Anyone played World of Warcraft on their 17" hi res macbook pro yet? It's pretty much the only game I play in OS X. I'm just wondering how it runs full screen 1920x1200 on the 8600m GT. Also if you've tried it windowed at a lesser rez, how did that run? This will help me make my decision as to what I'm getting between the 15", 17" standard and 17" hi res.
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WoW on 1920x1200 MBP - anyone tried?
- Thread starter ctishue
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I tried it yesterday. 60-100fps is normal using all maxed settings except for 1xAA and no full screen glow effect. Both of those features perform poorly under OSX but are scheduled to be fixed in a future version.
This command greatly improved my framerate as well:
/console glfaster 2
This command greatly improved my framerate as well:
/console glfaster 2
But doesnt show any benefit due to the 128bit bandwidth so basically 256vram=512vram under gaming.
The only benefit I could see is if you connect 2 external monitors onto the 512vram mbp.
Whoa 60-100 fps on a mbp?? I dont believe you, my mac pro 2.8ghz 8 core, 16gb ram, 150gb Raptor 10k rpm hdd, nvidia 8800gt 512mb vram gets about those framerates with the settings you mentioned and your saying a mbp can get the same outcome?? I hardly doubt that.
I havnt tested wow on my mbp yet but I'm pretty sure its something more of 25-50 fps.
I have not played it or seen it played on a mac yet. But, in regards to your making the decision. consider this. I do need a laptop for school but i don't need it tomorrow- I need it before next fall. so i could buy a low end mbp with the student discount, or I could save up over the summer and buy a decked out version. You may consider assessing your need as to whether its immediate or in the very near future and base it off that. IF you have money now for a 17" (which i don't) then sure, buy it if you want too.
do you need it now or later?
what can you afford now, vs what you might be able to afford later?
i think running wow on a hi res 17" 1920x1200 should run fine, more than playable but dont hold your breath on something like 60-100fps, expect more of when your alone away from city/alot of people you could get up to 50-60fps but once a raid of 15+ people or wherever there's alot of other characters you could expect 25-35fps still awesome performance though.
Do you have your mac pro loaded down with mods? Low FPS in wow is very often due to poorly written mods, I was using none at all last night because I didn't have a chance to set anything up.
I was still getting 60fps standing outside of Serpentshrine Cavern where there was two raids forming up.
If you're getting 25fps on the mac pro, you should be very upset. My two year old PC does better than that in a higher resolution.
Why do people expect such low performance. 25-35fps? People do realize that WoW is several years old and, *even when it was released* was widely considered one of the LEAST graphically intensive games on the market don't they? My 5 year old PC with a single core Athlon 64, 1GB RAM, and an old AGP Nvidia 6800 gets the framrates you mention (50-60 alone, 40fps average in graphically intensive situations) with mid-high settings, 2xAA at 1680x1050. If you're telling me a brand new $2000 computer (my pc is worth about $250 now) gets those same framerates, something is VERY wrong. Do you guys have full screen glow on or something? That kills FPS and looks gross. Otherwise, I'm pretty worried. I *would* expect 60-100FPS maxed (except no full screen glow, and 2xAA) on a MBP. Maybe not quite that at 1920, but certainly at 1680.
Well I"m talking about the macbook pro not mac pro, I get insane speed on my mac pro(desktop)
Ok, I would love to see your screen shots of this 60-"100"fps on your mbp with the exact specs that you mention, pretty please!
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Sorry to tell this, but Geforce 8600GT mobile didn't really go far performance-wise from the once top-of-the-line Geforce 6800. Geforce 8800 is another story.
Err.. performance benchmarks say otherwise.. 3dmark for example.. A MBP scores 2-3x what my PC does. Now I know synthetic benchmarks aren't the end all and be all.. but they are good for comparison.
Now, perhaps I exaggerated a bit. 60-100 may be a bit high - but I would expect 60-80FPS with high settings (NO full screen glow) at 1680x1050. With the low side FPS around 45. Less at 1920x1200 obviously.
Now.. perhaps some of this difference is that WoW runs better in Windows. If that's the case, that's fine - I just think 25-30fps sounds awfully low for a game that is several years old if that is indeed the max the *hardware* is capable of.
Well I still think your over exaggerating and a huge one at that. If not 25-35 fps (does sound a bit low), I would think probably more like 35-60 at best and 60fps with the character alone in a small room with no body else around, regardless 1680x1050 or 1920x1200.
Well look what I just found~
http://digg.com/apple/Penryn_MacBook_Pro_plays_WoW_at_291_fps
It saids a guy with his new penryn macbook pro got 291 fps, well of course its obviously some kind of glitch or he photoshopped it but he saids he generally gets anywhere from 25-50 fps + he set the settings on default (not all on high), now that sounds more realistic.
http://digg.com/apple/Penryn_MacBook_Pro_plays_WoW_at_291_fps
It saids a guy with his new penryn macbook pro got 291 fps, well of course its obviously some kind of glitch or he photoshopped it but he saids he generally gets anywhere from 25-50 fps + he set the settings on default (not all on high), now that sounds more realistic.
you guys are morons if you think that the new mbp is going to only reach 25-30fps.
I got my 17inch today and while raiding earlier I never dropped below 44fps, also while im questing the frames were in the 80's, also the 44fps was the lowest in the raids. all high settings
just turn off full screen glow and you will get massive boost in performance.
also what is that glfaster command you used, what does that do?
I got my 17inch today and while raiding earlier I never dropped below 44fps, also while im questing the frames were in the 80's, also the 44fps was the lowest in the raids. all high settings
just turn off full screen glow and you will get massive boost in performance.
also what is that glfaster command you used, what does that do?
What specs did you get on your 17"? And what res were you running WoW in? AA? AF? Thanks for the info in advance!
Could we see the 80 fps and the constant 44fps on the mbp screen shot with the fps showing?? If so I'll then be convinced. and if the mbp can get that kinda fps, that means my mac pro can get up to 250fps??
Thanks for this.. this is much more what I was expecting. I really am wondering if people are using full screen glow when they report their numbers. I know on my PC that thing eats about 20 FPS (no joke) and I hear its even worse on OS X. For some reason that setting is on by default, so I'm sure a lot of people are using it and may not even realize it.
As for antialiasing, most modern cards can handle 2x AA without trouble (more may slow it down). Anisotropic filtering (not sure if wow supports that) is a diff matter though.. it can floor all but the best cards.
The other thing I'll add is 1680x1050 is a LOT easier on a card than 1920x1200. It sounds like not a huge difference, but 1680x1050 = 1.76M pixels, while 1920x1200 = 2.38M pixels. Thats a pretty significant difference, especially for a card like the 8600M which probably tops out around 1680 and starts to tank if it has to push too many more pixels.
Why would you get 250fps? On a game like WoW, all the modern CPUs are so far and away more powerful than needed that the graphics card is the sole determiner of FPS. Also you need to realize that at some point FPS will start to top out regardless of what card you are using. Finally, if you are using vertical sync, you'll never go over 60fps, because the framerate is locked there.
The reason for 1xAA is a specific bug in the OSX wow client. It has nothing to do with what the card can handle. This has been admitted by Blizzard reps.
Framerate problems on OSX can be fixed by browsing through the well known tips on the Wow Mac support forum.
I have the 2.6 17inch, but remember that you need to update the graphics driver if you have not already done so.
also you don't have to play at the highest resolution. Don't listen to people who say that playing in non native resolution looks like crap, in fact i find the text to small in the higher settings.
also you can switch between high res with 1xAA or lower resolution and 2xAA
on my pc which has a 7600gt I like using the 1024x768 res" which is low" but with 2xAA there are no jaggies and looks real smooth, it makes this game have this more rounded look that I like.
so experiment with the settings, remember that glow effect, AA are 2 big fps stealing culprits, even though eventually we will be able to use both of those with out taking big hits when the drivers and code are corrected.
so if your on the fence about buying a mbp to play wow, remember that the performance is great right now and will only get better with each WoW and OSX update.
one last thing, I do keep the full screen glow on when not in raids or populated areas, if Im out in the open just farming I will get 50-60fps with glow on. Even in Kara where you only have a ten man raid the fps will be very stable with glow turned on.
also you don't have to play at the highest resolution. Don't listen to people who say that playing in non native resolution looks like crap, in fact i find the text to small in the higher settings.
also you can switch between high res with 1xAA or lower resolution and 2xAA
on my pc which has a 7600gt I like using the 1024x768 res" which is low" but with 2xAA there are no jaggies and looks real smooth, it makes this game have this more rounded look that I like.
so experiment with the settings, remember that glow effect, AA are 2 big fps stealing culprits, even though eventually we will be able to use both of those with out taking big hits when the drivers and code are corrected.
so if your on the fence about buying a mbp to play wow, remember that the performance is great right now and will only get better with each WoW and OSX update.
one last thing, I do keep the full screen glow on when not in raids or populated areas, if Im out in the open just farming I will get 50-60fps with glow on. Even in Kara where you only have a ten man raid the fps will be very stable with glow turned on.
Here's what i am playing on
2.6Ghz Intel core 2 duo (penryn)
Hi-res (1920x1200) matte display 512mb vram
4 Gb RAM
200 Gb 7200 rpm HD
My graphics settings are set to max everything, full screen glow on, v-sync off
resolution 1920x1200 no AA
I have the following addons
Titan Panel, Auctioneer, Cartographer, Lightheaded, TomTom, Doublewide, and LootFilter
I use Titan Panel to constantly monitor my frame rate. It says my average is around 45 to 50 fps depending on where I have been playing. In my experience it usually never gets above 80 or below 29 and even then when it gets that low its only for a moment or two. For the most part while I play it seems to hover around the 60fps or 30fps mark depending on the area. I would be happy to show you a screen shot if someone can explain how to do it.
2.6Ghz Intel core 2 duo (penryn)
Hi-res (1920x1200) matte display 512mb vram
4 Gb RAM
200 Gb 7200 rpm HD
My graphics settings are set to max everything, full screen glow on, v-sync off
resolution 1920x1200 no AA
I have the following addons
Titan Panel, Auctioneer, Cartographer, Lightheaded, TomTom, Doublewide, and LootFilter
I use Titan Panel to constantly monitor my frame rate. It says my average is around 45 to 50 fps depending on where I have been playing. In my experience it usually never gets above 80 or below 29 and even then when it gets that low its only for a moment or two. For the most part while I play it seems to hover around the 60fps or 30fps mark depending on the area. I would be happy to show you a screen shot if someone can explain how to do it.