Point your camera up toward the sky and my fps rockets into the 170fps range, go sit by the battlemaster on AV weekend and if you aren't using a beefy card you will be in tears.

In short, Wow does support SLI, I found the best performance using AFR2 I think.

 

[richwenzel]

i used to play wow (up until january) on an old pentium 4, 2gigs ram, x1650 pro 512mb, i had upgraded from a radeon 9800 256mb...the upgraded netted me maybe 1-2 fps, even though my 3dmark03 went up like 50%....

i got 10fps, at best 20 for short bursts, on average...


now with the system in my sig i am at 60 fps (at all times in all places), full settings turned on, at 1600x1050....

i run nurfedui, xperl, cartographer, proximo, spyglass, gear rating, antagonist, quartz, sw stats, outfitter, lootlink, character info, sct/sctd, atlas+atlasloot, i can't even think of them all, but its literally like 50-60 mods (including sub mods)...

i can turn on growler guncam or gamecam on put high frame rate capture, and i may dip down to 55fps on occassion....

i hope this helps

 

[Denithor]

soonerproud +1

WoW is much more cpu/ram dependent than gpu bound. A 7600GT with an e6400(3GHz)/2GB can run max detail at 1280x1024 (no AA), an x1900gt can do the same with some 2xAA turned on, and my new 9600GT can handle 1600x1200 with full detail and 8xAA.

richwenzel, it would help to know what video card you are using...

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Denithor
soonerproud +1

WoW is much more cpu/ram dependent than gpu bound. A 7600GT with an e6400(3GHz)/2GB can run max detail at 1280x1024 (no AA), an x1900gt can do the same with some 2xAA turned on, and my new 9600GT can handle 1600x1200 with full detail and 8xAA.

richwenzel, it would help to know what video card you are using...

Both my brother and cousin-in-law echo similar sentiments. My cousin-in-law upgraded to an E2180 at my recommendation from an old Athlon 64 and saw his frame rates double from ~30 in raids to 60 FPS capped always with a 7800GTX. My brother is running an 8800GTX with an Opteron and sometimes get FPS drops @1680x1050 and is in process of putting together a new Q6600 rig. He's hoping to see a pretty similar increase to capped FPS always with everything maxed out.

 

[BoboKatt]

This reminds me of another game -- Everquest. Pretty much no amount of the best top end gear will ever allow you to run that game with all spell effects on and 60 folks in raid running around. Same deal as WoW I gather. I have some folks swear that it's their SLI setup that gives them the smooth frames and others say the top end overclocked CPU etc etc.

For these older games -- there seems to be a static point or cap that no Godly gear will allow you to overcome and make everything smooth and then factor in lag, slow connection, internet traffic etc etc.

 

[richwenzel]

Originally posted by: Denithor
soonerproud +1

WoW is much more cpu/ram dependent than gpu bound. A 7600GT with an e6400(3GHz)/2GB can run max detail at 1280x1024 (no AA), an x1900gt can do the same with some 2xAA turned on, and my new 9600GT can handle 1600x1200 with full detail and 8xAA.

richwenzel, it would help to know what video card you are using...

I thought I had that in my sig, need to put that there. 8800gt, 512mb, not OCd.

 

[Denithor]

There you go, that helps.

And to address the cpu/ram topic a bit further: a buddy of mine replaced his PentiumD with an e6300 but decided to reuse his ram, 512MB of DDR2. At the time I had a stock e6400 with 2GB ram. We both had x1900gt cards.

His system ran like crap, could only get 15-20 fps @ 1024x768 in Stormwind (not even Shattrath) when people were around. My very similar system would run 50-60 fps @ 1280x1024 (v-sync enabled) while we were together in the same place. I finally convinced him to upgrade to 2GB of ram and his speeds jumped up to the same as mine.

 

[richwenzel]

I would say anything that is less than 2mb of ram would reduce fps (esp. if you are mod heavy).

anything less than a duo-core (yes i know that the game was released without dual processor support, but it supports it now, and what got 25 fps before gets 5-10 fps now, for example, my old pc) would slow down fps...

on the graphics card, i would say 8800gs/3850 is where i would start my minimum....depending on screen size.....in some aspects of the game, the ability to see far away has a lot of importance (bgs, arena), and that should be a factor...

given that fast ddr2 for 2gs is dirt cheap, this shouldnt be a constraint...

if i was given the position of spending money on upgrading from a 2100 series to a 6550 or so versus 8800gs t to an 8800gts route, i would go cpu over gpu for warcraft...(about same price differentials)....

 

[tuteja1986]

So why do thoes mac book WoW player are able to play wow on a X1300pro

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
So why do thoes mac book WoW player are able to play wow on a X1300pro

macbooks only have the intel x3100 gpu...or the old gma950.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: opti2k4
Well i have 8800GTS 320mb e6700 and 2gb and i get lowest of 20fps while raiding black temple at 1680x1050 all to max, no AA. So i need new gfx, dunno which one yet... Prolly i'll go for 9800GTX as it has more OC potential then 8800GTS.

