Running WoW on 27" iMac with i7???

[OCBulldogs]

I'm looking at the 27" with i7 proc and 8Gbs. The only game that I play is World of Warcraft, what do you guys think?

a) Will the game HAVE to run windowed? Since it doesnt support the higher native resolution...

b) If I run it at the highest Mac setting (1600x1200 or similar) what will the picture quality be? Any idea about the performance?

c) Will the video card be able to handle "all settings maxed out"?

Thanks for your help! Paying $3k for a system that doesn't run WoW well would be a HUGE dissapointment.

- Mike

[thegoldenmackid]

Thanks for your help! Paying $3k for a system that doesn't run WoW well would be a HUGE dissapointment.

Reason Number 1 to purchase a Mac Pro.

[Chaszmyr]

You won't know for sure until people get them and test them, but WoW ought to run smoothly at pretty high settings on the quad core iMac. It will run at max settings for sure, but you might find that you'd rather have slightly lower settings for a more optimal frame rate.

[QCassidy352]

well it's the same video card as the current top end, right? How does it run on the old high end 24"?

[richprice]

I own a pc with the following quad core 2.5ghz cpu 4 gb of ram and radeon 4870 512mb

I run wow with everything maxed and with a resolution of 1920x1200 it runs locked at 60 fps everywhere but the wrath of the lich king areas which run around 45 to 55

I know this is a different setup but I would imagine the i5 and i7 with speed boost would match this performance or best it.

[thomanjones]

It will run WoW just fine. Not sure if you'll have to run it in windowed mode, but there is a 'fullscreen' windowed mode that I use all the time (lets you have access to quicksilver,expose, etc; but otherwise appears to be fullscreen). WoW is very gentle on system specs (as opposed to something like Crysis).

If you really want to make sure, put your WoW folder on an external (or iPod in disk mode), head over to an apple store, and test it on a few different machines. That's what I did last time I got a new machine (and I even got a bit of a crowd when I tested it on a MP with the 30" ACD)

If you are not near an Apple Store, wait until the benchmark results are posted at barefeats.com

[OCBulldogs]

Can anyone adress the video quality when stretching a lower resolution out on the 27" screen??

Is anyone running WoW on the 30" monitor?

[richprice]

I have my mac mini hooked up to a 1920x1200 monitor and I run wow at 1680x1050 it looks great of course its not quite as sharp as native but your splitting hairs at a certain point. I am more than confidant that wow running at 1080p on the 27" will blow your mind.

p.s. /nerd on If you play on laughing skull my characters are

lvl 61 DK is vorlenx
lvl 29 Paly vorlex

/nerd off .....damn its stuck

[Obsidian6]

A buddy of mine is a Film producer and he works on a mac pro with dual 30s. He plays WoW a whole lot more than I do, so I'll find out what his experience is like settings wise.

FTR - My 2006 mac pro can't handle wow at full settings lol (well, not entirely true, it can do it, but I like to be in the 100+ FPS range.)

[Photekk]

Ok there is no doubt in my mind that the i7 is going to blow WoW up.. in a good way.

You were asking about someone who plays with an iMac 24" so I can give you some info.

I've been using my 24" iMac, 4GB ram, 3.06 C2D, GeForce 8800 512 MB for quite some time.

Even with these far inferior specs compared to the new 27" i7's, WoW runs perfectly smooth with everything maxed. I get usually 60 FPS or more, another not crowded is more like 100+. Only setting not completely maxed is the "View Distance" which is maybe at like 80%.

Aside from the huge processor upgrade from mine, the video card alone would likely give me double in performance jump

And btw if you have to play in windowed mode don't sweat it I'm guessing most people are going to utilize the massive screen to allow themselves to have multiple windows open while still maintaing insane resolutions. I play in windowed mode on my 24" - hate having it full screen. Lets me keep Safari/iTunes all that good stuff right at finger tips

[OCBulldogs]

Ok there is no doubt in my mind that the i7 is going to blow WoW up.. in a good way.

You were asking about someone who plays with an iMac 24" so I can give you some info.

I've been using my 24" iMac, 4GB ram, 3.06 C2D, GeForce 8800 512 MB for quite some time.

Even with these far inferior specs compared to the new 27" i7's, WoW runs perfectly smooth with everything maxed. I get usually 60 FPS or more, another not crowded is more like 100+. Only setting not completely maxed is the "View Distance" which is maybe at like 80%.

Aside from the huge processor upgrade from mine, the video card alone would likely give me double in performance jump

And btw if you have to play in windowed mode don't sweat it I'm guessing most people are going to utilize the massive screen to allow themselves to have multiple windows open while still maintaing insane resolutions. I play in windowed mode on my 24" - hate having it full screen. Lets me keep Safari/iTunes all that good stuff right at finger tips

Awesome post! Thanks so much. This is exactly what I was looking for, in terms of feedback.

So, I will go ahead and get a new iMac 27"!

[mousouchop]

Ok there is no doubt in my mind that the i7 is going to blow WoW up.. in a good way.

You were asking about someone who plays with an iMac 24" so I can give you some info.

I've been using my 24" iMac, 4GB ram, 3.06 C2D, GeForce 8800 512 MB for quite some time.

Even with these far inferior specs compared to the new 27" i7's, WoW runs perfectly smooth with everything maxed. I get usually 60 FPS or more, another not crowded is more like 100+. Only setting not completely maxed is the "View Distance" which is maybe at like 80%.

