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Running WoW on 27" iMac with i7???

I still think the OP's question remains valid, despite a few good posts here.

I currently own the most recent iMac (released in the spring), with the then top of the line CPU with the ATI 4850 graphics card. The 24 inch monitor resolution is 1920x1200 and WoW runs without a hitch, very high framerates (120+) in empty zones and very respectable ones (55-60) in crowded zones/raids.

The question I have though is that with the new 27 inch iMac, native resolution is bumped to 2560x1440, but the graphics card hasn't changed - what will "playability" be like at this higher resolution when the graphics card hasn't been improved?

I think the OP also suggested that WoW doesn't currently support 2560x1440 (only 1920x1200) output...that will either have to change soon, or will buyers of the 27inch iMac be required to continue running at 1920x1200 in some windowed mode but with a slightly lower overall quality than they currently are used to seeing on the 24 inch model (same number of pixels being used to fill a larger area). This is something I too am wondering about.

I would have no qualms about buying the new quad iMac and using my 4+ month old machine as a hand-me-down gift to some family member if I can get a better grasp on what the 27inch monitor would do to WoW performance.
 
SiliBear said:
I still think the OP's question remains valid, despite a few good posts here.

I currently own the most recent iMac (released in the spring), with the then top of the line CPU with the ATI 4850 graphics card. The 24 inch monitor resolution is 1920x1200 and WoW runs without a hitch, very high framerates (120+) in empty zones and very respectable ones (55-60) in crowded zones/raids.

The question I have though is that with the new 27 inch iMac, native resolution is bumped to 2560x1440, but the graphics card hasn't changed - what will "playability" be like at this higher resolution when the graphics card hasn't been improved?

I think the OP also suggested that WoW doesn't currently support 2560x1440 (only 1920x1200) output...that will either have to change soon, or will buyers of the 27inch iMac be required to continue running at 1920x1200 in some windowed mode but with a slightly lower overall quality than they currently are used to seeing on the 24 inch model (same number of pixels being used to fill a larger area). This is something I too am wondering about.

I would have no qualms about buying the new quad iMac and using my 4+ month old machine as a hand-me-down gift to some family member if I can get a better grasp on what the 27inch monitor would do to WoW performance.
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I'm not sure about 2560x1440, but I do know that it runs at 1920x1080, which is also 16:9, because I used a Samsung XL2370 monitor for a week while I was waiting on my Apple Cinema Display.
 
It runs great on my 24" iMac w/ 4GB RAM. That said, I have to run it in windowed mode, just because it's too addictive if I run it full screen so close to my eyes.

I can't imagine having it full screen on a 27". /drool
 
I realise this is an Apple computer and it's not designed primarily as a gaming machine, but the increase in resolution and incorporating the 4850 with only 512MB vram means that fullscreen gaming performance will be lower than the previous generation 24" iMac with GPU dependant titles.

Apple really had no choice in the matter as ATI and Nvidia do not have their new mobility ranges out in the wild, this will happen sometime early next year and the current 4850/70 mobility series are the best on the market.

I think an ATI 5850 mobility card once offered by Apple would better suit the resolution of the 27" iMac, still not perfect but should be able to provide solid gaming at native resolution.

For me the only reason I am holding back from investing in a iMac is the current GPU option. Come the next iMac revision Sometime Q1/Q2 I would hope we'll see an ATI 5xxx option, perhaps even a 5870 as with the planned die shrink on these cards the heat output may well be low enough to incorporate into the iMac.

Opinion of a casual gamer who digs :apple:
 
Just FYI, but WoW should be able to run at 2560x1440 just fine. Its not really up to the game to support that resolution, its up to the OS. The game asks the OS what resolutions the monitor/video card supports, and those are the resolutions that the game lists. If for some strange reason it doesn't support it, i'm sure blizzard will address the issue in a patch very quickly.

As for how WELL WoW will run at the resolution is another question. It should run decently though as long as you get the 4850.
 
WoW is very heavily CPU bound due to the extendable user interface. The resolution of the 27" iMac would be no problem at all. I have run 2560x1600 full screen using my macbook pro with an external 30" monitor.

The only thing you have to do is disable shadows. That's a due to a poor implementation in WoW on both Windows and OSX.
 
OCBulldogs said:
I'm looking at the 27" with i7 proc and 8Gbs. The only game that I play is World of Warcraft, what do you guys think?

a) Will the game HAVE to run windowed? Since it doesnt support the higher native resolution...

b) If I run it at the highest Mac setting (1600x1200 or similar) what will the picture quality be? Any idea about the performance?

c) Will the video card be able to handle "all settings maxed out"?

Thanks for your help! Paying $3k for a system that doesn't run WoW well would be a HUGE dissapointment.

- Mike
Click to expand...

What do you mean it doesn't support highest native resolution? I've been playing wow on my 30" ACD for 2 years at 2560*1600 resolution.

So it will work on native resolution of 27" iMac as well.

The picture quality will be amazing if you run at highest settings. I play at highest settings possible on 4870, which is the same line of GPU as 4850, just faster. So the game will look plain amazing.

The game should be able to handle max settings except AA. I run the game at 2X AA. At this resolution 4X is highest you can go since you need more than 512 GB video memory for 6X or 8X at 2560*1600. At 4X you might already see some memory bottlenecks at certain areas so 2X is a safe bet at that resolution.

