4850/WoW and fps issues

[ushy86]

Hello all, I was looking for help here about a week ago as to picking a gpu and I decided to go for a 4850 after some feedback from you guys. My main concern was for it to run WoW and future proof me for Diablo 3 when it is out. So about 6 days ago I pop in my card and all is fine until i compared fps with 2 friends who have LOW end cards, and in clustered areas they see more fps than i do. How can this be? One friend runs a 7300 another a 3870. I tested settings to be exactly like theirs also.

I was pretty disapointed about this and I am now considering trading the card in for a 9800gtx+.. I haven't had much luck with ati cards in the past.

But before I do so I would like to reach out for help one more time, maybe somebody here knows the issue.

So... i Run a Visiontek 4850 with the latest catalyst drivers on:

win vista 32b premium sp1
500gb seagate
3gigs ram
ocz 650w
9500 quad core phenom

Ps the only difference was that they both ran xp over vista.. I still doubt my fps is lower than theirs because of an os.

 

[alcattle]

By clustered areas you mean Dalaran and Shatrath City? What is causing those slow downs is RAM even though 3 gigs should be plenty. What MB are you using?

 

[ushy86]

for example in Alterac valley on the bridge, i see 20fps while they see high 30's.. and my mobo is pretty budget but still better than theirs, it is a ECS MCP61PM-GM AM2 mATX Motherboard.

 

[Proximon]

I doubt very much the GPU is to blame.

Background applications, UI mods, incorrect BIOS settings, and other things are likely the problem.

Did you fully uninstall the old video drivers?

Are your friends using Vista or XP?

 

[alcattle]

Never liked ECS but that is me. Why 3 gigs? Also there are some tweaks you can make to WoW with some video cards. Might be something. Can't think of anything else off hand.

 

[ushy86]

yes they are using xp. I have 3gigs because my gateway came as a barebone kit, i just upgraded the rest, and yes fresh install... as for background programs i dont run any... if the problem lies in the bios i would not know where to begin... what can be the issue there?

 

[Proximon]

Download and run CPU-Z:
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Post screenshots of each tab, and we'll see if anything is out of whack.

Yes, Vista is responsible for some of the problem.

 

[stridervm]

Whats your friends processor(s)?. If it's a Core2Duo running at least 2.6Ghz. That's the reason.

WoW isn't that intensive graphically. It's more intensive to the RAM and the processor.

 

[jthorn]

I think woW is a game that runs surprisingly well even on a laptop, provided it is equipped with Core 2, 2 GB ram, and some kind of non-integrated video solution. I have two sons doing just that (much to my chagrine). I have not let them install it on my oc'd Q6600 ATI 4850 desktop but I can't imagine any trouble on a desktop where cpu's and video cards are much better . . . .

 

[ushy86]

I'm thinking vista is eating up my ram and leaving me with just a bit for gaming, and I am seeing the outcome of that in the "clustered" areas that I mentioned... that is just my take on it.

Anyways thanks for the quick feedback guys, here are some of the cpu-z screenies.

 

[Proximon]

Thanks for the CPU-Z tabs, looks like everything is fine there.

Start up Task Manager. CTRL-ALT-DEL will get you there. Select the Processes tab and then look at the bottom. How many processes are running?

I have 58 processes running and my total memory usage (with Google Chrome) is at 1.45 GB atm.

 

[ushy86]

56 processes, 51% physical with wow up and about 8% cpu usage

 

[Proximon]

Ok I'm stumped. You seem to have everything in order.

Maybe WOW does hate Phenoms

 

[ushy86]

Ok I'm stumped. You seem to have everything in order.

Maybe WOW does hate Phenoms

LOL, yeah I have no clue... but everytime I upgraded pc's in the past I could never get them to work like I thought they should, it's like a curse I swear lol... I think I am going to try and install xp again and see how it goes, cause also as of now on vista I have a bad sound issue on ventrilo when I speak and I can't get that figured out either

Anyways, thanks for sticking around and helping out pal