Trying to track down an FPS issue

[Iru]

Sorry for the wall of text/forum hijack but I've run into a wall with this. I have an alienware M15x laptop, details below, that I cannot get to do more that 110-15 FPS main window while 4-boxing with all settings on low. This wouldn't bother me if the CPU was pegged, but instead whenever I look at the performance history it seems like the CPU is idling. With a single-game in window mode, the system will do 30+ FPS in Dalaran on ultra settings, and I'm sure it was performing better in the past, hence the frustration.

In case it matters I am running Wow with DX11 support enabled under the dev version of ISBoxer, so that I have DX11 support, but I don't get any better performance if I switch back to DX9. One other data point is that I don't hear the CPU fan spin up anymore, so maybe it's actually a power management issue and the system is throttling itself but I have no idea how to test that theory.

Any suggestions

--System--
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
System Model: M15x
BIOS: Ver A03 1.00
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60GHz (8 CPUs), ~1.6GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8180MB RAM
Page File: 5236MB used, 11122MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

--Video--
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
Display Memory: 4069 MB
Dedicated Memory: 997 MB
Shared Memory: 3071 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (59.934Hz)

[howster]

Windows is set to throttle your CPU on default.. To change this you can go to Power options and enable the High Performance Profile... Then under the advanced tab, scroll down to Prosessor Power Management and set minimum and maximum prosessor state to 100%.

Like This:
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/2417/powerqs.jpg

Oh, And what i've read is that when DX11 Enabled ppl get a performance boost.

Edit: If you dont see the high performance profile, i think its normally hidden. Atleast it was for me.

[Iru]

I have that turned on (and yes, it requires hunting for the first time). I've even reset it (the high performance profile) in case I'd screwed it up somehow. No love :(

I'm going to try boxing off my laptop when I get home tonight, in case it turns out to be a network issue (I play from lots of random locations). Usually that shows as lag not FPS loss though

EDIT: Just ran the Windows Experience Assessment and my graphics score dropped a full digit & is now the lowest item (it used to be my disk access). Guess I know where to look now at least. Might be time to back out the NVIDIA drivers :(

[Sam DeathWalker]

Are you tiling? If so is Isboxer running each tile at max resolution (so you get fast switching) or at a reduced resolution (so you save gpu usage).

If you are tiling at max resolution on all 4 clients I doubt the 260 is up to the task.

The 260 and lack of SSD are your weakest points.

[Iru]

I'm running at 1440x1080 because that makes everything fit on the screen nicely.

[Iru]

UPDATE: I rolled back the video drivers to the previous version and everything is fine again