The World of Warcraft Performance Guide For Macs - Updated 12/01/09

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
- 1-A. How To Use This Guide

- 1-B. Things To Know Before Changing Any Settings

2. The Settings
- 2-A. iMac

- 2-B. Macbook Pro

- 2-C. Macbook, Macbook Air, & Intel-based Mac Mini

3. The Changelog
- 3-A. Upcoming Planned Revisions

- 3-B. Past Changes



Introduction

1-A. How To Use This Guide

Okay, everyone who frequents this forum knows exactly just how many posts it gets with people with very low fps on their Macbooks, Macbook Pros, and iMacs. So here is the post to end all posts.

This guide is intended for those of you who want to get the most out of your system. To quickly find your machine on the list below, simply hit the Command Key + F on your keyboard to bring up your browser's "find" bar, then enter the predefined alphanumeric sequence for the models listed in the Table of Contents. For example, to quickly get to the "Macbook Pro" section, type "2-B". Then find your exact model in that list. Simple.


1-B. Things To Know Before Changing Any Settings

For the sake of keeping the actual settings section of this guide clean and easy to read, I'm going to list most all of the innate, machine unspecific requirements here.

For starters, 10.6 Snow Leopard users WILL see slightly better performance than 10.5 Leopard or 10.4 Tiger users. And this guide is geared mostly for the the reasonably current machines. So if you're running Leopard or Tiger, most machines will indeed see a minor increase in performance upgrading to Snow Leopard. Though if you're on a pre-Intel PowerPC machine, 10.5 Leopard is the latest OS available to you.

Second, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't have the latest software for your chosen OS. This software fixes bugs, enhances your security, and improves the overall stability of your computer. It's free and it's simple to get.

To get the latest possible software for your Mac's version of OS X, go to the Apple icon on the top left corner of your desktop, click the "Software Update" option from the list, and then download everything on the list that pops up.

OS X 10.4 Tiger users should be running 10.4.11, and 10.5 Leopard users should be at 10.5.8, and 10.6 Snow Leopard users should be at 10.6.2.

You can check to see what version you're running by clicking on the Apple icon in the top left corner of your desktop, and then clicking the "About This Mac" option on the drop-down list.

These upcoming nine general rules are the most common problems that users run into when troubleshooting performance issues. So listing these now, separate from the actual settings, should help you in your quest for a better gameplay experience. Though as a reminder, after changing any significant graphic setting, it's always best to completely exit out of WoW and restart the game instead of simply logging out of the server.

I'd like to go over this checklist just to ensure we're all on the same page here. First of all, capping the frame rate to 30 or 40fps will help keep your Mac cool and not overheat. The Mac notebooks especially tend to run a little bit hot being in that nice tiny form factor. To limit the frame rate, type in the following into the standard WoW chat box while playing the game.

/console maxfps 30

"30" being the value of whatever number you want to cap it at. Now on to business.


From this point on, this guide will assume the following:

1. You have at LEAST 1GB of RAM in your computer, 3GB is preferred.

2. You are running at the computer's native resolution of 1440x900, 1680x1050, or on the latest models, 1920x1200 on the high end.

3. You did not drop your laptop off the porch at that BBQ you went to last week.

4. You have all of the latest updates for your version of OS X. (10.4.11 Tiger, 10.5.8 Leopard, or 10.6.2 Snow Leopard, respectively.)

5. The Multisampling option in the resolution settings should never be set above 2x.

6. The Vertical Sync checkbox will always be OFF.

7. The "Full Screen Glow Effect" checkbox will always be OFF.

8. The Texture Filtering Slider will always be MINIMUM (OFF).

9. The Shadow Quality Slider will always be MINIMUM (OFF).






The Settings

It should be noted that patch 3.1 split up the graphic effects such as spell detail into two separate settings. Particle Density, which adjusts the actual density of the spells, and Projected Particles. This turns on and off the overlaid graphic effects, such as AoE spells like Consecration.

There's a lot of confusion going around the forums with new Mac buyers who are disappointed with their iMac or Macbook with the nVidia 9400m graphics card. What needs to be pointed out here is that the 9400m is NOT a graphics card like the 9600GT on current Macbook Pro's. The 9400m is nVidia's version of the old Intel x3100. It's integrated graphics, it's part of the motherboard, and was meant for modern basic use. NOT for gaming. If you want to play games on your Macbook or iMac, go a model up and go with the Macbook Pro, or the iMac with at "least" the GT120.

Also, due to the vast graphic change in Wrath of the Lich King Expansion as compared to the older Burning Crusade and WoW Classic games, all these settings and expected frame rates will now be measured by WoTLK content and effects. Therefore it should be noted that reported settings that yield 30-40fps in Wrath of The Lich King content will get 70-80fps in the older in-game areas.


