World of Warcraft Testing to find FPS issue.

[acidydragon]

Hello all,

 

This is just going to be a post about what I'm testing, and my methodology for testing different things that might be the cause of low FPS I'm getting in World of Warcraft.

If there is an obvious answer, I'd love to hear it!  But aside from someone having the answer, I'll continue my search.

 

 

So, I play World of Warcraft very frequently, on a very hardcore level, raiding at least 3 days a week, for at least 3 hours, plus time to get ready and gather things in the middle.

Now, due to the fact that I'm trying to do the hardest content in the game, I need to have a steady FPS, and a computer, which I thought I had provided with the overkill of hardware I have.

 

The issue I'm having, is running around a capital city, with almost nothing graphically demanding happening, I can see FPS between 90 and 20.

Now, as my signature says, I have quite the hardware in my tower, and I have three different 1080p monitors being pushed by that hardware.

 

My first thought, was that because of trying to push over 6 million pixels, was that I might be running out of VRAM with my 3gb cards. Now, to note, I only play WoW on the middle screen, and I use the left and right screens for productivity, (Using Chrome to look up different things, Mumble, Ventrilo, ect).

My testing method was to go into a raid, and using GPU-z and Afterburner (for redundancy) check the Max VRAM used. However, after many different bosses, I found that the maximum VRAM I was using was just under 2gb of VRAM. Meaning that wasn't the issue. So, I looked more into the GPU to see what was happening with it, to try and determine if that was the issue. After looking at what the different reports said, I saw that the first GPU was maxing out at 76% usage, while the second GPU was only at 36%. This could be an issue with World of Warcraft's optimization, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm going to use a few different games, and checking what they get for the usage, to make sure it isn't something I have set wrong.

 

Even if the SLI isn't working right, we're still not pegged at 100% usage at any point... We don't even hit 80%. So I've decided that the GPU wouldn't be the real issue, even if there is a minor issue there.

 

When I get home, I'll be testing the RAM usage, thinking that it might be the RAM running out, due to the fact that I use so many Chrome windows, and the game playing at the same time. I'll check that once I get home later tonight. At the same time, I'll watch the CPU usage, but I doubt that's the issue.

[Archangel1994]

3 Days a week for 3 hours is not very hardcore at all. Method raids 6 times a week 12-14 hours a day.

 

At any rate I don't think wow likes SLI so try disabling SLI. Also WoW is a much more CPU intensive game than you think

[ltguy]

The problem is warcraft, not you. I have the best hardware money could buy at the time of purchase and even so, warcraft fps is pathetic. I'm hoping its better optimized to actually use my hardware in WOD.

As far as SLI usage goes, i've seen pretty good scaling in newer regions like panadaria and hit or miss spread of the gpu load in older regions. I dont think i've ever seen the gpu's over 50% usage... usually closer to 35%. CPU usuage is always less than 20%.

[acidydragon]

3 Days a week for 3 hours is not very hardcore at all. Method raids 6 times a week 12-14 hours a day.

 

At any rate I don't think wow likes SLI so try disabling SLI. Also WoW is a much more CPU intensive game than you think

3 days a week for 3 hours a day is considered pretty hardcore. Just because I'm not in the #1 guild in the world, that gets paid to raid, doesn't mean I don't play on a hardcore level.

Also, 9 hours a week is the raiding standpoint, not the playing portion. I play the game more than 9 hours a week outside of raids too. As far as being top 200 in the US, 3 days a week, 3 hours a week is very possible, and is done. I don't aim to replace my job, and my college life for nothing but raiding, but I do aim for killing everything as current content, and being one of the first 200 groups to do so in the US.

I'll try turning off SLI, and I know that WoW is CPU intensive, which is why I'll be testing it next along with RAM. It's one of the main reasons I switched from an FX 8320 to a 4670k, was because the ICP of the Intel processor made a major difference in FPS. With the 8320, I was maxing out at 40 FPS, with the switch, I jumped to over 100 FPS max. However, I'm also dipping majorly, from 100 - 20, without any real change in the demand of the game.

Either way, I'll try messing with SLI settings, and I'll do my tests for the CPU to check to see if the usage is up near max.

[acidydragon]

The problem is warcraft, not you. I have the best hardware money could buy at the time of purchase and even so, warcraft fps is pathetic. I'm hoping its better optimized to actually use my hardware in WOD.

As far as SLI usage goes, i've seen pretty good scaling in newer regions like panadaria and hit or miss spread of the gpu load in older regions. I dont think i've ever seen the gpu's over 50% usage... usually closer to 35%. CPU usuage is always less than 20%.

My goal is to see 144FPS at least... I'm going to purchase a 144hz G-Sync monitor soon, so I'd like to see those kinds of numbers in order to see a better utilization of the monitor.

