I'd up the RAM, but it might be cheaper to buy that 3rd party as the pics make it look like it can be upgraded. Not sure how easy the access will be, but it should be possible.
Looks good. I'd get the i7, but it's probably not necessary unless you need the extra CPU power for other tasks than gaming. This machine screams "eGPU". My guess is the i7 model is faster than the 6-core Mac Pro at half the price and with the eGPU will have better graphics as well. Call it Mac Pro lite.
(I was surprised by the i3 option -- first time Apple has offered that I think.)
I have to agree with the eGPU shout out. I just posted about my experience with the 2018 MBP and BFA is soooo much better performing with my Breakaway Puck eGPU. the new Mac Mini should absolutely benefit in the same way as my MBP.
Hello! Can the new iMac Pro run WoW? Probably a dumb ?, but I am curious.
Yes it can, pretty overkill though and I wouldn't go and buy one just to play WoW. But hey, if you have one, it should be fine. Just keep in mind that there's been reports on here of them getting very hot which ends up causing stutter. Would be a good idea to manually adjust fan speed higher to keep it as cool as possible.
Stoneblade, if you want to repost this as a brand new thread for (hopefully) sticky purposes, but can’t get the exact formatting from the current guide because you can’t edit it due to the original post date being so old, I saved you a copy complete with formatting if you’d like. If you need the copy, just contact me in the battle.net app on this character. I’ll gladly get it to you ASAP so it can be put back where it belongs.
This forum (all categories) has an annoying bug. If you click “Log in” for your account, you’re taken to a randomly chosen character (the first time - from there it sticks no matter what to that first randomly chosen character), and when you switch to the character you prefer to post on, it logs you out at a higher level than the forum, leaving you able to post, but your account is still technically logged out. Logging in again puts you back on that randomly chosen character until you switch characters manually again. For me it’s Tiaplatearm, a mule character on a connected realm.
Not QUITE the same animal, but I’m playing right now on a 2018 MBP with the new Vega 20 GPU. I’m finding issues because of Blizz’s decision not only to remove EFS, but also to “scale” everything. These Retina-display MBPs are actually much higher resolution than they can be set to in the OS, and Blizz wants to use every last pixel instead of letting us fix a resolution. So 100% scaling is 3360x2100 window size, which gives me ~30-35 FPS in Boralus at recommended settings. 50% scaling is actually what the OS suggests the resolution is, and I get 70 FPS then – but nameplates and such are illegible. So it’s playable, but no desktop with a good NVidia card.
On the plus side, the sound is MUCH better than even my decent desktop speakers. Not sure why, but I can hear channels on the laptop that I can’t on the desktop even though the sound settings are identical.
[GryphonMD]
By “Ultra” I assume you mean the highest preset of “10”.
The answer is: probably no (unless you want to run at a very low resolution), but 10 is not meant to be achievable to average hardware. The highest settings available in games is - by design - for future proofing the engine giving people in the future a way to scale setting even higher even if it is not commonly achievable in the present.
For me, WoW’s recommended settings were everything on medium to high. I bumped outline mode to highest. I also turned down the point lighting from high to medium because I don’t like the looks at high. Clutter and distance and the third slider were at 5; I bumped them to 8/7/6 without a lot of change in FPS. I haven’t tried getting into a raid group yet, or standing near the Tortollans in Stormsong when that goblin flamethrower thing (something- mark II) is active. Those two things KILL my FPS on desktop (6-core 3.4 GHz Xeon w/NVidia 1070) – we’re talking single-digit FPS sometimes.
I don’t actually know anyone who plays on all highest settings. Not saying there aren’t any, but my friends don’t, even those with better rigs.
Obviously I am a little new to this and not so sharp on graphics cards, etc. Would you say that even a similarly priced Windows gaming rig could not run WOW on settings 10 unless at low resolution?
I guess I want my cake and I want to eat it too - if I was going to purchase the new Mac Mini with the best AMD GPU available for an eGPU or the new Vega 20 MacBook Pro, I want to know that I can play WOW at as high a setting as possible for as long as possible. I am playing on a 2013 MacBook Pro currently, and can comfortably play on “4”. I obviously want to comfortably play on as high a setting as I can on a new machine (max view distance, as detailed textures as possible, most ground and spell clutter) …the way the wow devs intend you to see the game in its current state…if that makes sense?
It would seem, if I am understanding you correctly - that even though there exists higher options: ‘7’ ‘8’ ‘9’ and ‘10’, that there really isn’t any difference currently in the highest settings, and that they are there just for the future when there actually will be more ground clutter, or more details in the textures, etc.
Outside of view distance, the visual differences between 7 through 10 are incredibly minimal. Shadows and Water, specifically, are incredibly demanding on the GPU for an absolutely minimal visual difference. The OP in this guide has a really good explanation of what each setting does and how much it impacts performance.
If you absolute benchmark for satisfaction is to play WoW on the absolute highest of everything, you probably shouldn’t be getting a Mac. A similarly priced Windows machine will run rings around it (but then you’ll be forced to suffer the indignity of using WIndows!)
The Vega 20 should be able to handle the highest view distance and object density, but absolutely not water and shadows.
My goal is to stay on MacOS and enjoy 100% of the game from a graphics perspective; for at least 5 years from now (to justify paying the Apple Tax). It sounds like I can do just that with the new MacBook Pro Vega 20, while only missing out on the highest water settings - leading me to believe a Mac mini with a Vega 64 eGPU can handle it all - it might be a cheaper route to boot
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