World of Warcraft : Macbook Pro (2.2 or 2.4) - 2GB vs. 4GB Ram FPS

I don't think it would make much of a difference in WoW, but I'm sure overall you'd get much better performance. Say if you wanted to run WoW, Mail, and Safari (which I do without any hiccoughs with 1.5GB) then the more memory the better.

nVidia 8600m GT

Kengee,
The video card in your truly awesome MacBook Pro is more than capable of powering WoWC. I've never been able to max out the RAM doing everything I do in daily life with my 2.33 GHz MacBook Pro. Even maxing out it's RAM to 3.3 GB wouldn't be worth it for me (First it can't be true 64bit memory management nor address the rest of the .7 GB of RAM.) as I can't even tax the 2 GB that is already there. I play wow, have safari, proteus, iChat, Handbrake, Mac the Ripper, iTunes, all my dashboard wigets and Logic Studio etc... And I can't get over 1.3 GB of RAM in use until I cluster node my processors to run Logic Studio, even then I only use 1.8 GB. Leopard has made RAM management and downshifting of inactive programs even more noticeable. I can't tax my machine without doing distributed computing.

More RAM is always wonderful for the Kernal and OS-X. As for gains in FPS in WoWC, you won't likely see much, save for running it windowed and having everything else doing something in the background. You can Multi-task even better...

If you have the money to get two matched pairs, it's a lovely upgrade.

But if you're having any heat issues with your GPU or your Processors, spending the money to have the thermal paste applied properly with Arcric Silver 5 or something of equal caliber would be worth it.

I saw 5-10 FPS games when my GPU (X1600 ATI) had proper thermal paste applied. The chip was running hot and not performing because it had gobbed on thermal paste.

There is no reason why your machine couldn't play WoWC to the fullest.

The RAM will help you multi-task while playing WoWC but it's your GPU and it's RAM (Not upgradable) that power WoWC.

Download the iStat wiget or Temperature Monitor and see where your levels are for heat. 50-60 C under stress is normal. 78-99 C is not normal. 101C or more and your chips are melting and you need a new machine. They're rated to 100 C.

I recommend Thermal Repair for any machine that under stress goes over 78 C for any reason. This is a custom repair and not covered by warranty at the Apple Store. In fact, they may tell you the line "It's within spec". 100 C is hot and shouldn't be in your lap. Lastly, I got much worse FPS running in XP with all the drivers updated than in OS-X Native with Multi-Threaded OpenGL.

Hope that helps, what server are you on?

Sarta - Sisters of Elune
Sarta - Lightning Hoof

kengee said:

Alright first time poster, looking to make the jump to 4gb. of ram on my 2.4 SR MBP. However, I was curious as to how much of a performance increase one would see in game performance (particularly World of Warcraft).

So the questions I pose are:

1. What Macbook Pro do you have (2.2, Geforce 8900M 128 MB or 2.4, Geforce 8900M 256 MB)
2. How much of an increase did you see going from 2GB of ram to 4GB particularly FPS wise?
3. Are you running Leopard, Tiger, or Boot Camping it up?

Thanks!

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It's been that way toggled on since 2.0. It's very cool. Doubled old PowerPC framerates and Duo2s kicked so much... Anyway, it gave much help but not the Multi-Processor Single Core machines.

kengee said:

Wow, that was exactly what I was looking to be informed on, and then some! The ram I was looking to get was 2 x 2 gig sticks of crucial.

http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=FF1F93F9A5CA7304

When you make mention of multi-threaded OpenGL, that is the standard that it automatically plays at correct? Or can you 'turn that on' for lack of better terms, to see performance benefits?

Also, I'm on Trollbane US, I'm still kind of a newb, this is my first character lol. Same tag though Kengee, 49 Feral Druid

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Dont waste your money - you will see 0 difference in performance. I am sure WoW doesnt use more than 1 GB of RAM.

Unless you have Photoshop and Aperture open in the background with many high-res images loaded, the difference will be 0% - for sure.