The WoW Performance Guide For Macs
by Vedeyndal | 17/01/2008 18:33:43 The World of Warcraft Performance Guide For Macs - Updated 10/14/2010 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: According to Blizzard, some Mac models will NOT be able to enable some of the new graphics settings, such as sunshafts, until Apple releases the OS X 10.6.5 point update. It has been seeded to developers and should be released soon. Also, PowerPC Macs have been dropped completely. You will be notified by the game when trying to launch that it no longer supports your machine. Also, Blizzard seems to have enabled the maxfps command by default. If you don't want your framerate limited, go to "Video>Advanced" and untick the box next to "Max Foreground FPS". Though I highly recommend leaving it on and setting it to 40-60. Each notch on the slider moves in increments of 5. From 0 to 100. I have revamped the settings across all models. 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. Multisampling, Texture Filtering, and Real-Time 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 4.0.1, entire sections of the underlying graphics engine are being completely rewritten. As such, the system requirements change over time. Current End Game 25-Man Raid Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.8 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or later 4GB of System Memory ATI Radeon x1600 or nVidia GeForce 8600GT with 256MB of VRAM or better Expect an average of 20fps on similar machines at minimum settings. Note that as of right now, ATI Radeon is by far the better vendor to go with over nVidia if you have a choice. nVidia's graphics drivers on OS X tend to be of poor quality and have sub-par performance. The following is a checklist of known, widespread performance issues with World of Warcraft on Mac OS X: 1. The 4.0 patch seems to have severe performance problems when combining 2x Multisampling and Texture Filtering over 4x Anisotropic. 3. Dalaran itself takes over 3GB of RAM to load properly, though this is working as intended. 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. For starters, if you're running Leopard, most machines will indeed see a minor increase in performance upgrading to Snow Leopard. 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 it's 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. OS X 10.5 Leopard users should be at 10.5.8, and 10.6 Snow Leopard users should be at 10.6.5. 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 30 or 40fps 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 40 "40" 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 2GB of RAM in your computer, 4GB is preferred. 2. You did not dunk the computer in a vat of boiling acid last night at that party you went to. 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. Using the new GLL engine sees a good increase in frame rate on most models. 2-A. The iMac 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: Good Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Low 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: Good Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Low 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: Good Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Low 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: Good Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Low Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 40-50fps. [u[Early 2009 iMac with 256MB or 512MB nVidia GT130 Graphics Cards[/u] 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: Fair Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Low 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: Low 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 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: Good Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Low 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 GT320m 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: Good Sunshafts: Low 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: Good Liquid Detail: Good Sunshafts: Low Particle Density: Good Advanced Triple Buffering; Disabled Reduce Input Lag: Disabled Hardware Cursor: Enabled Notes: Expect 45-50fps. 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: Good Sunshafts: Low 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: Fair Sunshafts: Low 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: Low 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 Mid 2010 Mac Mini with GT320m 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: Good Sunshafts: Low 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: Low 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: Low 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: Low 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: Low 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 - Revisions for the 4.0.3 (Cataclysm) Patch - Tweaked settings as Blizzard improves performance. - Updates for new Mac models 3-B. Past Changes - 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. [ Post edited by Vedeyndal ] |
by Matthewjp | 19/02/2008 19:24:57
Done. But please keep this thread on topic. It's been really helpful for a number of users already. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. |
| by Tigerclaw | 29/02/2008 00:54:18 Leave either the full screen glow off, or multisampling at minimum - combining those has a disproportionate impact on FPS presently. Be sure you have updated to 10.5.2 plus Leopard Graphics Update 1.0 or better. |
| by Tigerclaw | 27/04/2008 21:40:10 Sure. You can type in /console maxfps 0, or 200, either one ought to do it.. |
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