Other than that everything will be fine. But don't expect a high FPS in Dalaran. Even a GTX285 drops to 30 fps in Dalaran at the moment, on Windows 7 x64 with latest Nvidia drivers. Dalaran is a CPU hog and won't get better anytime soon.
 
zerohp said:
WoW is very heavily CPU bound due to the extendable user interface. The resolution of the 27" iMac would be no problem at all. I have run 2560x1600 full screen using my macbook pro with an external 30" monitor.

The only thing you have to do is disable shadows. That's a due to a poor implementation in WoW on both Windows and OSX.
Click to expand...

Actually with ATI4870 the shadows issue, at least on OS X side have been fixed. I don't see any drop in framerate when I enable HQ shadows now. On Windows 7 x64 though, shadows drop my framerate to unplayable levels, still.
 
Huddy said:
I realise this is an Apple computer and it's not designed primarily as a gaming machine, but the increase in resolution and incorporating the 4850 with only 512MB vram means that fullscreen gaming performance will be lower than the previous generation 24" iMac with GPU dependant titles.
Click to expand...

That's incorrect. You can ofc run the game at the lower resolution if somehow you come across a memory bottleneck, but about wow, it runs at 2560*1600 with 512 MB memory just fine. Can even use 4X AA at that resolution.
 
iBug2 said:
That's incorrect. You can ofc run the game at the lower resolution if somehow you come across a memory bottleneck, but about wow, it runs at 2560*1600 with 512 MB memory just fine. Can even use 4X AA at that resolution.
Click to expand...

That's great if you are happy to run below native resolution full screen with the image degradation involved.

I'm not just talking about WoW the statement is for GPU intensive games in general.

Fact of the matter is that for native resolution the 27" iMac will not perform as well as the previous 24" model due to the native resolutions of the screen 1920x1200 vs 2560x1440 as both use the same GPU.
 
This is the same problem I am having right now. I only play wow and I and not sure it would run well on the i5/i7 with the 4850 card, at a high resolution.

Right now my PC is having a hard time running wow. Its a P4, and I want to buy a new computer. I waited for Apple and I am a little disappointed, don't get me wrong the new imac is great. I was hoping for a i5/i7 and a better cto vid card in the 21.5 model. The 27 is too big for me.

So I am also kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.
 
SiliconDioxide said:
This is the same problem I am having right now. I only play wow and I and not sure it would run well on the i5/i7 with the 4850 card, at a high resolution.

Right now my PC is having a hard time running wow. Its a P4, and I want to buy a new computer. I waited for Apple and I am a little disappointed, don't get me wrong the new imac is great. I was hoping for a i5/i7 and a better cto vid card in the 21.5 model. The 27 is too big for me.

So I am also kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Click to expand...



Just buy the previous generations refurbished 24" with Radeon 4850. Even though its a dual core and not a quad it is still a very good bargain.
 
Lava Lamp Freak said:
I don't completely understand that myself... as picky as I am when it comes to FPS and smoothness in WoW.
Click to expand...

If you refresh the display out of sync with the monitor refresh rate then you will suffer an artifact known as 'tearing' where the image appears to be torn. This is because the image being shown on the monitor was updated by a subsequent frame during the monitor's update. Running at 60FPS locked is the best option IMHO. Running higher than the refresh rate (i.e. 60Hz) is pointless unless the game logic requires fast reactions to screen input, such as for very fast paced games, i.e. racing simulations. It isn't going to be any help on WoW, because the latency of your PING will likely always be higher than your frame interval.

Locking to 60FPS should not mean that a machine that is capable of higher frame rates in certain areas is negatively affected, you just get a constant 60 and less fan noise and heart generated :D
 
I should be fine just copying over the application folder from my old iMac instead of a fresh install, right?
 
I haven't played WoW in about a year, but when I left I was running wiht all settings pretty much set to the lowest point and had FPS in the 5-10 range for most of whatever the first expansions lands were called (original G5 imac) and 15-25 in most of the original lands. I'm pretty sure if I start playing again I'll be pretty happy however it turns out :)
 
OCBulldogs said:
I'm looking at the 27" with i7 proc and 8Gbs. The only game that I play is World of Warcraft, what do you guys think?

a) Will the game HAVE to run windowed? Since it doesnt support the higher native resolution...

b) If I run it at the highest Mac setting (1600x1200 or similar) what will the picture quality be? Any idea about the performance?

c) Will the video card be able to handle "all settings maxed out"?

Thanks for your help! Paying $3k for a system that doesn't run WoW well would be a HUGE dissapointment.

- Mike
Click to expand...


Well I my new i5 Runs Wow like a dream. And supports the resolution beautifully. I cranked all settings to High and ran around Dalaran when fully packed. No hitching or lag fps steady at between 20 to 30. I was rather happy with it. So don't you worry your i7 will make you very very happy ;)
 
Carressa said:
Well I my new i5 Runs Wow like a dream. And supports the resolution beautifully. I cranked all settings to High and ran around Dalaran when fully packed. No hitching or lag fps steady at between 20 to 30. I was rather happy with it. So don't you worry your i7 will make you very very happy ;)
Click to expand...

Any way you have found for WoW on the Magic Mouse to right click-left click run?

As in hold down right click to move your facing and then be able to left click to run.
 
wfj5444 said:
Any way you have found for WoW on the Magic Mouse to right click-left click run?

As in hold down right click to move your facing and then be able to left click to run.
Click to expand...


Humm no, heck it took me 5 mins to get my mailbox to open! I looked like the town drunk for about 10 mins running in circles and bumping into things trying to get stuff worked out with the mouse....Still not a fan of the mouse ...but some things just take some getting used to.
 
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