Pulling my hair out LOW FPS

[Drommon]

All WTF files (original, plus the 5 created by ISBoxer) are all set to 4 cores, AffinityMask of 15.

Well I really don't know what to say. Your system should be able to handle 5 clients at decent fps. I would have to be sitting next to your computer to find the issue at this point. At the risk of being redundant ->

do you have the latest service pack installed?
latest drivers for mobo and gpu card?
are the graphics settings in the gpu tool set to performance?
do you have any background processes that might be the culprit?

the fact that it is happening just on the 5th account seems odd...

sorry I wish I could be more hellpful,

Drommon

[Ughmahedhurtz]

System : Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6700 @ 2.67 GhZ
8 Gb RAM
750 Gb HDD
NVidia GeForce 9800 GS graphics card
Running Windows Vista Home 64-bit OS

If I had to guess, the 9800 GS is the problem. I can't find any specs on that thing on NVidia's site and the only places I'm seeing the GS linked with a 9600 or 9800 are low-budget/obsolete systems. On the older lines, GS was usually a tier below the standard GT line, in some cases comparable to the GT/GTX of the previous generation's cards. Considering that NVidia GTS 250 (which is about 30% faster than a 9800GT) for $130, that'd be my suggestion.

[Drommon]

There is a gpu utility that lets you check the load of your gpu. It is called gpuz. Google it and get it. Start up gpuz and check it everytime you load a wow client. If you are on the 4th client and your gpu load is above 75-80% then it may be time for a gpu upgrade.

Drommon

[nissen]

If I had to guess, the 9800 GS is the problem. I can't find any specs on that thing on NVidia's site and the only places I'm seeing the GS linked with a 9600 or 9800 are low-budget/obsolete systems. On the older lines, GS was usually a tier below the standard GT line, in some cases comparable to the GT/GTX of the previous generation's cards. Considering that NVidia GTS 250 (which is about 30% faster than a 9800GT) for $130, that'd be my suggestion.

not quite sure if this measure , but at work i can run with a nvidia gt 120m ( which is pretty low end ,maybe above the 9800 gs abit ) ,with 5 instances of wow. and i get a slowdown , however that is not the gpu slowing down its the cpu maxing out at 100% with my laptop duo shit processor . and it dont trigger at the 5'th per say , but i get a good 10-20 fps on all with low settings.

( an other way of saying this , any gpu no matter if its a 9600 , 5200 whatever crap , it should be able to run 5 wow instances on low )

[Ualaa]

Before my upgrade I was running a similar system to yours.

Q6600, stock speed.
8gb DDR2 ram at 800mhz
150gb Raptor 10,000rpm
Nvidia 8800 GTX and later Sapphire 4870 X2
Vista Home Premium 64-Bit.

When the 8800 was in the system I was using Keyclone. Could get 30 FPS in Shattrath on the slaves and up to 60 on the main.

With the upgrade to the 4870, one account could run smooth with much higher settings then the 8800. But with five running, I had to severely lower the FPS or slave toons would freeze during flight paths. This was still with Keyclone. I had slaves set to 8 FPS and the main capped at 30 FPS.

With a worse processor and graphics card (8800) I had better FPS, running 5 toons.
There has to be a setting or configuration somewhere.

[nissen]

Before my upgrade I was running a similar system to yours.

Q6600, stock speed.
8gb DDR2 ram at 800mhz
150gb Raptor 10,000rpm
Nvidia 8800 GTX and later Sapphire 4870 X2
Vista Home Premium 64-Bit.

When the 8800 was in the system I was using Keyclone. Could get 30 FPS in Shattrath on the slaves and up to 60 on the main.

With the upgrade to the 4870, one account could run smooth with much higher settings then the 8800. But with five running, I had to severely lower the FPS or slave toons would freeze during flight paths. This was still with Keyclone. I had slaves set to 8 FPS and the main capped at 30 FPS.

With a worse processor and graphics card (8800) I had better FPS, running 5 toons.
There has to be a setting or configuration somewhere.

there is a difference in how innerspace does things ( adjust me if i im wrong here ) , but innerspace will render all screens at the same resolution and then scale it down all the time while others like keyclone will render main screen in f.ex 1600x1080 , client screens in 640x500 * 4 . . innerspace will however render screen 5*1600x1080, then scale them down so a little extra performance drop is to be excpected ?. anyways he should be able to run innerspace without much slowdown. on low wow is extremely little resource mongering.

[Whowantstoknow]

It looks to me that you are using a vsync with a monitor refresh rate of 75Hz. Turn off vsync and report your new fps.

[Ualaa]

I upgraded to the i7 still using Keyclone.
And then switched to IS Boxer 2 weeks later.

IS Boxer is a little slower then Keyclone for the same graphic settings.
But the difference is not that much.

He certainly shouldn't be getting the FPS he is reporting (2.2).

[suicidesspyder]

I know you all might see this as dumb but.... I had a similar problem with drop out issues like he has described. Did everything to now prevail. Then for shits and giggles i had a new router and put that on and refreashed system. Believe it or not this worked. I guess i wasnt getting enough internet boost to handle all incoming and outgoing traffic. So just try it, it might work.

[Nighthawk38]

Well, here's the latest update. I downloaded GPU-Z and it shows my gpu temp at idle (no apps running) at 109 C. Temp with 5 instances of WoW running, 117 C. No idea what is considered normal, so someone more knowledgeable will need to enlighten me, but that seems rather hot.

Second, regarding VSync : I am assuming that means "Vertical Synch" on the video options page in WoW. I turned that off (unchecked the box) on all instances of WoW, and with 5 instances running, manually started (no ISBoxer) all at 800 x 600 res and graphics set to LOW, I am getting 6 - 8 fps.

One other thing I noticed while trying to figure this out. In my original WTF file, it has a setting of SET gx VSync "0" however, that does not appear anywhere in the WTF files that ISBoxer created.

Hope this may help a little.

And thanks again to all of you providing input and suggestions, I greatly appreciate it.