Also of note is that the shadows system is buggy, and seems to run slower on Macs which run the game under OpenGL. The Shadow Quality bar should always be off for now. Supposedly, this will be fixed in the 3.3 patch.


2-A. The iMac

Late 2009 Core i5/i7 iMac with ATI 4850 Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 2x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 80%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Maximum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: ON
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect an average of 90-110fps depending on CPU.



Late 2009 Core 2 Duo iMac with ATI 4670 Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 2x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 70%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Medium

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: ON
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect 60-80fps



Early 2009 Core 2 Duo iMac with ATI 4850 Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 2x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 70%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Medium

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: ON
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect an average of 70-90fps



Early 2009 iMac with 256MB or 512MB nVidia GT130 Graphics Cards

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 2x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 60%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Medium

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Medium.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect an average of 55-65fps



Early 2009 iMac with 256MB or 512MB nVidia GT120 Graphics Cards

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 60%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Medium

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: 75%

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect an average of 45-55fps



2009 iMac with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 40%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Minimum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Minimum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Minimum.

Weather Intensity: Minimum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Minimum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: OFF

Notes: Expect an average of 30-40fps. It's running on integrated graphics.



Late 2008 iMac with 256MB or 512MB nVidia 8800 GS Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 2x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 70%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Medium

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect an average of 50-55fps



iMac with nVidia 7600GT, 128MB or 256MB ATi Radeon HD 2400 XT, & 2600 Pro

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 60%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Medium

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: 30%.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect 30-45fps depending on your graphics card.



iMac Core Duo & Core 2 Duo with 128MB or 256MB ATi X1600 Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 50%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Minimum.

Ground Clutter Density: Minimum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Minimum.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect 30-40fps.


2-B. The Macbook Pro

2009 Aluminum Unibody Macbook Pro with 256MB or 512MB nVidia 9600M GT Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 2x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 70%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Medium

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect 65-75fps.


Late 2008 Macbook Pro with 256MB or 512MB nVidia 9600M GT Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 2x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 60%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Medium

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Medium.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect 50-60fps.


2007 Macbook Pro Core Duo & Core 2 Duo with 128MB or 256MB ATI X1600 Graphics Card

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 50%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Minimum.

Ground Clutter Density: Minimum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Minimum.

Weather Intensity: Maximum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Maximum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: ON

Notes: Expect 30-45fps.



2-C. The Macbook, Macbook Air, and Mac Mini


Late 2009 Polycarbonate Unibody Macbook with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics


Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 40%.

Environmental Detail: Minimum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Minimum.

Ground Clutter Density: Minimum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Medium.

Ground Clutter Radius: Minimum.

Weather Intensity: Medium.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Minimum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: OFF

Notes: Expect 20-40fps.



Late 2008 Aluminum Unibody Macbook with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 40%.

Environmental Detail: Minimum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Minimum.

Ground Clutter Density: Minimum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Medium.

Ground Clutter Radius: Minimum.

Weather Intensity: Medium.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Minimum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: OFF

Notes: Expect 15-30fps.



Late 2009 Mac Mini with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 40%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Minimum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Minimum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Minimum.

Weather Intensity: Minimum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Minimum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: OFF

Notes: Expect an average of 30-40fps.



2009 Macbook Air with nVidia 9400m Integrated Graphics

Resolution:

24-bit Color, 24-bit Depth. 1x Multisampling.
Vertical Sync: OFF
Triple Buffering: OFF
Hardware Cursor: ON
Reduce Input Lag: OFF


Effects:

Video Quality: Custom

View Distance: 40%.

Environmental Detail: Maximum.

Texture Resolution: Maximum.

Terrain Blending: Maximum.

Ground Clutter Density: Minimum

Texture Filtering: Minimum

Particle Density: Minimum.

Ground Clutter Radius: Minimum.

Weather Intensity: Minimum.

Shadow Quality: Minimum.

Player Textures: Minimum


Shaders:
Specular Lighting: ON
Full-Screen Glow Effect: OFF
Death Effect: ON/OFF (User Preference)
Projected Textures: OFF

Notes: Expect an average of 20-30fps.



Older Macbook, Macbook Air, and Mac Mini

You will NEVER get frame rates higher than 15-20fps. Those machines do NOT have independent 3D graphics cards. They are using the computer's motherboard itself to render those 3D graphics, and it REALLY bogs the machine down. Period.

Set everything to Minimum Settings.


The Changelog

3-A. Upcoming Planned Revisions

- Revisions for the 3.3 Patch

- Tweaked settings as Blizzard improves Shadow Quality performance.