Aside from the huge processor upgrade from mine, the video card alone would likely give me double in performance jump

And btw if you have to play in windowed mode don't sweat it I'm guessing most people are going to utilize the massive screen to allow themselves to have multiple windows open while still maintaing insane resolutions. I play in windowed mode on my 24" - hate having it full screen. Lets me keep Safari/iTunes all that good stuff right at finger tips

I play fullscreen windowed mode on my 15" MBP. This way, I am able to enjoy my WoW at full resolution with no OS elements in the way-- and then I can use Expose to get to Adium/Firefox when I am in a flight or resting in a city. Best of both worlds in my opinion. :P

[macchiato2009]

I'm looking at the 27" with i7 proc and 8Gbs. The only game that I play is World of Warcraft, what do you guys think?

a) Will the game HAVE to run windowed? Since it doesnt support the higher native resolution...

b) If I run it at the highest Mac setting (1600x1200 or similar) what will the picture quality be? Any idea about the performance?

c) Will the video card be able to handle "all settings maxed out"?

Thanks for your help! Paying $3k for a system that doesn't run WoW well would be a HUGE dissapointment.

- Mike


LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Wow runs on slower Macs, why the latest high-end iMac couldn't run Wow ???

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Ok there is no doubt in my mind that the i7 is going to blow WoW up.. in a good way.

You were asking about someone who plays with an iMac 24" so I can give you some info.

I've been using my 24" iMac, 4GB ram, 3.06 C2D, GeForce 8800 512 MB for quite some time.

Even with these far inferior specs compared to the new 27" i7's, WoW runs perfectly smooth with everything maxed. I get usually 60 FPS or more, another not crowded is more like 100+. Only setting not completely maxed is the "View Distance" which is maybe at like 80%.

Aside from the huge processor upgrade from mine, the video card alone would likely give me double in performance jump

And btw if you have to play in windowed mode don't sweat it I'm guessing most people are going to utilize the massive screen to allow themselves to have multiple windows open while still maintaing insane resolutions. I play in windowed mode on my 24" - hate having it full screen. Lets me keep Safari/iTunes all that good stuff right at finger tips

That same iMac is what I just upgraded from when I built a new PC for gaming. For me to get anywhere near 60fps I would have to run on one tick less than Ultra, 2x multisample, Full Screen Glow off, and High Quality Shadows off. In Dalaran I would drop down to around 10-20fps with those settings during busy times. There is no way you're getting 60fps in Northrend areas if you have everything maxed except for View Distance unless you have multiple at 1x maybe. Maybe in Outland yea that sounds about right. I have everything maxed on my new i5 750 PC build with a 4890 1GB set at 8x multiplesampling at 1920x1200 and I get 70 fps max in outside areas in Northrend, but it drops down to 30-40 fps in places like Dragonblight when flying over the trees around Agmar's Hammer.

The 4850 is a better card than the 8800GS, but it is the mobility card and if you check out benchmarks of the 4850 mobility at 1920x1200 you can see that most recent games are going to be in the 30fps area at best with AA turned on. Bump up to the native res of the 27" and it will only be playable at lower settings with no AA.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Wow runs on slower Macs, why the latest high-end iMac couldn't run Wow ???

Run on slower Macs, yes. Run with settings maxed on a 27" screen with a mobile 4850, no. The OP specifically asked if he could run with everything maxed.

[OCBulldogs]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Wow runs on slower Macs, why the latest high-end iMac couldn't run Wow ???

Ok, let me go back to the start of this thread. I am just about to buy the new 27" iMac and only play WoW. I was concerned that the crazy high-resolution of the new screen might pose some issues for WoW. That's why I wanted to see what the experiences/thoughts of the gang were first. Almost ANY computer will play WoW, but it takes alot to run it at maxed out specs, highest resolution, etc.

Looks like the general concensus is that's there's no problem. Go for it!

[OCBulldogs]

That same iMac is what I just upgraded from when I built a new PC for gaming. For me to get anywhere near 60fps I would have to run on one tick less than Ultra, 2x multisample, Full Screen Glow off, and High Quality Shadows off. In Dalaran I would drop down to around 10-20fps with those settings during busy times. There is no way you're getting 60fps in Northrend areas if you have everything maxed except for View Distance. Maybe in Outland yea that sounds about right. I have everything maxed on my new i5 750 PC build with a 4890 1GB 8x multiplesampling at 1920x1200 and I get is 70 fps max in outside areas in Northrend, but it drops down to 30-40 fps in places like Dragonblight when flying over the trees around Agmar's Hammer.

The 4850 is a better card than the 8800GS, but it is the mobility card and if you check out benchmarks of the 4850 mobility at 1920x1200 you can see that most recent games are going to be in the 30fps area at best with AA turned on. Bump up to the native res of the 27" and it will only be playable at lower settings with no AA.



Run on slower Macs, yes. Run with settings maxed on a 27" screen with a mobile 4850, no. The OP specifically asked if he could run with everything maxed.

Thanks, Lava Lamp Freak. You get where I'm coming from. What's your take in the 27" Quad Core for a WoW rig???

