Some help with new system performance

[Klown]

I upgraded my system recently from an older barton core AMD processor to a Phenom system. I'm an avid WoW gamer, on the old system I would regularly get about 10 FPS during raids...new system is seeing about the same performance and I'm wondering what, if anything, I can tweak to fix that?

New build:
Phenom 9600
MSI K9A2 Platinum
2 GBs Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2 8500
ATI Radeon HD 3870 card 512 MB(sapphire)
Raptor 150 HD
XP Pro 64
Silencer 610 Watt PSU

All drivers have been updated to the best of my knowledge and I run spyware, AV checks regularly. I'm connected directly to my router which is set up for a secured environment, i.e. ssid isn't broadcast, security enabled and mac filtering is on.
Heat seems fine on the MB and GPU when running games or sitting idle.

I have tried playing around with settings in game but that didn't really change performance at all. So now I'm back to hardware settings. Now, I'm not some noob off the streets slapping a PC together because everyone else can do it. I worked as a bench tech at a mom and pop shop for a few years and built servers and what not at Avnet. So yes, I was working in a proper setting while assembling this system. I didn't build it on the rug. I don't really work with the hardware side anymore though, I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to fine tuning.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[IH8U]

The issue at the moment is the fact that WOW is not a multithreaded app (at least not to run on 4 cores). I have the same issue, with my 9850BE. In other words it lies on Blizzard to code it for quad cores. (also the TLB "Fix", could be causing part of the problem) I suggest getting a copy od AMD Overdrive (free from AMD), and disable the TLB fix. (another suggestion, get rid of that MSI board, even Foxconn has better support)

 

[roadrunner197069]

My first quess is check your latency. If your connection sucks, your screwed.

Thers nothing wrong with any of your hardware as far as I can see.

I'e had way less powerfull machines that run more FPS, but I have a real good latency.

 

[Klown]

Thanks for the quick replies.

IH8U:
Ok...sooo I have AMD OD installed...where do I disable the TLB fix though? I don't see it as an option anywhere? Which board would you suggest then? I've been running MSI for awhile, it seemed like a good choice at the time.

Roadrunner:
Latency is usually 120 or less.

 

[ZOldDude]

Start with the HD.
Remove any unused programs and files.
If you have a copy of Ultimate Defrag...place ALL the files other than the OS on the INSIDE of the disk.

Now deleat your PAGE FILE and reboot.
Create a new page file with a FIXED size of 2GB. If you have more than 2GB of RAM then make the PAGE FILE the same size but make it at least 2GB and make sure it is a fixed size.

Reboot and use TuneUp Utilitys to fix registry errors and then clean your registry (again) with RegCleaner,then defrag it (the registry not the whole HD) with TuneUp Utilitys and reboot.

Now run CHKDSK.
Now use the defragmenter in TuneUp Utilitys to drefragment the whole HD. Do not use the Ultimate Defrag program this time!

Your OS is now 100% on the first outside track of your HD along with your Page File,and all your other programs wile be moved from the inside back to the outside.

The defragement program in latest TuneUp Utiliys will place each file folder,game,video,music ect so that there files are together for fastest read.
TuneUp Utilitys does a better job of this than Ultimate Defrag I think,it just does not move files to the inside of the HD.

You should end up with about a 7 sec OS load up time and any game you have should also load faster and play smoother.

All that registy fixing/cleaning and defraging makes a improvement on any system even if all you have is the defrag program that came with the OS.

 

[roadrunner197069]

What did your old system have in it? If you only went from dual to quad, then dont expext much difference as the game doesn't utilize quads.

 

[pbrigido]

Few questions.

Are you using window mode?
Are you running any Anti-Virus apps?
Can you verify that your cores are running at full speed with CPU-Z?

I would not look at the cause of your low FPS being attributed to a high latency. That does not figure in to how WoW is rendered. We'll get ya fixed up.

 

[Klown]

My old system was running off of an AMD 2500+ chip and comparable components. This was a bit of an upgrade.

 

[Klown]

I've run raids in both modes pbrigido and it hasn't really affected performance one way or another. Which has me baffled, I would have though running in normal mode would see better performance over windowed mode.

I uh, don't have a real AV program installed at the moment. I know..bad klown I'll get one today. I do have Ad-Aware and Spybot s&d installed and run those regularly.

CPU-Z shows this info for my system:
Core speed: 2300.*
Multiplier: x 11.5
Bus Speed: 200.1
HT Link: 1800.*

did i mess up a bios setting?

 

[pbrigido]

hm...at first glance, that seems to be normal. I am with you though. I would never expect window mode to keep up with full screen mode. I'll give it some more thought though. I had similar problems in the past (coming from a fellow WoWer). Seems like you should be able to get much more out of that config.

 

[Klown]

My thoughts exactly. Had a question about my ram though. In AMD OD it shows the channel as single but in CPU-Z it says Dual and the NB mode is Unganged, with an NB Frequency of 1800.* MHz.

I haven't really played with those settings either. The specs say it should be running at Cas Latency 5, timing 5-5-5-15 and 2.2v. Which always confused the heck out of me anyway.
CPU-z Shows
Latency: 5.0 Clocks
RAS#to CAS#: 7 clocks
RAS Precharge: 7 clocks
Cycle Time: 24 clocks
Bank Cycle Time: 31 Clocks
Command Rate: 2T

 

[megamanx00]

TLB Bug Fix!

Since it's a 9600 and not a 9650 you should check your Motherboard Bios to see if the TLB bug fix is enabled since that will sap performance. Disable the fix and you should see a good improvement.

By the way it could also be some issue with the 64-bit version of XP. There isn't much sense in using that version unless you 4GB or more of RAM, so you may want to try dual booting into a 32 bit version of XP.