GPU makes a huge difference now

[tyrindor]

With the new Legion graphics, I decided to upgrade because I run 4K (couldn't max many games anymore), and I was no longer getting a solid 60+ FPS on the 10 preset with no AA enabled.

My previous build was a 3770k @ 4.5GHz with 32GB of DDR3 1866. I upgraded that to a 6700k @ 4.6GHz and 32GB DDR4 3200. There was no difference in the game, I tested multiple zones and did the same flight path loops. Safe to say, if you have a decently overclocked processor it's probably not the bottleneck anymore, even if it's a few years old.

I then upgraded my Titan X (Maxwell edition) to the new Titan X (Pascal edition) that just came out yesterday. I overclocked it to +200/+500 just for giggles. The difference is huge. I went from seeing 45-50FPS in Hyjal due to that very thick grass, to around 98-114FPS. Every zone runs like butter again, even on the new 10 preset. I enabled 8x MSAA (overkill for 4K, but why not if you can?), and I am still maintaining 60+ FPS in every zone while flying around.

So can we put the "WoW is a CPU bottleneck" claims to rest? This is no longer the case, and honestly hasn't been the case since WoD launched. Your CPU will only be the bottleneck if you are running an old processor at stock clocks or a super low resolution.

Hope this helps someone that is planning to upgrade for Legion.

[potis]

You are 50% right and 50% wrong.

CPU is still a bottleneck in raids cause too much info, all you saw was how the stronger GPU affects resolution which is logical, you will see the same thing with AA from a media card to a gaming card.

As example a 650 with CMAA enabled will see a decrease of about 30%, while a 760 as example wont see a difference, maybe a 1-2% fps difference.

You basically did the same, went from a not 100% 4K card, not a new 4K/VR oriented card.

CPU still matters during raids when all hell breaks loose, the actual difference of a 3770K to a 6700K is a 20-23% also so its a general improve, you have too much money

Congrats either way.

[TyrianFC]

Was the point of your OP to simply tell everyone you bought a Titan Pascal? Yes we know its very expensive, and...... congratulations for buying one?

For the money spent in your setup, you apply surprisingly little common sense in conveying your 'findings' here. As potis said, flying around Hyjal admiring the extensive grass, and flying around zones admiring the view... isnt what causes the much-touted cpu bottleneck status of WoW.

[tyrindor]

I could really care less if you two think I made this to brag. There were tons of people wanting to know what to upgrade with the new legion settings. I'm 30 years old, I stopped caring about impressing people over a decade ago. I made this thread to help, so troll elsewhere please.

Not everyone spends most their times in raids, and I never claimed this was the case in raids. I said there's an improvement while flying around. At 4K, GPU is still the bottleneck in raids according to MSI afterburner. At 1080p? It might still be the CPU I have no idea.

Either way, GPU does matter and people were claiming you'll see no gains by upgrading it. You will, just maybe not in raids depending your resolution and processor.

You are 50% right and 50% wrong.

CPU is still a bottleneck in raids cause too much info, all you saw was how the stronger GPU affects resolution which is logical, you will see the same thing with AA from a media card to a gaming card.

As example a 650 with CMAA enabled will see a decrease of about 30%, while a 760 as example wont see a difference, maybe a 1-2% fps difference.

You basically did the same, went from a not 100% 4K card, not a new 4K/VR oriented card.

CPU still matters during raids when all hell breaks loose, the actual difference of a 3770K to a 6700K is a 20-23% also so its a general improve, you have too much money

Congrats either way.

Yea I won't argue there, in Mythic raiding CPU does matter more.

I upgraded to the 6700k for multiple reasons, one being ultra fast M.2 SSDs for work related tasks. I knew it'd probably make little to no difference in games.

[pansertjald]

Not everyone spends most their times in raids, and I never claimed this was the case in raids. I said there's an improvement while flying around. At 4K, GPU is still the bottleneck in raids according to MSI afterburner. At 1080p? It might still be the CPU I have no idea.

