09-17-2010, 01:29 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-17-2010, 01:59 AM by Concillian.)
WoW can use more than 2 cores right now, I think 8 is max. I do not know how the performance scales with cores. I currently use a dual core i3 at 4GHz and I've never had a situation where performance was unacceptable.
You do have to mess a little with setProcessAffinity in config.wtf
5 = cores 1&3
7 = cores 1,2,3
10 = cores 2&4
14 = Cores 2,3,4
15 = Cores 1,2,3,4
I assume it can keep going all the way to at least 255.
According to a blue post in this thread though, it may be unnecessary to change these settings manually anymore, though I know there was a period where you did have to do it manually: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread...0298&sid=1
Windows 7 will also park cores under certain conditions, and this seems to affect WoW users. Details of how to turn this off here: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?high=&...73&mpage=1
Be sure to click the other link in the first post, which has a reversible registry entry for disabling instead of deleting an existing entry.
It's possible that you can improve your performance without a processor upgrade. I've seen people noting significant FPS increases just by messing with processor mask and disabling core parking.
As far as other upgrades helping, that would need more details. Where do you experience degradations? In general, GPU options can be turned down pretty far to the point that CPU is probably the only thing that you would ever NEED to upgrade to get better performance. However, I'm guessing if you have Win7 and an x3, your video performance is probably not a major issue.
For what it's worth, I'm using an i3 @ 4GHz and 5770 (mild overclock) with (2) 1280x1024 monitors, one for the viewport and one for chat windows and maps and such.. essentially slightly more video power than running 1280x. I started by setting everything "ultra". Performance was okay, but I hate the shadows at ultra, and turning these down moved performance to flawless (always over 60FPS). I'll disable more annoying stuff later (like grass that sticks up and hides the mobs). Haven't done anything really challenging (running recount and combat logging while in a 25 man), but I don't see a huge performance difference between Cata and Wrath.
You do have to mess a little with setProcessAffinity in config.wtf
5 = cores 1&3
7 = cores 1,2,3
10 = cores 2&4
14 = Cores 2,3,4
15 = Cores 1,2,3,4
I assume it can keep going all the way to at least 255.
According to a blue post in this thread though, it may be unnecessary to change these settings manually anymore, though I know there was a period where you did have to do it manually: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread...0298&sid=1
Windows 7 will also park cores under certain conditions, and this seems to affect WoW users. Details of how to turn this off here: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?high=&...73&mpage=1
Be sure to click the other link in the first post, which has a reversible registry entry for disabling instead of deleting an existing entry.
It's possible that you can improve your performance without a processor upgrade. I've seen people noting significant FPS increases just by messing with processor mask and disabling core parking.
As far as other upgrades helping, that would need more details. Where do you experience degradations? In general, GPU options can be turned down pretty far to the point that CPU is probably the only thing that you would ever NEED to upgrade to get better performance. However, I'm guessing if you have Win7 and an x3, your video performance is probably not a major issue.
For what it's worth, I'm using an i3 @ 4GHz and 5770 (mild overclock) with (2) 1280x1024 monitors, one for the viewport and one for chat windows and maps and such.. essentially slightly more video power than running 1280x. I started by setting everything "ultra". Performance was okay, but I hate the shadows at ultra, and turning these down moved performance to flawless (always over 60FPS). I'll disable more annoying stuff later (like grass that sticks up and hides the mobs). Haven't done anything really challenging (running recount and combat logging while in a 25 man), but I don't see a huge performance difference between Cata and Wrath.
Conc / Concillian -- Vintage player of many games. Deadly leader of the All Pally Team (or was it Death leader?)
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.