new setup but results are terrible

[David]

Yesterday I got the last parts for my new system. Installed all but I`m horrified with the results. Esspecially in Dalaran.

What I got now:
AMD 940 4x3gig
8gig DDR 1066 OCZ XTC GOLD kit CL5
GT9800 1024mb
300gig HD not sure about buffer atm
320gig HD 16mb buffer

I tryed several things so far. First running windows and the main client with near full grapics(shadow around half), the page file on a different partition on the same drive. The other 4 wow clients from 4 different partitions on the second harddrive. Din`t see much improvement. Well Dalaran loaded up better but it was still terrible FPS (7-12 on main).

Then I tryed the same deal for disk 1 but loaded all 4 other clients from 1 partition on the second disk. Same deal, no big improvement.

Besides that, I`m setting cpu affinity wuth HKN. p0 = windows, p1 = main, p2 = client 2 and 3, P3 = client 4 and 5. In dalaran my CPU use went through the roof hitting around 80-90%. Without the affinity set it uses 50-60%.

I hate the fact that windows keeps using a page file of around 500mb which slows down the system a lot IMO.

I plugged in 4gig and the second HD yesterday. Using windows vista 64bit. Maybe a fresh install is needed for the new memory?

So now I`m kinda clueless. Should I run all clients form 1 disk and leave the other disk for windows and the page file?

So far I`ve been using 2 different wow folders. My main has different grapic and sound settings so he`s using a different one.

Anyone any clue on how to fix performance?

[Freddie]

When you don't set affinity, the WoWs restrict themselves to core 0 and 1. (Unless Blizzard has changed that behavior very recently. I haven't tested it lately.) That's why you see lower CPU usage. Half the CPU is mostly idle. This is worse performance not better performance.

Did you try setting affinity to "all" for every WoW? That allows the operating system to optimize as best it can. That's a sort of baseline for performance.

Page files aren't a problem. Paging (page faults) are a problem. They are not the same thing. You can monitor the amount of paging by watching "hard faults/min" on resource manager (click the Memory tab). With eight gigs of memory I wouldn't expect a lot of paging.

[David]

Looking at the current faults:
115
10
10
10
125
For all 5 wows. Tho the number swaps every second. But its around that.

Ill try setting the all affinity now. I do noticed that without only 2 cores got used but I thought it was all that was needed :-)

[Freddie]

Well you only *need* one core but the more you use, the faster they go. (Until they get completely bottlenecked by something else like your video card.)

125 means the operating system is reading your hard disk approximately twice a second to supply that copy of WoW with info that should be in RAM but isn't because there isn't enough RAM, or because of inefficient use of RAM, or because unnecessary programs are using RAM.

I would try to get those numbers to 0.

[falsfire3401]

Looking at the current faults:
115
10
10
10
125
For all 5 wows. Tho the number swaps every second. But its around that.

Ill try setting the all affinity now. I do noticed that without only 2 cores got used but I thought it was all that was needed :-)

Where do you get this info? Did your WOW's actually crash?


I'm currently OK on my Win7-64 dual-boxing performance, but I'm suspicious because my system just suddenly started performing good without me doing anything to fix it...no windows updates were applied according to the logs, I didn't change graphics drivers, nothing...but my performance jumped from 20-25fps in the main WOW to 40-60fps in the main WOW.

If it goes back again, I'd like to know how to get those numbers you posted so I can see what is bottlenecking on my system.

My main wow runs in the default 0+1 cores (I launch it using the launcher, dunno why I just do), and my 2nd wow I launch with affinity for core 1 via HKN. I do consistently get better FPS with just one WOW running, as high as 100fps...so I wonder if the fact the main wow is using both cores and the 2nd wow is overlapping on the 2nd core is the problem...?

[David]

I`m only using 5 out of 8 gig in dalaran. Still I get this.

[Lax]

1. If you haven't disabled Aero, do it
2. Consider upgrading to Windows 7. The Release Candidate is free until next year. Big performance improvement for HDD, etc
3. You spent a lot of time on partitioning, etc. This will not affect general FPS, your HDD only affects when people and NPCs fade into view. Don't waste your time staring at your HDD configuration
4. Definitely set CPU affinity. Rotate cores.
5. Drop graphics to minimal
6. Make sure in the WoW Video Options, Resolution pane, "Multisampling" is set to someting with 1x multisampling (e.g. 24-bit color 24-bit depth 1x multisample)

[zanthor]

Yesterday I got the last parts for my new system. Installed all but I`m horrified with the results. Esspecially in Dalaran.

What I got now:
AMD 940 4x3gig
8gig DDR 1066 OCZ XTC GOLD kit CL5
GT9800 1024mb
300gig HD not sure about buffer atm
320gig HD 16mb buffer

Anyone any clue on how to fix performance?

I'm running a nearly identical system - 8gb ram, 8800gt 512mb, and all 5 copies of wow on a single drive/copy of wow.

In dalaran it's playable at about mid-graphics settings. During prime time on my high pop server it's chunky still. During offtimes it's smooth as glass.

I did overclock on air to 3.3ghz, but had similar results without the OC.

Ensure you don't have multisampling turned over 1x, it will totally tank your performance.
Ensure you have affinity set - for five boxing I set all 5 clients to use all 4 cores - this way Windows can load balance as it wants, no problems there.

I do run Windows 7 Beta with Aero turned ON, and I used to run Vista 64 ultimate with Aero on as well, while 7 is better, both were playable.

[David]

1. If you haven't disabled Aero, do it

Done it allready

2. Consider upgrading to Windows 7. The Release Candidate is free until next year. Big performance improvement for HDD, etc

Had one, but it only worked for a month. Might take this new one then.

4. Definitely set CPU affinity. Rotate cores.

Got them set to "all", so far it seems to run best. I can decendly run around dalaran with 7-12fps on my main.

5. Drop graphics to minimal

My main has all details on, all but shadow which is around 40%. The 4 others are on lowest possible

6. Make sure in the WoW Video Options, Resolution pane, "Multisampling" is set to someting with 1x multisampling (e.g. 24-bit color 24-bit depth 1x multisample)

Allready set

Somehow when I set my affinity to "all" it starts using 100% cpu in dalaran and outside dalaran a little less. Seems a bit much concidering that my CPU should be powerfull enough for it.

The game gives me 10fps extra in dalaran and a lot more smoothness outside dalaran when don`t use window mode for my main but then I cannot move to the other clients in my second screen.

[Freddie]

Somehow when I set my affinity to "all" it starts using 100% cpu in dalaran and outside dalaran a little less. Seems a bit much concidering that my CPU should be powerfull enough for it.

What else is the CPU doing? What other processes are running? Something is using enough RAM to make WoW fault 250+ times per minute on a machine with eight gigs. I don't play WoW so I don't know but I suspect it's not just your WoWs. Can you find other processes using a lot of CPU cycles and RAM on TaskManager? If so shut them down.