Low FPS in WoW

[jtquintero]

I bought a new computer and have been running an average of 6 fps in WoW.

I've updated all drivers and tried adjusting the settings in game with no impact on my fps.

My little brother is working on a system (although Windows XP SP2) that isn't half as good as mine and he experiences no low fps issues.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Configuration:

OS Name: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version: 6.0.6000 Build 6000

System Model RX887AA-ABA a6030n
System Type X86-based PC
Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+, 2500 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

Total Physical Memory 2,045.88 MB
Available Physical Memory 1.30 GB
Total Virtual Memory 4.21 GB
Available Virtual Memory 3.31 GB
Page File Space 2.29 GB

Hard Drive Size 290.41 GB (311,828,553,728 bytes)

Sound Realtek High Definition Audio
Video VisionTek Radeon X1550, 256MB

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

it's the vista

 

[jtquintero]

Yeah...I've heard that a couple of places... my question is why? and is there a work-around or fix?

And before anyone suggests it: I have already disabled my widgets... I didn't like them in the first place.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Actually I think it is your video card. I am using an X1650XT and still get fairly low FPS in the expansion areas. Other than that, your rig should handle it with no problem. I also ran my exact same rig with Windows XP Home and got the same thing.

What resolution are you trying to run WoW at? any AA?

I haven't played WoW in a few months but if I recall correctly, doing Raids was next to impossible even on the lowest settings at 1280x1024.

 

[stemnin]

Yeah, that video card ain't the greatest, if he gets 5 fps, it's probably in cities or anywhere theres like 10 people on screen i imagine. It's unsupported in a few newer games lol..

 

[GrossMan]

Umm... I don't think it's your hardware.

It was a few months ago but I was playing WoW with Maxed settings at 1680X1050 with the following computer.

Athlon XP 3200+
GeForce 6800 GS
1G DDR400
SB Audigy 2
XP Pro

I had virtually no slowdown or performance problems other then a bit of stuttering when Shatrath(sp?) loaded up.

 

[stemnin]

he has an x1550, your 6800 blows it out of the water lol.

The x1550 is an x550 that was renamed. Looking at benchmarks, it doesn't seem that bad, so it could be something else.

You got the AMD dual core patch?

How much free space on the HDD?

 

[jhurst747]

It's a combination of a very weak video card and Vista. I was running Vista Ultimate with most anything that I didn't need turned off (Aero, ect...) and still had terrible issues with FPS and crashes even with an 8800 GTS SLI configuration. I'm running an X2 6000 and 4 GB of DDR2 800 as well. There's no real reason I should have had the issues, but it was a problem. I switched back to XP yesterday and it runs like a scalded dog. I get FPS that was out of reach using Vista. I have no more crashing either. Do yourself a favor and switch back to XP. Even running the underground patches on Vista that supposedly fixes everything you'll still have issues. Just wait for the SP to come out or get a better video card. Vista is a FPS killer in general.

And to the guy who thought that your 6800 wasn't as good as that 1550...you need to do your research. Your card will crunch data MUCH more efficiently than the 1550.

 

[GrossMan]

And to the guy who thought that your 6800 wasn't as good as that 1550...you need to do your research. Your card will crunch data MUCH more efficiently than the 1550.

Yeah, I sorta glazed over the vid card when I was reading his post... My Bad.

 

[rgeist554]

Probably a combination of things as stated above. Vista uses it's Aero GUI crap and places the load on your (already old, and underpowered) GPU. Do you play windowed mode perhaps? Also, Vista will eat 700MB-1GB of your Memory just idling.

 

[GrossMan]

Also, Vista will eat 700MB-1GB of your Memory just idling.

Personally I've found the number to be more like 500MB while idle then it pre-fetches the rest of it.

 

[stemnin]

That's why I disabled prefetch and superfetch (prefetch on steroids from what ive read), I might re-enable prefetch though.

 

[GrossMan]

That's why I disabled prefetch and superfetch (prefetch on steroids from what ive read), I might re-enable prefetch though.

Hold on a second... you can disable those? link please. haha

Nevermind, google is my friend.

 

[rgeist554]

Hold on a second... you can disable those? link please. haha

**edit: posted the XP link instead of Vista link** here you go: http://www.technipages.com/article565.html

That's why I disabled prefetch and superfetch (prefetch on steroids from what ive read), I might re-enable prefetch though.

I thought superfetch was just Vista's version of prefect renamed. I don't use Vista, so I could be wrong.

 

[SinxarKnights]

I have 2GB of RAM also and never had a problem with prefetch or superfetch, In fact its pretty nice to have my apps open super fast.

On an unrelated note, I got my old Soundblaster Live! 5.1 working in Vista! I'm so happy!

 

[stemnin]

Yes apps load a little slower, but I rarely use apps, home pc for gaming, work pc (**** pc with fx5200 wtf, can only play quake3) for work.. moslty.

Did I tell you Google is your friend once? lol I used to say that, can't remember where.

 

[Guest]

i have low fps on some bosses (3-6 fps in sartharion, or any 25man encounter), and it gets better in 10 mans... dalaran is impossible too...

i do well in heroics, questing etc, and i dont hink its my computer components canuse i know people that r playing with a lot worse... i have heard it could be the cooling sistem not being the best?

my comp
-intel celeron 3.2 (stock vent...)
-2gb ddr2
-xf 6800gt (with artic cooling sistem)

any thoughts?

 

[hokar]

I have recently encountered this similar low fps problem. I have read a lot of forums and finally one thread gave me a clue for the reason. Graphics effects during an 25 man raid on a boss would require a lot of CPU processing. If your CPU is overheat (esp. Intel chips), it will protect itself from being burnt and slow down it's processing speed and thus result in low fps. Therefore, check if your CPU is overheat by installing software like PC Probe (for ASUS motherboard) and if it is the case, you have to solve the overheat problem and the low fps problem may then be gone.

For me, I found that I have CPU overheat problem right at the beginning of WOW start up =.=". So, I have reinstalled the CPU heatsink by cleaning all the dust and removing the old thermal compound and replace with new compound like Arctic Silver 5. After the treatment, even though I may still get overheat warning at the time during boss raid, the fps has greatly improved and I can play 25 man raid without any computer restart now

Hope it can help if anyone got this similar problem.

 

[cradleofdoom]

So, it is possible to downgrade to XP from Vista? HOW??!?!?!?!
I normally got 2-4 fps, then a friend told me to defrag....bumped to 6fps. Here's my specs...(Entertainment PC)
AMD Turion 64, dual core processor
1 GB DDR2 memory
15.4″ WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7200
140GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

Operating system sucks, I know...and Vista DOES use all 1GB of my memory which seems a bit funny considering I play WoW...and they installed a ton of stuff I don't even need... So, help...anyone?

 

[jhurst747]

You can downgrade with a clean install. It's preferable.