Best Graphics Cards for WOW in 2023

World of Warcraft is a multiplayer online game that was released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment, taking the gaming world by storm instantly. Even now it is considered one of the best multiplayer games online with users increasing on a daily basis. 

The reason this is possible is that, although the game is famous for being highly complex, but the system requirements are not that high. The game can easily be played on the lower end, entry-level computers.

Below is a list of the best graphics cards for the wow the computer industry can offer you.

List of 8 Best Graphics Cards for WOW

MODEL	CAPACITY	PRICE
GeForce GTX 1660 Super	6GB	Buy on Amazon
SAPPHIRE Radeon Pulse RX 580	8GB	Buy on Amazon
MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950	2GB	Buy on Amazon
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti	4GB	Buy on Amazon
EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti Superclocked 2GB	2GB	Buy on Amazon
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 Superclocked	2GB	Buy on Amazon
MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560	2GB	Buy on Amazon
MSI Gaming Radeon RX 570 ARMOR 8G OC	8GB	Buy on Amazon

Price Range

When I’m writing this review, it is better than the RX 580 in price and most people won’t find it outside of their budget (exceptions are there)… 

And as for now, it is a budget-friendly option for gamers who are into WOW, and it can be said that this one is the best if the price and performance are compared with other GPUs in this list.

Performance

The 1660 Super is a pretty balanced GPU for WOW… and exceeds the minimum requirement range as well. 

It can easily run the WOW without any issues… also, if this GPU is backed with the right and powerful CPU then you can significantly improve your gaming experience. 

Specifications

It features some solid features that include the new Turing architecture that lets it achieve some high-level realism in the game along with enhancing its speed and power… 

On top of that, it is backed with dual fans that ensure that the GPU is cool under high load… and the best thing is that the fans are not loud. 

Drawbacks

No significant drawbacks were found in this GPU, but there are some that should be mentioned here… and one of them is that it lacks the RTX features and a missing DisplayPort and HDMI port. Also, no ray tracing is supported.

Price Range

The price may seem a bit high but the performance should be your top priority… It will be much better to invest one time than to bang your head every time you try to play a game and it starts to lag…

Also, the price is high due to the fact that it adds a huge value to the performance of your PC than any other in this price range. 

Performance

It has all the features that a gamer needs… Not only that it comes with the 256-bit memory bus that makes it even better at transferring data from the main memory to the CPU — in simple words, better speed, you can say…

Furthermore, this piece has the capability to easily run the AAA games without any significant effort on high settings. Considering the performance and price, the RX 580 is a beast. 

On a side note, you wouldn’t want to skip on this powerhouse if gaming is what you’re all about.

Specifications

The RX 580 works tremendously well with the WOW and most of the players have already discussed the performance of the RX 580 on the blizzard’s forum… They have mentioned that the experience was much better.

Furthermore, it will serve your gaming experience better on the 1080p as mentioned by the players on the forum…

Drawbacks

The only drawback that you can face with the RX 580 is that it consumes more power when under pressure/underload. Apart from that, there’s no significant drawback that can be stated here.

Price Range

NVIDIA released, GeForce GTX 950 in august of 2015. MSI’s card only has a slight increase in the price range, which comes with an overclocked memory, and other fancy customizations. 

This card has a highly solid and cost-effective footing and can easily be afforded by players who just need enough performance to play the world of warcraft.

Performance

For the price range, the graphics card provides 80 fps at medium and a whopping 120 fps at low in-game video settings and high screen resolution (of 1080p). Even with the game being played on high graphic settings, you can easily get around 60 fps.

The card has a video memory of 2GB, which you usually do not get around this price range.

Specifications

Although the design of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 is similar to the design of the GTX 960, it is much better simply due to its price-performance ratio. While GTX 960 is another very solid card you can use, the GTX 950 has the same specifications in addition to its very affordable price. 

And with MSI’s additions to the card, such as the company’s signature cooling system of dual fan cooling and a base clock of 1127 MHz (slightly better than the 1024 MHz that NVIDIA offers), this graphics card may be the best one you can get to play a casual game of world of warcraft.

Drawbacks

With so many positives that come with this graphics card, there is a slight issue of the relatively less amount of CUDA cores (NVIDIA’s processing units) and texture units as compared to the others of the same series. 

This directly translates to the fact that although playing world of warcraft on medium to high resolutions (low to medium video settings) would work just fine for you. It would be better if you did not run the game at ultra-resolutions even if your computer supports it.

Price Range

Released by NVIDIA in October 2016, this GPU has been around for 5 years now. At the time of its release, it had a price point of an average mid-ranged graphics card, but after modifications by Gigabyte, it now retails for a higher price than it did before. This could be considered a good deal, but not an ideal one due to its repeated increase in price.

The graphics card we are talking about here is a 4GB one, but depending on the manufacturer, it can have a size of 2GB or even 3GB.

