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PowerGamerX

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 9, 2009
673
1
How would WoW run on an iBook G4 12" 1.33ghz w/ 1.5gb of ram? Just curious if i should bother keeping this iBook (though I may just so I have an older computer that I can bum to school with me.)
 
From the WoW website:

Mac System Requirements

OS:
Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer
Processor:
Minimum: PowerPC G5 1.6 GHz or Intel Core Duo processor
Recommended: Intel 1.8GHz processor or better

Memory:
Minimum: 1 GB RAM
Recommended: 2 GB RAM

Video:
Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 64 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon 9600 or NVIDIA GeForce Ti 4600 class card or better
Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA 7600 class card or better
 
Based on the original WoW system requirements, you'd be able to--but they bumped the minimum when WOTLK came out. Also, the next expansion could bump them again. Short answer is don't bother. I wouldn't want to run it on less than my CoreDuo/X1600 MBP, frankly...
 
Based on the original WoW system requirements, you'd be able to--but they bumped the minimum when WOTLK came out. Also, the next expansion could bump them again. Short answer is don't bother. I wouldn't want to run it on less than my CoreDuo/X1600 MBP, frankly...

I don't mind putting settings to lowest, its about the game not the graphics for me. I know that I meet the required specifications but I would like to hear somebody's actual experience. Anyway, I might as well download it, I just didn't want to have to spend a huge amount of time waiting for it to download only to find it not working well.

And some extra information, playable for me is equal to or greater than 17fps average, but i can handle dips in cities up to 10fps
 
I played on an eMac 1.25 ghz, 1 gig ram, 32mb vram on all low, around 10-20 fps. It was definitely playable.


well afaik the graphics chip in the last gen iBooks was better than the 32mb cards in eMac's i guess it should run okay 640x480.
 
I used to play WoW on an iBook G4 1.25 Ghz 4-5 years ago, when it was a new game.
It most definitely ran ok, around 15 fps most of the time.

Since then, the requirements have gone up quite a bit; on Burning Crusade, the same iBook couldn't hold over 10fps in most places, even with everything set to low. In a big city, you would have to face the ground directly to even get over 2 fps.
Long story short, there is no way you will get over 7 fps with everything on low, and you won't be able to enter Org or Dalaran, or fly at all.

I am all about the game and don't need 60fps at all (I even have it limited to 28 fps on my MBP to keep the fans from kicking in too loud), so I'm not stating that if you can't run it with everything on max at 40fps it's not "playable"; but in your case, you can't play at all.

There is no option for 640x800 by the way, lowest is 800x600.
 
Well to all you low-ballers, I tried it, and will have you know that it runs suprisingly well. 1024x768 w/ all settings lowest except textures (high), world detail (medium), view distance (2 settings above lowest), and glow effect, death effect, specular, and projected textures on, I get a steady 25+ fps in wilderness areas and 15-20 in StormWind. In Iron Forge, I get about 9-15.
 
It's oki in old world, try Dalaran and you will probably using an hour to cross the arena outside the banks :D
 
It's oki in old world, try Dalaran and you will probably using an hour to cross the arena outside the banks :D

Exactly. In the original (pre BC/WOTLK) areas, it takes less to run the game. The bump in system requirements was to reflect the more demanding nature of the new spots. That's all. So if you're only interested in running classic WoW/not using the WOTLK/BC (think BC was less demanding than WOTLK though), you can pull it off...barely. Hope I didn't come off as too much of a downer...just didn't want to set expectations too high since the new areas really are too much for your hardware. Best of luck :)
 
Well to all you low-ballers, I tried it, and will have you know that it runs suprisingly well. 1024x768 w/ all settings lowest except textures (high), world detail (medium), view distance (2 settings above lowest), and glow effect, death effect, specular, and projected textures on, I get a steady 25+ fps in wilderness areas and 15-20 in StormWind. In Iron Forge, I get about 9-15.

Amazing, absolutely amazing.

On my iBook G4 1.25 Ghz I could never pull that off. I was used to run on everything low to get hopefully 12-15 fps in Barrens, and 8-10 fps in Orgrimmar, and that was 2-3 years ago.

Congratulations.
 
Also, isn't Glow Effect one of the biggest performance killers? It used to be, at least..honestly, I've never particularly seen a point in it, so try turning it off to bump things up higher still...
 
Also, isn't Glow Effect one of the biggest performance killers? It used to be, at least..honestly, I've never particularly seen a point in it, so try turning it off to bump things up higher still...

I only gain a frame or 2 by turning it off.
 
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