[Photekk]

That same iMac is what I just upgraded from when I built a new PC for gaming. For me to get anywhere near 60fps I would have to run on one tick less than Ultra, 2x multisample, Full Screen Glow off, and High Quality Shadows off. In Dalaran I would drop down to around 10-20fps with those settings during busy times. There is no way you're getting 60fps in Northrend areas if you have everything maxed except for View Distance unless you have multiple at 1x maybe. Maybe in Outland yea that sounds about right. I have everything maxed on my new i5 750 PC build with a 4890 1GB 8x multiplesampling at 1920x1200 and I get is 70 fps max in outside areas in Northrend, but it drops down to 30-40 fps in places like Dragonblight when flying over the trees around Agmar's Hammer.

The 4850 is a better card than the 8800GS, but it is the mobility card and if you check out benchmarks of the 4850 mobility at 1920x1200 you can see that most recent games are going to be in the 30fps area at best with AA turned on. Bump up to the native res of the 27" and it will only be playable at lower settings with no AA.



Run on slower Macs, yes. Run with settings maxed on a 27" screen with a mobile 4850, no. The OP specifically asked if he could run with everything maxed.

I definitely get around 60 FPS usually.. and like I said I'm not talking about crowded areas (hence, I'm not usually in Dalaran - and that's not an accurate portrayal of framerates since your are taking a hit due to the insane bandwidth being used in that area)

I've messed around with pretty much every single setting graphically in WoW and there are only a few that have any real impact on my framerates - view distance is big, glow effect is like 5 FPS, high res shadow is maybe 2-3 FPS for me.

The AA surprisingly doesn't change my FPS by much going from 2x to 4x.

Anywhere other than Northrend and I'm constantly above 95 FPS

In Northrend it depends on where but outside of town I'm anywhere from 40-70 FPS.. but the bigger point is that it's always perfectly smooth, so regardless of what the FPS are saying my eye can't detect any stuttering and I have everything maxed (not to mention I used over 20MB of addons).

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Thanks, Lava Lamp Freak. You get where I'm coming from. What's your take in the 27" Quad Core for a WoW rig???

Personally, I think the new iMac is a great machine, but IMO it is not an adequate gaming computer, even for WoW, unless it is acceptable to you if you have to run at lower settings to run at the native resolution. So, my advise is to determine your needs not solely based on how well it plays WoW. At that price, there really isn't a comparable Mac, and it is probably Apple's best offering price wise.

[Lava Lamp Freak]

I definitely get around 60 FPS usually.. and like I said I'm not talking about crowded areas (hence, I'm not usually in Dalaran - and that's not an accurate portrayal of framerates since your are taking a hit due to the insane bandwidth being used in that area)

I've messed around with pretty much every single setting graphically in WoW and there are only a few that have any real impact on my framerates - view distance is big, glow effect is like 5 FPS, high res shadow is maybe 2-3 FPS for me.

The AA surprisingly doesn't change my FPS by much going from 2x to 4x.

Anywhere other than Northrend and I'm constantly above 95 FPS

In Northrend it depends on where but outside of town I'm anywhere from 40-70 FPS.. but the bigger point is that it's always perfectly smooth, so regardless of what the FPS are saying my eye can't detect any stuttering and I have everything maxed (not to mention I used over 20MB of addons).

Wow, shadows was a killer for me, as it is for many people on Mac. I turned that off and it was huge boost in FPS. Full screen glow I couldn't tell a huge boost but after installing SL my performance was so poor making any changes boosted it. I never once saw anything over 70FPS in outside areas on my iMac and in places like Dragonblight I was down in the 30s. Also I could tell a difference between 2x and 4x. I always stayed at 2x. 1x was much smoother, but it was annoying having jagged edges on everything. I agree with you on view distance. That does make a big difference. I don't question you being able to achieve 60FPS on the iMac, it was just you saying everything maxed you would get 60FPS.

[johanlm]

My cusin & uncle runs full force on WoW on their 24" with about 100 FPS 10/25man raids. if they is not in Dalaran ofcourse ...
But ...
How a 27" will handle it ...
Please tell.

[EDIT]
Just to add, both are in win.mode and they reach +100fps without trying, my uncle turned down/off the shadows since he finds them irritating so he is even higher than a 100.

[300D]

My G5 handles WOW plenty well on higher settings.

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Thanks, Lava Lamp Freak. You get where I'm coming from. What's your take in the 27" Quad Core for a WoW rig???

Oh, one other thing I can add... I installed Windows 7 RC on my iMac for the last few days I had it, while I was waiting on my parts to arrive for my new PC build, and WoW was much better under Windows 7 than it was under SL using the same settings. So, if you do decide to go with the new 27", you might keep in mind that games might play better under Windows 7.

[spacepower7]

but I like to be in the 100+ FPS range.

I'm not a gamer, so I have never really understood the obsession of getting 100 FPS when 99.9% of LCD monitors can only display at 60HZ / 60 FPS?

I know that there are 1 or 2 120HZ LCDs that have come out this year, and 120HZ HDTVs are available, but an iMac is only going to display 60FPS.

Correct me if I am wrong?

[itommyboy]

That Nehalem quad rig won't even know it's running WoW. I play it on the now last gen 3.06Ghz 24" with the same 8GB RAM and the same gfx card in the ati 4850 & it laughs at WoW max'd out except 1 bump down on AA (personal preference you never know in Dalaran).

You'll have the option of windowing it or full screen windowing it and I'm sure it will look amazing either way. I've got to say I'm impressed by these updates enjoy your new beastly rig.

[Lava Lamp Freak]

I'm not a gamer, so I have never really understood the obsession of getting 100 FPS when 99.9% of LCD monitors can only display at 60HZ / 60 FPS?

