WoW patch 6.1 and Anti-aliasing. Should I upgrade my GPU?

[fec32a4de]

Hello everyone.

Some of you may know that 6.1 is right around the corner and its introducing new graphical
options. These options include MSAA SSAA, new ambient lighting effects and other stuff.

Anyway, my current PC cant run 6.0.3 at Ultra settings at 1920x1080 right now. And I was wondering if upgrading to Nvidia's 960 would make sense. Yeah I know it has a limited 128-bit bus, and a bunch of other concerns, but where I am right now a 760 is $300+ and 970 is $480+. And I need an nvidia card for CUDA and stuff. AMD is nice and all but i got other things going on on this rig.

My current setup is:
Core i7 2600k @ 3.4Ghz
8GB DDR3-1333 RAM
64GB Crucial SSD
250GB (omg) HDD
Radeon R7 265 from Sapphire
EVGA 650W PSU
H77 chipset

At ultra (no AA) settings this setup gives me 40-55fps anywhere in the game. Obviously lowering settings like shadow effects and view distance gives me more fps,but it still regularly dips way below 60.
On 6.1 PTR i tried the new AA methods and effects and im getting 30-35fps.

The 960 is available at a cool $200. Would I be able to play on ultra and still get above 60+ or should I forget it.
How big of an FPS boost will I get switching from an R7 265 to a 960. TPU reviews show that WoW prefers Nvidia's cards. And the new 6.1 options even use NVIDIA HBAO+ (That and 3D vision)

Thanks in advance

 

[Daemmon]

LTT did a review on GTX960 and 960 SLI. They used WoW as one of the benchmarks. For the sake of not linking exterior sources (you can google/youtube it) I'll just brief the details.

WoW - Ultra, CMAA, 1080p

Asus Strix 960 - 84FPS
Gigabyte 960 G1 - 88FPS

Mind you, this benchmarks are done with the GPU "as overclocked as they were able to". I don't play WoW so I'll make a wild guess and say that this is on current release and not on PTR with the new graphic options.

Up to 1080p it's a very solid option and a good upgrade for your 265. And since you -need- it to be nVidia then yeah, 960. 970 is a tad "overkill" for current 1080p (but 960 may fall short in a year or two).

 

[fec32a4de]

Thanks Daemmon for the info.
Hard to find people using WoW as a benchmark, thankfully LTT and TPU do use it as a benchmark.

Yeah looks like Im gonna get the 960. Its weird how a game like WoW which can run on the slowest systems, can be really cranked up and the fps will plummet. That and I never expected SSAA to be an option.

As for 960 falling short in a year or so, hopefully I'll be able to upgrade my whole system before that. Hoping for Skylake.

 

[Jeffredo]

I have an i5 -4690k in my main PC with a GTX 780. My monitor is 1920x1200. It can of course easily hand Ultra and 8X MSAA and keep 60 FPS everywhere. I recently put together a PC just to have a project to do. It has a Pentium G3258 @ 4.4 Ghz (WoW recommends a quad core now with Warlords of Draenor) and I did have a GTX 660 in it running a mix of Ultra and High settings with Shadows on "Good" and CMAA. It stayed at 60 FPS everywhere with that. I knew it couldn't handle any of the new AA settings in patch 6.1 so I bought a GTX 960 and it just arrived yesterday. It can handle 4X MSAA on Ultra if I lower Shadow Quality down to "High" (and keep 60 FPS). I believe the shadows are taken care of by the CPU, so I'm going to swap out the GTX 780 in my main i5-4690k rig with the GTX 960 to see how it does. I will say this - it is MUCH better than an old HD 7950 I have when paired with the Pentium. Even at an 1100/1400 overclock the HD 7950 was a stuttering mess in the Alliance Garrison and War Spear on straight "High" settings. As soon as I switch the cards with my better computer I'll post back to let you know how it goes.

