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GameGuru

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2004
29
0
Would a Dual PowerMac G4 1.25GHz, 1GB PC2700 and an ATI Radeon 9600 play WoW well? If not what video card would play WoW very well? Also are those other specs fine?
 

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
5,119
1,079
Canada
GameGuru said:
Would a Dual PowerMac G4 1.25GHz, 1GB PC2700 and an ATI Radeon 9600 play WoW well? If not what video card would play WoW very well? Also are those other specs fine?

I'd guess that computer would play WoW just fine. As for the game settings, that's another story.

With that said, I'm playing on my Mac mini (see sig. for specs) but only in 800x600 with all settings off/lowest.
 

Verto

macrumors 6502a
Jul 20, 2005
582
0
Denton, TX
Right now I'm playing on my iMac, with 2.0 Ghz and only 512 MB RAM. Right now the settings are on native resolution, with graphics ranging from low to medium. Nothing fancy, really. I hope once I've got 1.5GB RAM to be able to boost the graphics all the way, or at least most of them. Anyone with that spec range able to tell me if I can expect good performance at that level of detail?
 

Xenious

macrumors 6502a
Mar 22, 2004
685
46
Texas, USA
The big chunk of it is in the video card. I've got the 9600XT running on a dual 2.5 at the native resolution of a 23" display (umm 1920x1200?) on mediumish settings. It does ok, but certainly won't run on max settings. I have a feeling an 800XT would let me max out the settings.
 

lasuther

macrumors 6502a
Feb 13, 2004
670
0
Grand Haven, Michigan
I'm running WOW on the crappy iBook below. And it runs just fine. I've got a 50 Warrior, 32 Rogue, and 23 Priest. I'm waiting for the new PowerBooks before I but a new computer. The new iBook revision just wasn't good enough for me to buy a new computer. I really wanted a 64MB graphics card. I'm hoping for a good price drop in the PB so I can afford one.

lasuther
 

Norouzi

macrumors 6502
Aug 6, 2004
399
25
Philadelphia, PA
Right now I'm running WOW on my Sawtooth G4, Radeon 9000 128 Video card, 1Ghz G4 PowerLogix Upgrade, 640MB Ram. I run it at 1024x768 and it runs quite well, I get some lag but I think some of it is due to my being in AZ and I'm on an east coast server, pluss my internet connection is cable and dosen't stay at a constant speed. Overall I'm very happy playing on my machine though so I'd think the dual G4 would run fine.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I do have all the settings on Low but I the graphics are still amazing.
 

AoWolf

macrumors 6502a
Nov 17, 2003
958
2
Daytona Beach
Yvan256 said:
I'd guess that computer would play WoW just fine. As for the game settings, that's another story.

With that said, I'm playing on my Mac mini (see sig. for specs) but only in 800x600 with all settings off/lowest.


Why are you running it at 800x600? I run it just fine at 1024x 768 on a 1 ghz iBook. Also you should be fine turning up textures to their highest setting.
 

GameGuru

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2004
29
0
What Mac specs should I aim for so I can get the WoW experience I get with my PC listed in my signature? I currently play at 1280x1024 with all video settings set to HIGH and LEVEL OF DETAIL unchecked.
 

GameGuru

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2004
29
0
GameGuru said:
What Mac specs should I aim for so I can get the WoW experience I get with my PC listed in my signature? I currently play at 1280x1024 with all video settings set to HIGH and LEVEL OF DETAIL unchecked.

Any suggestions? And should I get a Quicksilver or a Mirrored Door version?
 

RGunner

macrumors 6502a
Jul 3, 2002
707
105
Midnight Sun
Recommendation

I would recommend a used or refurb. PCI-X PowerMac G5, any CPU speed. You can then buy whatever vid card suits the game you are playing.


GameGuru said:
Any suggestions? And should I get a Quicksilver or a Mirrored Door version?
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
On my powermac Dual 1.8ghz with 2.5gig ram and a Radeon X800 XT - unsurprisingly the game runs at 1680x1050 with everything maxed out and 4x antialising. Completely smooth framerate.

On my new Powerbook 15" 1.67ghz with 1.5gig ram and radeon 9700 128mb I run the game at full resolution of the pb 1440x960 with everything maxed out except terrain distance (set to 1/3rd) and no antialiasing. Again it's very smooth with this setting.
 

Tilmitt

macrumors member
Apr 30, 2005
95
6
MacRumorUser said:
On my powermac Dual 1.8ghz with 2.5gig ram and a Radeon X800 XT - unsurprisingly the game runs at 1680x1050 with everything maxed out and 4x antialising. Completely smooth framerate.

On my new Powerbook 15" 1.67ghz with 1.5gig ram and radeon 9700 128mb I run the game at full resolution of the pb 1440x960 with everything maxed out except terrain distance (set to 1/3rd) and no antialiasing. Again it's very smooth with this setting.