I know that there are 1 or 2 120HZ LCDs that have come out this year, and 120HZ HDTVs are available, but an iMac is only going to display 60FPS.

Correct me if I am wrong?

I don't completely understand that myself, but FPS is dynamic when playing a game like WoW. You can be getting 100+FPS in an instance and then run outside and be at 20FPS in a busy area. So, it is generally good to strive for having the highest low FPS achievable, which might end up pushing you in 100+FPS in other areas, even though you wouldn't see a perceivable difference. Even at 60FPS on my PC I can still see short freezes when spinning my camera around in WoW, and that bothers me. Many people might be happy or not notice a difference, but I would really like to be running a 5850 for my 24" Apple Cinema Display, but I couldn't get this display to work with that card. With the 5850 I had no perceivable lag or freezes at all. So, I can only speculate that a slower card than what I have on a larger screen than I have would not be good enough for anyone who is as picky as I am when it comes to FPS and smoothness in WoW.

[SiliBear]

I still think the OP's question remains valid, despite a few good posts here.

I currently own the most recent iMac (released in the spring), with the then top of the line CPU with the ATI 4850 graphics card. The 24 inch monitor resolution is 1920x1200 and WoW runs without a hitch, very high framerates (120+) in empty zones and very respectable ones (55-60) in crowded zones/raids.

The question I have though is that with the new 27 inch iMac, native resolution is bumped to 2560x1440, but the graphics card hasn't changed - what will "playability" be like at this higher resolution when the graphics card hasn't been improved?

I think the OP also suggested that WoW doesn't currently support 2560x1440 (only 1920x1200) output...that will either have to change soon, or will buyers of the 27inch iMac be required to continue running at 1920x1200 in some windowed mode but with a slightly lower overall quality than they currently are used to seeing on the 24 inch model (same number of pixels being used to fill a larger area). This is something I too am wondering about.

I would have no qualms about buying the new quad iMac and using my 4+ month old machine as a hand-me-down gift to some family member if I can get a better grasp on what the 27inch monitor would do to WoW performance.

[Lava Lamp Freak]

I still think the OP's question remains valid, despite a few good posts here.

I currently own the most recent iMac (released in the spring), with the then top of the line CPU with the ATI 4850 graphics card. The 24 inch monitor resolution is 1920x1200 and WoW runs without a hitch, very high framerates (120+) in empty zones and very respectable ones (55-60) in crowded zones/raids.

The question I have though is that with the new 27 inch iMac, native resolution is bumped to 2560x1440, but the graphics card hasn't changed - what will "playability" be like at this higher resolution when the graphics card hasn't been improved?

I think the OP also suggested that WoW doesn't currently support 2560x1440 (only 1920x1200) output...that will either have to change soon, or will buyers of the 27inch iMac be required to continue running at 1920x1200 in some windowed mode but with a slightly lower overall quality than they currently are used to seeing on the 24 inch model (same number of pixels being used to fill a larger area). This is something I too am wondering about.

I would have no qualms about buying the new quad iMac and using my 4+ month old machine as a hand-me-down gift to some family member if I can get a better grasp on what the 27inch monitor would do to WoW performance.

I'm not sure about 2560x1440, but I do know that it runs at 1920x1080, which is also 16:9, because I used a Samsung XL2370 monitor for a week while I was waiting on my Apple Cinema Display.

[TheAnswer]

It runs great on my 24" iMac w/ 4GB RAM. That said, I have to run it in windowed mode, just because it's too addictive if I run it full screen so close to my eyes.

I can't imagine having it full screen on a 27". /drool

[Huddy]

I realise this is an Apple computer and it's not designed primarily as a gaming machine, but the increase in resolution and incorporating the 4850 with only 512MB vram means that fullscreen gaming performance will be lower than the previous generation 24" iMac with GPU dependant titles.

Apple really had no choice in the matter as ATI and Nvidia do not have their new mobility ranges out in the wild, this will happen sometime early next year and the current 4850/70 mobility series are the best on the market.

I think an ATI 5850 mobility card once offered by Apple would better suit the resolution of the 27" iMac, still not perfect but should be able to provide solid gaming at native resolution.

For me the only reason I am holding back from investing in a iMac is the current GPU option. Come the next iMac revision Sometime Q1/Q2 I would hope we'll see an ATI 5xxx option, perhaps even a 5870 as with the planned die shrink on these cards the heat output may well be low enough to incorporate into the iMac.

Opinion of a casual gamer who digs :apple:

[CubeHacker]

Just FYI, but WoW should be able to run at 2560x1440 just fine. Its not really up to the game to support that resolution, its up to the OS. The game asks the OS what resolutions the monitor/video card supports, and those are the resolutions that the game lists. If for some strange reason it doesn't support it, i'm sure blizzard will address the issue in a patch very quickly.

As for how WELL WoW will run at the resolution is another question. It should run decently though as long as you get the 4850.

[zerohp]

WoW is very heavily CPU bound due to the extendable user interface. The resolution of the 27" iMac would be no problem at all. I have run 2560x1600 full screen using my macbook pro with an external 30" monitor.

The only thing you have to do is disable shadows. That's a due to a poor implementation in WoW on both Windows and OSX.

[iBug2]

I'm looking at the 27" with i7 proc and 8Gbs. The only game that I play is World of Warcraft, what do you guys think?

a) Will the game HAVE to run windowed? Since it doesnt support the higher native resolution...

b) If I run it at the highest Mac setting (1600x1200 or similar) what will the picture quality be? Any idea about the performance?

c) Will the video card be able to handle "all settings maxed out"?

