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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsMac OS X 10.5.2 brings big FPS gains
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 11th 2008 at 8:30PM
Ever since a few WoW patches ago, many of us Mac users have been, honestly, suffering with much lower framerates than we should be seeing, given the hardware we're on. Fortunately, it looks like the just-released 10.5.2 system update will give a lot of help in that department, along with many other system fixes. Tipster Jason went from 27.5 FPS to between 45 and 60 FPS on his iMac after installing 10.5.2 and the Leopard Graphics Update (which also just came out today and requires 10.5.2), and our own Adam Holisky went from 30 to 50 FPS on his own first-gen Intel iMac. I didn't have the presence of mind to test my WoW before updating, but it's certainly running silky smooth now on my MacBook Pro. Go now, good Leopard-using readers, and run your Software Updates (always a good idea to back up before major updates, though). Those of you who have updated, are you seeing performance benefits?
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
niko Feb 13th 2008 12:46AM
correction, dear sir: The first Intel iMacs were not C2D's at all. Just CD's.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/index-imac.html
I know, because i have a 17" 1.83GHz CD. ;) 2MB L2 instead of the nice 4MB that the following C2D product included. Another sucky part about the CD models were the RAM max: 2GB. What a bummer. :(
Justin Feb 12th 2008 4:53AM
In shat on my 24iMac (2.4Ghz 1gig) I was sitting at 15 or less running around and about till kill myself till today! Now I'm 25-30 in Shat, close to 40 in highly populated areas, and jumps up into the 70s in caves or inn (not too much to process in there) All in all the update worked out awesome for me... Oh and my video setting are low to medium on the spell and weather type stuff, but maxed on terrain distance and detail side of things... Just order more ram too (moving up to 4gigs) It really will be christmas in February, WOW Christmas that is.
Justin Feb 12th 2008 4:53AM
In shat on my 24iMac (2.4Ghz 1gig) I was sitting at 15 or less running around and about till kill myself till today! Now I'm 25-30 in Shat, close to 40 in highly populated areas, and jumps up into the 70s in caves or inn (not too much to process in there) All in all the update worked out awesome for me... Oh and my video setting are low to medium on the spell and weather type stuff, but maxed on terrain distance and detail side of things... Just order more ram too (moving up to 4gigs) It really will be christmas in February, WOW Christmas that is.
theremover Feb 12th 2008 6:13AM
I have one of the Macbook Pros. I did not yet update to the newest OS, I was skeptical as to what it might mean for me in certain cases (my last mac became virtually useless with the last major OS overhaul.. i swear it was designed to destroy my computer and force me to upgrade ;) )
My problem is that this machine with it's current configuration is pretty solid. The machine performs very well, yet I've always gotten piss-poor frame rates out of WoW and have no idea why. I have a solid video card, lots of ram and vid ram..
Uboss Feb 12th 2008 7:03AM
27fps? ew...
You mac people are nuts. You like to say mac is great, then I thought you were at least getting decent fps.
Decent fps, by the way, is a constant 60 with vsync on, every option turned on and 4xAA. That's what I consider to be playable.
onetrueping Feb 12th 2008 8:03AM
Funny, not all PCs get decent fps either, and they DON'T get graphics-specific updates to Windows to help boost their WoW playing ability. The benefits to Macs come from other areas, like usability, stability, and certain functions such as video/audio recording that the PC client lacks.
Now shoo, off with you little troll, before they chase you back to your cave and block it off with rocks.
Mushoo Feb 12th 2008 9:13AM
Funny. I get 60FPS with Vsync on, every option to max, at 1920x1200, at 6x FSAA. With a radeon x1900 XT, no less.
Jen Feb 12th 2008 8:02AM
The Graphics Update also fixes the problems that people with PowerPC processors and nVidia Graphics Cards have been having since Leopard's release... in other words there is no more polygon tearing. It looks great!
Caffeine Feb 12th 2008 9:02AM
Didn't see a difference in FPS until i realized i had turned all the shader effects just before installing the update to compare it to my normal FPS. Gained about 20 FPS on a Macbook Pro!
Charlie Feb 12th 2008 9:58AM
/cry i want leopard
but im an audio-proudction guy, and my recording software isnt compatable with it yet.
lame.
I actualy have leopard sitting next to me. I just can't install it yet =(
theremover Feb 12th 2008 10:14AM
That is exactly my thing!
I also use macbook pros on stage during live shows and I'm really afraid to rock the boat too much if it's working well now...
Vicas Feb 12th 2008 11:00AM
MacBookPro user - went from about 10 fps to 60 straight everywhere. ABOUT TIME! Have suffered from near impossible raid-scenarios for almost 8-9 months now.
Miharu Feb 12th 2008 11:44AM
I have the latest iMac and this update certainly helped buff the FPS quite a bit, and reduce the lag greatly in Shattrath. Awesome update!
snwghst Feb 12th 2008 2:36PM
How many have actually upgraded their vid card.
I ran a 9600 with 128 vid ram and had some issues. Upgraded to x800xt 256 and have had next to zero fr issues since. Even with other possible negative aspects. I am only running 1.5g ram in my D2g G5
Ikarus Feb 12th 2008 6:01PM
A bit off topic, but with the annoucement of WOW hitting 10 million subcriptions, i'd be curious to know how many of those are Mac users. WOW is, as far as i know, one of the only big MMORPG's that is cross platfrom. It would be interesting to know what contribution this has made to their success
CCK Feb 12th 2008 10:34PM
I am surprised no one has mentioned this, but I think they may have finally fixed the jaggies if you have an NV card. So far I've yet to have one problem in a few hours of play.