How do new video cards play wow?

[TotalLamer]

Wish people would stop spreading misinformation. I can't speak for SLI, but WoW definitely works with and takes advantage of Crossfire.

The only exception is that you have to run the game in fullscreen mode. Many people, especially those with multiple monitors, run in Windowed Maximized mode; this looks the same as fullscreen but you can move your mouse right off the screen onto another monitor without having to alt-tab, etc. If you run WoW in ANY form of windowed mode, it will only use one GPU.

Open up two copies of GPU-Z on a 2nd monitor while you play and observe the GPU usage for yourself. The improvement is very noticeable, at least with 4850 crossfire.

I've done this. Only 1 of my GPUs is ever active even on Fullscreen Mode. The reason Windowed Mode decreases performance in WoW is because it forces the card into 2D mode, which cuts down the clock speed pretty significantly.

 

[AltTabbins]

I've done this. Only 1 of my GPUs is ever active even on Fullscreen Mode. The reason windows mode decreases performance in WoW is because it forces the card into 2D mode, which cuts down the clock speed pretty significantly.

You are doing something wrong then. Wow is fully crossfire and sli capable. It may not use it to its full advantage, but it does work.

I used to run dual 7600gt's back before burning crusade and I noticed huge gains from running a single one. Not only that, you can run the monitor on top of your wow window and clearly see that both cards are being used.

 

[ellover009]

On window mode does the nv switch to 2d clock speeds like the ati?