Thanks for your help! Paying $3k for a system that doesn't run WoW well would be a HUGE dissapointment.

- Mike

What do you mean it doesn't support highest native resolution? I've been playing wow on my 30" ACD for 2 years at 2560*1600 resolution.

So it will work on native resolution of 27" iMac as well.

The picture quality will be amazing if you run at highest settings. I play at highest settings possible on 4870, which is the same line of GPU as 4850, just faster. So the game will look plain amazing.

The game should be able to handle max settings except AA. I run the game at 2X AA. At this resolution 4X is highest you can go since you need more than 512 GB video memory for 6X or 8X at 2560*1600. At 4X you might already see some memory bottlenecks at certain areas so 2X is a safe bet at that resolution.

Other than that everything will be fine. But don't expect a high FPS in Dalaran. Even a GTX285 drops to 30 fps in Dalaran at the moment, on Windows 7 x64 with latest Nvidia drivers. Dalaran is a CPU hog and won't get better anytime soon.

[iBug2]

WoW is very heavily CPU bound due to the extendable user interface. The resolution of the 27" iMac would be no problem at all. I have run 2560x1600 full screen using my macbook pro with an external 30" monitor.

The only thing you have to do is disable shadows. That's a due to a poor implementation in WoW on both Windows and OSX.

Actually with ATI4870 the shadows issue, at least on OS X side have been fixed. I don't see any drop in framerate when I enable HQ shadows now. On Windows 7 x64 though, shadows drop my framerate to unplayable levels, still.

[iBug2]

I realise this is an Apple computer and it's not designed primarily as a gaming machine, but the increase in resolution and incorporating the 4850 with only 512MB vram means that fullscreen gaming performance will be lower than the previous generation 24" iMac with GPU dependant titles.



That's incorrect. You can ofc run the game at the lower resolution if somehow you come across a memory bottleneck, but about wow, it runs at 2560*1600 with 512 MB memory just fine. Can even use 4X AA at that resolution.

[Ross2000]

Wow doesn't support quad core ATM so you'd be better off sticking to dual core

[Huddy]

That's incorrect. You can ofc run the game at the lower resolution if somehow you come across a memory bottleneck, but about wow, it runs at 2560*1600 with 512 MB memory just fine. Can even use 4X AA at that resolution.

That's great if you are happy to run below native resolution full screen with the image degradation involved.

I'm not just talking about WoW the statement is for GPU intensive games in general.

Fact of the matter is that for native resolution the 27" iMac will not perform as well as the previous 24" model due to the native resolutions of the screen 1920x1200 vs 2560x1440 as both use the same GPU.

[lasuther]

Wow doesn't support quad core ATM so you'd be better off sticking to dual core

The i5 will turbo boost when the quad cores aren't in use. Plu we don't know what wow will use in a few years. The quad cores are a better value right now and they have better graphics cards.

[SiliconDioxide]

This is the same problem I am having right now. I only play wow and I and not sure it would run well on the i5/i7 with the 4850 card, at a high resolution.

Right now my PC is having a hard time running wow. Its a P4, and I want to buy a new computer. I waited for Apple and I am a little disappointed, don't get me wrong the new imac is great. I was hoping for a i5/i7 and a better cto vid card in the 21.5 model. The 27 is too big for me.

So I am also kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[Archmagination]

This is the same problem I am having right now. I only play wow and I and not sure it would run well on the i5/i7 with the 4850 card, at a high resolution.

Right now my PC is having a hard time running wow. Its a P4, and I want to buy a new computer. I waited for Apple and I am a little disappointed, don't get me wrong the new imac is great. I was hoping for a i5/i7 and a better cto vid card in the 21.5 model. The 27 is too big for me.

So I am also kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.



Just buy the previous generations refurbished 24" with Radeon 4850. Even though its a dual core and not a quad it is still a very good bargain.

[MooCow34]

I don't completely understand that myself... as picky as I am when it comes to FPS and smoothness in WoW.

If you refresh the display out of sync with the monitor refresh rate then you will suffer an artifact known as 'tearing' where the image appears to be torn. This is because the image being shown on the monitor was updated by a subsequent frame during the monitor's update. Running at 60FPS locked is the best option IMHO. Running higher than the refresh rate (i.e. 60Hz) is pointless unless the game logic requires fast reactions to screen input, such as for very fast paced games, i.e. racing simulations. It isn't going to be any help on WoW, because the latency of your PING will likely always be higher than your frame interval.

Locking to 60FPS should not mean that a machine that is capable of higher frame rates in certain areas is negatively affected, you just get a constant 60 and less fan noise and heart generated :D

[Animalk]

Wow doesn't support quad core ATM so you'd be better off sticking to dual core

This has stopped being true a couple of years ago.

[jmuchrisf]

It will be one of the first things I install today. So I'll let you know :)

[dirwood]

As long as I get more than 7fps on heroic twins, I'll be happy.

[dirwood]

I should be fine just copying over the application folder from my old iMac instead of a fresh install, right?

[jgmacrum]

I haven't played WoW in about a year, but when I left I was running wiht all settings pretty much set to the lowest point and had FPS in the 5-10 range for most of whatever the first expansions lands were called (original G5 imac) and 15-25 in most of the original lands. I'm pretty sure if I start playing again I'll be pretty happy however it turns out :)

[Ross2000]

I should be fine just copying over the application folder from my old iMac instead of a fresh install, right?

