Weak Performance in WoW

[fireontheway]

I recently upgraded my video card to a X1950PRO from a 6800GT and the rest of my system specs are A64 3000(@ 2.5ghz), 2GB of RAM, 9NDA3J mobo, 1 HDD and 1 optical drive and a 480W psu (28A +12v).I noticed that it the upgrade barely gave my FPS a boost.It is most noticable when i am in town with a lot of other players (FPS goes down to about 18-12).I play at 1680x1050 with all the eye candy turned on, i even tried turning down some settings but it still didnt help much.I was expecting a lot more from the upgrade or maybe i expected too much but if there is anyway i can tweak it up some i would.Please share your thoughts if you have encountered the same or similar issue i am experiencing.

 

[Kutai]

I have noticed that WoW performance is based a lot more on CPU power rather than GPU power, especially with lots of players on screen. That being said, I would imagine you should get a decent performance upgrade out of the switch from a 6800GT to a X1950Pro. Are you sure the nvidia drivers were properly uninstalled, and the latest ATi drivers installed?

 

[AVP]

That should be a big upgrade for you. First thing I would do is try to play another game. or 3dmark to see if bad drivers are the issue. If they are, use driver cleaner to make sure the old nvidia ones are gone and then reinstall using the newest from nvidia's website. To clarify, were you running those settings with your old card? Or after bumping them up are you only seeing a small boost. Good luck.

 

[Denithor]

Also, is this an AGP or PCI-E x1950pro? IIRC there are issues with the latest ATI drivers on the AGP version of this card. I think you have to use like 7.7 or 7.8 for it to function correctly.

 

[plion]

for me the most impacting setting was the view distance try lowering that see if it helps

 

[fireontheway]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Also, is this an AGP or PCI-E x1950pro? IIRC there are issues with the latest ATI drivers on the AGP version of this card. I think you have to use like 7.7 or 7.8 for it to function correctly.

This is an AGP version, i have tried 7.5 with no improvement. I will give the 7.7-7.8 a shot.

Originally posted by: plion
for me the most impacting setting was the view distance try lowering that see if it helps

I did that and it does help boost the fps a bit but condidering the card is a X1950PRO i am thinking it should easily be able to handle maximum settings.

I am beginning to consider that it may actually be my single core processor.This may sound a bit extreme as far as comparison goes but my E6600 with 8800 GTS does an average of 60 fps in heavily crowded areas at 1900X1200.

 

[alkemyst]

I can get my 6800GT OC running at nearly all eye candy at 1600x1200...your 1950Pro should be able to handle WoW GPU tasks easy.

What CPU do you have...my single core 4000+ does fine, AFAIK WoW is not to picky on having a dual core chip.

 

[Throckmorton]

Another vote for "WoW should be fine with that video card even in high population areas"

 

[Tangman85]

WoW needs RAM and CPU power, some graphics power

 

[cKGunslinger]

RAM and CPU are WoW's largest limiting factors.

That CPU you have is a bit long in the tooth.

 

[tno]

Yeah I had a 6800GT and ran Wow at 30+FPS even in crowded areas at 2048x1536 with all the eye candy turned up. Time to upgrade that processor. If you don't want to move to a completely different platform then at least get the best you can find for your socket. Cheers,

tno

 

[Garfield3d]

Try clearing out your mods, cache, and WTF directory (or at least rename all of them). Then turn off your mods and try running around Shattrah or a high population locale to determine whether or not it's just the core game that's slow. If that works, turn on your mods and see if it's still good. If it is, it's probably just your SavedVariables.

Turning off mods by themselves isn't always enough. The game still loads your SavedVariables regardless of your mods (quite often, it's the saved settings and leftover old gunk from mods, not the actual mods themselves, that slow the game down).

On more than one occasion, I've had to butcher my mods, or flush some WTF files because the settings were murdering my game.

