WoW on a 24 inch iMac - Question

[Kaafir]

Hey guys,

I'm going to be in the market for a new desktop in the next few months. I'm really leaning towards a 24 inch iMac. (Hopefully after a revision which per the buyer's guide it's overdue for.) I bought my first Mac about 3 years ago (14 inch iBook) and have been an Apple fan ever since. My old HP tower has a 256 video card in it, but I'm needing a new desktop as it is, and I'm going to replace it with a Mac.

I know the BTO option in them has a 256 video card available and was wondering if anyone had played WoW on a 24 incher with that card and how the performance of it was. I'm just wondering about how the resolution and frame rates are for the game on such a large screen and only 256 megs worth of video ram pushing it all. Granted, a 256 is a decent sized card, but I'd rather save some $ and go with the iMac than to get a Mac Pro (which is really more than I need) with a 512 card and then have to buy a monitor on top of that (current monitor is showing its age).

Would appreciate any advice you guys have. Thanks guys.



(Kaafir - Level 68 Night Elf Druid - Order of Wrath Guild - Aerie Peak Server)

 

[Eric5h5]

The amount of VRAM isn't nearly as important as the speed and power of the card. There are graphics cards with 256MB of VRAM that perform very differently. For example, a Radeon 9600 with 256MB is about 4 times slower than a Radeon X800 with 256MB, because it's two generations older. What you want is a fast card that can push polygons. Forget VRAM; it's not that relevant. It doesn't "push" anything. Mostly it just stores texture information, and WoW doesn't benefit from vast amounts of VRAM.

--Eric

 

[QCassidy352]

Yes it's a big screen, but WoW is over two years old now and extremely well optimized (thanks blizzard!). A 24" imac with the 7600 would eat that game for breakfast.

 

[Arnaud]

For what it's worth...

I have a 24" iMac 2Gb/500Gb with a GeForce 7600 GT / 256Mb. I tried WoW on it a couple of months ago, but wasn't that hooked on the game, so I don't have it anymore.

What I remember, though, is that the visuals were nice enough, and I didn't feel any slowdowns in the refresh. Now, I don't know what you are used to, what you are expecting, or how it would behave in a full action scene...

Regarding the "forget the vram" comments... They would be useful if we were talking about a freely expandable box, where indeed the card itself would be more relevant than the amount of ram. In the case of the iMac, it's 7300 GT w/ 128Mb or 7600 GT w/ 256Mb, so the reference to the vram is more the package you choose.

There are certainly better cards out there, if you have a Power Mac. Now a PM with 23" will cost you almost the double as the iMac 24". Sure, it's much more powerful, but is it worth the price difference? For playing WoW?

 

[fall3n]

I have 24" with a 256mb card and I run WoW at full spec (except AA is only 2x, i believe) and it looks amazing. It runs perfectly smooth 99% of the time with he exception of intense places like Shatt. Unless your an FPS freak and a slight drop in FPS on the rare occasion pisses you off, you'll be more then satisfied with your 24" playing WOW.

 

[trojan18]

Did the same thing

I literally did the same thing you are thinking of.

I had a 14 inch ibook with only 1 Ghz powerpc processor and 640 ram for 3 years in college. I used to play WoW on that thing....I lagged like hell every time I went to Ironforge or a 40 man...the graphics card just couldn't keep up....even with every single setting set to low.

I've been playing for about 6 months now on a 24 inch 2.16 Ghz 2 Gb RAM, 7600 GT with 256 VRAM. In other words, I have the "most current" model with most of the specs maxed out.

When I first booted it up, I damn near fell out of my chair. It is BEAUTIFUL. I ran around to the old 5 mans and noticed about a million things I had never seen before because my old ibook couldn't process it or I had some graphics settings turned off.

I used to joke, "please excuse the paladin if he doesn't heal you, he just got a new computer and it feels like he's on acid"

I have every single graphics, audio, interface optiion turned up as far as it can go. There is no lag. Ever. I can stand in front of the auction house in Ironforge (or one of the banks in **** City in Outland), run itunes, photoshop, and a million other programs in the background, and this computer doesn't even blink. I brought this computer mostly because I am an avid WoW player and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. It was worth every penny. It can do everything you need, there is NO need to spend even more money on a Pro version...it won't look any better...an iMac with 2 gigs of RAM and the 256 card is way more than enough for peak performance.

Nosaj, Level 70 Human Paladin on Alleria

 

[MyJelleo]

I know this is about the 24' iMac, so sorry to change the subject to the 20': I didn't think this question deserved a new thread.

I just ordered a 20' iMac. The specs are as follows"

2.33 ghz core 2 duo
2 gigs of ram
ATI radeon x1600 w/256 vram

I don't really care about running WoW at the maximum resolution. I plan on setting it to 1280 x 'whatever'. Will my experience be as seamless with the lower set resolution as th 24' iMacs users who posted in this thread are experiencing?

I just want to be able to run around IF or Ogr without the framerate dropping below 20.

Every response I've heard so far on the 20' iMacs has had the game set at maximum resolution. That is why I'm curious as to how well the game will run with a lower resolution (1280 x 'whatever'), and can I expect to turn the settings up to at least medium?

O and one last thing: sound. Are the quality of the built-in speakers nice and clear when playing WoW, or is there some crackling and popping?

 

[djstarrock]

I know this is about the 24' iMac, so sorry to change the subject to the 20': I didn't think this question deserved a new thread.

I just ordered a 20' iMac. The specs are as follows"

2.33 ghz core 2 duo
2 gigs of ram
ATI radeon x1600 w/256 vram

I don't really care about running WoW at the maximum resolution. I plan on setting it to 1280 x 'whatever'. Will my experience be as seamless with the lower set resolution as th 24' iMacs users who posted in this thread are experiencing?

I just want to be able to run around IF or Ogr without the framerate dropping below 20.

Every response I've heard so far on the 20' iMacs has had the game set at maximum resolution. That is why I'm curious as to how well the game will run with a lower resolution (1280 x 'whatever'), and can I expect to turn the settings up to at least medium?

O and one last thing: sound. Are the quality of the built-in speakers nice and clear when playing WoW, or is there some crackling and popping?

You will be more than ok with WoW it will definitely run at medium heck I think you could run photoshop and still play WoW but since I don't own a iMac 20" I don't know but I'm pretty sure.

 

[Josh396]

You will be more than ok with WoW it will definitely run at medium heck I think you could run photoshop and still play WoW but since I don't own a iMac 20" I don't know but I'm pretty sure.

That's just about right. I have a first gen Intel iMac that played WoW extremely well with tons of apps open in the background. His computer will play the game great, even at full resolution.