Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft
As usual in our WoW testing, we used Fraps to measure frame rates on an automated trip from Crushblow to The Krazzworks, changing graphics quality presets between flights and leaving MSAA at 1x.
We saved some good news for last. The nine million or so WoW subscribers may be relieved to know that all four of our platforms can play their favorite MMORPG at low settings. Even the Core i3-3220 averages more than two times the average FPS requirement. The trick with WoW, though, is that the game adds a pretty sizable processing load as you step up the preset chain. This is obvious as you fly over the landscape. In Low settings, the trees are largely denuded and fog obscures a lot of ground detail. WoW reveals quite a bit even in stepping up to Medium detail.
Again, WoW delivers the most visual punch in stepping from Low to Good settings. The vibrancy of scenes really pops as you lose a lot of that obscuring mist. Textures gain more depth and shadows more realism at higher settings, but if you only have enough overhead for one or two steps up the quality scale, AMD’s Trinity will get you there while the latest Core i3 chips will not.
World of Warcraft's Good quality preset gives you the best balance of graphics quality and performance on AMD's A10-5800K. The High quality setting is just too demanding, particularly if you find yourself in busy raids.
Still, let’s not lose sight of the fact that all four of these chips deliver excellent playability at Low settings. If you’re more concerned about enjoying the game and its community and less worried about the look of it all, your barrier to entry in a high-def setting remains low.