--Garfield3d

 

[woolfe9999]

Yup, the CPU is a big bottleneck. WoW's graphics are not terribly advanced. What chugs the system is when you get scads of bots on the screen at once. If it's mobs like in a raid, you'll get massive CPU computations that cripple your fps. WoW needs 2gb RAM and a good CPU to play optimally. It doesn't utilize dual cores so far as I know, but it does need at least a good enough single core.

I've played WoW for 3 years and had several upgrades in that time. The biggest was when I jumped from an Athlon 64 3000 (same as the OP) to a 4000. I think you can get a 4K for like $60 right now. I'd say if you play a lot of WoW, it's worth it.

- woolfe

 

[Piano Man]

Just want to reinforce what people are saying here. Its the CPU for sure after you have 2gig of RAM. WoW is all about the CPU. With my 8800 GTS and C2D E6750, WoW is still limited by my CPU. In extreme situations, my FPS stays the same (around 50) whether I'm at 800x600 or 1680X1050 with full eye-candy on.

 

[Dravic]

wow added dual core optimizations with the BC release.

I dont remember the exact commd but to choose between the two timing engines, do a search on timingmethod 0 and 1.

my x2 4800+ @2.9ghz still hits in the 20 fps area in busy conditions.

 

[Vortex22]

I'm usually pegged at 60 FPS (vsync on) in WoW at 1680x1050 with all settings on/maxed on a E6600 and x1950pro.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: Dravic
wow added dual core optimizations with the BC release.

I dont remember the exact commd but to choose between the two timing engines, do a search on timingmethod 0 and 1.

my x2 4800+ @2.9ghz still hits in the 20 fps area in busy conditions.

This is depressing.

They need better CPU optimization.

I just tested this stuff out tonight; made a thread about the same thing. Overclocked GT speeds to Ultra, NO increase in Shattrath.

Underclocked CPU back to stock, drop in FPS proportional to downclock. So it's all CPU limited apparently. 2.3Ghz and 20FPS frankly isn't acceptable. I can get double that in Farcry with HDR turned on. WoW gfx < Farcry Gfx.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: fireontheway
I recently upgraded my video card to a X1950PRO from a 6800GT and the rest of my system specs are A64 3000(@ 2.5ghz), 2GB of RAM, 9NDA3J mobo, 1 HDD and 1 optical drive and a 480W psu (28A +12v).I noticed that it the upgrade barely gave my FPS a boost.It is most noticable when i am in town with a lot of other players (FPS goes down to about 18-12).I play at 1680x1050 with all the eye candy turned on, i even tried turning down some settings but it still didnt help much.I was expecting a lot more from the upgrade or maybe i expected too much but if there is anyway i can tweak it up some i would.Please share your thoughts if you have encountered the same or similar issue i am experiencing.

I use to play wow on a 9600xt and it ran fine

I think the performance is related to server lag me think :!

 

[Denithor]

Running 16x12 with all eye candy enabled:

x1900gt with A64 3000+ gives fps that dips into the low teens at times
x1900gt with stock e6400 never drops below 40 fps

Easy solution for you: X2 4200+ for $65 and overclock a bit (should hit 2.5GHz or so easily)

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux

Originally posted by: Dravic
wow added dual core optimizations with the BC release.

I dont remember the exact commd but to choose between the two timing engines, do a search on timingmethod 0 and 1.

my x2 4800+ @2.9ghz still hits in the 20 fps area in busy conditions.

This is depressing.

They need better CPU optimization.

I just tested this stuff out tonight; made a thread about the same thing. Overclocked GT speeds to Ultra, NO increase in Shattrath.

Underclocked CPU back to stock, drop in FPS proportional to downclock. So it's all CPU limited apparently. 2.3Ghz and 20FPS frankly isn't acceptable. I can get double that in Farcry with HDR turned on. WoW gfx < Farcry Gfx.

Here's an idea. Maybe it's not the graphics?