Come across any 6970 reviews w/WoW benchmark?

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loki7

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 16, 2008
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Yes I know, WoW, lol. :p

That aside, any benchmarks? Especially Crossfire.. stupid Tom's remarks of multi-GPUs scaling horrible in WoW has me wondering.

Still curious. I've always felt like WoW does better with Nvidia cards. I remember a time when the graphics options of WoW advertised the Nvidia logo, as if to boast the game was optimized for Nvidia.
 
does it really matter at this point ? A radeon 5770 can run the game at 5760x1080p with 2x fsaa ..... what more can you need in the game ?
 
i wouldnt expect CF performance to be worth a damn in that game no matter what. theres honestly no reason for it unless you want to run an asinine amount of AA in the game for absolutely no reason.
 
While I don't disagree that a 6970 is mostly overkill for this game the other end of it is that out of all the games out there it has the by in far the largest following. Regardless of how silly it is or isn't to add this title to any reviews I think you'll generate alot more interest in your review if you have it there. Remember everyone out shoping for a new graphics card isn't a huge [H] follower.
 
MrGoat said:
While I don't disagree that a 6970 is mostly overkill for this game the other end of it is that out of all the games out there it has the by in far the largest following. Regardless of how silly it is or isn't to add this title to any reviews I think you'll generate alot more interest in your review if you have it there. Remember everyone out shoping for a new graphics card isn't a huge [H] follower.
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well look from what i can tell

1) Its very hard to accurately benchmark because its a online mmorpg. Thus no matter what you do there will be diffrences , server load , people walking past you that weren't there on the previous test with another card etc.

2) its not very hardware dependent. A 5670 would be over kill for the game .

3) I doubt anyone who is goin to spend $300 or more is going to base the purchase choice on wow performance. The 6970 would most likely run the game at 8xfsaa at any resolution you choose at over 100fps
 
MrGoat said:
While I don't disagree that a 6970 is mostly overkill for this game the other end of it is that out of all the games out there it has the by in far the largest following. Regardless of how silly it is or isn't to add this title to any reviews I think you'll generate alot more interest in your review if you have it there. Remember everyone out shoping for a new graphics card isn't a huge [H] follower.
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I agree. Why review a game no one plays whereas a game that a lot of people play. I also doubt that a 5770 can play WoW at max settings (Max shadow will destroy it).
 
He didn't ask for all the reasons you guys don't want a card to play WoW on.
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This. =( Wasn't trying to invite a heated debate. ><

My GTX 480 is struggling while 25-man raiding @ 2560x1600, even in D3D11 mode w/max settings. (3.6Ghz i7 965). WoW is more CPU driven, but that GPU CPU ratio gets narrow fast at ultra resolutions.

Tom's benchmarks were probably questing or on flight points. Not very intensive. WoW is a tough cookie to benchmark, the most stressful environments are raiding and massive PvP. Generally speaking, anytime there are a ton of characters/NPCs on the screen with spell effects everywhere. Oh, super-sampling + foliage and max terrain distance in heavily dynamically shaded areas can also kick its ass.
 
loki7 said:
This. =( Wasn't trying to invite a heated debate. ><

My GTX 480 is struggling while 25-man raiding @ 2560x1600, even in D3D11 mode w/max settings. (3.6Ghz i7 965). WoW is more CPU driven, but that GPU CPU ratio gets narrow fast at ultra resolutions.

Tom's benchmarks were probably questing or on flight points. Not very intensive. WoW is a tough cookie to benchmark, the most stressful environments are raiding and massive PvP. Generally speaking, anytime there are a ton of characters/NPCs on the screen with spell effects everywhere. Oh, super-sampling + foliage and max terrain distance in heavily dynamically shaded areas can also kick its ass.
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did u try the dx 11 hack posted in the review ? Yo ucan get up to 34% improvement out of your card.


I would say the the 6970 would be in line with all the other tests, between the gtx 570 and 580 in this game. Perhaps your best bet would be a pair of 6950
 
I'd be interested in seeing some Eyefinity results in 25-man raids. Wondering if a 6950 would be a good choice for running at 1050*5040.