[ltguy]

 

My goal is to see 144FPS at least... I'm going to purchase a 144hz G-Sync monitor soon, so I'd like to see those kinds of numbers in order to see a better utilization of the monitor.

 

You might see those numbers roaming around in the world, but you'll never sustain those numbers in raid boss fights no matter what hardware you have, at least not in pandaria.

But if you do somehow figure it out, please let me know cause i'd be damn impressed. I play on 3 monitors so i know it wont happen for me.

[Archangel1994]

3 days a week for 3 hours a day is considered pretty hardcore. Just because I'm not in the #1 guild in the world, that gets paid to raid, doesn't mean I don't play on a hardcore level.

Also, 9 hours a week is the raiding standpoint, not the playing portion. I play the game more than 9 hours a week outside of raids too. As far as being top 200 in the US, 3 days a week, 3 hours a week is very possible, and is done. I don't aim to replace my job, and my college life for nothing but raiding, but I do aim for killing everything as current content, and being one of the first 200 groups to do so in the US.

I'll try turning off SLI, and I know that WoW is CPU intensive, which is why I'll be testing it next along with RAM. It's one of the main reasons I switched from an FX 8320 to a 4670k, was because the ICP of the Intel processor made a major difference in FPS. With the 8320, I was maxing out at 40 FPS, with the switch, I jumped to over 100 FPS max. However, I'm also dipping majorly, from 100 - 20, without any real change in the demand of the game.

Either way, I'll try messing with SLI settings, and I'll do my tests for the CPU to check to see if the usage is up near max.

Method doesnt get paid to raid either.

[acidydragon]

Method doesnt get paid to raid either.

They're sponsored by both G2A.com and Hyper X (Corsair), they do indeed get paid for raiding.

[acidydragon]

 

 

You might see those numbers roaming around in the world, but you'll never sustain those numbers in raid boss fights no matter what hardware you have, at least not in pandaria.

I expect that much in reality. But I'm still going to get as close as I can

[Archangel1994]

They're sponsored by both G2A.com and Hyper X (Corsair), they do indeed get paid for raiding.

It's not like G2a gives them a sum of money every time they get a world first. They just receive items form time to time

[acidydragon]

It's not like G2a gives them a sum of money every time they get a world first. They just receive items form time to time

Either way, this is derailing OP's purpose. Maybe you don't consider what I do Hardcore, however, I do, and I put a lot of work into the game outside of Raids in order to be ready for the raids when they come. We can just agree to disagree

[Archangel1994]

Either way, this is derailing OP's purpose. Maybe you don't consider what I do Hardcore, however, I do, and I put a lot of work into the game outside of Raids in order to be ready for the raids when they come. We can just agree to disagree

Fair point.

[Wano97]

Hello all,

 

This is just going to be a post about what I'm testing, and my methodology for testing different things that might be the cause of low FPS I'm getting in World of Warcraft.

If there is an obvious answer, I'd love to hear it!  But aside from someone having the answer, I'll continue my search.

 

 

So, I play World of Warcraft very frequently, on a very hardcore level, raiding at least 3 days a week, for at least 3 hours, plus time to get ready and gather things in the middle.

Now, due to the fact that I'm trying to do the hardest content in the game, I need to have a steady FPS, and a computer, which I thought I had provided with the overkill of hardware I have.

 

The issue I'm having, is running around a capital city, with almost nothing graphically demanding happening, I can see FPS between 90 and 20.

Now, as my signature says, I have quite the hardware in my tower, and I have three different 1080p monitors being pushed by that hardware.

 

My first thought, was that because of trying to push over 6 million pixels, was that I might be running out of VRAM with my 3gb cards. Now, to note, I only play WoW on the middle screen, and I use the left and right screens for productivity, (Using Chrome to look up different things, Mumble, Ventrilo, ect).

My testing method was to go into a raid, and using GPU-z and Afterburner (for redundancy) check the Max VRAM used. However, after many different bosses, I found that the maximum VRAM I was using was just under 2gb of VRAM. Meaning that wasn't the issue. So, I looked more into the GPU to see what was happening with it, to try and determine if that was the issue. After looking at what the different reports said, I saw that the first GPU was maxing out at 76% usage, while the second GPU was only at 36%. This could be an issue with World of Warcraft's optimization, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm going to use a few different games, and checking what they get for the usage, to make sure it isn't something I have set wrong.

 

Even if the SLI isn't working right, we're still not pegged at 100% usage at any point... We don't even hit 80%. So I've decided that the GPU wouldn't be the real issue, even if there is a minor issue there.

