Feb
19
World of Warcraft is a pretty hot topic around this blog. I haven’t written anything about it in awhile, but as I just put together a new gaming system and decided to take the plunge into the world of 64-bit Vista, I thought it was high time I do an update about playing World of Warcraft on Vista.
For starters I didn’t “install” World of Warcraft, so I can’t comment on how it installs on 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate. I copied the entire “World of Warcraft” folder from the Program Files folder on another machine into the “Program Files (x86)” folder on the the new machine and added a shortcut to “launcher.exe” to the games folder to start it.
I wanted to get the most of this new video card so I changed the settings to as follows:
- Resolution 1920×1200
- Vertical Sync Un-Checked
- Hardware Cursor Checked
- 60Hz Refresh
- 24-bit color, 24-bit depth, 8x multisampling
- Use Desktop Gamma checked
- Terrain Distance: Far
- Terrain Detail: High
- Spell Detail: High
- Environment Detail: Far
- Ground Clutter Density: High
- Ground Clutter Radius: Far
- Texture Resolution: High
- Texture Filtering: High
- Weather Intensity: High
- Specular Lighting Checked
- Full-Screen Glow Effect Checked
- Character Shadows Checked
These settings result is slamming out over 130 frames per second. Not to shabby! The game just looks absolutely gorgeous. I could be smitten with the 24″ LCD, the color is incredible, but it runs amazing. I flew around from a few places, went to Orgrimmar to the auction, rode the horse, engaged in combat and not one single second of stutter.
If you are wondering wether you are ready for World of Warcraft on Vista 64-bit edition, I say YES!
Disclaimer: This is being ran on a 2.66Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB Ram, 512 MB GeForce 8800 GT @ 1920×1200 resolution.
Its not the operating system, its the video card. Vista x64 is slower than XP x64 and WOW is a 32 bit game so it isn’t taking advantage of your x64 bit hardware. The “program files (x86)” is where you stick 32 bit programs. It is true that when you have the x64 operating system installed that the operating system is running in 64 bit. That does speed things up.
Roger Jones » I totally agree Roger. If you followed the blog you would have seen that last year there was a post that generated a great deal of traffic about serious performance problems running WoW in Vista in general. I thought it was fantastic that it ran so well on Vista 64-bit. It appears to me that WoW navitely supports 64-bit, and the performance is fantastic, but I do not disount the beefy video card, I know that’s where the raw frame rates are coming from. Thanks!
You bet the game doesn’t just look gorgeous but it’s absolutely fantastic. But I don’t really have to worry about the vista issues because I’m still stuck my XP.
Hello there.
I am expereincing some serious fps rate issues on my new PC which has Windows Vista Home Premium 64 in it.
Along with this I have a 1024MB Nvidia 8800GT graphics card.
When I stand in the Aldor Bank in Shattrath city I get 30 - 40 fps, when I walk around it drops to around and average of 25.
My system set up is:
Processor: AMD PHENOM™ X4 9600 (2.3GHz) 4 x 512K L2 Cache (Socket AM2+)
Memory: 4GB Corsair XMS2 800MHz (2×2GB)
Operating System: 64 BIT VISTA Home Premium
Hard Disk: 320GB With 8MB Cache (7200rpm)
Graphics Card: 1024MB GeForce 8800GT PCI Express, DVI, TV-OUT
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Power Supply, Case Cooling, Processor Cooling:
500W Dual Rail PSU with 120mm Case Fan & ASUS Pure Copper Ultra Cooler
I cannot get either Nvidia or Blizzard to give me an answer as to what is wrong, but soemthing must be.
Any ideas?
The obvious answers would be to look up any hot-fixes for the hardware you have. Try all the manufacturers’ websites for any updates, be it firmware, BIOS or just a normal driver fix. If you are unsure about the plethora of motherboard drives you can always use a site like driver agent to scan your PC for you and let you know what drivers you need.
The obvious answers would be to look up any hotfixes for the hardware you have. Try all the manufacturers’ websites for any updates, be it firmware, BIOS or just a normal driver fix. If you are unsure about the plethora of motherboard drives you can always use a site like driveragent to scan your PC for you and let you know what drivers you need.