Either way, GPU does matter and people were claiming you'll see no gains by upgrading it. You will, just maybe not in raids depending your resolution and processor.

You will ONLY see a gain in FPS after upgrading your GPU if you are running 4K setup. At 1080p you will not see a gain in upgrading your GPU, unless you are running a very old GPU

[ComputerNerd]

What you saw was a case where the CPU was not the bottleneck, outdoor content with low player density.
That is where a GPU excels, but not the circumstances where poor performance has the most impact.
So the argument is exactly the same as it was before.

If you do instanced content where the CPU becomes a bottleneck, then no GPU upgrade is going to resolve that.

[Tykus]

Haven't had any raid test, but I've also noticed in 5 mans/world that my CPU isn't maxing, but my GPU often is. CPU is more active and running warmer in some other games.

My stats if this helps anyone conclude anything.
Play at 1440
i5 4690 : 4.7
1070 : +100/400

[Droodid]

Genuine question, because I honestly have no idea, but I play at 4k as well, and i'm running a OC 4.7 4790k and my GTX 980ti with settings at 10 and no AA, and when I do raids I tend to hover around 50fps, but from what I read people always say that's pretty much impossible in raids. Is the game just falsely representing the FPS, or what is happening?

[Wries]

My 980 (Non Ti) absolutely crushes this game at setting 10 and 1080p, but lacked the oomph in 4K. Even setting 7 could be too much for it in some outdoor zones. GTX 1080 holds its own but not with much of a margin in some zones (e.g. Nagrand)

I'd say "just stick to 1080p" but hey 4K is freaking glorious :P

Noticed that for me CMAA took more performance than 2X MSAA. And IMO MSAA still looks better so I've ended up running with that instead, now.

Genuine question, because I honestly have no idea, but I play at 4k as well, and i'm running a OC 4.7 4790k and my GTX 980ti with settings at 10 and no AA, and when I do raids I tend to hover around 50fps, but from what I read people always say that's pretty much impossible in raids. Is the game just falsely representing the FPS, or what is happening?

It's not exactly impossible. The "omg only good luck getting more than 30 fps in raids" mentality stayed around these forums. But that only really applied back when everyone ran 25-mans. Since DX11, faster processors and smaller raid sizes now are things I'd not at all doubt that you can get 50ish fps. Mind you raids are often not very GPU demanding compared to open world so it's likely it's still the CPU that bottlenecks you from getting the last 10 fipses.

[Droodid]

My 980 (Non Ti) absolutely crushes this game at setting 10 and 1080p, but lacked the oomph in 4K. Even setting 7 could be too much for it in some outdoor zones. GTX 1080 holds its own but not with much of a margin in some zones (e.g. Nagrand)

I'd say "just stick to 1080p" but hey 4K is freaking glorious :P

Noticed that for me CMAA took more performance than 2X MSAA. And IMO MSAA still looks better so I've ended up running with that instead, now.



It's not exactly impossible. The "omg only good luck getting more than 30 fps in raids" mentality stayed around these forums. But that only really applied back when everyone ran 25-mans. Since DX11, faster processors and smaller raid sizes now are things I'd not at all doubt that you can get 50ish fps. Mind you raids are often not very GPU demanding compared to open world so it's likely it's still the CPU that bottlenecks you from getting the last 10 fipses.

I get 60 in most areas, outside of cities and raids. Which I'm ok with. Even with it dropping down to 45-50ish, I'm not hardcore enough to notice/care.

[guardian_titan]

Better way to see where WoW bottle-necks is with similar systems. I have an i5-3870K CPU with a Radeon HD 7770. I can run on medium (5) settings without issue. Yeah, I'm likely in the 30-40 fps range with dips into the 20s while raiding but I honestly don't care. I don't really notice unless it impairs my ability to react. I run at 1080p.

My brother runs a Core 2 Duo E6800 with a Radeon HD 7770. He has to run on the lowest settings possible and he still has issues when we raid. HFC is often a slide show for him. Not sure what my brother's resolution is but might be 980p.

