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Warcraft FPS on new (unibody) MBPs?

richard13

richard13

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
1,114
974
Odessa, FL
So, I am trying to decide between the 2.4 and 2.53 MBP. The tend to play mostly RTS games but for the past year I've gotten heavily into WoW. My current PC is pretty good (homebrew) but my laptop (2 year old HP DV2000T doesn't really cut it). Does anyone know if the framerates for WoW are significantly better on the 2.53 vs 2.4?

My normal instinct is to get the best processor I can afford but since it seems like a small difference between these two I don't know. I'm new to the Mac world and not sure if it's really worth an additional $500 to get the higher end model.

Thanks.
 
It really depends on what you are doing in the game. If you are in a big group (100+ people) your frame rate will drop.
 
I know you're interested in the 2.4 or 2.53 models, just thought I'd throw in my figures:

-All settings on high, no glow screen: 40-60 fps

-Same settings, shadow detail from high to low: 70-120 fps

-Specs: 2.8/250g 7200rpm/9600m gt


The 2.53 or 2.4 probably aren't much lower in frame rates, if at all. The difference between the 2.4 and the 2.8 might be more significant, but I don't have any figures to back that up.

A video I posted running the game at a capped 30fps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-_E7gDKZEQ
 
You have to consider that any additional UI elements are going to reduce your frame rate, as well. For example, I use a relatively advanced UI package with more than 70 AddOns and 35 MB of memory usage. I generally get less than 10 FPS on my MacBook Pro in crowded areas. During the Kil'Jaeden encounter, my FPS will slow to a halt.

My PC is able to render the Kil'Jaeden encounter at 20-30 FPS with a 9800 GT. Just remember that you're not going to know exactly how it will run unless you buy the laptop and set up your UI and start playing.
 
Depends were you are of course but maxed out with 4xAA in OSX I have yet to dip below 23fps when I've checked and that jumpng in heavily populated areas like strattah with lots going on. General play it's 40 at least.
 
Hey, thanks to all that have replied. It would still be nice to hear from a WoW player that has the 2.53 model but I guess the 2.8 model might be close since they are the same except the processor.

I do realize that FPS in WoW really depends on where you are and how many other objects are around and how high your settings are. I guess I should have specified "on average" with "most settings maxed or high".

I'm surprised to see such good numbers with the 2.4 model. Practically speaking, this is probably the better choice. But then I start thinking the 2.53 will offer me some good upgrades out of the gate. But will I really see $500 worth of improved performance? Hmmm. :)
 
richard13 said:
But will I really see $500 worth of improved performance? Hmmm. :)
Click to expand...

honestly, i highly dout it. 4gb of ram will only do you good if you run multiple ram eating programs at once. The only time I notice a difference between the 2gb on my new MBP and the 4gb on my early 08 MB is when i run Windows in Parallels. Other than that I can still run photoshop and whatnot at the same time and still have plenty of ram to spare. I was thinking of upgrading to 4gb but i'll wait and see if i even need it.
 
I would recommend the base model MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz; it's got more than enough processing power under the hood for what you're looking for. You're not going to see much of a difference with a Intel T-series processor (2.53GHz, 2.8 GHz) except for maybe a few minutes lower battery life, as these processors use 35W while the 2.4GHz is a P8600 which requires 25W.
 
Guys I'm getting an average (settings maxed, 1440x) of 25fps in Vanilla WoW areas and 10-20 fps in Outland zones, and I have a brand new entry level unibody MBP with 9600M GT and 2gb ddr3 ram.

...

...

...

What is going on?
 
From my experience,

I initially had the 2.8 7200 (had to return it due to defects), though wow seemed to run nice and smooth on it. Wish i took some benchmarks.

I got my replacement 2.53 5400, and straight away i noticed that it was more choppy. Once i put everything on high i was lucky to hit over 30 FPS.

I really thought that the 2.53 would handle it just fine. Now i am considering returning the 2.53 and getting the 2.8 again.

So i can see the 2.4 struggling with the game.

For me heat was another big issue. Anywhere from 5 min to 2 hours i would get a black screen of death. Though drivers in the future should help out with this.
 
I'd like to throw in a subsidiary question here:

What's the performance difference between the 9600M and the 9400M for WoW?

Knowing that the 9400M uses less power, are the framerates still acceptable?
 
The single biggest parameter that hurts the performance with little payback is the shadow detail. I would suggest dropping it down.
 
ManWithhat said:
WoW vanilla with a few add-ons, I'm getting 63 FPS avg. 2.53 MBP - 7200rpm
Click to expand...

How are you guys measuring FPS, just using the build in wow FPS-meeter?

cause on my MBP 2.4ghz unibody 4gigs, i get like avg 30 FPS outside, higher in dungeons. Running vista 64bit.

On my desktop PC, 3.2GHZ intel dual core, 8800GT gfx and 6GB of ram i get about 40-50 FPS

Both comps 1440x900 all maxed
 
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