Well that's the case for the pc so I assume it's the same for the mac.

[Sambo110]

I should be fine just copying over the application folder from my old iMac instead of a fresh install, right?

Yep.

[Carressa]

I'm looking at the 27" with i7 proc and 8Gbs. The only game that I play is World of Warcraft, what do you guys think?

a) Will the game HAVE to run windowed? Since it doesnt support the higher native resolution...

b) If I run it at the highest Mac setting (1600x1200 or similar) what will the picture quality be? Any idea about the performance?

c) Will the video card be able to handle "all settings maxed out"?

Thanks for your help! Paying $3k for a system that doesn't run WoW well would be a HUGE dissapointment.

- Mike


Well I my new i5 Runs Wow like a dream. And supports the resolution beautifully. I cranked all settings to High and ran around Dalaran when fully packed. No hitching or lag fps steady at between 20 to 30. I was rather happy with it. So don't you worry your i7 will make you very very happy ;)

[wfj5444]

Well I my new i5 Runs Wow like a dream. And supports the resolution beautifully. I cranked all settings to High and ran around Dalaran when fully packed. No hitching or lag fps steady at between 20 to 30. I was rather happy with it. So don't you worry your i7 will make you very very happy ;)

Any way you have found for WoW on the Magic Mouse to right click-left click run?

As in hold down right click to move your facing and then be able to left click to run.

[Carressa]

Any way you have found for WoW on the Magic Mouse to right click-left click run?

As in hold down right click to move your facing and then be able to left click to run.


Humm no, heck it took me 5 mins to get my mailbox to open! I looked like the town drunk for about 10 mins running in circles and bumping into things trying to get stuff worked out with the mouse....Still not a fan of the mouse ...but some things just take some getting used to.

[badmire]

I want to see videos!!

[gwhitta]

The Modern Warfare video the guy posted last night was pretty impressive, I have no doubt that the i7 is going to eat WoW for breakfast.

[wfj5444]

Humm no, heck it took me 5 mins to get my mailbox to open! I looked like the town drunk for about 10 mins running in circles and bumping into things trying to get stuff worked out with the mouse....Still not a fan of the mouse ...but some things just take some getting used to.



I am willing to try it, but it is going to be hard to have to readujust to NOT right and left clicking at the same time.

[gibsonjv]

To the OP: After transferring everything via Time Machine yesterday I did fire up WoW. At 2540x1440 the core i7/4850 combo seemed to work quite well. I don't have numbers off the top of my head (at work atm), but full screen at ultra settings (1xAA only) I was seeing at least 60fps. V-Sync was checked so I don't know if the card was limited by the setting or if it was naturally stopping there (Forgive me for not testing more rigorously since I spent most of the time gawking at the amazing display). Also, my CPU meter wasn't pegged so there were plenty of other cycles for other things.

[jmuchrisf]

i just spent the afternoon installing/updating wow.. i ran it.. and there WAS an option for the native resolution. Which is fantastic.. i played for literally 12 seconds, and it was as smooth as you could imagine.. awesome

[gwhitta]

Yeah I just got it running on my i7 and it eats this game for breakfast. Runs smooth as butter at the monitor's native res, looks absolutely beautiful.

[xper]

The Modern Warfare video the guy posted last night was pretty impressive, I have no doubt that the i7 is going to eat WoW for breakfast.

Link? ;)

[Dennisjorgensen]

Im on a 27 i7 4gb ram, and I have pretty bad "flickering/Horizontal tear" (only in WOW), and I keep messing with the settings, up and down... But I can confirm, Its pretty bad with gloweffect on and 2 msampling :(

Anyone been tinkering, and tweeking settings?
I tried locking it at 60fps, but then alot of the times it goes straight to 30fps.
:mad:

[olvrfshr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRKymuX0Pc4
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GFPSFMzu3c

[dolmar]

I dont know what you guys are doing to get such high frame rates, but if i turn up all the setting on my 27" I7 with 8gigs of ram in 25 man raids like Twins Heroics I am lucky to get 10 FPS running using the strat my guild uses which is stacking at the door. And even in Icecrown on some of the boss I dropped down to 15-20 FPS.

My old dell computer with Core Dou @ 2.45mhz, 4gig of ram with an ATI 4980 in the same 25 man raids I get between 30-40 fps. I experience no lag what so ever at all.

So I know the problem is not my internet connection as I have optimum online 50/10 cable connection and I only experience lag with my Imac 27 I7 and not my old dell at all. My Imac has much faster processor and more ram and the only difference between the 2 computers are video card and monitor. My Dell monitor supports up to 1980x 1080 and even setting my Imac at that same screen size does not help at all which only leaves the difference in graphic cards. And I have a felling 4850 mobile is **** compared to 4980 desktop card no offense and my dell I got last year as X-Mas so it not like I have a top of the line graphic cards in my dell.

Now on both my Imac and Dell I get no lag what so ever in 5 or 10 man raids and i normally get over 60 FPS in those raids and I normally get over 150 fps in Stormwind or Iron Forge. Yeah in Dalaran on both my computers it lag but I lag worse on my Imac as I get durning prime as low as 5fps in Dalaran and my dell never get lower than 15 fps in Dalaran.

