Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSystem requirements posted for WotLK
by Eliah Hecht 
Oct 7th 2008 at 2:30PM
Blizzard has been putting off posting system requirements for Wrath of the Lich King for a while, but they've finally made a commitment, posted on the official forums. As one might expect, they're fairly forgiving given modern hardware, but they are significantly bumped from the BC requirements (which were not updated from classic WoW, aside from nominally requiring a broadband connection). Here are the minimum and recommended requirements for Wrath:
- PC:
- Windows XP SP3 or Vista SP1 (Windows 2000 no longer supported)
- Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1.5 GHz (up from 800 MHz Intel/AMD). Dual-core recommended.
- RAM: 512 MB/1 GB for Vista,
doubled fromsame as previous. 1 GB/2 GB recommended. - Video: GPU with hardware transform and lighting and 32 MB VRAM, same as before. Recommended 128 MB VRAM.
- Mac:
- Mac OS X 10.4.11 (10.3 no longer supported)
- PowerPC G5 1.6 GHz or Intel Core Duo. Big change here: G4s are no longer supported. This one actually affects me, since I do have some G4 machines hanging around the house. Intel 1.8 GHz recommended.
- RAM: 1 GB, up from 512 MB. 2 GB recommended.
- Video: Hardware transform and lighting, 64 MB VRAM. On the face of it, this rules out the integrated graphics found on MacBooks and Mac Minis, but there's been no official word on it yet. 128 MB VRAM recommended.
For those of you who don't meet these requirements (of whom there should be a lot more than there are now with the BC requirements), don't despair too much. The prevailing opinion is that these are more suggested minimums than actual enforced limits. If you don't have quite a fast enough processor or a proper video card, Wrath will probably still run, although your frame rates might not be very high. If you manage to find a computer that doesn't meet the BC requirements now and install WoW on it, it will still run, albeit probably not very well; there's no reason to think that will change in Wrath.
Anyway, here's hoping the updated requirements will let them put more prettiness in LK, although we know at this point there will not be a full graphical revamp.
Filed under: Wrath of the Lich King, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 6)
Sam Oct 7th 2008 3:16PM
Good that Blizzard continues their tradition of low system requirements. I play on a 2 year old mac without any upgrades and I still have the recommended components.
Eversor Oct 7th 2008 3:22PM
Meh, I think I should run Wrath fine on my 1.8ghz Athlon 3000+, my 1,5 gigs of ram and my shitty GeForce 6200. Of course, no high settings, approximately the same I have now.
Hey, I somehow managed to play WoW with 10-15 fps back in the day, couldn't be much worse.
Kyudo Oct 7th 2008 3:26PM
Bullshit.
I have a Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz, 8800GT 512MB, 2GB DDR2 CL4, 500GB SATA3 HDD, and a P35 chipset motherboard.
And this game runs worse than Crysis on Medium. What a fucking joke!
I can run Unreal Tournament 3 on absolute max settings @ 1280x1024 and get 150fps, but only 30-50fps in WotLK, dropping down to 15-30fps in some locations. That, in my opinion, is utterly pathetic.
Here is a list of games I run on max settings @ 1280x1024 and get double the framerates in:
Bioshock
Unreal Tournament 3
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Oblivion
Team Fortress 2
Quake 4
Half-Life 2 (Any episode)
...and I still get better frames in Crysis!
On the flip-side, if I put in my 7950GT w/ 512MB, I get better frames than my 8800GT which lends me to believe that the Blizzard programmers fail at adapting to Stream Processor based graphics cards.
Sorry about the rant, but I find it absurd that I'm going to have to spend another $400+ to run a simple little MMO on max settings.
bendak Oct 7th 2008 3:42PM
I dunno what you're talking about.... I run a core2duo @ 2.66ghz, 3gb, 8800gt and the WOTLK beta runs great. I am running at 1680x1050 with every effect and slider maxed out. Try upgrading your video drivers maybe? I am cruising along at 60fps.
mizatt Oct 7th 2008 3:58PM
If you're running those specs and your framerates are really that bad, something is wrong with your graphics card configuration or your computer.
Matt Oct 7th 2008 4:17PM
I sense fail in your post... or maybe your computer.
I have a 8800GTS 512 and run Wotlk @ 1900x1200 @ 60fps w/ max settings all day long.
Kyudo Oct 7th 2008 4:21PM
60fps? LOL, you're so with shitty performance.
I'm running the other games at 150fps.
I currently run TBC at around 90fps.
This is /not/ acceptable for such a powerful setup. Sorry.
Kyudo Oct 7th 2008 4:22PM
^so content with
akw Oct 8th 2008 2:31PM
Insisting on more than 60 FPS is just gilding the lily.
makishima Oct 7th 2008 8:16PM
@Kyudo
A) He is also running at 1900x1200 as opposed to your 1280x1024 so basically Matt's point is there is something wrong with your drivers or something else is going on since your not hitting those frame rates at a lower resolution.
