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OS X WoW on 2012 11" MBA ultimate

3bs

3bs

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 20, 2011
5,434
24
Dublin, Ireland
Any WoW players using a mid 2012 11" to play it? I don't really know much about hardware specs and how they correlate to gameplay. The wiki page says I'll be able to play and get poor-good performance. Storage space isn't an issue and I've got the i7 with 8GB of RAM.

How is your experience? My main concern would be heat and fan noise since I might be playing in places where the noise might be an issue.

I've never played WoW but I used to play Reign of Chaos and Frozen throne. Just thought I'd add that in there :p
 
cluthz

cluthz

macrumors 68040
Jun 15, 2004
3,118
4
Norway
I haven't tried WoW on my MBA, but I played a little bit just after Pandaria was released.
Wow has definitely grown heavier over the years, but a 2012 MBA should be able to do nicely.

There is also an option to lock FPS, which should tax the hardware much less, and I think you should be able to play at reasonable settings at f.ex locked FPS at 30 and get away without the fan going crazy.

It might be worth using a fan controller app and set fan up a bit without going to noisy levels. My experience with fan on auto is that it goes up and down pretty much and the MBA going from totally silent to lawnmower and back, instead with a fan controller you can have a tolerable noise level that is constant without buying the machine or having these huge up and down speed on the fans.

I know this isn't exactly the answer you asked for, but I hope it helps a bit.
 
3bs

3bs

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 20, 2011
5,434
24
Dublin, Ireland
cluthz said:
I haven't tried WoW on my MBA, but I played a little bit just after Pandaria was released.
Wow has definitely grown heavier over the years, but a 2012 MBA should be able to do nicely.

There is also an option to lock FPS, which should tax the hardware much less, and I think you should be able to play at reasonable settings at f.ex locked FPS at 30 and get away without the fan going crazy.

It might be worth using a fan controller app and set fan up a bit without going to noisy levels. My experience with fan on auto is that it goes up and down pretty much and the MBA going from totally silent to lawnmower and back, instead with a fan controller you can have a tolerable noise level that is constant without buying the machine or having these huge up and down speed on the fans.

I know this isn't exactly the answer you asked for, but I hope it helps a bit.
Click to expand...

It does help thank you. I'll get smcFanControl which I had on my older Mac. What's a safe temperature range to be in? I'll use that to get to fan speed that isn't too loud.
 
cluthz

cluthz

macrumors 68040
Jun 15, 2004
3,118
4
Norway
3bs said:
It does help thank you. I'll get smcFanControl which I had on my older Mac. What's a safe temperature range to be in? I'll use that to get to fan speed that isn't too loud.
Click to expand...

SMcspeedfan will never limit the fan, it will only make it go faster, so don't worry.

The reason is because apple let the machine go low fan speed until CPU is very hot, then cool it down with fans full blast. Where as with smc you can keep a machine form going that hot at all by upping the fans in advance (to a tolerable volume).

I've seen 90C on my MBA while playing guild wars 2 :p I haven't done it often tho, but it seemed to have no problems, except the fact that it scared away my neighbors :p
 
Jaypi

Jaypi

macrumors regular
Nov 10, 2012
156
1
Los Angeles
The FPS are good, but the fan & temp go crazy ...

You can do it sometimes, but I wouldn't recommend all the time except you have extended warranty and don't use it more than 3 years ;-)
 
J

joeysarks

macrumors regular
Mar 21, 2011
122
0
Detroit
I play WoW on my 13 inch MBP from last year. I cap at 30 FPS cuz honestly anything over isn't needed for an MMO IMO. With that capped and good settings, my computer usually never goes over 80-85c and I almost never hear the fans come on. Even on Ultra it's sometimes fanless gameplay...as long as u cap at 30 and don't run shadows/water above low u should be good. Also no anti aliasing;)
 
3bs

3bs

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 20, 2011
5,434
24
Dublin, Ireland
joeysarks said:
I play WoW on my 13 inch MBP from last year. I cap at 30 FPS cuz honestly anything over isn't needed for an MMO IMO. With that capped and good settings, my computer usually never goes over 80-85c and I almost never hear the fans come on. Even on Ultra it's sometimes fanless gameplay...as long as u cap at 30 and don't run shadows/water above low u should be good. Also no anti aliasing;)
Click to expand...

It's done downloading so I will give it a try on those settings before buying it. Thanks
 
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