 

When I get home, I'll be testing the RAM usage, thinking that it might be the RAM running out, due to the fact that I use so many Chrome windows, and the game playing at the same time. I'll check that once I get home later tonight. At the same time, I'll watch the CPU usage, but I doubt that's the issue.

3 days a week 3h a day isn't hardcore imo, and it's probably because of the old engine. Also, MMOs are pretty CPU heavy

[nanox760]

What operating system are you using if you have not tried windows 8, try it, i have seen many reports about it dropping less fps than windows 7. I am currently using 8.1

[Ineko]

3 days a week for 3 hours a day is considered pretty hardcore.

 

That's as casual as it gets buddy.

 

Anyway, in WoD they're switching to a deferred rendering engine, same reason they're removing MSAA. Apparentley this should shift most of the load over to the GPU. They're also toning down other players spell animations a lot, so performance in raids/crowded areas should be improved as well.

 

They're sponsored by both G2A.com and Hyper X (Corsair), they do indeed get paid for raiding.

 

If by 'they' you mean the few that stream, then yea. A sponsorship from G2A and Corsair isn't enough to support 40+ people. Most of them work and take weeks off when new tiers hit. These guilds can be flexible as well, Riggnaros (I know he's from Blood Legion but they're still competing for world first) said they have people that work/go to school during progression and they just raid when they get home and on the weekends.

[acidydragon]

 

That's as casual as it gets buddy.

I'm not sure if you play WoW or not, but let me explain a bit more, why it's not "As casual as it gets"

That's 9 hours, PLUS THE TIME NOT RAIDING

I play at least 35 hours a week, with going to school for 14 credit hours, and working 30 hours a week. I spend most of my time not at work or school, on the game.

Maybe not something to brag about, but something that I'm getting a tad annoyed having to explain.

 

On a more related note, if they can get the usage over to more GPU's, that would be amazing.

[acidydragon]

What operating system are you using if you have not tried windows 8, try it, i have seen many reports about it dropping less fps than windows 7. I am currently using 8.1

I'm using 8.1.

[acidydragon]

So, after reading up a bit, and playing with settings, I decided that the game is just so poorly optimized, that there's nothing I can do for now.

 

However, with the large changes coming in the next month (new expansion with big graphical changes), I'm going to revisit this at a later date.

[eLucid]

Hello all,

 

This is just going to be a post about what I'm testing, and my methodology for testing different things that might be the cause of low FPS I'm getting in World of Warcraft.

If there is an obvious answer, I'd love to hear it!  But aside from someone having the answer, I'll continue my search.

 

 

So, I play World of Warcraft very frequently, on a very hardcore level, raiding at least 3 days a week, for at least 3 hours,

 

Are you kidding? My friend, that's casual status. On progression nights, hardcore guilds raid 7 days a week.

 

If you're seriously looking into hardcore raiding; know this, it's not fun, it's just a brutal grind like everything else. Is it rewarding once you finally down a boss after 200+ wipes? Sure is. How long can you last before you get burned out, that's the real question.

[acidydragon]

Are you kidding? My friend, that's casual status. On progression nights, hardcore guilds raid 7 days a week.

 

If you're seriously looking into hardcore raiding; know this, it's not fun, it's just a brutal grind like everything else. Is it rewarding once you finally down a boss after 200+ wipes? Sure is. How long can you last before you get burned out, that's the real question.

Can you please read everything I've posted before commenting.

I raid 3 nights a week, for 3 hours on one character. I play the game 40+ hours a week, across 11 max level characters, raiding on most of them. I'm in the hardest content in the game right now, and I understand what heroic progression looks like.

No you don't have to raid 7 days a week to get to heroic progression. You raid 7 days a week for a World first kill, which I'm not aiming for. I've raided since Vanilla WoW, and I promise, I don't need to be spoken to like I'm an idiot.

On a different note, I was able to change a few settings for more FPS in general, but it continues to dip down to 30's or so. I checked my CPU and RAM usage, and that's for sure not it. My CPU did get a little more use than I was expecting ( was expecting 70's), it hit 86% max. So still, not pinned to 100% or anything, and the issue isn't thermals either. So I'm going to just place it on the game for the moment, and wait for the expansion to tinker more.

[Ineko]

Can you please read everything I've posted before commenting.

I raid 3 nights a week, for 3 hours on one character. I play the game 40+ hours a week, across 11 max level characters, raiding on most of them. I'm in the hardest content in the game right now, and I understand what heroic progression looks like.

No you don't have to raid 7 days a week to get to heroic progression. You raid 7 days a week for a World first kill, which I'm not aiming for. I've raided since Vanilla WoW, and I promise, I don't need to be spoken to like I'm an idiot.

 

Casuals are so salty these days, calm yourself.

[eLucid]

Can you please read everything I've posted before commenting.

