WoW Dragonflight CPU performance comparison

This is an update/re-test of my standard WoW benchmarks done during Dec 2023/Jan 2024 with the addition of Valdrakken for Dragonflight. The tests were done on a test platform using RTX 3070 GPU with 2x8GB 3200CL16 RAM kit and using latest drivers on Windows 11. Benchmark was run at 1080p resolution using mode 7 preset unless listed otherwise.

Warning: at the time of testing WoW has a problem with AMD RDNA 2/3 graphics cards which prevents them from running over the DX12 API.

Combat benchmark

Any bigger combat scenario or mass player activity will quickly increase the complexity of the world state around the player. Game manages this state on a single CPU core which quickly becomes a bottleneck.

Intel 12th gen and Ryzen 5800X3D are GPU limited in this benchmark. Other CPUs can't handle the world state as fast as those three CPUs.

Player hubs

Atal'Dazar harbor view showcases a modern zone that takes advantage of long draw distance. It's not as complex as more packed player hubs so the 1% low FPS is more in line with the average (much less likely to stutter).

Legion Dalaran was quite problematic to load during Legion and now still poses a challenge due to many assets and complex geometry. There are nearly no players there so the benchmark is not limited by players' activity.

Valdrakken is the current player hub. It has a complex modern zone and a lot of players posing a challenge for GPU, single, and multi-core CPU performance. On weaker systems, I observed quite a bit of stutter as the zones and players loaded in and got rendered. Note that due to high players' activity this benchmark is hard to replicate for exact same numbers so the margin of error is higher for this benchmark.

Graphics intensive benchmarks

Ardenweald in widefield views is quite GPU demanding and can be used as a marker of GPU compute requirements for future zones. CPU plays a role as well but as you can see weaker CPUs aren't as severely impacted as in a combat or player hub scenario.

Old and very basic zones like Stonard camp can be used to test overall system performance (latency, RAM timings, and more). The FPS numbers are also similar to those you will get in WoW Classic versions.

RAM timings and frequency

There is always some performance to be gained from better RAM throughput and tighter timings. Usually, a good kit and its XMP profile should be enough to get the most out of it. You should have at least 16GB dual-channel RAM in your system.

For methodology and WoW benchmarking you can read the performance analysis. If you have problems you can check troubleshooting guide. You can also check one of my previous benchmarks as well ;)