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Gamespot's got a great performance tutorial for all the World of Warcraft fans out there who want to get the best-looking and fastest Burning Crusade gameplay on their current system. If you've just grabbed a copy of Blizzard's epic MMO or its expansion, then you should probably read up on what you'll need, so you can get the most out of your purchase.
Now, Gamespot's guide talks about four different aspects that you'll need to look at on your current set-up (Game Settings, Graphics Card, Processor, and Memory), but we know not everyone likes reading through all of that. Here are three things you ought to know about getting the most out of your hardware from Gamespot's notes, as well as our own.
Tip One:
If you're using mid-range hardware, such as GeForce 7-series and a 2-gig Athlon with 1 GB of memory, then you can actually run WoW with most of the max settings intact. When you experience some in-game slowdown, your best bet to increase performance is to put your Draw Distance settings at minimum, followed by disabling shader detail. Those two settings have the greatest impact on the game's ability to run, but also manage to take a good chunk out of your image quality as seen above.
Tip Two:
On the chance that your computer isn't really doing the job you want it to with your current hardware setup, your best bet is to upgrade your RAM. World of Warcraft's ability to run well is impacted less by processing speed as the amount of memory you use. While their guide shows no appreciable difference between using 1 Gig and 2 Gigs of RAM, you'll have more leeway with your video settings with the additional memory.
Tip Three:
Gamespot says,
Burning Crusade likes bigger and faster video cards, but you might not need to upgrade to fully enjoy the game. If you're willing to play at lower resolutions, you can get away with using less expensive parts with no trouble at all.
Upgrading your video card's device drivers may also help to lessen
issues. You may want to check a month from now to see if they've
added anything new to the drivers related specifically to new games
like the World of Warcraft expansion.
Also, remember that "older" cards are relative in the world of computing. A graphics card from one to two years ago is relatively old, but will still run WoW (since those were the cards during its release). Three or more years ago usually means you'll be needing something a little more powerful, and if you can afford it, get the best one out currently so you can still use it on the latest games three or more years from now.
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