- Updates for new Mac models

3-B. Past Changes

- 12/01/09 - Added support for Snow Leopard and newest Mac models. Removed support for Tiger and PowerPC Macs.
- 04/21/09: Updated settings to match the new scheme in patch 3.1
- 03/13/09: Added early 2009 Mac models. .
- 11/20/08: Updated new information after Wrath of The Lich King launched.
- 10/08/08: Complete & utter overhaul in preparation for WoTLK.
- 03/30/08: Updated findings for patch 2.4.
- 02/13/08: Added details concerning the OS X 10.5.2 Leopard Graphics Update.
- 02/07/08: Included PowerPC G4, G5, and newest Core 2 models.

Wow, got pushed down to page 2 and nobody even found this useful? Hm... Well, tell me your Mac's model and I'll fill in the list when I get more to go on.

Very NIce! I have a 15" MBP with the 2.2ghz Core 2 Duo with 2G of ram and my fps went from 30 to the mid 100's. Quick question though. I installed smcFanControl to cool the laptop down while running WoW, and I have noticed that the fps are drastically changing the temperature reading. What kind of a maxfps cap should I use, or what is a suggested running temperature? Since the fps and temperature are so closely related on my machine, I imagine that I can run as many fps as I can as long as I keep the temperature at a good level. Thanks for the advice!

Thanks for the tips about what is important or not. I have a macbook santa rosa 2.2 ghz 4 gb mem. I get fps of about 30 with almost all the setting down low except for spell effect which is set high. But when I go inside a building, the fps jumps up to an unnecessarily high 70 or so. I've started turning a few of the settings on and playing with them and seeing how the fps handles it. So far i've been able to get the settings a little higher and still have fps in the high 20s. Again, it is a non issue once i go inside a building.

What I really care about is instances, which I do with my friends when we can get together. Since those are indoors, I suspect fps will be decent even if I tweak some of the settings upward.

Anyway, I'm somewhat of a noob and haven't really started playing with this and the settings that much. I will report back as I get more info. But I think you somewhat underestimate the power of the latest Macbook. It seems decent to me, not good, but very passable and certainly fully playable.

Thanks for the really helpful post. I have a 15" MacBook Pro and it has been running fine. That is until i bought the 23" Cinema Display. It was around 37 or so initially, but then it dropped like a car drivin off a cliff. My FPS dropped to 5 or 6, and then i had to unplug it, restart things and try to reset. I am not sure if my MacBook Pro is strong enough to handle this. If anyone has a second monitor off a MACBP, I would welcome all suggestions.

As you can probably tell, I am in a T6 guild- so raiding is important, hence the need for quick fps. THanks again for the helpful post.

Thank you for this post!

I pretty much just adjust things at random on my c2d imac 24" without knowing exactly what was doing what. This is a big help.

It probably won't fix my "graphics card error: restarting" (only a trip to the Genius Bar will solve that) issue, but should help me stabilize my framerate.

---

Q u o t e:
Very NIce! I have a 15" MBP with the 2.2ghz Core 2 Duo with 2G of ram and my fps went from 30 to the mid 100's. Quick question though. I installed smcFanControl to cool the laptop down while running WoW, and I have noticed that the fps are drastically changing the temperature reading. What kind of a maxfps cap should I use, or what is a suggested running temperature? Since the fps and temperature are so closely related on my machine, I imagine that I can run as many fps as I can as long as I keep the temperature at a good level. Thanks for the advice!

---

I'm glad I was able to help!

I've heard of SMCFanControl since the day I bought my Macbook Pro, but in all honesty never used it. Personally I use the iStat Pro dashboard widget to watch my temps. I just don't let my GPU get over 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Apple recommends that 175 is the limit, So I think 150 is comfortable considering the whole thing does run a bit hot.

In my own experience with a 15" 2.16Ghz Core 2Duo Macbook Pro with the 128MB X1600, I've found 50fps to be that sweet spot. My temps keep at or right around 146 degrees Fahrenheit.


As for the other posts above me, maybe I "have" underestimated the Macbook. But truthfully, I was getting a little sick of all the posts in this forum of people new to Apple who were complaining they bought a macbook and not getting 100+fps. They need to be aware of the hardware in the machine. I'm more than willing to help everyone who needs it. But honestly, don't buy the cheapest laptop and expect it to do wonders.


As for raids, I don't really have problems with these settings. the fps drops a bit with the more people on screen, but I've never seen it drop below 40 or so.

For the 23" ACD, That's a very high resolution. 1920x1600 might be too much for that laptop to take. If you want to play on it at that resolution I'd say to turn the Terrain Distance and the Environmental Details down. I play on a 21"external monitor running at 1680x1050 with the same settings as I have posted above and although the framerate stays at 50 most of the time, my GPU temps soar to 168 or so. So I think the case of your framerates dropping to 2-3 might very well be the GPU over heating. I'd recommend keeping things to the MBP's display.


I'll have more models on the list as I get a chance to try them out. I realize this is really centered towards Intel machines, and I don't wish to leave the PPC users out in the cold.

