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Graphics Cards and WoW...
SomeOldBloke
Member UncommonPosts: 2,167
I was wondering how much better WoW looks with a better graphics card. Because my current Mobo is AGP I've upgraded about as far as I can go (ati x1950pro). I'm planning a big upgrade (whole new system) in a couple of months, mainly for the new games coming out, but was wondering how big a difference it would make to WoW. This is what mine looks like...
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I've tried a bunch of graphics cards and didn't see a differce. The biggest change was when I went from a 19inch CRT to a 22inch LCD and uped the resolution to max.
my graphics are at max and that's about what they look like..
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IVE PLAYED WOW AND LIKED IT SO IM A FANBOI PLZ FLAME MY THREADS CUZ I MIGHT MENTION WOW
You won't see a difference in a view like that screenshot, where you will see a difference is when looking off into the distance at objects. I'm assuming that you don't have all your graphics settings maxed right now. With a new system and new video card you should be able to max out the graphics settings and you'll notice things that you didn't see before. Spell effects will be better. Things in the distance will be more visible. There will be more ground clutter and it will come into view sooner etc.
If you already are at maxed settings, then I wouldn't expect to see much difference except for your framerate which should be better. You would probably see less video lag in places like Shattrath, when flying etc. What's your framerate now and what are your graphics settings in WoW? Look at the video tab. There are several various sliders, where are they set at?
Yep, this was a big jump for me too. If you're going to upgrade vid card, consider digital monitor that will give high res and framerate. I was totally impressed by my Samsung Widescreen. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001273
Also, motion was a lot smoother, PvP much much better and easier to follow.
http://www.allaboutgod.com/
My current setting are whatever is installed as default (I had to reformat my HD last week so it's a fresh install). I have a 20" Samsung Widescreen and I did notice a big difference a while back when I changed from my 19"... thanks for the info Pappy...
That screen shot doesn't tell much. Take a screen shot out in the middle of no where.
You can't increase WoWs graphics very far using the standrad UI but you can use the /console commands to increase things beyond what Blizzard intended. These /console commands are perfectly safe and won't corrupt your game, Blizzard doesn't seem to care if you use either(since there are current PvP exploits found using these commands).
For higher quality:
/console farclip 777
/console horizonfarclip 6226
/console groundeffectdensity 256
/console groundeffectdist 140
/console smallcull 0
/console skycloudlod 3
/console characterambient 0
These commands will increase the horizon distance and amount of ground clutter(grass and stuff). A few other tibbits as well.
It's not much but it does really make a difference.
Tne only actual graphic upgrade will be real time shadows in WotLK.
Well the defaults will vary based on your PC and graphics card. Blizzard tries to figure out the optimum settings for your graphics card and PC and sets the defaults to that. You can of course adjust these yourself. I'd take a look to see what they are at now, just to give yourself an idea of how much a new PC will change things. If they are all set fairly low, then you'll see a big difference by setting them all to the max, however that would probably reduce your framerate considerably and you wouldn't want to do that now. When you get a new PC however, they may be by default set to the max or at least very high and you would notice a big difference.
So it's hard to answer your question right now without knowing what your current settings are. Take a look at them when you have a chance and then you'll get a better idea of how much a new PC and video card will change things.
It should look a little better than <this>>.