So once we eliminate the element that's the same (Radeon HD 7770), we can conclude the CPU is the issue for my brother having FPS issues. If I were to upgrade his system, the CPU would be what I'd be after. But I'm upgrading both of our computers probably next week anyway.

A Titan GPU is just massive overkill for WoW. Gratz on it if you play other games, but I really hope WoW isn't the only game you play. That's an expensive card just for a single game that doesn't even need it.

[minteK917]

To be fair wow use a pretty shitty engine by today standard. Most tech now is GPU centric, unless you are running a CPU more then 5-6 years ago, there is no bottleneck CPU in gaming. 3770K to a 6700K is unlikely to wield any improvement in recent games, because its unlikely 3770k ever hits 100% load in most games, not preventing the GPU from hitting 100% load.

[Acelius]

You couldn't care less.

How am I the one trolling by calling you out on your misinformation? If you were actually interested in helping people, you would have added more information to your post other than saying "can we put the WoW is CPU bottlenecked claim to rest" which is just outright a blatant lie on your part.

Also, in one of your other posts you claim that 1440p is common among gamers today and that 4k gaming is becoming pretty common, guess what:

2560 x 1440
1.60%

1920 x 1080
36.68%

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

It's not common at all. Also, there's computer forums for stuff like this but I guess there wouldn't be enough people there for you to "help" by listing all your PC components.

People have way worse systems than I thought according to that survey.

[pansertjald]

People have way worse systems than I thought according to that survey.

People are just being smart. They don't go out and waste money on stuff they don't need.

[hiramloram]

So can we put the "WoW is a CPU bottleneck" claims to rest?

No. Thanks for all that helpful information though...

[Acelius]

People are just being smart. They don't go out and waste money on stuff they don't need.

Depends on what you define as "need". I just thought more people were in the higher end hardware wise.

[Dormie]

You will ONLY see a gain in FPS after upgrading your GPU if you are running 4K setup. At 1080p you will not see a gain in upgrading your GPU, unless you are running a very old GPU

That's not true. I'm using a 970 and it is the bottleneck acording to Afterburner.

[LaplaceNoMa]

980 ti overclocked to 1500/8000
i5 2500k overclocked to 5.0

Setting to 10 with no AA enabled on 1920x1080 results in ~25-30 FPS in warspear and ~15 in Hyjal near the firelands entrance. What am I doing wrong? 7 is the max comfortable setting for me (60+ fps everywhere, always)

[onyxsolo]

Using 2560x1080 resolution I just set the view distance to 2, maxed everything else and called it a day. I also keep vsync off and just limit my FPS to 70. with these settings I keep steady around 70fps. View distance makes a huge difference in frame rate, Hate the fog but I prefer a higher frame rate and don't want to buy a new card yet.

I'd like to think systems with larger amounts of ram/vram would do better at higher view distances but I don't think the view distance is optimized very well, I go from around 60% gpu utillization to 99% just switching from 1 to 2 draw distance while my VRAM usage stays in the same 11-20% range no matter what level I change view distance to. My CPU barely breaks a sweat running the game, I can have a couple virtual machines running in the background and not even notice an impact while gaming.

Specs
I7-4790k
32gb RAM
Nvidia GTX 970
LG 34UM68-P Monitor

[caervek]

My previous build was a 3770k @ 4.5GHz with 32GB of DDR3 1866. I upgraded that to a 6700k @ 4.6GHz and 32GB DDR4 3200. There was no difference in the game, I tested multiple zones and did the same flight path loops. Safe to say, if you have a decently overclocked processor it's probably not the bottleneck anymore, even if it's a few years old.

This has been the case for some time now, a Sandy Bridge processor or better is all you need to max out WoW from a CPU perspective after that it becomes GPU bound.

But don't dare mention that when somebody is asking about replacing their already fine CPU or you will get flamed by people indoctrinated to tell you "omg noob wow r CPU dependant lolz"