Waiting for [H]'s Eyefinity followup.
 
First off someone said why review a game noone plays?

I was unaware people didnt play wow?!

Second I play WoW with Eyefinity and Everything maxed at 5760x1200 and I cannot turn AA up at all without crappy performance on a 5970. (outside, flying mount, view distance at ultra) That is the reason I would like to see WoW benchmarks.

I already bought a 6970 anyways. Due to its good results at high res it will be a great card for Eyefinity and I can get another later.
 
Kasucode said:
First off someone said why review a game noone plays?

I was unaware people didnt play wow?!

Second I play WoW with Eyefinity and Everything maxed at 5760x1200 and I cannot turn AA up at all without crappy performance on a 5970. (outside, flying mount, view distance at ultra) That is the reason I would like to see WoW benchmarks.

I already bought a 6970 anyways. Due to its good results at high res it will be a great card for Eyefinity and I can get another later.
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The way I see it:

Lots of people play WoW. Like, 8 million or something. Cataclysm sold like 3 million first day IIRC. So it's odd that of all the video card roundups and benchmarks from various websites, none ever include a WoW benchmark. As I've said though, WoW is difficult to benchmark accurately. Blizzard should release a benchmark tool IMO.

I don't think any hardcore gamers or builders would ever build an expensive multi-GPU system just for WoW. I don't. I play other modern games too, currently Las Vegas and Black Ops. However I play WoW routinely every week, whereas these other games I generally play when they come out and get bored eventually. I wanna keep WoW's performance in mind.
 
Believe it or not but my 2x GTX 580's in SLI max out 100% utilization in WoW to get 60 FPS with DX11. But then again I am running 12.3 mega-pixels at 4800x2560. ;)
 
1680x1050 with a 5870, ultra/max settings, 8xAA, DX11, 60 fps in Stormwind with the 5870 showing 40% load. They don't bench this game because everything would show 60fps.
 
Crispy002 said:
1680x1050 with a 5870, ultra/max settings, 8xAA, DX11, 60 fps in Stormwind with the 5870 showing 40% load. They don't bench this game because everything would show 60fps.
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Or just remove VSync and uncheck WoW's built in frame-rate cap limiter?
 
Vega said:
Or just remove VSync and uncheck WoW's built in frame-rate cap limiter?
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That doesn't make it any less pointless. To the end user, it doesn't matter if a card can do 100fps or 110fps in the game, there is no difference. Since just about every card in the last 2.5 generations can max WoW with crazy fps, reviewers would rather show benchmarks where people can actually notice the power of their cards. Take crysis for example, a 4870 could almost do max settings with a medium resolution and mediocre framerate, where a 5870 could max it out at high resolutions with flawless fps. These differences are perceptible and much more useful for the buyer.
 
Crispy002 said:
1680x1050 with a 5870, ultra/max settings, 8xAA, DX11, 60 fps in Stormwind with the 5870 showing 40% load. They don't bench this game because everything would show 60fps.
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I call BS on this, maybe if your realm has 0 people on it or you are looking at the ground. There is no way you turn everything on at max and never dip below 60 fps. Go to your auction house with those settings right now and take a screenshot to prove it.
I will seriously buy a new card right now if thats the case. Or maybe I should just run a lower res...
 
Crispy002 said:
That doesn't make it any less pointless. To the end user, it doesn't matter if a card can do 100fps or 110fps in the game, there is no difference. Since just about every card in the last 2.5 generations can max WoW with crazy fps, reviewers would rather show benchmarks where people can actually notice the power of their cards. Take crysis for example, a 4870 could almost do max settings with a medium resolution and mediocre framerate, where a 5870 could max it out at high resolutions with flawless fps. These differences are perceptible and much more useful for the buyer.
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You have heard about 120Hz monitors haven't you? The difference in feel between 60Hz and 120Hz is quite dramatic.

Not to mention my over-clocked 580's in SLI max out 100% trying to keep WoW at 60 FPS with 3x 30" in surround. :D A 5870 would barely get 10 FPS in WoW on my setup.
 
