Video card for WoW?

[Kaido]

Building a rig for a friend who is a World of Warcraft fan. Box has PCI Express slot. What card should I get? Not really familiar with the game...

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Building a rig for a friend who is a World of Warcraft fan. Box has PCI Express slot. What card should I get? Not really familiar with the game...

Recommended requirements for WoW

 

[Tequila]

You don't need much to run WoW. It's very friendly toward low/mid range systems.

I've run it with a 7600gs with extremely smooth framerates.

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

I run WoW with an A64 3200+ and an X800XL Video Card @ 1600x1200 resolution with max graphical effects. System has 1GB RAM, but would probably feel more responsive with 2 at this point.

-D'oh!

 

[FightTest]

On my old box I ran WoW fine using a S754 A64 3000+, 2GB PC3200 RAM, and a GeForce 6600GT. Ran it at 1600x1200 with most settings maxed, though not all. Framerates would hit mid 20s during a really hectic Naxx encounter like Thaddius. Always playable though.

WoW isn't a graphics intensive game, it does tend to be memory intensive though so make sure you have at least 1GB if not 2GB.

(and as always giving a price range is the easiest way to make a recommendation.)

 

[secretanchitman]

6600GT gives me at least 30-40FPS with everything cranked at 1280x1024 (2xAA, 4xAF).

any card above it is guaranteed max AA/AF at 1920x1200 - the 7900GT in my htpc does WoW at 60fps.

 

[keeleysam]

7950GT.

 

[raz3000]

I can run WoW on my Dell D600 Laptop -- Pentium M 1.6, 512MB RAM, Mobility Radeon 9000

 

[Schadenfroh]

WoW runs on anything, heck, I have seen it run on an Intel Extreme (whatever kind ships now), abiet slowly, but it was playable at his 800x600 resolution.

 

[Rangoric]

I have it running on a GForce 3 rather well/ok.

 

[nanaki333]

my roomate runs it fairly well on his gateway laptop with onboard intel graphics.

 

[CurseTheSky]

If the computer is going to be running any other games in the future, I'd at least invest in a 7900GS, depending on your budget.

If you're looking to spend a little less, go with a 7600GT. If you're looking to spend a little more, look for a 7900GTO, 7950GT, or 8800GTS.

 

[Aikouka]

I've had my GeForce 8800GTX drop below 30 FPS before in WoW... albeit I was on the PTR and there were around 150 people in the Ironforge Hall of Arms at the Warmasters and I play at 1680x1050 with 16x Quality AA and 16x Quality AF specified in the drivers .

My old 6800GT had no real problems in the game (with all settings maxed at 1280x1024), the only issues I ever saw were when there were an absolute ton of people/objects on the screen. Pretty much the only places where I saw this were Razorgore's room in BWL (there's ~30-ish eggs + 40 players + 40 mobs + 1 Razorgore ) and in Ironforge at the Commons (area between the AH and the Bank).

EDIT: Added that last area in.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
I've had my GeForce 8800GTX drop below 30 FPS before in WoW... albeit I was on the PTR and there were around 150 people in the Ironforge Hall of Arms at the Warmasters and I play at 1680x1050 with 16x Quality AA and 16x Quality AF specified in the drivers .

My old 6800GT had no real problems in the game (with all settings maxed at 1280x1024), the only issues I ever saw were when there were an absolute ton of people/objects on the screen. Pretty much the only places where I saw this were Razorgore's room in BWL (there's ~30-ish eggs + 40 players + 40 mobs + 1 Razorgore ) and in Ironforge at the Commons (area between the AH and the Bank).

EDIT: Added that last area in.

Holy cow! :Q So is WoW an older game that is just now getting popular? I've had a number of friends get hooked recently, but Amazon says it's old. Is there a new level pack or something out now?

 

[slatr]

The new expansion comes out around Jan 16th, but its been out for about 2 years now.

The games does scale well. I have run it on everything from a Geforce 2 GTS to a 7900 Gs.


On older cards, (non dx9) you will lose some of the effects though.

 

[Zbox]

I would agree with the 7950GT.

Secondly, the biggest thing I cannot stress enough with WoW is memory. 2GB offers a much better experience than 1GB.

 

[Hyperlite]

i'm running max settings at 1440x900 on a slightly OC'd eVGA 7600GT

 

[IlllI]

i'd say anything above an ati 9800 will be ok.
but, get as much ram as you can. i upgraded from 512mb to 1gig and the difference was pretty noticeable. i've heard that the more ram the better. try to get at least a gig or more if you can afford it