FPS issues in WoW

[zaxx_05]

My setup:

Processor: AMD FX-8150 CPU (8x 3.60GHz/8MB L2 Cache)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 -- AMD 990FX w/ 4x PCI-E 2.0 x16)
Memory: 8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR3-1600
Video Card: EVGA 012-P3-1472-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) SuperClocked 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5

When I turn v-sync off, I get 100+ while idle in the main towns. The problem that I'm running into is during raids (25man). My fps will drop as low as 12-15 and turning v-sync on doesn't help the issue. I do run 2 monitors at 1920x1080 so that would have to be taken into consideration. I also have WoW installed on an SSD but since I'm at work, I don't have that information readily available but I don't think that is going to be my issue.

I've had my computer shut itself off a few times when playing before (assuming due to high temps) but when i monitor them, both appear to be normal. Video card usually never goes above 70C and my cpu's socket temp is generally around 63C. These values are based on software (speedfan, argus monitor, etc).

Any insight or help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Sunius]

Are you running any addons? If so, try disabling them!

 

[stun effect]

My setup:

Processor: AMD FX-8150 CPU (8x 3.60GHz/8MB L2 Cache)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 -- AMD 990FX w/ 4x PCI-E 2.0 x16)
Memory: 8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR3-1600
Video Card: EVGA 012-P3-1472-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) SuperClocked 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5

When I turn v-sync off, I get 100+ while idle in the main towns. The problem that I'm running into is during raids (25man). My fps will drop as low as 12-15 and turning v-sync on doesn't help the issue. I do run 2 monitors at 1920x1080 so that would have to be taken into consideration. I also have WoW installed on an SSD but since I'm at work, I don't have that information readily available but I don't think that is going to be my issue.

I've had my computer shut itself off a few times when playing before (assuming due to high temps) but when i monitor them, both appear to be normal. Video card usually never goes above 70C and my cpu's socket temp is generally around 63C. These values are based on software (speedfan, argus monitor, etc).

Any insight or help would be greatly appreciated!

Well it sounds as if you dont have enough cooling or your power supply doesn't have enough juice. First are you OC your cpu or gpu, what is the wattage on your psu, and do you have decent airflow?

 

[zaxx_05]

My PSU is 1000W and I haven't messed with overclocking as I really don't have much experience with it. I suspected cooling could be an issue. For the time being, I have the side of my case open with a small fan blowing in while i wait for a couple more case fans to arrive. Since doing that, I haven't had any shut offs either by the way.

 

[Sunius]

So what addons are you running?

 

[stun effect]

My PSU is 1000W and I haven't messed with overclocking as I really don't have much experience with it. I suspected cooling could be an issue. For the time being, I have the side of my case open with a small fan blowing in while i wait for a couple more case fans to arrive. Since doing that, I haven't had any shut offs either by the way.

Well my advice is to pull the side off your case and run a stress test on your system. Put a fan on the case on high and then run the test again w/ your current setup. If you get a different result it was probably a cooling problem.

 

[zaxx_05]

I typically do run with quite a few addons but most are very lightweight. I've tried running without the bulkier addons like recount, arkinventory, etc but I'm still plagued with the spotty fps. I can't remember off the top of my head how much memory is tied up in them but I can definitely check when I'm home here in a couple hours.

 

[Sunius]

Lag comes from outdated addon CPU usage. If you could disable them all for a brief amount of time, you could really check if there's an addon that's causing you to lag.

 

[zaxx_05]

I ran some benchmarks with 3dMark11 and this is my result. Not sure if you can tell much from this or not.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4435219


I've also tried disabling every addon and I still have the same issues. I monitored my load percentages during the most intense fights (heroic ultraxion and madness ) and this is the result:

GPU: <60%
CPU: <40%
RAM: <60%

 

[Sunius]

Looks like it's a CPU bottleneck: World of warcraft uses 2 cores and that's 25% of your 8-core CPU. I'd try either reducing shadows, or overclocking.

 

[zaxx_05]

I took your advice and I went about overclocking my bulldozer.. Currently have it at 4.4gHz and still fine on temps.

Here is the latest 3dMark11 results: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4442933


I started looking for places outside of raid where I can test this, and I think I might have found a good place. I've found that if I enter just inside the Firelands daily portal I can get maximum fps (100+) by looking down or off the side of the world. However, if i turn toward the the questing area.. it will drop down to the 25-30 range and that's with me doing absolutely nothing. So you can only imagine what it would do if I had 24 others in my party going crazy.

 

[Sunius]

Did overclocking help? Could you take a snapshot of your settings? Are you sure you're running fullscreen mode?

 

[zaxx_05]

I'm not quite sure which settings you were wanting so I went ahead and did sceencaps of everything.

CPU Settings: http://i.imgur.com/ZXT0z.png

nVidia Settings: http://i.imgur.com/kwUYD.png

WoW Video Settings: http://i.imgur.com/ru24v.png http://i.imgur.com/Jc2uZ.png



And from what I can tell, there's no difference between full-screen and window mode in terms of fps.

 

[Sunius]

I think I have found your issue. In nvidia control panel you've set options similar to what you've set in WoW, and they must be miscommunicating, hence the lag. Try settings like these:

 

[stun effect]

I run a fx-4170 w/ gtx 560 and get around 60 FPS on ultra with 8XAA. When my framerates drop during raiding i'm still above 30's no problem, so the 8core should have no problem running it all. When i first built my computer i was plagued with random issues of which took me around a day to solve all of them. Make sure your drivers are all up to date, set wow's priority under task manager to high, disable processes running in the background (suggest gamebooster-pretty much dummy proof), disable all addons, change video settings to max performance through Nvidia's control panel, and as long as you dont have a failing component try re-installing WOW.

Also as a side note your temps are WAY higher than what i have on a 4.3Ghz FX-4170, during hard gaming i'm in 30's with stock cooler.