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WOW and MacBook optimization help
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Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Dallas, Texas
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So a guildie who made it to PVP rank 13 with his iBook and maybe 5fps (cone of cold always hit behind peeps lol), just got a new MacBook.
He got the white machine with stock configuration. He claims very little improvement in his performance, and nothing like the 20 fps I have seen reported. Other than the obvious memory upgrade, what can we do to help him boost his performance.
Did reinstalling and patching from his orginal mac disks take care of him or does another "version" of the client exist for Macintel?
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Read my MacWebb column and other great Mac articles at Lowendmac.com
Owner of a MacBook Pro and various other Macs.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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MacBooks don't have video cards. Sorry, but they are just not made for gaming.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: NYC
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Yeah, unfortunately the MacBook uses the GMA950. Fine for most stuff, but mediocre (at best) for 3D games.
If he's using the stock config of 512MB RAM, it's going to be really bad, because the MacBook eats up a chunk of RAM for video RAM for the integrated graphics, putting it below the minimum WOW requirement, meaning WOW is swapping out RAM.... and that makes things miserable.
What he can do:
- Bump up the MacBook to *at least* 1GB of RAM, and ideally 2GB of RAM (this helps a great deal), put the settings on fairly low and turn off full screen glow.... and then wait for the upcoming MTGL (multithreaded OpenGL) WOW update, which should be arriving in the next post-1.12.x patch, and will reportedly provide a nice boost.
or
- Sell the MacBook and get a Mac with a video card -- a $1199+ iMac, MacBook Pro, or Mac Pro.
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Last edited by lookmark; Oct 18, 2006 at 07:23 PM.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Chicago, IL
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Rank 13 with 5fps? That's incredible.
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Hi!
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
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It's so incredible I'm incredulous.
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: NYC
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Methinks he exaggerates for dramatic effect.
An iBook G4 w/ Mobility Radeon 9550 + a good amount of RAM would run better than 5fps.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
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Originally Posted by lookmark
wait for the upcoming MTGL (multithreaded OpenGL) WOW update, which should be arriving in the next post-1.12.x patch, and will reportedly provide a nice boost.
Multithreaded OpenGL probably won't help MacBooks too much, as I understand it. Multithreaded OpenGL doesn't help the GPU at all, and it's the GPU that's so much weaker in the MacBook than in the MacBook Pro. In a computer with a good GPU and multiple processors, it can speed up the CPU's part of OpenGL. In this case, the GPU is generally the holdup.
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Chuck
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"Instead of either 'multi-talented' or 'multitalented' use 'bisexual'."
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Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: NYC
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Originally Posted by Chuckit
Multithreaded OpenGL probably won't help MacBooks too much, as I understand it. Multithreaded OpenGL doesn't help the GPU at all, and it's the GPU that's so much weaker in the MacBook than in the MacBook Pro. In a computer with a good GPU and multiple processors, it can speed up the CPU's part of OpenGL. In this case, the GPU is generally the holdup.
I'm afraid you're right. Just read that myself.
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Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Dallas, Texas
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Originally Posted by lookmark
Methinks he exaggerates for dramatic effect.
An iBook G4 w/ Mobility Radeon 9550 + a good amount of RAM would run better than 5fps.
lol..no its really true. The reason he was getting 2-5fps was a problem with the vid card (which is why he got a Macbook from Apple. they screwed up the repair three times).
Look up Xarkash on the llane server and see his highest rank. We used to laugh on vent as he would:
a: never be able to see anyone more than 20 yards away from him
b: his channeled spells always hit behind everyone else. The only reason he hit 13 was we had a PVP team and were able to score crazy amounts of honor per day. I think we ended our major rank run with 5 hwls, 13 warlords, 10 generals, and a crap load of other ranks.
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Read my MacWebb column and other great Mac articles at Lowendmac.com
Owner of a MacBook Pro and various other Macs.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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Besides WOW isn't a First Person Shooter and not as reliant on 'twitch' and high FPS to do well.
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Senior User
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Preston, England.
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Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -
Besides WOW isn't a First Person Shooter and not as reliant on 'twitch' and high FPS to do well.
I'd argue that - obviously depending on which classes you're fighting - high ranked PVP does require decent performance and good response time. Although obviously if he was fighting a warrior or something, a lower FPS isn't going to effect the fight much.
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