So not sure why my Imac blows in wow compared to my PC and other people in my guild who uses mac's also have lag problems in 25 man raids vs most of the people on PC who tend to have lag issues are having them cause of ****** internet connections and are lagging in both 10/25 raids and not hardware as all 4 mac users are either on cable or Fios(10-50mb download and 2-25meg upload) connections and some of the people on PC with lag issues are on ****** DSL connections with less than 500kbs of upload streams.

Another Macbook Pro user in my guild who has an older PC has no lag at all on his PC yet lags like crazy on his Macbook Pro. So like him I do 25 man raids on my PC and everything else on my Imac.

[tsugaru]

Wow runs fine on the i7 at proper 2560x1440.

The fps lowers a bit for some reason during fire/ice vapor type scenes (like Lord Marrowgar 25) but otherwise it's locked at 60fps.

[iMatthew]

Runs fine on my 27" C2D - 2560x1440 all settings on max - except for shadows. 40-50 FPS

[dolmar]

Well I am still confused how you both get no lag in 25 man raids and I do only on my Imac and not on my PC.

By lag I mean even my computer seems to go into slow motion and takes a couple of seconds to respond at times to my keyboard commands or I need to smash the keys to get it to do what I want it too. I do not have the same problems on my PC at all. Both computers are connected next to each other using hardwire ethernet cables sharing the same 1000 gigabyte hub. I have the problem with nothing else on my network running at all except the computer I am using and nothing in the back ground either.

I figured the new Imac I7 would not suffer for this problem at all and was the main reason I special order the I7 after buying 27" dou and returning it to best buy. I will admit the I7 lag less and normally has higher frame rates everywhere than dou did as dou would even lag in some 10 man raids but the problem is clearly the graphic cards as if I turn down most of the setting on my I7 in 25 man raids I tend not to lag as badly or often but I prefer to just switch to my PC honestly.

The problem seems to steam from the fact the Imac I think can not handle all the textures mapping fast enough for the extra 15 players as for example I will have no lag on 10 man Heroic twins at all and run over 40 fps constantly yet in 25 man I am lucky to break 10 FPS. Lord Marrowgar 25 Icecrown is another good example in 25 man raid I tend to lag also on my Imac and never get over 20 FPS with it dropping as low as 10-15 at times but on the 10 man raid I never go below 40 FPS either. And my PC can handle Lord Marrowgar 25 man raid at 40-50 FPS with it dropping as low maybe 30 FPS for a few secs but not longer.

[bossxii]

Well I am still confused how you both get no lag in 25 man raids and I do only on my Imac and not on my PC.

By lag I mean even my computer seems to go into slow motion and takes a couple of seconds to respond at times to my keyboard commands or I need to smash the keys to get it to do what I want it too. I do not have the same problems on my PC at all. Both computers are connected next to each other using hardwire ethernet cables sharing the same 1000 gigabyte hub. I have the problem with nothing else on my network running at all except the computer I am using and nothing in the back ground either.

I figured the new Imac I7 would not suffer for this problem at all and was the main reason I special order the I7 after buying 27" dou and returning it to best buy. I will admit the I7 lag less and normally has higher frame rates everywhere than dou did as dou would even lag in some 10 man raids but the problem is clearly the graphic cards as if I turn down most of the setting on my I7 in 25 man raids I tend not to lag as badly or often but I prefer to just switch to my PC honestly.

The problem seems to steam from the fact the Imac I think can not handle all the textures mapping fast enough for the extra 15 players as for example I will have no lag on 10 man Heroic twins at all and run over 40 fps constantly yet in 25 man I am lucky to break 10 FPS. Lord Marrowgar 25 Icecrown is another good example in 25 man raid I tend to lag also on my Imac and never get over 20 FPS with it dropping as low as 10-15 at times but on the 10 man raid I never go below 40 FPS either. And my PC can handle Lord Marrowgar 25 man raid at 40-50 FPS with it dropping as low maybe 30 FPS for a few secs but not longer.

If i'm not mistaken the iMac is running a "mobile" version of the 4850 GPU. I played WoW on my early 09 15" Uni with the 9600 GT and experienced the same "lag" issues with it. If your maxing out everything it can run WoW ok. The MBP/iMac's are all running mobile graphics cards, it's just not meant for all out gaming. Even my 2 yr old 2.4 Duo core with a 8800 GTS w/768mb ram will out perform my i5 iMac gaming wise. Stated before WoW is not using but 2 cores and relying on the GPU, a 2 yr old desktop model vs the 4850 mobile which is probably year old tech already.

I think anyone buying a Mac knows (or should know) it's not a gaming rig. It does fine for what it is but expecting some super machine just because it has a Quad core CPU is overlooking the rest of the tech involved.

[dolmar]

I think anyone buying a Mac knows (or should know) it's not a gaming rig. It does fine for what it is but expecting some super machine just because it has a Quad core CPU is overlooking the rest of the tech involved.

Well I bought the I7 based on this thread and some people clearly do not do 25 man raids, or have no idea what lag is as if you read the reviews from this board a few people stated that Wow runs great on I7 which might be true till you enter a 25 man raid. Then Imac graphics card simply can not map out all the textures fast enough and you start to have lag making those raids harder than they need to be. I happen to be in a guild that is top 3 on my server and my guild will just replace you if you if you happen to lag out or die to lag all the time.

A good example of how the Imac lags is on Northern Beast in Heroic mode in 25 man because of lag the fire will spawn under you and you wont see them till you are dead at times that never happen on my older PC which is much slower but has ATI 4980 graphic cards which by no means is a top of line graphic card and can be found online today for like $120-150. Hell go try and do Heigan the Unclean dance on Imac I7 and you will lag durning the dance and die to green **** but then do the same thing on a PC with just a decent graphic nothing special like 9800GT card which can be found online for under $100 bucks and you will see you will not lag at all.

