It´s crazy I know. But world of warcraft is insanely coded compared to say, star wars the old republic which runs like a pile of garbage in general.
I´m using an I7 laptop with - check this - a GTX660M graphics chips and I run windows 10, direct x 12 I think or direct x 11. I am running on lower medium settings in game and it looks absolutely gorgeous. I think this also has to do with DX12/11.
Why does the game run so well on older machines? The graphics are cartoony, there have been several updates to the engine and you can turn on almost any setting in wow graphics settings to get the game to look very nice.
I am saving up for a new laptop, getting the same processor but with a GTX 1080 graphics chip. Not because I desperately need an upgrade but because I actually want to see how much more I can get with a newer computer.
Blizzard never had games with the best graphics. They were always outdated and run well on the best PCs. For WoW they are aware that plenty of people play wow on weaker hardware so they always make it so the game can run well with lower settings on those.
That is one of the main reasons why this game has been relevant for so long as most people don’t have cash to throw in new computers as often developers of AAA games would like.
I still run the same computer that i bought for 695€ back in MoP and only thing i have done it is that i added new 40€ ssd hard drive in it because it only had 250gb ssd when i bought it.
And i have no plans to buy new computer usually i run old one to its last breath before i do buy new and even then i probably just fix the old one as i really am not that interest in buying new games heck i have still not upgraded my console neither still have my gamecube and ps2.
I play on the same computer i bought in early wotlk, and even back then it was considerd a budget pc. And now in bfa i AM still able to play on medium settings ( lowest settings chrases my computer) and still rock a solid 15/20 FPS. Only things that are annoying are phases like the last phases of argus where i only het 5 FPS or when the last Boss of MOTHERLODE decides to carpet cbomb the Place.
It’s an MMO they literally all follow suit.
You try running WoW on an Fx-6300 with a gtx 750
Then run it with a 1080ti
The difference will be negligible. A point I know the bottleneck would be huge.
Run it with any ryzen or i5 7/8 and the difference is huge.
It’s literally the nature of mmos to use CPUs over GPUs.
Edit to clarify, it’s the spaghetti coding, it’s why even with top of the line processors a single WoW raid can stress test them.
No matter what GPu you whack in, WoW will always thrive most off the CPU. GW2 is the same, ESO is actually more lenient but you will see bigger gains from a CPU upgrade than a GPU.
I have a five year old Dell laptop and after the recent 8.0 and 8.1 adjustments, SW TOR on medium runs way better than WoW on ultra low. I can barely raid in WoW.
Who needs an unreliable source when I have my own experience.
But you suggested that wouldn’t help much as you say it’s CPU based. I have a six core FX-6300. I can’t remember which card I had but it was only half as good as the HD7770 1Ghz I replaced it with.
Even updating the graphics card a small amount will increase the FPS more than upgrading the CPU, as I had a 2.6 Ghz 4 core when I added the HD7770 and afterwards I upgraded to the FX-6300 and the motherboard too and got less of an increase than the HD7770 had made.
If you were correct my FPS would have increased drastically.
I won’t try to prove the point any further as I can see you’re adamant about your stance on the subject.
FOr what it’s worth the fx 6300 isn’t that great and the upgrade you did is marginal in % on the CPU scale so ofc you will see minimal difference.
I think you’ve totally misunderstood the meaning of WoW mainly using the CPU.
Also what the GPU and CPU drive you could definitely use a refresher on by the looks of it.
But then your initial reply tells me more about your self than any thing else.
You haven’t proven your point at all. You stated an opinion, I stated a test I did, my machine isn’t a pure gaming machine but used for other things which it works well at.
I’m confused as to how you take literal fact as opinion?
I see you’ve argued this point in the past and been proven wrong before, so I’ll end this here until you obtain the ability to learn from past experiences.
You should look at the system as a whole, not a unbalanced PC.
Many people complain they bought a amazing CPU or GPU and dont understand why they got such minimal improvement.
The codding of the game and its age its a big part of the problem, sure, but many times theres a bottleneck somewere in the system and people dont realize it.
My humble advice:
. Make a list of ALL the components of the PC,
. Before you upgrade, check if any of the components doesnt bottleneck the rest of the system, one piece can ruin everything.
Im no tech expert, its just experience from years and years of practice.