Why am I lagging so much?

[ChaoticMonk]

Ok, I've given up trying to figure out what I would most benefit from in terms of improving my setup's performance. My main issue is with the game lagging while I'm running across outland or when in a major city and I'm guessing its due to my hardrive.

Heres what I'm currently running:
Dell Inspiron 530
Intel Q6600 (2.40ghz..not overclocked)
3GB DDR2 667mhz cheapo dell ram (probably 2x1gb+2x512mb...thanks dell)
Geoforce 8800GT 512mb (the OC MSI one from newegg)
Vista 32bit Home Premium
320GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive (7200RPM)

My WoW setup is simply 5 clients running from 1 install with low gfx settings on all 5, main running at 60fps (on 22" screen) while slaves are 20fps (split into 4 on 17" screen)

What I would like to know first is if theres any alternations I can do to what I currently have to decrease on the lag I experience without spending major $$$ (strapped for cash at the moment) and then what I could do to improve on the performance down the line (hopefully I can do some minor upgrades before WotlK comes out).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[elsegundo]

i am guessing this is not lag due to latency.


have you checked out the thread on the SSD experiement?

[ChaoticMonk]

I've been reading up on the SSD test thread but like I said I dont really have the money to pay for it at the moment (and ontop of that anything I do I would need to do x2 as me and my wife are running the exact same setup).

I did however get a reply to a question in the powershell script thread over in the software section so I'll my Symlinking tonight! :D

[zanthor]

It actually sounds to me like you are hitting your memory cap. 5 clients uses just over 3gb in most configurations, which means that when you spike over 3gb you page memory, huge lag spike.

[magwo]

Yep, MOAR MEMORIEZ NEEDED. With Vista, go for at least 4 GB, preferrably 5-8 GB.

[zanthor]

Vista 32bit Home Premium
Upgrading to 4GB will gain you JUST barely enough memory to work most the time, in Shattrah you'll have problems still unless you run a really basic system.

Upgrading beyond 4GB will require you upgrade your OS as well, this can be a daunting task for someone who doesn't understand why they need to upgrade from 32 to 64 bit OS in order to use more memory...

Depends how comfortable you are nuking your system :).

[magwo]

Right. Yes, definitely go for Vista 64. If you are ever going "high end" multiboxing on that rig, you will need 5+ GBs.

[ChaoticMonk]

unfortunatly I didnt know enough about the differences between 32bit and 64bit so I stupidly selected 32bit when ordering my dell to save some money.

I have no issues nuking my OS and upgrading except for shelling out $150~for the OS and then another $100~ or so for more ram is abit much.

Would taking advantage of Vista's ReadyBoost help at all with this issue?

Also, I remember seeing a list of wow settings to further improve performance past what the sliders do in WoW's interface bt I'm having a hard time finding it through the forum's search. I am a eye candy kind of person so if I wouldn't gain much from nuking it I'd rather not =/

[ChaoticMonk]

well I got Symlinks set up to 5 Wow dirs but unfortunatly the performance gain was minimal. It did however improve launch/exit times alot.

Will getting a SSD drive really make that much of a difference? I mean if I'm running out of ram wouldn't getting an SSD drive just fill up my ram quicker?

[magwo]

I am 99% certain that your problems stem from having too little memory. Nothing else.

[puppychow]

easier solution - stack all your windows on top of each other, don't use Pip/Maximizer to lay them out so you see all of them at once. Instead just launch all your WoW's without assigning them to different screen areas, run them all windowed and they will just "stack" one on top of the other, but only one is drawing at any time. You can assign PiP keys (F1-F5, whatever) so you can quickly swap windows.

I was having slow FPS (10-20 outdoors, 3-6 in shatt) while running 5 wows on a single PC, and it was absolutely miserable. I instead have changed to just showing 1-2 wow windows on screen, and having the rest be underneath the others, and my FPS has gone up a lot.

[ChaoticMonk]

I might have to give that a go. I can see where it would improve performance if I was getting low fps outdoors but when I'm anywhere outside of major cities I'm mostly hitting my fpsmax setting on all windows.

I think magwo is right, upgrading the amount of RAM I have and as a result, upgrading my OS is probably gonna be it for me....gonna have to wait awhile for that tho =/.

Thanks again for all your posts guys.

[Sarduci]

Did you remember to turn down your max fps background setting?

[ChaoticMonk]

ya its set to 20fps.

[ChaoticMonk]

What about installing a free 64bit os (ubuntu) and then upgrading the amount of ram I have? This would be within my budget but I don't know if its the right way to go about things.

[puppychow]

wow doesnt run natively under Linux, you'd have to install emulators and stuff which will have a big performance hit.

[ChaoticMonk]

I thaught wow works fine on Ubuntu? I know my friend is running it just don't know how...guess I should ask him.

[zanthor]

I thaught wow works fine on Ubuntu? I know my friend is running it just don't know how...guess I should ask him.Gotta be using WINE or CEDEGA... I put about 16 hours into getting wow to run under WINE, failed to ever get a logon screen...

[ChaoticMonk]

I'll just keep saving up for vista64 then I guess :( thanks again everyone.

Edit: the Q6600 is a 64bit CPU right? ?(

[elsegundo]

I'll just keep saving up for vista64 then I guess :( thanks again everyone.

Edit: the Q6600 is a 64bit CPU right? ?(wait... what? no the q6600 is a quad core processor. whether you use it on a 64bit or a 32bit operating system doesnt matter in terms of compatibility.

[zanthor]

I'll just keep saving up for vista64 then I guess :( thanks again everyone.

Edit: the Q6600 is a 64bit CPU right? ?(wait... what? no the q6600 is a quad core processor. whether you use it on a 64bit or a 32bit operating system doesnt matter in terms of compatibility.Yes, it's a quad core processor... which has nothing to do with what OS it supports.

Yes it supports Vista 64 or 32...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit has a good bit of information on the architecture differences and why it does make a difference...

[Pact]

To put things in perspective for you.

I was running a dual core E6600 with 4g (3.2) on vista 32 bit with an 8600GTS.

Best i could do was 30fps on the main and 15 on the alts. I was constantly losing alts while mounted and pip swap was laughable.

I first upgraded to a Q6600 and was getting 35 fps on the main and 20 on the alts. But i would lose alts while mounted and could never have crusader aura on. This was with all graphics set low except view distance at 50% on the main. Pip swap time was about 1-2 seconds or more depending on whats happening around me.

I then upgraded to Vista 64-bit and am adding more ram as it comes. at 5gb atm. Now things run at 35 fps on the main and 20 fps on the alts. Pip swap time is now under a second ( even while pvping) and i have yet to lose an alt while mounted with crusader aura up running at 120% run speed. Havent had time to test out running through shatt yet. But things are a vast improvement.

When i finish upgrading to 8gb of ram i doubt ill have any issues at all anywhere.

[ChaoticMonk]

Thanks for your post Pact, very informative :) Now, I'll see if I can convince my wife that was need vista64 and more ram each :D

[Rudi89]

Have you turned off sound on your alts? That made a huge difference for me.

[ChaoticMonk]

Have you turned off sound on your alts? That made a huge difference for me. :| ...didnt think of trying that one. I'll give it a shot when I get home tonight. Thanks for the tip! :thumbsup: