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Running WoW on MBA
- Thread starter SteveSparks
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No mods and a new character in a starting area? Thats not really a test but if you must.
Same settings that you used, only its on an 11 inch, but I don't think that will make up 20+ FPS.
Edit: How can you play without projected textures? You won't be able to see AoE's.
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Seeing those screenshots reminds me of why I quit playing WoW about 2 years ago..that game caused me more headaches than I can remember. Not to mention all that lost time and $$$.
Good luck to all on getting it running on the new Macbook Air. I do remember that when I played it on my 2009 15" MBP unibody back in day, I used to play it in windowed mode because it ran better..never understood why, but it did.
Good luck to all on getting it running on the new Macbook Air. I do remember that when I played it on my 2009 15" MBP unibody back in day, I used to play it in windowed mode because it ran better..never understood why, but it did.
Runs decently for me on 13" i7. On "Fair" preset settings, I get about 25-40 fps cruising around the environment, about 30 fps average. For big raids it could be a problem, but for PvE is definitely playable. I turned off the full screen glow effect, which adds about 3 fps, and I'm capping my frame rate at 25 fps. It gets hot, but not nearly as hot as my 15" 2010 MacBook Pro with roughly the same settings. WoW will really crank up the fans on the Air though, so it will be loud.
Honestly I don't know why I had projected textures disabled there. It doesn't affect performance on or off.
I don't get what the problem is. It runs smoothly for me. Isn't that all that matters?
Not to mention there seems to be a lot of things that work oddly on the 3000 or even Lion. I'm sure they will release a patch that will show further performance improvements however I wouldn't mind turning the settings down more if I had to. But as of now I don't. yet.?
Either way I'm a programmer so the i7 makes Eclipse run much faster especially when its looking up commands. Other than that, all the games still run really well.
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Is this true, can someone confirm?
I thought all specs could be configured the same on the 11" as the 13"
Regardless of the model the GPU clock is
350MHz Base
1.15GHz Turbo for Core i5 2467M
1.20GHz Turbo for Core i5 2557M
1.20GHz Turbo for Core i7 2677M
I'm not trying to imply that your computer won't suit your needs, and I'm glad that the 2011 is perfect for you. My point is to show that at least in WoW the 2010 is still the better model. I would love it if people chimed in with similar test with different games.
Its TRUE! I heard the Death Knight nets you 10 more FPS!
I'm not trying to imply that your computer won't suit your needs, and I'm glad that the 2011 is perfect for you. My point is to show that at least in WoW the 2010 is still the better model. I would love it if people chimed in with similar test with different games.
Its TRUE! I heard the Death Knight nets you 10 more FPS!
The 2011 seems to run Portal 2fps better than the 2010
http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/mba11_por.gif
I honestly think a WoW update with intel hd 3000 optimizations will come around and we'll see some table flipping.
Maybe, but at the same time wouldn't have Blizzard done this since the release of the MBP or any of the other Intel 3000 HD's out there? To them they look at these results and just say "get a graphics card", because they have bigger fish to fry.
Also I'm glad this was bumped because I noticed something on Barefeat's benchmarks.
http://www.appleownz.com/2011/07/21/2011-macbook-air-13-benchmarks/
Look at the images of the settings used. Its no mods and in starting areas. Real world is in raids, major cities, and battle grounds with mods.
EDIT: Could someone do a test for me. Download Xcode off the app store for free and enable the CPU preferences. DISABLE HYPER THREADING. Then test WoW.
Also I'm glad this was bumped because I noticed something on Barefeat's benchmarks.
http://www.appleownz.com/2011/07/21/2011-macbook-air-13-benchmarks/
Look at the images of the settings used. Its no mods and in starting areas. Real world is in raids, major cities, and battle grounds with mods.
EDIT: Could someone do a test for me. Download Xcode off the app store for free and enable the CPU preferences. DISABLE HYPER THREADING. Then test WoW.
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Yep, good call, you're right. Doesn't make sense to me that it would make such a large frame rate difference, but it does, and it doesn't affect the look enough to make it worth it for me. So Fair preset except shadows on Low and frame rate capped at 25 is working pretty well for me on the Air.
I cap mine at 60 so far
. You can see my screenshot of my settings above. Runs smooth for me.Turning the view distance to high didn't seem to affect the framerate, for instance.
FINALLY found what I was looking for. If someone is willing to test a theory to improve FPS in WoW read on.
Hyperthreading is apparently hindering WoW's performance upwards to 25%. There is only one way to disable Hyperthreading in the new MBA and thats through the processor preference panel that comes with CHUD development tools.
If someone is willing please test WoW with HT disabled. You can find CHUD tools by going to apple's development web site here:
http://developer.apple.com/
Click on More Development resources.
Click developer downloads under Mac OS X.
Log in. Must have a developer account. It's free.
Under Downloads go to Developer tools.
Page search for "CHUD"
Download the file should be 34 MB.
Install the package. Now for me under Lion the installation went to the end and then said failed. None the less it still installed the CPUPallet preference panel that I wanted.
Open Developer/Extras/PreferencePans/Processor.prefpan
Look for a box that has HT checked and uncheck it.
Restart, open the preference panel again and see if the box is still unchecked.
Launch WoW and compare the FPS difference. Post here if successful.
Hyperthreading is apparently hindering WoW's performance upwards to 25%. There is only one way to disable Hyperthreading in the new MBA and thats through the processor preference panel that comes with CHUD development tools.
If someone is willing please test WoW with HT disabled. You can find CHUD tools by going to apple's development web site here:
http://developer.apple.com/
Click on More Development resources.
Click developer downloads under Mac OS X.
Log in. Must have a developer account. It's free.
Under Downloads go to Developer tools.
Page search for "CHUD"
Download the file should be 34 MB.
Install the package. Now for me under Lion the installation went to the end and then said failed. None the less it still installed the CPUPallet preference panel that I wanted.
Open Developer/Extras/PreferencePans/Processor.prefpan
Look for a box that has HT checked and uncheck it.
Restart, open the preference panel again and see if the box is still unchecked.
Launch WoW and compare the FPS difference. Post here if successful.
Thanks! Yeah I'm not really for or against one or the other. For what I use the Airs for this would be the most taxing program I run and therefore just want the best. Also based on the 4100+ views on this thread I think other people are interested as well.
BTW if anyone took my theory please post some results! This might effect other games too!
Just got my MBA 11" today and downloaded WoW. It has a Samsung SSD and an i7.
Before I do this, can I ask why YOU don't try disabling your hyperthreading?