I raid 3 nights a week, for 3 hours on one character. I play the game 40+ hours a week, across 11 max level characters, raiding on most of them. I'm in the hardest content in the game right now, and I understand what heroic progression looks like.

No you don't have to raid 7 days a week to get to heroic progression. You raid 7 days a week for a World first kill, which I'm not aiming for. I've raided since Vanilla WoW, and I promise, I don't need to be spoken to like I'm an idiot.

On a different note, I was able to change a few settings for more FPS in general, but it continues to dip down to 30's or so. I checked my CPU and RAM usage, and that's for sure not it. My CPU did get a little more use than I was expecting ( was expecting 70's), it hit 86% max. So still, not pinned to 100% or anything, and the issue isn't thermals either. So I'm going to just place it on the game for the moment, and wait for the expansion to tinker more.

 

Content that has been on farm for a year now. Gratz! Hardcore raiders develop strats on the PTR beforehand. Until you've experienced this, you have no idea what hardcore raiding is. Nobody cares if you play 40+ hours a week. The fact of the matter is, you're watching kill videos, and or reading up on strats before you even pull a boss for the first time.

 

Implying vanilla was hard, priceless... The hardest part was getting 40 people together. Most of the fights then had no mechanics whatsoever. NT though.

Edited October 7, 2014 by eLucid

[acidydragon]

-Post Re-thought, and removed- 

[acidydragon]

Maybe "Very Hardcore" was the wrong term. I do accept that there are quite a few guilds in the game that raid quite a bit more than me. However, my intentions for the phrasing was that I raid at a very serious level, while I am raiding.

I do my research, I play Beta, PTR, and expect progress while I raid, which is why I don't want something like my FPS to be a hindrance.

 

Even with raiding 3 nights a week, my guild has made progress in the tier up to a top 100 rank on our server (not fantastic, but not bad for starting late). For this patch, I did come back from a hiatus in the middle of it, so my progress isn't anything impressive.

However, I tend to strive for clearing the instance on heroic before the nerf of the raid, often failing due to group support (Silly guilds falling apart...).

 

Apologies if that's not what you had in mind, but achieving what I quoted above, provides a guild a rank near the top 200 in the US, which I consider to be a semi-professional level (people can get sponsored by companies like Razer and such for reaching that area of progress)

[UltimateDave]

Hello all,

 

This is just going to be a post about what I'm testing, and my methodology for testing different things that might be the cause of low FPS I'm getting in World of Warcraft.

If there is an obvious answer, I'd love to hear it!  But aside from someone having the answer, I'll continue my search.

 

 

So, I play World of Warcraft very frequently, on a very hardcore level, raiding at least 3 days a week, for at least 3 hours, plus time to get ready and gather things in the middle.

Now, due to the fact that I'm trying to do the hardest content in the game, I need to have a steady FPS, and a computer, which I thought I had provided with the overkill of hardware I have.

 

The issue I'm having, is running around a capital city, with almost nothing graphically demanding happening, I can see FPS between 90 and 20.

Now, as my signature says, I have quite the hardware in my tower, and I have three different 1080p monitors being pushed by that hardware.

 

My first thought, was that because of trying to push over 6 million pixels, was that I might be running out of VRAM with my 3gb cards. Now, to note, I only play WoW on the middle screen, and I use the left and right screens for productivity, (Using Chrome to look up different things, Mumble, Ventrilo, ect).

My testing method was to go into a raid, and using GPU-z and Afterburner (for redundancy) check the Max VRAM used. However, after many different bosses, I found that the maximum VRAM I was using was just under 2gb of VRAM. Meaning that wasn't the issue. So, I looked more into the GPU to see what was happening with it, to try and determine if that was the issue. After looking at what the different reports said, I saw that the first GPU was maxing out at 76% usage, while the second GPU was only at 36%. This could be an issue with World of Warcraft's optimization, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm going to use a few different games, and checking what they get for the usage, to make sure it isn't something I have set wrong.

 

Even if the SLI isn't working right, we're still not pegged at 100% usage at any point... We don't even hit 80%. So I've decided that the GPU wouldn't be the real issue, even if there is a minor issue there.

 

When I get home, I'll be testing the RAM usage, thinking that it might be the RAM running out, due to the fact that I use so many Chrome windows, and the game playing at the same time. I'll check that once I get home later tonight. At the same time, I'll watch the CPU usage, but I doubt that's the issue.

Im not gonna complain about your raid times supposedly not being hardcore (i probs raid the same amount) but considering your setup is quite near mine apart from cpu cooler (maybe) and a 2nd graphics card. I'd say disable 2nd gpu and see how you go, the lowest i get in capitals is 40fps, but your server may be higher pop. It could also be your cpu throttling (doubt it)