Finding the Performance Issue

[zanthor]

Ok... I've got a problem with my machine and I'm having a bitch of a time isolating it... The performance i"m worried about is SINGLE BOXING, however I'm asking here since we have so many top notch hardware monkeys...

System Spec's:
AMD Athlon Phenom 9600 BE, 2.3ghz x 4, not overclocked.
4GB Corsair ram, 800mhz, I'm not overclocking so no need to go higher.
WD 500GB SATA Drive x2
WD 320GB SATA Drive x2
XFX GF 8800gt 640mb ddr3
MSI K9A2 CF-F (790X chipset)

Windows Vista Ultimate

This system was also running previously on an AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ (2x 3.0ghz) with the same configuration. Also with a 7900gt 256mb DDR2 card...

I've been disappointed from the start... I've tried different drivers, I've reinstalled the OS, I've replaced the mainboard, CPU, upgraded ram, etc. According to the system performance monitor I'm not pushing the limits at all.

I have a friend who has an 8800GTX in a system identical to my old build (the x2 6000+, 4gb ram, etc) and gets 100+ FPS in shattrah, while I sit between 20-30. he doesn't this with his UI loaded, I do this with my UI stripped down to blizzards naked UI (no performance change from my UI being loaded though)...

I installed wow fresh this weekend, repatched to 2.4, etc... so it's not my wow install.
It's not my hard drive, I've tried it on all 4, and sata drives should be more than fast enough (load times are great, framerates suck)
It's not my cpu, since it sits below 75% with all 5 copies running let alone just one...
It's not my RAM since it's not anywhere near capped out, and the benchmarks I've seen between nosebleed zomg expensive ram and your economy models show a 5% performance difference for the system (IE: not 60fps difference)
It's not my NIC, nor my sound...
It shouldn't be my video card, since it's not exactly sucking tit...

Help me out, any ideas?

PS: Please keep the vista bashing out of this thread, I run Vista because I have to know Vista for work, I've had similar performance from this system in XP (10-15fps difference) and other people are having nosebleed performance on Vista.

[Eteocles]

Unfortunately Vista miiiiiight be to blame..not Vista in /general/, but Ultimate edition...I hear it runs poorly compared to the other versions.

First, simple test: Go ingame, type /console maxfps 80, any change?

If yes: lol

If not: I hear the AMD quads aren't as good as Intel's...but that shouldn't make such a horrible horrible framerate occur. Rest of the system looks like it should run great, better than mine...

Try disabling or turning down AntiAliasing or setting it to Application-Controlled in the nVidia Control Panel at rightclick desktop > Properties > last tab > Nvidia tab; you want performance, so eff the slightly less-sharp but blocky no matter what textures in favor of reliability :p

Also, what resolution are you running? LCD/CRT monitor? MonitorS?

UI only affects load time most of the time, shouldn't affect fps much. Shatt however may be a bad place to test since 2.4 sunwell dailies have people gathering there en-masse in an already over-NPC'd area...adding a half dozen NPCs to the literally 50+ already there, beside the 2 battlemaster spots and fucking flightpath no less where there's hundreds of players sitting there like dumbfucks for their welfare epics instead of queueing and moving away from the lag like a sane person...doesn't help anyone's framerates let alone a boxer's lol

[zanthor]

I've set maxfpx to 500 with no change.

I've set AA to off and to 8x, no change.

I run dual monitor, one 19" Samsung @ 1280x1024 (secondary) and the primary is a KDS @ 1680x1050.

Saddly I don't play anything else so I couldn't tell you if it runs better in another game!

I can move out to Blades Edge and get 30-40fps max. I can set all teh graphics settings to max and see no change, I can set them all to performance minded settings and set the resolution @ 800x600 and see no change...

I do see a 10-15fps change from going full screen instead of windowed mode.

As mentioned, I had the X2 6000+ running XP and Vista, there was a 10fps difference between them.

[Eteocles]

Try a reasonable number with maxfps, 500 may be overkill ;p 60-80's fine

1680x1050 is an odd-sounding res...it's not a matching multiple like most other res's are...try setting that one to 1280x1024 temporarily maybe, other than that I can't think of much else, will have to let one of the more tech-inclined people, sorry I can't be more help lol

[zanthor]

I also tried 50, 100, etc on maxfps... and I covered the other resolutions in the edit while you replied .

