Lich King System Requirements Increase

For the first time since World of Warcraft was released back in the fall of 2004, the basic system requirements for the game have increased. They're some relatively minor changes, but it might impact some people, especially since Blizzard prides itself on developing an MMO that can be played on some pretty low-end machines.

The new minimum PC system requirements are as follows:

• Windows XP SP3 or Vista SP1.
• Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1.5 GHz.
• RAM: 512 MB (1 GB for Vista).
• Video: GPU with hardware transform and lighting and 32 MB VRAM.

Much of this is the same, but it appears WoW will no longer support Windows 2000 and the processor minimum specs have increased from 800MHz.

My computer isn't new by any means, its probably middle- to low-end, but it beats all these minimum requirements. I updated the beta last night and logged on, then bummed around Borean Tundra a bit - my frame rates were pretty much the same as they are in Outland zones, although some of the new effects they use drop them drastically (for example, the fog effect along the coast just south of the Alliance starting town).

Presently, I'm not worried about my ability to play the expansion. Things shouldn't be a problem. Although, I will try to figure out how I can improve frame rates in those "special" areas that have different environmental effects going on.