Performance

Although this card is slightly more expensive than the MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950, it still is an option we would very much like to put out here. For its price range, it provides a solid frame rate per second of 80 at a resolution of 1080p when running World of Warcraft at high video settings, which is slightly better than the GeForce GTX 950.  

So according to that, the game can run at 120 fps easily when the resolution is high, but the in-game video settings are low. If you put the resolution at 1440p, the graphics card can render 60 fps at a medium to high in-game video setting. And at 4k, the graphics card can get the fps of 30 at high resolution.

Specifications

The gigabyte graphics card offers a wind force 2x cooling system, which features two unique 80mm cooling fan blades and semi-active fans that dissipate the heat from the system for better performance. 

The overclocking in this card is pretty simple, you do not have to have much knowledge of overclocking to be able to do it. With a base clock of 1316 MHz and a boost clock of 1430 MHz (not overclocked), this graphics processor probably going to meet all of your requirements for playing world of warcraft.

Drawbacks

To be very honest, this graphics card does not hold a lot of drawbacks except for the fact that there are a few graphics cards that are slightly better than this one and are about the same price range. We are going to be discussing them below.

Price Range

So here we are, with another graphics card that is NVIDIA-powered GPU. This one is another low/medium-end card that will help you run World of Warcraft if you want to play the game casually. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti GPU was released by NVIDIA in February 2014, which makes it the oldest one on this list as of yet. 

This also had a starting price of an average mid-ranged GPU making it the same as NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950, but when customized by EVGA, the price point predictably increased. Which makes it close to the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.

Performance

After all the rage about its price, one question comes to mind. Is it worth it? Will it play World of Warcraft properly? Honestly, the performance is going to be similar to GeForce GTX 950. It will play the game smoothly at low to medium in-game video settings but at 1080p, but it will not do much at high in-game video settings and higher resolutions.

Specifications

This GPU is one of the first variants based on the Maxwell architecture which makes it newer than the Kepler architecture. This version of the GeForce GTX 750 Ti by EVGA has a set of characteristics that make it different and much more advanced.

It has a specially designed cooling system with a copper core insert and an increased fan size of 12%. It also comes overclocked with its base and boost clock being 1176 MHZ and 1254 MHz, respectively. Benchmark shows that this graphics card has a 6% better performance than its reference GPU.

Drawbacks

The performance would not be the best at high settings and resolutions higher than 1080p. And honestly, it is slightly pricier than similar performing graphics cards.

Price

Surely, it has a higher price than any GPU that is listed on this list… but the price is justified if you look at the performance it has.

If you’re a true gamer and have an understanding of solid investment then this GPU is the go-to product for you. Not only it has powerful and solid performance but it can be the last investment you’re going to make on your build.

Performance

The best thing about this GPU is that the all-time new Turing architecture that enables 6x better performance if compared with previous-generation GPUs… 

On top of that, it brings real-time Ray-tracing to the games to make it more realistic and crystal clear to you… furthermore, it smoothly runs the WOW and the interesting part about the RTX 2060 is that it can handle all the other games in a better setting.

Specifications

It has the revolutionary RTX platform that brings up real-time ray tracing, 58% more fin area for enhanced heat dissipation.
On top of that, it has an improved heat spreader that enhances the contact with the GPU to efficiently transfer the heat further away from the GPU so it is consistently cool. Furthermore, it features a hydraulic-dynamic bearing fan that provides better performance in helping to keep the GPU cool.

Drawbacks

The graphics card is good and has good performance considering the time it was released. But it consumes more power as compared to the previous generation cards… But if better performance is your only concern then give it a try. 

Price Range

To be very honest, this graphic card, for its price range, probably has the best performance out of the ones we have already discussed. The AMD GPU was released in July 2017 with a starting price of a lower-end GPU. And like the rest, the MSI version, with a few customizations, is slightly higher in price (but is still considered a lower-end graphics card)…

Performance

This card, like we discussed before, was released in 2017 with a different set of sizes. Although the one we are discussing right now is 2GB, it is available in 4GB as well. The question here is, does this card perform well with World of Warcraft? Yes! It performs great! It can achieve a solid 90-100 fps at high in-game graphics at a resolution of 1920 x 1080. 

Even if you bump it up a little at 1440p, it will be able to run at 60 fps at medium to high graphics. Isn’t it great?

Specifications

The card is small, to say the least, it has a low-profile design which makes it light and saves space. It also comes with an overclocking utility. And has a factory overclock from 1275MHz to 1320 MHz.

Drawbacks

Honestly, when it comes to the negatives, this card does not have any. In fact, it may be the best one on this list of best GPU for wow.

Price Range

Another GPU from the Radeon RX 500 Series stands its ground against the others in this list. This GPU was released in April 2017 with a price of an average mid-ranged card which increased slightly after the MSI customizations.

The card itself is a little higher in price than the Radeon RX 560 (of the same family), which is understandable, considering that the gaming performance has a slight improvement as well.

