WoW on this system, where's my bottleneck?

[Maverick2002]

Here's my currently setup:

C2D 1.8 E4300 @ 2.165 or something
4GB G.Skill DDR2-800 @ 799
eVGA 7900GS @ stock

The best I can squeeze out of WoW at these specs is 1440x900 at "fair" settings. It does run at 1920x1200 and maxed settings (no AA), but the framerate is horrible. I would think I should be able to squeeze more performance out of my setup with stock cooling and some more OC since WoW is based on an aging WC3 engine and has very optimized geometry, low rez textures, etc.

I'd be happy with 1680x1050 at "good" settings, but it plays pretty slow there. Should I OC my graphics card? It's at 450/680 stock I think, what can I push it to running stable without getting too hot (stock cooing) in Riva Tuner?

Should I OC my RAM at all?

How much of a performance hit is AA typically? Maybe I can stay at 1440x900 and turn up AA for a better look.

I'd prefer not to spend any more money on this system as I will be building a new mid-range i7 by the end of the year, but I do want to squeeze more out of it. I just can't imagine that WoW runs as slow as it does.

 

[Barfo]

I'd say the vid card is the weakest link in your system, if you replace it you'll notice better frame rates, but then your processor will struggle in the crowded areas.

 

[brblx]

even so, 2ghz + 4gb + a decent gpu should satisfy wow pretty well. if you purchased even just a 4770 or 4850, i bet you could run high details at 1680.

you don't need to OC your ram, it follows your FSB and you should run the manufacturer's specified timings and voltage. slight AA (2-4x) might knock your frames down by 10-20%, but it could be more or less depending on the specific build. it's best to just try it out and see what works best.

 

[vj8usa]

OCing your RAM will barely affect performance in games. On the other hand, OCing your CPU could help considerably. Have you tried going beyond 2.165? A lot of E4300s can approach/surpass 3GHz, which is plenty of CPU power to go along with a new GPU like a 4770.

 

[Insomniator]

I would say the CPU is your biggest problem.. should be easy to test. OC it 500 mhz and compare the frames.. should go up regardless of the resolution/settings...

Ocing that video card probably wont do anything.

 

[fogman]

Haw much money to you have? I think you should upgrade both. Buy GPU HD4770, HD4850 or GTS250 and then see how much money is left for better processor.

 

[Maverick2002]

Wow this sucks. I just checked my fps and it maxes out at 60 when I'm staring at the ground, but drops down to 30fps when I'm actually playing. 30fps!!! I don't really want to spend any money between now and the end of the year when I'm getting a jacked up i7 system from scratch. I just though I would be getting better performance than this on my setup ...

 

[mpilchfamily]

My system consists of an Opti 165, 2gb DDR 500 and a 7900GS. My video settings are in the mid to low range and i get an easy 30FPS on a 1680x1050 resolution. Course when there is allot of lantancy (lag) then frams drop and things stutter. My AA settings are on low. I don't keep if off just on the lower setting to keep things flowing smoothly. But AA can effect perfromance very quickly.

 

[Maverick2002]

I'm going to try to optimize. I set all settings to low, changed resolution to 1280x800, 2x AA, currently getting 75-110fps. Surprisingly turning AA on didn't affect it at all. I'm going to try cranking settings up one at a time and see what I end up with.

 

[Chopstick217]

I think your CPU is the major bottleneck. Followed by the video card. 2.1 ghz is rather slow nowadays for gaming. Keep in mind that most games do not take advantage of dual or quad cores. So clock speed plays an important factor in gaming.

 

[somethingsketchy]

Without spending more money on this rig (since you'll be upgrading anyways) I'd say deal with what settings you can play with and wait it out. You'll be upgrading so that'll be a nice step-up. Other than buying new parts, your options are very, very limited.

 

[Maverick2002]

Ok ... I was just wondering if my performance is "in line" with my system or if something is horribly wrong. I mean I can still play newer FPS games (albeit at lower settings) but they have 10x geometry as WoW easily. I just figured WoW wouldn't be as big of a drag on a video card/CPU as it is.

 

[brblx]

not much you can do except check to make sure everything is working right.

memory in dual channel? proper timings? page file set up? any crap running in the background?

what are your wow settings like? you may have one or two intensive features turned on that are bringing everything else down. i would start with high settings, no AA, no extras (shadows, weather, or whatever other engine features wow might have) and see how it runs. enable extra features one by one and see if you can find the big performance detractor.

also check your nvidia control panel and make sure that everything is set to application preference.

 

[Somniferum]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Ok ... I was just wondering if my performance is "in line" with my system or if something is horribly wrong. I mean I can still play newer FPS games (albeit at lower settings) but they have 10x geometry as WoW easily. I just figured WoW wouldn't be as big of a drag on a video card/CPU as it is.

It also depends on which areas of WoW you're talking about. Dalaran for example is very, very CPU dependant. Legacy areas not so much. I improved my framerate in Dalaran from the mid-teens to the mid-50s just by switching an AMD x2 3500+ platform for an e8400 (using an 8800gt at the time).

 

[Piano Man]

WoW = CPU Whore.

I had a C2D 6750 OC'd to 3.6GHz with an ATI4850. Got a e8400 and OC'd it to 4.5GHz. FPS went up dramatically under intense conditions (Dalaran at peak, WG Battles). Sure, your vid card isn't great, but you could run it at "ok" settings and get decent frame rates. But your CPU is just not enough to run this game well under heavy conditions.