Guild Wars on Apple Silicon: FPS & Supported Macs
Which Macs run GWonMac, what frame rates testers report by chip, and how resolution and render scale settings affect performance.
GWonMac runs on every Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 12 Monterey or later, from the M1 MacBook Air to the Mac Studio. Intel Macs are not supported.
What testers report
These numbers come from public tester reports in the alpha and beta threads on r/GuildWars. Nobody ran a lab benchmark; this is what people measured on their own machines:
| Mac | Reported performance |
|---|---|
| MacBook Air M1 (8 GB) | Steady 60 FPS |
| MacBook Air M2 | 60 FPS at full 5K, max settings |
| MacBook Pro M1 Pro (16 GB) | Constant 60 FPS at 4K, highest graphics settings |
| MacBook Air M4 | Solid 60 FPS, controller supported |
| M5-class machines | 100–120 FPS at max settings |
Actual performance depends on your machine, display resolution, render scale, and graphics settings.
Efficiency
On an M1 Pro, the alpha used about 70% of a single CPU core and around 500 MB of active memory during play, without any thermal warnings.
Resolution and render scale
The app renders at native Retina resolution on internal and external displays. You can change the render scale (1x, 1.5x, 2x) in the app menu under Guild Wars → Settings → Display. The client's own graphics settings apply on top. If the picture looks soft, raise the render scale or turn off post-processing effects.
Frame rate ceiling
Most testers see the client cap at 60 FPS on 60 Hz displays. Machines with higher-refresh displays have reported up to 120 FPS. GWonMac has no setting that unlocks frame rates beyond what the client and your display allow.
Install GWonMac and see what your machine does. If your numbers differ from the table, please share them on Discord.