I also wanted to mention that everyone should keep in mind that as far as I know, all of the recent MBP's, Powerbooks, AND iMac's use the "mobile" versions of their respective graphics cards. These mobile cards are purposely scaled down on power and minor features to help it from overheating and are NOT as powerful as their PC desktop computer counterparts.

So if your new iMac has the ATI Radeon 2400 XT, That's the mobile version of the card. So you should compare it to other mobile cards when doing benchmarks. The desktop counterpart will always beat it. That's a major part of why people complain Macs don't run games as fast as PCs.

---

Q u o t e:
Thanks for the really helpful post. I have a 15" MacBook Pro and it has been running fine. That is until i bought the 23" Cinema Display. It was around 37 or so initially, but then it dropped like a car drivin off a cliff. My FPS dropped to 5 or 6, and then i had to unplug it, restart things and try to reset. I am not sure if my MacBook Pro is strong enough to handle this. If anyone has a second monitor off a MACBP, I would welcome all suggestions.

As you can probably tell, I am in a T6 guild- so raiding is important, hence the need for quick fps. THanks again for the helpful post.

---

I recently disconnected my 20" Widescreen from my MBP and the game is finally playable again. The poster above me says he is able to play on a 21", but I just have not found that the case.

I have a hunch it is due to overheating since the lid is closed on the macbook (is there a way to leave it open but not display video?), but not sure how I would alleviate that. Dropping the resolution (game looks extremely blurry) helped for a while, but the low fps and lockups quickly resumed. You may need to stick with your internal laptop display.

---

Q u o t e:


I recently disconnected my 20" Widescreen from my MBP and the game is finally playable again. The poster above me says he is able to play on a 21", but I just have not found that the case.

I have a hunch it is due to overheating since the lid is closed on the macbook (is there a way to leave it open but not display video?), but not sure how I would alleviate that. Dropping the resolution (game looks extremely blurry) helped for a while, but the low fps and lockups quickly resumed. You may need to stick with your internal laptop display.

---

Well, I just keep both displays running. Unlike with Windows, the way OS X handles multiple monitors the performance tax is very minimal. So I just keep the lid open and have iTunes running on the laptop's display while playing the game on the 21". And like I said I keep a close eye on my GPU's temps. I didn't say there wasn't a noticeable drop in performance playing on it, I've just managed to keep the fps at 50.

But I agree with you that the guy using the 23" is having overheating issues. I've already stated that he should stick to the laptop's display.

Well that's really good to know. I don't doubt your success, I just have had a frustrating time with fps lately.

Someone in the Macbook Pro thread near the top of this forum reported playing with no problems on an external display as well, so I think tonight I will give your settings a try with the MBP open and the display connected.

With all that being said. I actually prefer the laptop's screen anyway. I don't need to crane my neck up to look at it, and the in-game action bar is very close to the number keys, so I'm a lot less likely to hit the wrong key in raids when I'm going all over the place.

One thing i never see mentioned when we talk about fps is camera angle.

This dramatically affects numbers people see. For example, in my "normal" camera, I am zoomed out as far as possible at about 40 degrees up. In Shatt on my MBP 2.4 ghz/4gb I get 14-20 fps.

If I move the camera directly overhead, it goes to 35. Of course it does, less to render.

So I'd imagine if someone has a higher attack angle on the camera, their numbers would record higher. Someone with a lower attack, drawing more distance and characters.

I guess we should use the new time tests between say thrallmar and shatt (or honor hold and shat) to report numbers

/bump

This post is not entirely accurate, as I have a Mac Mini and I have gotten as high as 49 fps. I do have single -digit fps in places like Shatt and other major areas, and I have followed Blizzards Instruction re: cache, wts, interface, and it improves framerate for awhile, then it goes back down.

---

Q u o t e:
This post is not entirely accurate, as I have a Mac Mini and I have gotten as high as 49 fps. I do have single -digit fps in places like Shatt and other major areas, and I have followed Blizzards Instruction re: cache, wts, interface, and it improves framerate for awhile, then it goes back down.

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Then how was the post inaccurate? The fps rates I listed were taken as averages and should be treated as such. Of course if you install a new app on a new "clean" system or remove the interface cache the framerate will be higher. This is because it's not running everything yet. Once the machine "gets used" to all the new data it's processing, it'll slow down a bit.

If you're in an empty area like the Barrens with the settings on low and all, then yes, any of the onboard GMA graphics will go higher that what i stated. But they'll drop significantly, as you stated, in Shatt.

My Macbook Pro gets around 200fps in the Undercity at the stated settings listed in the first post. But I didn't mention that because I was stating the average fps that I've seen the machine output based on EVERY environment.

The point of this thread was to keep things simple so everyone could benefit without nitpicking and chewing on all the little exceptions. That way EVERYONE knows what to expect so they don't come back complaining that "they" didn't get 200fps in Iron Forge.

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