Um.. if you are bottlenecked at 20fps in wow with that card you got another issue somewhere..

with a 7900GT on my new Wolfdale E8400 with 8 gigs of 8500

I run WoW at 1600x1200 and even in full raids i never even get below 50 frames..

and thats on a SINGLE 2 generation old card...


you got other issues.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
So why do thoes mac book WoW player are able to play wow on a X1300pro

macbooks only have the intel x3100 gpu...or the old gma950.

Anyways WOW seem to have a problem if it needs a SLI to run at 40FPS in busy area.

 

[nitromullet]

Here are my experiences with WoW (all IMO)...

RAM: 1GB min (512MB plays like crap)
CPU: barely matters once you're up to something as good or better than a Sempron 3000+ (contrary to popular belief)
GPU:
GeForce Go 5200 in a Powerbook G4 - almost unplayable (would only do in a pinch if you're addicted and on the road)
GeForce 7200GS (TC): works 'okay' for 1024x768 0xAA/0xAF distance/details turned down
AIW X800XL works for 1680x1050 with 4xAA/16xAF
GeForce 7800GS playable at 1920x1200 4xtrAA/16xAF (dips into the teens in Shattrath area)
GeForce 8800GTX: playable at 1920x1200 8xtrAA/16xAF (dips into the teens in Shattrath area)
GeForce 8800GTS: 512MB playable at 1920x1200 8xtrAA/16xAF (dips into the teens in Shattrath area)
GeForce 8800GT: playable at 1920x1200 4xtrAA/16xAF (dips into the teens in Shattrath area) 8xtrAA dips into the single digits
GeForce 8800GT SLI: exactly the same as a single 8800GT
HD 3870 X2: playable at 1920x1200 4xAAA/16xAF (dips into the teens in Shattrath area) 8xAAA dips into teens too often
7900GTX: playable at 1920x1200 4xtrAA/16xAF (pre TBC experience)
7900GTX SLI: playable at 1920x1200 8xtrAA/16xAF (pre TBC experience) - vsync would crash PC on game exit
7950GX2: same as 7900GTX SLI

 

[KyleGates]

Originally posted by: opti2k4
Well i have 8800GTS 320mb e6700 and 2gb and i get lowest of 20fps while raiding black temple at 1680x1050 all to max, no AA. So i need new gfx, dunno which one yet... Prolly i'll go for 9800GTX as it has more OC potential then 8800GTS.

Man, thats odd. With an e6600, 2gigs and a single 8800GTX I can run WoW maxed (no aa) at 19x12 and nvr get a single hiccup.

 

[opti2k4]

My CPU is perfectly OK for WoW, i did alt tab many times and CPU isnt even on 100% use during WOW playing. Mostly on 80%. Illidan fight is pretty heavy on my system, there my fps drops to 20 sometimes.

 

[dadach]

q6600 3.7, 4gb, vista 64-bit, 1680x1050 8xAA edge detect, 16xAF, dual X2, does not MOVE from 60fps, ever

 

[CVSiN]

If youre dropping to 20 FPS at Illidan you still have something wrong..

Mine never drops below 50 FPS...

 

[BreadFan]

Originally posted by: dadach
q6600 3.7, 4gb, vista 64-bit, 1680x1050 8xAA edge detect, 16xAF, dual X2, does not MOVE from 60fps, ever

Weird, I have the same proc as you but not overclocked. I'm running 3870 x 2 in crossfire in vista x64 w 8gb ram at 1920 x 1200 with no aa or af and I get and avg of 30-40fps in Shatt and an avg of 50 or so everywhere else in outland. This is a little better than my old system but I thought with this one I would be able to run with some aa and af and still get 60'ish fps but I guess it was wishful thinking on my part.

 

[taltamir]

First make sure you have 4GB of ram. WOW is a RAM whore and it will benefit a lot more from the extra ram then from extra GPU or CPU power

 

[woolfe9999]

Originally posted by: opti2k4
Well i have 8800GTS 320mb e6700 and 2gb and i get lowest of 20fps while raiding black temple at 1680x1050 all to max, no AA. So i need new gfx, dunno which one yet... Prolly i'll go for 9800GTX as it has more OC potential then 8800GTS.

It's funny that you mention this, because my specs are literally identical to yours, down to the exact CPU, vcard and RAM, and we're running at the same resolution, both at max setting and no AA. My fps rarely drops below 30 though (it idles at 60, in raid it's 30-50), no matter how graphics intensive the situation. I raid BT/MH 4 nights per week. Very, very, rarely it dips into the 20's, but not often.

You might consider that the 2.4 content patch has caused a lot of server lag lately, and to the extent that you may experience some stuttering it's more than likely a function of latency than fps. Even if your fps does indeed hit 20 at times, it's probably only briefly and not enough to notice in and of itself. If, OTOH, you're getting 20 on a constant basis, something is wrong with your drivers, hardware, etc.

- woolfe