Hello all…
I got a question related to my hardware.
I can see that the shadowlands minimum requirements, (https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/256565) - require a minimum processor of I5-3450. (This is as u can see, a 3’rd generation I5). Well, right now I have an I7-870 (a first generation I7)… and I play the game with all max on 10… I also have a 4GB Geforce GTX770 and 16GbRam and an Ultra fast SSD III. So everything on 10 quality, with 60-100 fps.
My question is: Will I be able to run shadowlands? How is an I7 first generation CPU compared to a 3’rd Generation I5? Or maybe the system will detect my CPU to be lower than a 3’rd generation and will not start the game at all?
Thanks
Congratulations, you either have some miracle hardware or are only playing old content 
I guess it will still start, but to answer your question, an I5-3450 is about 40% faster than your I7.
First Gen Intel are very slow in terms of IPC, Intel made a big jump with the 2nd gen.
Yes. The game doesn’t change in any dramatic way. Any engine changes can be tested now on PTR too. Requirements are mostly for people joining the game/getting hardware to play the game. Those that already have working hardware can care bit less (yet at some point it may start showing its age).
Is that an average FPS or 1%/0.1% low FPS. With old hardware you should look at the lows as if anything would pose a problem for such hardware it would start with stutter or noticeable dips below 20-30 FPS on the 1% low FPS giving a perception of choppy animations (like when rotating camera).
Thanks for your replies.
I am still in doubt. Before I had instead of the I7-870 CPU, I had an I5-760. This was the minnimum requirement for BFA - and still I ran the game on quality 10, with this minnimum CPU. (probably because of the 4GB graphic card). Now I upgraded to an I7-870, (because the motherboard cannot have higher CPU), and I thought that it would be enough.
I found a test hardware for shadowlands on internet.
The only thing it complains about is the CPU. Now I am pretty sure that the game would run if started, because everything else is much above medium.
But my question was, if the game would start or not at all? Because if the game would not start at all, I have a problem. But if the game at least starts, I can choose what graphic quality I would want.
The only thing we don’t know here is what resolution you’re playing at…
Minimum spec. is usually what is required to comfortably get the game installed; recommended is usually the minimum to get the game playable at minimum- medium settings up to Raiding.
Unless you’ve played your account on another, higher spec. system to KNOW that your settings ARE as good as you think they are, I would suggest that you look to a full system upgrade.
Install public PTR version and try it out. It has all of the engine changes. There should be no hard lock for your system there.
I’ve a problem with that. I’ve installed the PTR but cannot enter. I only get the message that my 3D acceleration card isn’t supported in WoW. And yet I can enter the game on live, even though I I have a ! message next to my character’s name on my character screen that my graphic card isn’t supported. Will I be able to play prepatch and the new expansion at all?
What GPU do you have?. That incompatibility marker can show up for Fermi cards (GTX 500 series) but on newer it should not be the case.
I’ll check.
Ok it’s Intel 5 series/3400 series if I’m reading this right.
Hm… that’s some info missing. You are using only Intel CPU with integrated graphics or do you also have a dedicated graphics card in your PC?
You can run this: https://www.userbenchmark.com/ and post the link to the results. This will list all of the hardware
First to say I play it on 1920x1080… on 10 with no problem…
Second to answer Bigkeg, u r right, installing the PTR would let me know right away if I can play Shadowlands… but I thought that to install PTR u had to be invited from Blizzard to test the game…
EDIT: OK, so I created a PTR… it says: " World of Warcraft®: Legion (WoW3) - Public Test Realm" – so is this for Shadowlands? cos it says Legion…
PTR is public, beta is not. You can do PTR without any invite.
I edited my post above, while u wrote… it says on my PTR, Legion… so is it Shadowlands I can test?
The “Public Test Realm” should have BfA in a Shadowlands pre-patch state and it should want to install itself first - if you have old PTR install then either it will be updating or requesting a fresh install.
Yes, I downloaded the PTR. It installed version 9.0. And guess what… I still play it on 1920x1080 with all on quality 10… but seems to be stable at 60 fps. Not 100 like I get in normal wow… (I started a new character to play Shadowlands content)
Funny how Blizzard chooses minimum requirements… if the game runs smoothly with all maxed, on a computer with much below CPU. But I guess it’s the good 4 GB graphic card and 16Gb RAM that does it. The CPU doesn’t seems to be that important…
Well… I guess no upgraded needed… lol…
The performance changes based on what you are doing in game or what is happening near you. The public requirement must cover overall every case and may look higher than “needed”. Sometimes they also define what is the oldest hardware they want to support in terms of regression and bugs (if fixing a problem for an older hardware would negatively affect the game for newer hardware it will not be done etc.)
Just wait till you get to bastion and co.
I was just questing there with a newly copied char and had settings below 10, shadows high, water good, distance and lod at 9 and barely got 80 FPS, mostly 70ish.
That is on a 3900x with a 2070S. Compared to live BfA zones where im always above 100 while questing, mostly 120ish, sometimes 144 cap.
Mostly CPU-limited on the beta while questing btw… these areas can be really demanding.
It’s rather not that linear in scaling with hardware. With luck I’ll have benchmarks done by the end of next week. Still trying to get into a local showroom of one of the vendors to test with 3080, but a set of older CPUs and GPUs is already here… I even resurrected an old FX-8320 just to get some actual numbers if you recall that case 
If you are in Bastion then on the way to the elite quest up north there will be some pond area, check how that performs.
Yeah FX CPUs seem like the way to go… easy 60+ FPS on 10 right?
I’ll continue leveling with a friend later today. Will check it out.