I have 15" 1.67Ghz PowerBook with 2GB ram and 128MB 9700 and I only run it on 1280x854 with texture detail to highest and everything else minimum. And it's far from very smooth. It runs good but definitely not 60fps and it can get quite laggy sometimes. What I think is laggy is usually ok for most people but I still find it hard to imagine yours is smooth at those settings.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
Tilmitt said:
I have 15" 1.67Ghz PowerBook with 2GB ram and 128MB 9700 and I only run it on 1280x854 with texture detail to highest and everything else minimum. And it's far from very smooth. It runs good but definitely not 60fps and it can get quite laggy sometimes. What I think is laggy is usually ok for most people but I still find it hard to imagine yours is smooth at those settings.

It's about 20-35 fps with average around 30. But 30fps is pretty smooth alround, as long as it doesn't drop regularly. I find it plays acceptably for me at this rate on my PB, I go for slighly higher resolution over framerate (as long as it remains around 30)

I also imagine the 7200rpm would give a few more frames per second than the 5400rpm HD
Also the DDR2 ram may help compared to DDR? Though not 100% sure.
 

Tilmitt

macrumors member
Apr 30, 2005
95
6
MacRumorUser said:
It's about 20-35 fps with average around 30. But 30fps is pretty smooth alround, as long as it doesn't drop regularly. I find it plays acceptably for me at this rate on my PB, I go for slighly higher resolution over framerate (as long as it remains around 30)

I also imagine the 7200rpm would give a few more frames per second than the 5400rpm HD
Also the DDR2 ram may help compared to DDR? Though not 100% sure.

Well if you find that rate fine then I don't doubt a word you say! DDR2 has higher latencies but uses lower power and I think it might have some internal stuff that's more efficient but it's pretty much the same clock for clock i think....the main reason apple probably added it was to increase battery life. Yeah a 7200rpm hard drive would rock I'm thinking of getting one for christmas :)
 

Chrispy

macrumors 68020
Dec 27, 2004
2,270
524
Indiana
MacRumorUser said:
On my powermac Dual 1.8ghz with 2.5gig ram and a Radeon X800 XT - unsurprisingly the game runs at 1680x1050 with everything maxed out and 4x antialising. Completely smooth framerate.

I have the Dual 1.8 in my sig and I can run at 1280x800 (or whatever that widescreen res is) with medium settings and get a solid 25-30FPS. I have a Radeon 9800 Pro on the way so MacRumorUser's review of his system with the X800 fills me with hope :) I would love to max the draw distance and turn on the hardware pixel shaders.... at running at 1680x1050 on my 2005FPW. Can't wait ;)

Anyways, if you are getting a mac and you want to game with it then I would look for a G5 or at the least, a Dual 1.42 G4. Also, the graphics card will make more of a difference than memory so be sure to make upgrading that a priority. Enjoy!
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
Chrispy said:
I have the Dual 1.8 in my sig and I can run at 1280x800 (or whatever that widescreen res is) with medium settings and get a solid 25-30FPS. I have a Radeon 9800 Pro on the way so MacRumorUser's review of his system with the X800 fills me with hope :) I would love to max the draw distance and turn on the hardware pixel shaders.... at running at 1680x1050 on my 2005FPW. Can't wait ;)

Anyways, if you are getting a mac and you want to game with it then I would look for a G5 or at the least, a Dual 1.42 G4. Also, the graphics card will make more of a difference than memory so be sure to make upgrading that a priority. Enjoy!

You should get a good boost with the pro. The reason I got the x800xt was by accident, I ordered a 9800XT on ebay and it was faulty, the seller instead of refunding me allowed me to pay difference and get the X800 XT instead. It was probably fortunate as the card has made a huge difference in Motion as well as WOW.

You probably wont be able to run with AntiAlising as high as mine, but you should be able to run at a much higher resolution. A bit more memory would help as well 768 quite low these days.
 

Chrispy

macrumors 68020
Dec 27, 2004
2,270
524
Indiana
MacRumorUser said:
You should get a good boost with the pro. The reason I got the x800xt was by accident, I ordered a 9800XT on ebay and it was faulty, the seller instead of refunding me allowed me to pay difference and get the X800 XT instead. It was probably fortunate as the card has made a huge difference in Motion as well as WOW.

You probably wont be able to run with AntiAlising as high as mine, but you should be able to run at a much higher resolution. A bit more memory would help as well 768 quite low these days.

Thanks for the info :) I don't mind doing without the AntiAlising so much as I mind not being able to have shader effects on. I do need to get more RAM as well :eek:. I went with the Dual 1.8 so I would have the budget to up the RAM to 1.5GB and to add a better GPU. One down one to go haha.
 

Jigglelicious

macrumors 6502
Apr 25, 2004
421
0
NYC
GameGuru said:
Would a Dual PowerMac G4 1.25GHz, 1GB PC2700 and an ATI Radeon 9600 play WoW well? If not what video card would play WoW very well? Also are those other specs fine?


A Radeon 9800 Pro would boost your performance quite a bit. Although the 9600 isn't all that bad. You might try the trial version of the game and see if you find the performance acceptable. If you feel you need more speed, you can pick up a 9800 Pro for like $100 these days and just flash it for use in a Mac.
 
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