 

[Jeffredo]

OK, when I switched the GPUs to the GTX 960 paired with the i5-4690k I could then do "pure" Ultra in WoW and use 4X MSAA and keep 60 FPS everywhere (Alliance Garrison, more demanding parts of Shadowmoon Valley, War Spear and Stormshield). Really couldn't tell the difference between 4X and 8X MSAA on my Dell 24" IPS - they're both much better than CMAA. You should see the same kind of performance on your i7-2600k.

 

[Octopuss]

You should stop playing WoW

 

[Jeffredo]

You should stop playing WoW

Blasphemy!

 

[NC37]

Unless the game is completely unplayable, which is sounds like it isn't, why are you buying now with the R300s right around the corner?

Seriously, I'd wait.

 

[GreiverBlade]

i get 120fps and above (50ish fps at Warspear xD ) with a 290 i play on a 27" 1ms 1080P monitor

i tried all anti-aliasing and my conclusion : "wait ... they do something don't they? i see nothing ... something must be wrong with me" or ... they are just pointless and not noticeable ... even de activated looks fine (and also without it's more 200fps peak than 150... SSAA 2x+CMAA is the worse 60fps anywhere i get 200fps)

my friend play on a Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.5 4gig DDR2 @920 and a 760 ... and he get 50-60ish fps in low (but he come from a macbook air so he doesn't care about xD)

btw... dips below 60 are fine it's below 30 who aren't
if you really want to upgrade ... wait a bit more and buy one of the big upcoming one ... be it 960Ti (wait really ... naaaahhh) 380/380X 390X, or you can get lucky and get a 2nd hand (non mining card) 290 for less than a 960 (i know ... wrong argument ... still ... ) 40-60fps is not unplayable technically ... maybe try to get a 270X or a 760 ... they do fine and cost less than the 960 (dunno somehow i completely lost faith in nvidia at the moment ... after the 970 "drama" the 960 has nothing to value except the power consumption and the 980 is the only real card but the price is "meh" and the "980Ti lube edition, early adopter: you got raped" is probably around the corner)

You should stop playing WoW

most useful comment selected... wait didn't you said once "if you have nothing constructive to add, then write nothing" ?

If you have nothing constructive to add to the discussion, do not post.

oh YES

right back at you

last edit: nothing wrong in needing CUDA ... (unless you have a OpenCL alternative ... pfeh, proprietary tech ... ) if you use some soft that need it then indeed a nvidia card is the best choice (i did for quite a while until i found some alternatives )

"there is nothing that is overkill..."

 

[Octopuss]

Wow, you pwnz0red me SO BAD *clap clap*
You must had been really butthurt back then if it was worth digging through month+ worth of posts.
So it's 1:1 now, right? You posted absolutely useless garbage then, I did now. Are you all healed up?

 

[Jeffredo]

I had an XFX R9 290 DD that I bought last November (and sold two months later). The GTX 960 is as fast @ 1920x1200 with a lot less heat getting dumped in the case and room.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_960_Gaming/26.html

All things being equal WoW runs better on Nvidia cards unless you are playing on a 4K monitor.

 

[GreiverBlade]

Wow, you pwnz0red me SO BAD *clap clap*
You must had been really butthurt back then if it was worth digging through month+ worth of posts.
So it's 1:1 now, right? You posted absolutely useless garbage then, I did now. Are you all healed up?

nope not really ... but you look like you are right now to answer like that and i didn't had to dig through month don't worry it only took me 2 second to find it.
and really ... i don't care, but it was worth it, still. also notice the use of and which mean i take it lightly and mostly joke on it ... (aaahhh "do as i say and not as i do" people are amazing)
my reaction back then was also not like your's here the result is beyond my expectation (and not in a good way )

All things being equal WoW runs better on Nvidia cards unless you are playing on a 4K monitor.

true that ... i noticed that between a 7970 and a 770 (but a 970 will never be a alternative to a 290 or 290X you just got the wrong brand )