I've mainly played WoW Classic for years, so I haven't upgraded most of my PC since 2019. The one exception is my RTX 3060 Ti. I recently bought a curved 3440×1440 ultrawide monitor, and I'm wondering whether my system will cope with WoW: Forever at that resolution.
The game's recommended specifications mention an RX 7000-series or RTX 40-series graphics card, although my 3060 Ti is above the minimum requirement. My current system has an i5-8400, a socket 1151 motherboard, 32GB of DDR4 memory, a 500GB SSD, a 1TB hard drive, and a 750W Corsair power supply.
I was considering replacing the motherboard and CPU with a B550 board and Ryzen 7 5800X3D, along with a Radeon RX 7600. However, I'm unsure whether the RX 7600 would actually be an upgrade over my 3060 Ti, whether I need an X3D processor for this game, and whether 3440×1440 is realistic or if I should plan to play in a lower-resolution window. What hardware would make the most sense for this game?
4 Answers
WoW-style games are often more CPU-limited than GPU-limited, especially in busy cities, raids, and large encounters. An X3D chip is a strong choice because the extra cache can help this type of game, but it isn’t strictly required. Your existing platform is fairly old, so a CPU and motherboard upgrade could make sense even if you keep the 3060 Ti.
Your RTX 3060 Ti should be fine. It’s faster than some of the newer entry-level cards listed as recommendations, and the game’s visuals aren’t especially demanding. If your current card already gives you a good experience, there’s no obvious reason to replace it just for WoW: Forever.
That’s reassuring. I was worried the recommended GPU list meant my 3060 Ti was suddenly obsolete.
If you’re spending enough to build a new platform, it may be worth looking at a faster modern GPU with 16GB of VRAM rather than the RX 7600. A Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB paired with a capable midrange CPU would give you more headroom at ultrawide resolution. That said, waiting until the game has been tested in real-world conditions is sensible, since the published recommendations don’t necessarily reflect how it will perform on your hardware.
Two people recommending the 9060 XT makes it tempting, but I may wait for performance testing before deciding whether I need a new GPU at all.
The RX 7600 would not be a meaningful upgrade—it’s generally slower than your 3060 Ti, so I wouldn’t spend money replacing the card with one. At 3440×1440, your current GPU should still be usable, and you probably won’t need to switch to windowed mode just because of the ultrawide resolution.
I probably won’t be playing many newer games, so keeping the 3060 Ti and focusing on a stronger gaming CPU may be the better plan.