fps low - is it a CPU or GPU problem?

[burningforce]

Ok I 4-box and I am getting low fps on all windows, I have main windows limited to 60 fps and slaves limited to 30fps in innerspace. all settings turned down on each client and no shadows are being used.

in dalaran I get around 3-15 fps on main client and even less on slave clients. I was just wondering what would be a better upgrade, a new cpu or gpu? My cpu usage is around 70% and gpu is around %60 when running wow, which makes me wonder if there is something else going on. Also I had this low fps ever since I started boxing with 4 clients, even when I switched from xp to windows 7 x64.

here are my computer specs:

processor - Q6600 @ 3.0GHz
memory - 4x2GB of G.skill slightly overclocked, memtest+ stable
motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
Graphics - Geforce GTX 260 core 216 slightly overclocked and fan speed @ %60
PSU - corsair 620HX modular
Operating System - Windows 7 x64
SSD - Intel 40GB value drive (WoW drive)
HDD - 2x1TB western digital black
keyboard(s) - logitech G11 - Ideazon(now steelseries) fang
mouse - logitech mx518
monitor(s) - hanns-G 27.5" viewable widescreen monitor (main client) - HP2207 22" widescreen monitor (slave clients)
cable internet

I think that is all, if I missed anything let me know. Also my temps in the case along with components are normal and do not overheat when I play games. Just not sure what would give me a fps boost, if I have to get a new cpu I might just wait for "sandy bridge" to come out. no sense spending $$ on something that is "end of life".

thanks for the help

[sp0000n]

Your specs are considerabley better than mine. While I haven't been to Dalaran yet, I move around TBC content comfortabley running 5 clients; 4 run on low settings while the primary is right (better) of center.

Consider addons. Vuhdo (sp?) brought my system to its knees yet I can run Carbonite on all 5. Wierd.

If you're boxing with ISBoxer, check your settings again after the patches. I had to reset mine... something to do with those virtual settings files. They all went to recommended settings for my machine running a single client.

[birdbleed]

I think you should be getting better performance than that with your hardware. Have you deleted your wtf folder recently (particularly the config.wtf file)? Do that and then readjust your video settings. That's what I had to do a month or two ago and then again after the patch.

[burningforce]

sp0000n and birdbleed, thanks for the info on deleting wtf folder, config file and the virtual config files. will go through and delete all files in WTF folder I do not use/want, then delete the config files.

will update after I do some more testing

[birdbleed]

Yeah, let us know. Hopefully that'll get ya fixed up.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Best check addon's also a lot are broke right now and doing tons of errors. Just unclick "load out of date addons" and see what happens on your main.

I would expect better from your system.

And like Supernova always says make sure your video settings didnt get reset up to ultra during the 4.0.1 patch.

Sure I would not delete my wtf files considering the months of work I have in them lol .... (the wtf.config file is ok to delete though)


I dont know, the 260 is a strong enough video card but if you have to render 5 wow's at a high resolution (even with low effects etc.) because of the two monitors ....... are all 5 set at the same resolutions and what is it? Whats your ping during the slow fps?

You can also do some tests with just your main to help narrow it down:

1) Just look at a wall in Dal and whats your fps
2) Go to the fountian and spin and see your fps
3) Mount up as fast as you can and run from one end of Dal to the other and see your fps

At the wall you have no rendering to worry about and few texters to load
At the fountain you have lots of rendering and middle textures
Running you have both lots of rendering and lots of textures

[burningforce]

thanks for the info Sam
When playing solo, I get around 50-60 FPS(capped in video settings) in dalaran and 60 everywhere else even with settings on ultra.

you mentioned ping, does high internet latency affect game fps in any way? I noticed my latency in WoW is 120ms-210ms on all windows. I have WoW ports open in windows and my router, though I suspect it is either my router or ISP giving my a high latency.

**Edit**
as for resoulution on slaves, they are on the 22" montior with a res of 1680x1050. I know isboxer does something with the resolution to make fast windows switching possible, maybe I never turned on/off a setting in isboxer that "normalizes" the window resolution on slaves and they are running in 1920x1200. Will check the resolution when servers come back on, as for the config.wtf files and wtf folder, they were deleted and no noticeable improvement to be had. I did backup my files so I could restore them, so no worries there :)

[ShadowKntSDS]

Limiting my slaves to 15fps made a huge difference in my performance. Granted I'm on very different hardware AND I'm running 6 Lotro clients instead of 5 wow clients, but it's worth a shot.

[Sam DeathWalker]

My error, its my belief that ping does not effect fps. Cause your client will just assume people are moving pursuant to the last known positions and thats why you see "overrun" when you have high ping.

Ya thats a lot of rendering 5 clients at 1920X1200, because ISboxer is doing it at full resolution you are asking a lot of your video card.

I play full screen only so I can get by with a lot worse video card then you gusy and my switching is instant also. Compared ot you my video card only does 1/5th the work.

I think you almost have to go to a lower resolution.

Shadows is the biggest killer then next is how far out you can see. Shadows you don't need but seeing far is kinda needed.

[ciscokid454]

Turn "Liquid Detail" to low on all clients

[Noids]

Turn "Liquid Detail" to low on all clients

QFT. My 5 would load up OK but once I moved would go from 60 to 1 fps and chug along in single figures until I lowered all of my graphics settings again.

[burningforce]

well everything seems to be ok except for the high ping, still in the 100ms-180ms on all clients.

My fps is is around 20-30 on main, 10-15 on slaves in dalaran when I changed a few things. this is what I changed :

1 - deleted WoW ports on router - restart router - reopen ports on router again - save

2 - made sure my power profile in windows is using performance only - made a new profile to make sure it is performance

3 - in isboxer "window layouts", I checked "desired rendering size" and made it "1920x1200" (still uncertain what this does, I have an idea but not sure if correct) - unchecked "remove border around main window"

4 - made sure everything in video settings on main and slaves are low

5 - made sure nothing is sucking up cpu, gpu power other then WoW.

whatever I did seemed to help, though I wonder if it was just the amount of ppl in dalaran was unusually large due to the new patch

I am wondering how much of a difference would running the new AMD 6870 (no benchmarks yet, but I am referring to speculation/rumors) card would be on my system in terms of using ultra settings on all clients. Will this new cpu and my Q6600 allow me to run settings on at least high on all clients? Or will I still be limited like with my gtx 260?

I know higher video settings may not really matter and is just fluff, but I wonder what my performance would be with it.

thanks for the help everyone

[Sam DeathWalker]

cpu means nothing to wow in my opinion. If you want effects detail you need a bettter chip then the 260. The cpu just moves the data to the video card (and the cpu is almost never the limitation for that - its the hard drive or SSD). Once the data is on the video card the gpu takes over and thats what determines fps and effects.

Ya the water thing is a good idea, didnt think about it (and maybe that sun thing also).

The 460 is your next move up but not all that much I thinks. Put your money into the GPU, not the CPU.

100ms - 180ms isnt all that bad, 100ms is just fine for playablity for sure.