World of Warcraft better under Boot camp?

Right now i have my old 1.83 ghz macbook upgraded to leopard and WoW...runs however so barely. I hear that the intel GMA 950 this macbook uses gets better drivers/higher VRAM allocation under windows. If i were to boot camp the machine with a small partition just for when i play WoW on the go would windows offer me better performance in WoW?

Exact Macbook Specs are...

1.83 ghz Core duo
2 GB 667 mhz DDR2 ram
320 GB 5400 RPM HD
Leopard OSX

 

dont think you ll get any better experience with gma under windows whatsoever. Maybe 3-4 more fps, not worth it imo.

 

gamers like to compare benchmarks.. and if something is minorly better in a benchmark 9even if its not noticeable to the average user) its usually blown out of proportion.. like "its soooo much better in Windows than OSX" when it might be like 0.25% faster

 

Here's my complete opinion:

First, go ahead and expect to run this in bootcamp windows. As far as performance differences, I can't say for sure. I know that in Starcraft 2 there USED to be a significant difference (at least 50% as of 10.6.4-5) but now the performance is basically the same in my testing (as of 10.6.7).

I'm guessing the performance improvements came from both sides, I think the OS graphics performance got better and maybe the game engine has also had a few tweaks since release.

I would STILL recommend bootcamp for you and I still use bootcamp for gaming myself.

The intel gma parts are known for being notoriously poor with OpenGL. Even if the game performance is generally equitable across both mac and PC, if you have a part that isn't ready to perform well in OpenGL, then you aren't going to get good performance on the mac.

The other thing is mousing performance. For whatever reason, I have had significant trouble getting acceptable in-game mousing in mac os x. The trackpad works fine but the external does not. There is some sort of weird negative acceleration that is basically unfixable in Blizzard games in os x. It may not bother you, but it certainly bothers me and many others (check google)

TL;DR

- Nvidia and ATI chips probably get similar performance in Blizzard games whether they use OS X (has to be 10.6.7+) or Windows (anything XP+). Intel chips probably get better performance in Windows (still wont be great)

- Mousing performance in OS X is unusual with an external mouse. The track pad works fine. This problem is not solved for me with any third party software in blizzard games (tried them all!). If you intend to use an external mouse to play, windows is the fix if you notice the issue.

 

I saw some slight performance improvements in Windows over OSX back when I played WoW, but that may just be as dependant on what I had for breakfast as anything else.

I would definitely agree with the last point made above. Mouse performance is...weird in OSX. You don't always notice it until you boot into Windows, or vice versa--then it becomes really obvious and it takes a while to get used to. This problem is compounded by the fact that some mouse manufacturers don't provide full (or sometimes any) OSX driver support. For example, Logitech didn't have a good OSX mouse control interface until 2 years ago if i recall (maybe even later)...Setpoint/LCC still sucks IMO, but it's probably the best currently out there unfortunately. Razer barely offers any configurable options for the Mamba in OSX at all--though you can at least set *some* of the configurations in Windows. I'm not sure that Roccat even offers any OSX support period (it may, as I don't have one; but that was my concern when I was considering buying the Kone+).

I have no idea how you play any game with a trackpad though. Too skilled for me

One quirk of OSX is that whereas in Windows you typically alt-tab to minimize the WoW screen, in OSX you tend to alternate between full-screen and windowed mode instead. I actually prefered it like that, since I can do other things in the background while still keeping an eye out on the screen. Maybe you can do the same in Windows--can't remember really.

 

pretty sure he doesnt, its impossible.

 

Yeah i definitely do NOT expect great i have a fullon DTR Vaio for that and a desktop as well. However for travel the macbook is my machine of choice bar none and buying a new one with a wedding ahead is not feasable for another year or more...so if i could sustain 15-16 FPS under windows boot camp (not sustainable in OSX right now) it would be worth the purchase of a windows key to boot camp for me.

I was going to actually buy one of the new Aluminum 13 inchers this year but we got screwed royally on her portion of the taxes.

 

what framerate and settings do you get in os x/

 

Like 8-10 outside with EVERYthing set to minimum and 800x600 resolution. While being outside.....only way its playable is setting your camera so you dont look at the horizon at all only view mostly ground just enough to see the enemy then it's 12-13.

 

its probably the fact you are still on 10.5.

If you want to game.. your always best bet is running the current OS where all the updates and graphics drivers updates take place. Gaming is much faster and better on 10.6 than on 10.5

 

I'd even say the latest version of snow leopard is pretty much necessary for decent performance.

Alternatively, any version of windows will get you performance that is at least as good as the best performance you can on the mac.

One of the big things is driver availability on windows. You have the most up to date options there. No matter what though, you are fighting an uphill battle. The GMA 950 was not meant to play games at all.

 

Still being backed by a core duo and 2GB of ram it should maintain 15-18 fps on lowest at 800x600..iv'e had netbooks under windows 7 that have done it. Mac GPU drivers just suck for gaming performance. But still once i get a newer model it may not big as big of an issue. I have not tested WoW under osx on the wifes MBP 13 inch 9400m yet.

 

Maybe. I guess it depends on how many people are in the area and such. Mac GPU drivers are getting to the point where they are OK, but you definitely need to be on 10.6.7, and again, the intel drivers may be worse off than the nvidia/amd drivers.

 

the Intel drivers in 10.6.7 are good.... at least with my HD 3000 they are. In a few games I play (Wineskin ports) my Core i7/Intel HD 3000 actually gets noticeably higher frame rates than my MBP13" C2D/Geforce 320m combo.

Even in a few "native" games they seem identical.

 

the hd 3000 is a significantly different part to the gma 950. I'm sure their driver development is very much so separate.

 

Seeing as I played through Portal 2 single player and co-op using my trackpad, yeah, it's really not.

As to the OP's question, WoW under bootcamp isn't noticeably better than the OSX version as compared with other games. Blizzard has really done a pretty good job of optimizing the OSX version of the game.

 

There isn't a blizzard game I would want to play with a trackpad. I could manage Portal because the game doesn't require any fast pacing, but it was still a pain when I experimented with it. Pretty much any first person shooter (portal isn't really a shooting game) is not really playable with a trackpad, nor is SC2, in my opinion.

 

It's definitely not optimal (I'd rather have a dedicated mouse any day of the week) but I've had no problem using the trackpad in a pinch. WoW is just fine with the trackpad actually; I like how responsive it is compared to other laptop's trackpads.

Hell, I've even played TF2 with just the trackpad, didn't do too shabby all things considered!

 

The problem is that all these games are designed for a two button mouse, not a trackpad, and not even a "great trackpad".

While I agree that the mac trackpad is great compared to other trackpads, it still isn't any good at performing some particular gestures designed to be executed on a mouse, that many of these games use. The problem is that you can really only do one gesture at a time with the track pad. Scrolling, left clicking, right clicking, and aiming the cursor are all independent gestures on a track pad that really can't be done simultaneously. With a cheap mouse, you can aim and click at the same time, and won't perform the incorrect gesture because everything is tactile.

The other big problem is that the finger motion along the pad doesn't have the same fidelity or precision as a cheap USB mouse.

In my opinion, your ability to deal with the track pad speaks more to human adaptability than the pad's suitability for gaming.