Main Thread - MacBook Pro 16-inch I9+ Radeon Pro 5500m

I tried Wow classic on the new MacBook Pro 16. Weird time is the game is offering by default a resolution of 3584 X 2200. The max resolution of the new MacBook is 3072x1920. Is it a bug? With the new Radeon pro 5500m @ 3584X2200 (!) with all settings to 10 I am getting around 50-60 fps with no vertical sync and no maximum fps limit.

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Wow cool. Thanks for the post. Mind testing with vsync on and graphics setting 7? I’d love to know how that performs. What zone were you in when testing btw? Also, is this the 8GB 5500 or the 4GB?

The 8 GB version will have a lot more headroom for texture caching than the 4 GB version, and won’t bump up against texture swaps nearly as much when playing above 50% native resolution.

As for the resolution, 3072x1920 is a 16:10 resolution, so it does fit within that standard, albeit at a rather odd number.

I must be doing something wrong, at the moment at max settings I’m only getting 3-5 FPS. Any idea as to why that might be?

If you just slid the slider all the way to the right for max settings, you’re getting what is expected. These are laptops, not towers with overkill hardware. Go take a look at Stoneblade’s performance guide stickied at the top of this support forum. It should help you decide on a happy medium.

The OP was running CLASSIC WoW at high settings. Retail WoW would no doubt be more intensive. I am curious to know what users are seeing on retail though - I haven’t received my macbook pro yet (ordered it with 5500M 8gb VRAM).

Heya Sinistre,

I noticed some players are getting around this by running the game in Window mode. Though of course that is a workaround not a fix.

I normally would suggest trying:

Let us know how it goes!

I just received the highest end model with the Radeon pro 5500 8gb and am getting abysmal FPS at the moment (3-4) at max settings.

I’ve read others have been playing flawlessly at 50-60fps, so I must be doing something wrong; any ideas?

Thank you!

First thing: Turn off automatic graphics switching. It doesn’t work in Catalina with games for some reason. I’d bet that’s actually your primary culprit there since those are speeds I’d expect from the IGP (graphics built into the CPU).

Here’s the instructions on how to change the automatic graphics switching setting: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202043

I’m curious to know, did this work?

Don’t mean to necro this but there aren’t any other threads about the new 16” MBP and WOW performance. So I thought I’d chime in rather than just make a new one.

I’m running WOW classic on mine connected to. 23” 4K monitor. Works perfectly. No real issues of any kind. 60+ FPS in Orgrimmar.

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Does anyone know if the automatic switching has been fixed in 10.15.2 … ?

Apple tends to not even touch graphics issues (unless they are severe like kernel panics) until the .3 update. If it’s fixed on apples end I’d bet 10.15.3 at earliest.

UPDATE: Blizzard has found a work around to fix it on their end, but it is apple’s fault. Apple will probably do a proper fix in 10.15.3 as I expected in original post, but blizzard should push out a work around to both classic and retail soon™

Is there a Blizz post about this somewhere?

Not shocked to see this. In Classic on an eGPU (5700XT) you can get easy 144 fps @1440p on Settings = 10 with SSAO Off (it’s bugged for Mac, check the performance guide as mentioned above… nor is this setting worth it IMO).

My gaming monitor is 1440p, but I use upscale to 150% of 1440p for AA and while I will see some drops for FPS into the 80s in places like STV or Feralas, I still hit mostly 120-140 everywhere.

I’ve recently been using the 150% scaling (which is 4k) + 10 - SSAO and been incredibly happy… the smooth refresh mostly everywhere plus the amazing (for WoW) textures in zones… it’s been freaking blissful playing.

++ add in the Audeze Mobius headset… playing is a zen-like experience.

i didn’t find SSAO that demanding, not since it was changed. the SSAO+water HUGE performance hit stopped being an issue in 8.0 and later since they switched to intel ASSAO

Interesting, I wonder if there is some other reason it impacts me so much. I can actually keep it on in most areas with no performance hit because the GPU’s processor isn’t throttling me. But I do see utilization increase by 20-30% when I put it from off to Ultra. That’s a significant hit since I play with all the other settings maxed out and in some zones my build can’t maintain 144 FPS w/o SSAO, let alone with it on.

Honestly though, the only place I really feel like I notice the difference while actually gaming (read: not turning settings on and off and searching for differences) is major cities. I do like what it adds there. In most zones, shadow details… water… distance to render textures. Anyway, the game looks great with these modern Macs + an eGPU. I’m super pleased.

Also, your guild tag rocks.