Just put my 570 in, on a fresh copy of Windows 7.
Getting about 30-35fps in Goldshire with max settings at 1920x1200 4xAA, and this is with the DX11 shortcut.
 
Yep, on my current 6870 eyefinity setup I can't do more than 2xaa on ultra settings, even with dx11 shortcut. My fps would dip below 30fps. If you haven't run WoW for a while, a lot has changed. You can't run ultra settings and AA on any machine as easily as before. I'm waiting on my 6950 right now, but I'm only expecting a small increase in frame rate.

Edit: Instances and non populated zones easily stay above 60.
 
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Gamerdad said:
Yep, on my current 6870 eyefinity setup I can't do more than 2xaa on ultra settings, even with dx11 shortcut. My fps would dip below 30fps. If you haven't run WoW for a while, a lot has changed. You can't run ultra settings and AA on any machine as easily as before. I'm waiting on my 6950 right now, but I'm only expecting a small increase in frame rate.
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It's the shadows, honestly.
Putting them on Low solves all the issues, although I still see dips into the mid-40's (looking into Stormwind from the air).

I don't play WoW, but I'm very disappointed with the performance increase.
Coming from my 4870, I see virtually no difference in fps. I quit WoW months ago, so I don't really mind.

Could be a CPU issue, however.
Please update on how your 6950 fares when you get it.
 
4320x900 (Eyefinity) Ultra Settings w/ 2x AA on a 5870 1GB and I get 30 FPS in major cities and 40-50 FPS in the world.
 
Getting 60 capped even with 8x AA and 16X AF in most places at 1920x1080 all settings Ultra. I have edge detect on so flying over areas with heavy foliage and transparancies dips to 54 FPS like terrokar or dragonblight. Haven't gotten into any big raids (ICC is not interesting anymore, lol) with this card but crowded parts of SW by the AH are still 60FPS.
Basically, it kicks ass.
 
loki7 said:
That aside, any benchmarks? Especially Crossfire.. stupid Tom's remarks of multi-GPUs scaling horrible in WoW has me wondering.
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Tom's hardware doesn't know it's ass from it's hand when it comes to doing proper benchmarking. The only reason crossfire didn't work in their benchmarks was due to pure incompetence.

Here are some benchmarks of WoW from a hardware website that actually knows what it's doing. The benchmarks are barely over a month old and were done with the 4.0 patch which is basically cataclysm:

"We tested in DirectX 11 mode with details set to "Ultra"."
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_580/20.html

Observe the 5970 dominate the GTX580 at anything resembling a high resolution and tell me Crossfire isn't working properly.

Crossfire not only works properly, WoW even has excellent triple and quad-GPU support.

eastmen said:
if you have a dx 11 card you could be seeing up to a 30% improvement if oyu enable dx 11 in the game
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DirectX11 mode in WoW also works great on DirectX10 and 10.1 hardware.
 
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I'm playing at 2560x1440 and it's screaming. I can bump up to 4x and beyond (which kind of pointless at that res unless you faceplant against the screen) and everything on ultra. The shadows in the city and the water slow it down a bit (also did on my 5970) but I could be a bit CPU limited (E8600).

A single 6970 can definitely handle this and other games even at the OCD levels of my IQ requirements. I like things smooth and pretty. I've turned every setting to omgwtf and it's really just the shadows in the cities. Nothing like the way Dalaran was in Wrath but a small slowdown in Org with Shadows on Ultra. Honest, high shadows look the same to me.

I play at Ultra and then turn down water and shadows to high = custom. I play at 2xAA with 16xAF. Best setting is 4x with edge detect. All the alpha AA is delicious on the trees, banners and billboard textures. Makes an old game look new. MLAA makes the text look weird but it does look good (a bit slow imo).

The game looks goooood. Get the 6970 if you like it, if you want to save some money, you could scale back a bit. All this really no different than my 5970 except slight color variation and less AF shimmering. Hope this helps.
 