Sure on 5-10 man raids/heroics Imac will run just fine and most places excluding dalaran the Imac will run just fine with max settings etc but clearly this is not the case once you get into 25 man raids as lagging in raids is not normal and should never happen unless you are a bad internet connection or have a sub par graphics cards.

Again I am not knocking the Imac, I love the computer much better than my PC but anyone expecting the Imac to be a decent gaming machine is going to be very disappointed and the people on here telling people Imac run Wow great obviously do not raid in 25 man raids or think lag is normal.

[thomanjones]

Haven't played since last June, but here are a few tips that are hopefully still relevant:

FPS killers: Full Screen Glow, High Shadows, Max distance

WoW Mac video settings sticky:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4028094861&sid=1

From that sticky:

Late 2009 Core i5/i7 iMac with ATI 4850 Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 2x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 80%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Maximum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: ON
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect an average of 90-110fps depending on CPU.

On a personal note- I quit cold turkey, and have 15k gold and 4-5 bank tabs full of rare Gems and ore, and a lock that's 11k kills short of the 100k mark...everyday struggle to fight this terrible addiction :P

[dolmar]

Notes: Expect an average of 90-110fps depending on CPU.

Lol I am using those setting and yes expect average 90-100FPS except blizz expects you spend more times outside of 25 man raids than in 25 man raids. In 25 man raids like I said I tend to lag on my Imac and other people in my guild who have both Imac and Pc also only lag in 25 man raids on Imac/MB Pro yet using the same internet connection never lag on a PC.

Like I said I am not knocking Imac, if you just arena the Imac will work great as their are never more than 10 people on the screen etc but in 25 man raids the graphic card simply can not process all the textures fast enough as their are 25 textures alone from other players in the raid plus whatever textures need to render by the boss encounter which could be another 10-15 textures or more depending on the encounter. And sure in encounters where most of the players tend not to move you will lag less too as graphics card is not always re-rendering those textures but in fight like twins where they are tons of orbs flying around and 25 players doing stuff forget it, the Imac graphics cards just can not keep up. I will be honest I can maybe think of 5-6 encounters only where that happens but that is 5-6 too many and blizz will continue to make encounters which are just not Imac/MB friendly as that is what players want. They want encounters that look prettier and prettier unfortunately until apple put a regular non mobile graphic card into the Imac it just won't be able to handle those encounters well.

Again I love my Imac but anyone considering getting an Imac I7 to replace a current semi decent PC rig to play Wow will be disappointed in the performance you will see in some 25 man raids. If you happen to do just do 10 man raids or heroic then you will not be disappointed with Imac I7 at all.

[Archmagination]

Lol I am using those setting and yes expect average 90-100FPS except blizz expects you spend more times outside of 25 man raids than in 25 man raids. In 25 man raids like I said I tend to lag on my Imac and other people in my guild who have both Imac and Pc also only lag in 25 man raids on Imac/MB Pro yet using the same internet connection never lag on a PC.

Like I said I am not knocking Imac, if you just arena the Imac will work great as their are never more than 10 people on the screen etc but in 25 man raids the graphic card simply can not process all the textures fast enough as their are 25 textures alone from other players in the raid plus whatever textures need to render by the boss encounter which could be another 10-15 textures or more depending on the encounter. And sure in encounters where most of the players tend not to move you will lag less too as graphics card is not always re-rendering those textures but in fight like twins where they are tons of orbs flying around and 25 players doing stuff forget it, the Imac graphics cards just can not keep up. I will be honest I can maybe think of 5-6 encounters only where that happens but that is 5-6 too many and blizz will continue to make encounters which are just not Imac/MB friendly as that is what players want. They want encounters that look prettier and prettier unfortunately until apple put a regular non mobile graphic card into the Imac it just won't be able to handle those encounters well.

Again I love my Imac but anyone considering getting an Imac I7 to replace a current semi decent PC rig to play Wow will be disappointed in the performance you will see in some 25 man raids. If you happen to do just do 10 man raids or heroic then you will not be disappointed with Imac I7 at all.


Are you playing WoW in Bootcamp? One way to test and see if it is actually the graphics card is run it in Bootcamp.. if it lags like that than it is the card and not the OS itself.

[dolmar]

Are you playing WoW in Bootcamp? One way to test and see if it is actually the graphics card is run it in Bootcamp.. if it lags like that than it is the card and not the OS itself.

I bought an Imac because I am tried of Windows crashing on me or freezing etc while Windows7 is better Vista it still crashes. No I am not running boot camp on my mac and the problem is not the operating system either as the Mac operating system is much more efficient that windows and uses much less overhead.

I know people with older Mac Pro dou's who have desktop version of 4870 and GT150 which is why I thought when people on this forum said Imac 27 I7 run wow fine it was true considering the I7 is much faster which made up for the slower graphic card.

[WilliamG]

WoW does not run perfectly (60fps) on the i7 at native res with all the settings maxed out. In a LOT of places it does, but not everywhere. Especially not with shadows on and draw distance at full. No way, no how. WoW is still a very taxing game on the iMac hardware. But it sure does look pretty.

Again, some places run at 60fps with no trouble, but others just don't, especially with a lot going on. But that's to be expected with a mobile GPU.