B) If your screen refresh rate is at 60Hz then you are not seeing anything on screen more than 60fps so running a game at 150fps means absolutely nothing. Your not seeing the other 90 frames.
Now I do agree that dropping to 15 - 30 fps is pretty unacceptable but at the same time I have to ask, are you running Vista? Because if you are 2gigs of ram is also unacceptable. Sure you meet requirements but you really should be aiming for more like 4 gigs.
Kyudo Oct 7th 2008 8:22PM
@makishima
My refresh rate is 75Hz.
Second, you can see the STUTTERING as it struggles to shift it's framerate. This is ungodly obvious. It doesn't matter if it says 60fps if it's bouncing rapidly between 30 and 60fps.
Also, the eyes may only see a certain amount of "Frames" but your mind does the averaging between frames. If you played Quake 2's Instagib for years, you'll notice a difference in framerate. Believe me.
And no, I'm not using Vista. And yes, it would be relatively acceptable.
And no, again, there is nothing wrong with my drivers. As stated, I have no problems with other games, they're up to date, and my PC is well maintained.
makishima Oct 7th 2008 8:37PM
Ok maybe you should explain the whole issue the 1st time around then. If it is jumping around that much from 30 to 50 fps then yeah that's not cool. And yes higher framerates are important to games like FPS's but at a certain frame rate you are not going to see much of any improvement in WoW.
And yeah if you're running at 75Hz then 60 fps will be a bit noticeable. I also did not say it had to be your drivers, it might be something else in your system. My main point was simply if other people who have basically the same system specs are getting a solid 60 fps or more, especially at higher resolutions, and your bouncing back and forth between 30 and 50 there may be something on your end causing the issue. What that problem might be I can't say though.
Kyudo Oct 7th 2008 8:45PM
lol, I'm getting 60, yes.
But I'm running it on max.
The problem is, it shifts around. I'm pretty sure they don't notice it, but I see the shifts when it starts bouncing between say 50 and 60fps. Why? Because I use my mouse entirely for changing my view and notice it stuttering. When I jump-shot, I swing it rapidly, and if it lags... it's no fun.
The fact of the matter is, my machine is /well/ over what a simple MMO should require, and I shouldn't be hitting anywhere below at least 90fps when I get 150fps in faaaaar more complex games.
Although, I honestly didn't notice as much stuttering with my 7950GT. I lend that to the fact that a 7950GT has only pixel pipelines while the G80 chipset dynamically changes the functionality of my 128 stream processors from shading to texturing depending on the needs of the application. If you're unfamiliar with SP's, go read up on them. I think the issue is the way the WoW engine is coded (i.e. poorly).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G80#3D_rendering
Kyudo Oct 8th 2008 2:46PM
@akw
Not really. This is supposed to be a simple game that generic PC's should be able to play. I'm getting 60fps on max settings in WoW on a gaming PC, with 150fps in far more "hardcore" games that have unforgiving PC specs.
The issue here is, WoW's framerate is unstable.
Also, thanks for modding me down guys. I love you too. I see you guys don't play anything but WoW and find 60fps acceptable.
Here's some comparison:
http://lance.slackwise.net/images/screenshots/WoW/WotLK_BETA/Typhoon_Glitched/WoWScrnShot_092508_180745.jpg
http://lance.slackwise.net/images/screenshots/UT3/UT2_8800GT_Framerate.png
Absolute max settings for both. Honestly, pathetic. Go compare the two games "minimum requiresments". Tell me WoW isn't just plain out lying as to what their "minimum" is.
That's the point I was trying to make.
Kanio Oct 7th 2008 3:27PM
So question, Im running Win XP 64 bits SP2 and, what I know of, there is no SP3 for 64 bits so will we 64 bits user not be able to run Lich King or what? That would just be *shrug*, I ain't going back to 32 bits...
Jason Oct 7th 2008 3:50PM
I'm sure it will work fine.
Wes Oct 7th 2008 3:36PM
Glad I splurged on the MacBook Pro earlier this year. :-)
Quetahl Oct 7th 2008 3:39PM
SP3? I finally got my computer working properly, why would I want to go and screw it up by getting SP2 or SP3? Operating system requirements are becoming a bit of a joke lately, I can get BC to work on an Amiga 1000.
SkyShark Oct 7th 2008 3:54PM
So I with an ATI Radeon 3870, 3GB of Ram with Vista and a 3Ghz Core 2 Intel Processor have nothing to worry about right?
Strabo Oct 8th 2008 1:08AM
You don't have anything to worry about. I have nearly the same system (albeit 4 GB RAM) and I run smooth 50 frames on max settings everywhere (down from 70-100 frames on TBC with max everything) except two parts: Dalaran (filled with many, many people though) and the Skyships in Icecrown, which gave me problems and lots of frame lag.