World of Warcraft has yet another expansion pack and this time the vast world of Azeroth is split asunder. The well known landscapes have changed, two new races are playable and flying has become possible in old Azeroth. With every game expansion,PSP Games, Blizzard updates the graphics in World of Warcraft and the Cataclysm expansion is no exception. Cataclysm may bring freshness to a game which is experiencing record breaking popularity and longevity, but it also requires more of the computer and there are tweaked WoW Cataclysm requirements for systems.

The new minimum machine requirements may exceed the capacity of some older machines. This may be especially true for those whose computers were barely able to handle prior WoW releases such as WOLTK. It is also worth remembering that Blizzard has been known to change system requirements after an expansion has been released. That means that the minimum Cataclysm machine requirement could conceivably be upgraded making WoW Cataclysm unplayable on machines that barely meet the requirements.

Minimum Requirements for the Mac

World of Warcraft has versions that support both Mac and PC operating systems. The WoW Cataclysm requirements state that Mac OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.4 or newer releases should run with Cataclysm. Although OS 10.4.11 might run WoW Cataclysm, it is not supported. It is also possible that unsupported MAC OS versions might run for a while and suddenly stop working.

The requirements for MAC memory have increased as well and 2GB is the minimum recommended for Cataclysm and even then, busy cities may cause the user with minimum requirements some problems. 25 GB available hard drive space and a 4X DVD drive. An Intel processor is required for Cataclysm. There are no video card minimums because all MAC video cards for systems with an Intel processor work fine according to Blizzard support.

Minimum Requirements for the PC

The Cataclysm expansion for the PC requires Windows versions XP, XP64, Vista, Vista64, or Windows 7 as well as the latest updates and service packs. 1 GB of RAM is the minimum memory requirement. The processor should be Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500 or greater. Although only NVIDIA, GeForce, FX, and ATI Radeon 9500 video cards are mentioned under the requirements, other video cards are also supported.

A 4X DVD ROM player is required for installation or the downloadable installer may be used. 25 GB of free hard drive space are also required. A broad band internet connection is listed as a requirement also.

Meeting minimum requirements often will start the game but performance may well be less than satisfactory with bare minimums. Recommended Cataclysm requirements have also been published and WoW support recommends these for smoother and more satisfactory game play. It should be remembered also that Blizzard support also states that game graphics may be changed and tweaked and minimum requirements might also be upgraded.

Cataclysm is an upgrade to World of Warcraft and one of the requirements Cataclysm is that the player has an existing account that is Wrath of the Lich King enabled in order to apply the upgrade to Cataclysm. Minimum system requirements for all expansions of WoW have been upgraded, not just the Cataclysm. That is because all players can enjoy the improved graphics, content exclusive to the Cataclysm expansion is available only to those who have upgraded.