Performance

World of warcraft runs silky smooth with a Radeon RX 570, it could run at a consistent 120 fps at high game graphics at a resolution of 1920 x 1080. But the real redeeming quality is the fact that it runs at about 80-90 fps at 1440p resolution (with high in-game graphics) and a solid 60 fps at 4k resolution (with similar high in-game graphics).

Specifications

This card offers a lot for its price range, with its factory-overclocked memory, and the classy black & white design. It also has the Zero Frozr — MSI’s signature noise eliminating technology that was introduced in 2008. Equipped with a dual fan system and having the base and boost clock of 1168 MHz and 1268 MHz respectively, this card is one of the best you can have.

Drawbacks

Just like the one before this, I believe the RX 570 ARMOR 8G OC does not have many negatives about it. So, let us move on, shall we?

GPU for World of Warcraft

A Buyer’s Guide

World of Warcraft is a highly celebrated game, with not a lot of competitors when it comes to other online multiplayer games. If simply put, the game is massive. But not in terms of its requirements for a good GPU, surprisingly. 

Rather than a good graphics card, you might want to look for a good CPU for the game, because the world of warcraft is more CPU intensive than it is a GPU. With that being said, you cannot overlook the importance of a graphics card either. Below are a few ways you can use to help you buy the right graphics card for World of Warcraft.

First things first, let us go through the basics before we go into the nerdier details.

What is a Graphics Card?

We will go into much more specific terms, but for now, let us just define our reasons for writing this article in the first place.

A graphics card or a video card is the little expansion component (or can be integrated on the motherboard) inserted into your computing device, that does the graphical work for the CPU. It displays the graphical data with more clarity, color, definition, and resolution.

Before we had graphic cards, this work was done by the processor.

Although the terms GPU and Graphics cards are used interchangeably, they are not exactly the same. The GPU is the actual processing chip on the graphic card, which in addition to all the components around it makes up a graphics card. Most GPUs are usually made by the two monster technology companies i.e., NVIDIA and AMD (our graphic cards have these very GPUs as well).

Important Things to Understand

Difference between the integrated and dedicated graphics card

An integrated graphics card is one that shares its RAM with the CPU and does not have its own processing unit. These cards are usually pre-installed on the computer and are just enough to do simple tasks but are definitely not enough to play World of Warcraft or any game for that matter.

A dedicated graphics card is the one that has its own processing unit, the GPU (details explained above). These graphic cards have their own RAMs called the VRAMs (video) and allow the user to do the more graphically rigorous work, like playing World of Warcraft, of course.

Memory

The first spec to consider is memory. The more memory your graphics card has, the faster your game is going to be. But a good graphics card is not characterized by the amount of memory it has, you do not necessarily have to buy a really large graphics card for your game to run better when you can easily get those results with a medium/ low memory card.

Also, invest money in a good CPU.

Save Some Money for the CPU

Like I mentioned before, you cannot have a proper gaming system if you spend all the money on buying an expensive, over-the-top graphics card without keeping in mind the importance of a good gaming processor. Make sure to buy a good processor that will last for a considerable time while you change and upgrade other components around it.

Consider the minimum graphic requirements for World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is not a very demanding game, although it does require its own set of specifications, by comparing it to other newer games you can see that it does not require as much. The minimum GPU requirement for it on the official Blizzard website is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, or an AMD Radeon RX 560 (which we have above in our list).

Is your Monitor’s resolution Enough?

Although most low to medium-end gaming graphic cards will not be able to perform well when it comes to high-demanding games at a resolution of 1080p (with high in-game graphics). Games like world of warcraft, as we mentioned before, are graphically simple and can even be played at 4k high resolution with an average of 60fps.

So, your monitor’s resolution is, for sure, going to be compatible with the graphic cards we mentioned above if we consider World of Warcraft.

Can you Afford an Expensive Graphics Card?

Just like when you are considering a graphic card’s memory, keep in mind the fact that higher-priced premium graphic cards are not always going to be the best option. Especially where World of Warcraft is concerned. In the list of cards, we have above, all the cards are categorized in low to mid-range price points and work smoothly with the game.

Other things to consider:

• Clock Speeds
• Processors (CUDA cores or Stream Processors)
• Memory Bandwidth
• Thermal Design Power and Cooling systems

Conclusion

Just like any other game, World of Warcraft has its own fair share of graphic card options and problems. This is exactly why we wrote this guide for you. In addition to your own research, you can go through our list of graphic cards to particularize your own list and have a better idea of what would work best for you and your computing system.

For your ease, here are our recommendations:

1. SAPPHIRE Radeon Pulse RX 580 — comes at first in our recommendation list because you can’t find a better option than this for gaming…
2. MSI Gaming Radeon RX 570 — this beautiful monster uplifts your gaming experience to a noticeable height.
3. GeForce GTX 1660 Super — lets you explore new levels of realism with its new architecture and the dual-fans help it be the coolest.

Do let us know if we were of any help to you, in the comment section below.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)