So I have been investigating my issue of skippiness in WoW and I have realized that my 4890 is only using only 50% of its power.
So, I guess my bottleneck is my CPU? Or could it be my memory? That seems like the most logical explanation.
 
What does it look like to you? in the most graphically intense areas it might hit 70%.
 
Dark12 said:
What does it look like to you? in the most graphically intense areas it might hit 70%.
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your q9550 is over kill for wow. The 4890 might be to slow or another component of your system might be to little mabye ram count ?




Anyway after a certian point there is no reason to increase quality. If your at 1680x1050 and are getting 120fps with 4x fsaa , does it matter if your only getting 60fps with 8x fsaa or is 4x enough ? At some point its really splitting hairs
 
eastmen said:
well look from what i can tell

1) Its very hard to accurately benchmark because its a online mmorpg. Thus no matter what you do there will be diffrences , server load , people walking past you that weren't there on the previous test with another card etc.
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Somewhat untrue. You could benchmark a run of a 5-man heroic with the same group of 5 people. Generally, you'll have a 'rotation' of what abilities you use and the pulls of the same heroic/normal dungeon will have the same quantity of mobs and roughly be pulled at the same time. Since there shouldn't be any more time or less time spent drinking if gear/rotation remains constant. Really, most people who want a powerful video card for wow are serious about their wow gameplay and are more interested in raiding performance than anything else. Now what settings such as AA, eyefinity, ultra? would change per person.

Also, in Dalaran if I turn on 8xAA with a 5870 I run into a memory bottleneck that halts my game to about 4-5 fps. So your comment about even a ____ can run wow! lol doesn't take much system requirements, perhaps shows you couldn't have taken the time to commet on this thread as your either not up to date on what's required by wow, especially on a populated server or just play it and are repeating what the bandwagon says.
 
Crossfire is scaling very well with WoW as far as I can see. Though MLAA is not working at all with CF. I get extreme stuttering and turning off MLAA fixes it. I have not tried MLAA with CF off though. I have monitored GPU usage and I can hit 100% usage on both gpu's in very crowed areas. Playing at 25x16 Ultra settings 8xMSAA. I quit WoW about a year ago but hopped on a friends account to test the performance.
 
mgulbran said:
FYI Patch 2.3.2 put in a /timetest.

/timetest is a command that can be run to provide information on game performance. /timetest 0 turns the command off. When the command is issued, the next time a player uses a flight master to travel, certain statistics will be measured and displayed at the end of that flight. All weather effects and spawns are shutdown during the test.
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and what does a flight test measure ? Will it give you an accurate measure of performance in raids or in the worse towns ?
 
I'm asking because I simply don't know. During a flight you can have the same demands as you would in a raid , lots of characters on screen with lots of over draw and other features being used.

Not very hard to understand.

If it doen't give an accurate view of what performance will be like then who cares. I remember in age of conan there were some area's that i'd get over 120 fps in but the majority of the game would give me 30fps if the benchmark only tested the parts that got very high fps then it doesn't mean a thing to helping to benchmark.
 
All I know is that my 8800 is sure showing it's age in WoW performance :(

I'm sure my C2D 6750 doesn't help either :(
 
I have been playing WoW with DX11 enabled at a resolution of 3240 x 1920. Getting my hunter to 85 and I am 82 now. I have done my random dungeon of the day and questing. Running through Stormwind I have not notice any slow downs at all. I have everything maxed out with 16x anti in the game. This is being powered by 2 Nvidia 480's and an I7-950 @ 4.2Ghz turbo on. I also have WoW on a intel SSD drive. Ill make a video and run through the AH but I had no slow downs over the weekend. I dont even look at my FPS on my G19 anymore because every time I have looked it was over 60, it usually tops at 85 or so.
 
I play at 2560x1600 and am not entirely satisfied with the performance of my 4870X2. It does appear to scale to the two GPUs but not terribly well and I get a bit of stutter. I would like to go single GPU with my Sandy Bridge upgrade but I'm torn between a 6970 and a GTX580. I would like the best I can get out of a single GPU but the GTX580 seems to be asking almost $200 more for <10% better fps.
 
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