WoW on Notebook GPU's

Hello, I'm trying to find a notebook for my friend and his only requirement for the thing is that it can play World of Warcraft. I've run a few instances of the game at the same time on my 8600GT in my XPS but he's not really looking to spend that much so I was wondering if anyone knows how the 7950GTX or other older video cards stack up to the 8600GT. (Or if there are any notebooks that might be ideal for this situation.)

Thanks!

 

Check out the Gateway P-7811FX. It's got a 9800M GTS and it's on sale this week for $1249 with a free game even at Best Buy. It's got sound technology with Centrino 2, 7200 rpm HDD, 1066Mhz FSB and matching DDR3 RAM.

I know I'm not a Gateway fan either, but there P line has gotten great reviews. Just read up on it and see what you think, it doesn't even come with much bloatware at all.

 

WoW is an old game... it can run on good settings even with a current low-end dedicated videocard (ATI 2400 or even 3200.... or Nvidia 8400 or 9300).

 

It doesn't take much to run it. I currently play it with a GMA 900. Not deemed playable by some people, but managable at 20fps. Although i am getting a new laptop for $1000 (see below) and expect it to run effortlessly.

 

Look into a nice 15.4" with an 8400M or 9300M, as per Gophn's post. You should easily be able to find one for less than $1,000.

 

If you want to go cheap I would find a used machine with a 8600gt or around that area.

 

Before getting my new laptop (sig) I was playing WoW on a 6 year old Inspiron 8200 complete with a state-of-the-art 64MB nVidia Geforce Go card. WoW ran extremely well on it. Your friend will be fine with any current notebook with a dedicated video card. Just stay away from onboard graphics chips.

 

My old 6000z with a go 7200 played it perfectly.

 

Id be more concerned about Warhammer Online I feel it may take many of the current WoW players way since WoW for most is getting old.

Open Beta is 1 week away... $.99 for the Target Pre-Order box gives you a code for open beta so thats a good investment to see if you like a game or not. Never could go to Blockbuster Video and rent a game for a week for a $1.

 

I used to run WoW brilliantly on my old ASUS F3Ja, which had a ATI x1600 paired with 2048mb of Ram and a Core Duo T2300E [1.66GHz]

 

Whats the story behind this game, you think someone who used to play FFXI would enjoy it?

 

Well its closer to WoW than it is FFXI I played both.

Warhammer was the original that WoW copied all its ideas from, but it trys to fix the weak points of WoW with less grinding and more epic combat.

It has some PVE but its a vast majority based on PVP.

Some really great ideas there like public quest that everybody in the area can take on, and how PVE leads into PVP, Seiges, Epic Relm vs Relm combat.

Im going to be in the open beta and can give a better feedback after that. For now just looking at youtube videos and reading up on the fan sights and the offical page like is the best you can do.

I kind of think of it as Guildwars meets WoW, but thats a big generalization to make.

 

I had no problem running WOW when I had a Acer 5102, which had ATI Radeon xPress 1100 integrated graphics card. So if it runs well on that, then I guess anything within the past few years should do.

 

Hmm, it looks like it could be a fun game if it was free, but of course its not. Guess I'll just have to try the beta.

 

guild wars is the only thing comparable thats free that I know of, its also supposed to be very pvp based. I bought the game from a forum member here awhile back but only got like 4 hours into it and never played again. Something just did not feel right to me. Plus I know to really take the game seriously id have to get all the expansion's and that adds up to quite a bit.

 

my old 8600GT HP notebook ran FEAR relatively reasonably, so i think any modern notebook with discrete graphics will work fine with WoW.
i also ran NW2 on it and didn't have any problems.

 

anything above a 8400m gs is overkill for WoW, I can run WoW maxed native res (1280x800) at ~40fps so really WoW is not a problem for anything with a dedicated video card, its not even a problem for a hd 3200 intergated card

 

how much are they looking to spend?

 

guild wars by itself is a very immersive and BIG game. the adventures alone in single-player can last days....i loved it. it's the only MMORPG i played and it's gooood. considering i'm the single-player type.

 

My old lappy with a Geforce Go 7900TX (256mb) runs WOW at 60fps on 1900x1200 resolution. You'll be fine with almost ANYTHING current.

 

WoW runs on my inspiron 1525(Model: I1525-122B) which is only packing a x3100. 1024x768 with most everything is set to min except spell effects. BGs are very playable, it only really struggles in Shatt during primetime. BB has it on sale for 599.00 atm.

the 7811FX previously mentioned runs WoW w/ everything set to max @ 1900x1200. ( I had one for a few days but returned it due to pixel/stability issues). 1249.00 @ BB atm.

 

wow! Thanks everyone!

I was on vacation for the weekend and this was a wonderful surprise to come back to. Thanks for all of your help, I read the minimum requirements for the game but I didn't really know how well it would run with lesser GPU's (since my lowest is the 7950GTX) So its good to hear that it can run well on things as low as the *200 and *400 models of the GeForces. However he is a Hardcore WoW fanatic so I'll try to find one that will be sure to run well in even the most populated areas and times. Most likely a used 15 or 17 inch inspiron with a good dedicated GPU. Time to search the BST!

Thanks again everyone!

 

Check out that 7XXX FX Gateway its $1250 w/ free game right now and it would laugh at you for maxing out WoW. Its a Best Buy sale.

Since your looking for used, due to a budget seems like a solid recommendation to get something brand new for a similar price.

 

Blizzard like to advertise their game is for low end system because newbies and casual players don't get to play high-end dungeons. Most places in the game are easily accessible with low end system but once you get into a high end dungeon those systems will run poorly. And Blizzard expects hardcore gamers who reached those dungeons to have high end systems anyways.

My old C2D 2.33GHZ desktop system with a 8800GT 512MB ran just decently in those high end dungeons with 25 players, multiple bosses, and lots of NPC enemies. Black Temple, Mount Hyjal, Sunwell, etc.

If you play WOW casually, a low end system is fine but if you want to start raiding and get into high end content then you need a pretty good gaming rig.

 

Eh I think even a mid range sytem handles wow maxed out these days with ease. Even big raids.

Its not like the old days when you see 200 horde rushing into your town to tear it apart. The most you see now is going into Shatt and my old system I sold to a friend for $500 with a 7800gtx handles it easy.

warhammer online however looks to be more demanding and have MANY more people on screen at once with its huge relm vs relm combat system.

 

Pretty much an etch-a-sketch can almost play WoW... and that's not an insult. It was a design choice.

WoW chose lesser graphics on purpose much like Warhammer has in order to accomodate lesser machines.

From every screenshot and gameplay movie I have seen Warhammer is just barely better than WoW overall.

I do like the character motion and the armor sets much better than WoW's "hello-kitty" neon pink and purple armor sets though.

 

If playing WoW is your only requirements a 8600M GT would do just fine. That way you can play some other games as well, and the card is so common (and slowly being replaced now) that you can get great deals on it.

Back when I played WoW , my laptop had 64MB Ati Mobility Radeon 9200... I played at about 20-35FPS. Things were even smooth in cities. So I guess ANY recent card will handle WoW.

 

I have maxed WoW at 1920x1200 on an 8600mGTddr2 as well as maxed on a ATi 3200 IGP at 1280x800. I no longer player the game, but if I can max it on an IGP of today and play full res and med settings on a very old 200m IGP Im sure you can find something.