[Sarduci]

Are you running SP1?

Have you looked at performance counters?

Are you capping your frames when boxing? When you are not?

I don't quite understand your last statement, if you are within 15-10 frames of the way it ran in XP, then I'm not sure what your problem is? Have you duplicated all of your friends game settings on a 1:1 basis, and I mean all of them, on every tab? How is the performance in a maximized window when you launch it manually? Specifically windowed mode maximized.

What about virus/worm/rootkit/malware/spyware?

What about driver revisions? Firmware? BIOS updates?

You do know there is a major difference in the way the memory controllers work between the 8800gt and 8800gtx?

I'll definitely agree with your opinion of DDR2 vs DDR3 RAM itself, the memory controllers are much nicer on DDR3 than DDR2 but are not worth it right now since nothing really can take advantage of the enhancements to that currently in the gaming market.

Edit: Whoops, got pulled away from my desk, some of this may have been covered above.

[Sarduci]

Try a reasonable number with maxfps, 500 may be overkill ;p 60-80's fine

1680x1050 is an odd-sounding res...it's not a matching multiple like most other res's are...try setting that one to 1280x1024 temporarily maybe, other than that I can't think of much else, will have to let one of the more tech-inclined people, sorry I can't be more help lol

1680x1050 is a standard resolution. Not common, but standard.

[zanthor]

Are you running SP1?

Not yet.

Have you looked at performance counters?

I have, but I'm not sure exactly what to look for.

Are you capping your frames when boxing? When you are not?

With 5 instances of wow running the focus'd window gets 25-30fps even when I raise the maxfps over that. When running ONE instance of wow in the same place with the same settings I get 25-40fps.

I don't quite understand your last statement, if you are within 15-10 frames of the way it ran in XP, then I'm not sure what your problem is? Have you duplicated all of your friends game settings on a 1:1 basis, and I mean all of them, on every tab? How is the performance in a maximized window when you launch it manually? Specifically windowed mode maximized.

It runs like shit in XP, it runs like shit in Vista, it's playable but not running the way this system should be able to.

Compairing to my friends setup... I have loaded wow from a clean install freshly patched to 2.4 (925mb download). All graphics settings at minimum and I get SIGNIFICANTLY worse performance than my friends pc does.

What about virus/worm/rootkit/malware/spyware?

Clean install of windows XP, clean install of windows Vista, I'm certain there isn't a problem with anything of that nature.

What about driver revisions? Firmware? BIOS updates?

Downloaded current drivers on all hardware, I haven't updated firmware or bios, I'll check for avaialbiltiy because that is something that I missed.

You do know there is a major difference in the way the memory controllers work between the 8800gt and 8800gtx?

I don't know much about the different variants of video cards, I know 8800's smoke 8600's, and 8000's smoke 7000's, it's REALLY hard to find any english language documentation (and I don't mean technical bullshit from the manufacturer, I mean english like "Hey bubba, this cards fastest, followed by this one, then this one"). But I was under the impression that the 8800GT was FAST.

[Taipan]

Zanthor,

You may want to start with verifying if the trouble lies in "your system" as opposed to "WoW on your system".

Thus I would investigate the performance of your system with other games and/or 3D benchmark.

There are game demos available and also the 3DMark series.

My Vista Family system (not SP1 yet) is very similar to yours, apart from the Quad6600 and the Raptor drive : I get around 18 000 at 3Dmark5 (not 6) so you should be around there too.
Note : I got this 18 000 both with the 8800GT 512mo and the ATI 3870 512mo, running the free 3dmark05 benchmark.

Also Vista performance index gives me a 5.9 out of 6 so your should be around there too.

@ Eteocles: 1680 * 1050 is standard resolution for wide-screen LCDs in 21-22" nowadays, I dual-monitor on two of them.
I don't think this is related to the performance issue here.

Best regards,

[zanthor]

Also Vista performance index gives me a 5.9 out of 6 so your should be around there too.

For the vista performance index I'm 5.9 across the board except my hard drives which are 5.6.

I'll download 3dmark2005 and see what I get and let you know.