Hi
I have read alot, I mean really alot about windows running 64bit. To find out if it was any better than the 32bit version.
I think your problem is as follows. All older programs especially programs running 32bit like WoW, are not created to take asvantage of dual cores or quad core, since the program has to prgogrammed to use one core of one task, and a second core for another task.
Running WoW at a dual or quad core most likely don´t get much benefit from the ekstra cores, but rather benefit from the clock rate, in your case the 2,3GHz, which as a single core processor, would be a little low for WoW.
So I think that´s your problem for now, maybe if blizzard or microsoft make some sort of patch, that can chance this?
I read a benchmark test of the Intel Dual Core 2 E8400 3,0GHz VS. Intel Core 2 Quad 2,4GHz, where the dual core at 3,0Ghz actually made better result, due to the fact that few or no programs take advantage of the ekstra cores yet.
Hope that clears thing for you.
Hi
I have read alot, I mean really alot about windows running 64bit. To find out if it was any better than the 32bit version.
I think your problem is as follows. All older programs especially programs running 32bit like WoW, are not created to take asvantage of dual cores or quad core, since the program has to prgogrammed to use one core of one task, and a second core for another task.
Running WoW at a dual or quad core most likely don´t get much benefit from the ekstra cores, but rather benefit from the clock rate, in your case the 2,3GHz, which as a single core processor, would be a little low for WoW.
So I think that´s your problem for now, maybe if blizzard or microsoft make some sort of patch, that can chance this?
I read a benchmark test of the Intel Dual Core 2 E8400 3,0GHz VS. Intel Core 2 Quad 2,4GHz, where the dual core at 3,0Ghz actually made better result, due to the fact that few or no programs take advantage of the ekstra cores yet.
Hope that clears thing for you.
Sorry accidently pressed two times.
I’m running on Vista 64-bit with a 2.66GHZ Quad 45NM chip. 4GB RAM and the Geforce 8800 GTS and I’m getting problems just installing the game.I never had these problems with 32-bit vista. When I install patch 1.12.0 I get errors telling me to repair my WoW because it cannot rename certin files, I’ve been doing it by hand and there is just so many.
Blizzard has been patching World of Warcraft to utilize multicore processors. Mine has been evenly distributing the load between both cores since patch 2.3 in January.
@ RFV
World Of Warcraft has been updated for multi-core CPU’s, as Matthew already stated, as of patch 2.3
But, not going into detail, routing the sound to another core isn’t going to give that much of a difference in fps since that is what they basicly did. I do believe that the raw Ghz of the CPU is still the main factor for playing WoW with as high FPS possible. I even dare to say that having the latest state-of-the-art videocard isn’t going to help you. Why do I think that? Well, I’ve got a single-core Intel P4 3.0Ghz with 2GB memory installed and an ‘old’ Geforce 6800GT. I play on the european ’stormrage’ server and my FPS is always between 90 and 70 FPS…not bad for an old configuration hé!
Don’t rely on World Of Warcraft to judge your system. Too many outside variables are influencing the performance (internet connection, server-load) and most of the stuff is being done by the CPU.
Now, I’m also considering a new system. Vista 64b is ofcourse the one I would like to go for since the new configuration will have 4GB of memory installed. But i’m not sure how the compatibility is going to be with the stuff I would like to buy
* Asus Rampage Formula X48 chipset = mainboard
* Intel E8500 Core 2 Duo 3.16Hgz = CPU
* Corsair Dominator 2x 2GB 1066Mhz TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF = Mem
* Asus 9800GX2 = Graphic Card
* Samsung 750GB Spinpoint F1 / 32MB cache / 7200RPM = HDD
* Intel Pro / 1000PT = network card
Any issues known on this system?
[...] of Warcraft get’s fantastic speed, graphics and stability on Windows vista Ultimate 64-bit edition.http://www.philoking.com/2008/02/19/holy-world-of-warcraft-batman-64-bit-wow/Nvidia to blame for many early Vista crashes Beyond Binary - A …Mar 28, 2008 … Among the nuggets [...]