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August 24, 2009, 09:31 PM
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#1 (permalink) |
 
Status: <Demon Trainer>
Character Info
Pernicious 80 Blood Elf Warlock Dark Iron US PvP Guild: Allmacht Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/13/58 |
Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
I just wanted to start with a preliminary thank you for any help you could offer me with this problem. I've been fighting this for a while now, and realized today that I've just been settling with having low FPS in the game even though I shouldn't have any at all. I don't quite understand why I do and can't seem to figure out how to improve things. My Computer Setup: Motherboard: Mach SPeed MSNV-939 CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Graphics: BFG GTX 260 (896mb GDDR3) RAM: 4gb 400MHz Dual Channel DDR Windows 7 / Vista Ultimate /XP pro* 300g 7200rpm Western Digital HD Comcast Broadband Internet Netgear Rangemax Duo Wireless N *Currently have Windows 7 installed, but I have had the same issues on Vista Ultimate and XP Pro Game Experience: Regardless of whether or not I have all the graphic settings punched to the highest settings (all options turned on to the highest), or lowest, I seem to average 19fps outside of cities and between 2-9fps inside cities. I have tried reducing my resolution down from 1920x1200 to 1280x768 all to no avail. I've reduced my windows effects to the basic settings, and made sure all other programs are closed, still see no change in my FPS. I realize I must have some sort of bottleneck but I can't seem to find what it is. So I'm asking for ideas from any of you as to what I might be able to try. I am a fairly experienced Computer user, I built this machine from scratch, so don't be afraid to get a little technical if you need to. I am not a computer engineer so keep that in mind if you do get technical, but I should be able to follow along with a lot of what you might say. One thought I had was that my network card or even ISP might be where my bottle neck is. My router is a new and might need some setting tweaking that I'm not too sure of. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get higher FPS even though all indications are that my machine can do much better than this. Thanks for any help you have.
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August 24, 2009, 09:49 PM
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#2 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Lavath 80 Blood Elf Warlock Shadow Council US RP Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 3/13/55 |
Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
I have done a lot of things to help improve FPS and latency. Let me first start by saying that if you have thought of getting the Killer Nic, that you should banish that thought from your mind. Do not waste your money. If you don't know what I am talking about, then you are on the right track. Next, what seemed to do a lot for me was a registry change that I think a few people have seen. I will use the same disclaimer and say that messing with the registry can lead to bad things so unless you are comfortable with it, I would consider against messing with the registry. Ok, disclaimer done. Here's what to do: 1. Open the registry editor by going Start->Run and typing "regedit" then pressing enter 2. Nagivate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servi ces\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\" 3. Look in each of the keys inside that one (they look like: {random numbers and letters]) and determine which one is your network connection. You can tell this since it will have your computers local ip address stored in it. 4. Add a new key called "TcpAckFrequency" of type REG_DWORD and set the value to 1. 5. Restart your computer. This is working for me on Windows XP. This *should* work for you if you have Windows Vista with SP1 installed. I would only assume it should work with Win7 but I do not know for sure. |
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August 25, 2009, 12:24 AM
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#3 (permalink) |
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Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
I'll ask the usual question, have you cleaned the inside of your computer recently? I'll use a very drastic example which occurred last week to highlight why I think it's important. Last week I helped clean out my gf's comp, whenever she launched WoW it would be ok for a few min but then the fps would plummet to single digits... within 10min the entire window OS would shutdown. We purged WoW, purged Windows to no avail. Finally when I opened the case, I noticed her video card fan was choking with dust, to the point where it can barely move. We cleaned it, but I realised that she had already done irreversible damage to the card and we had to buy a new one. so... open your case and see how clogged your fans are before you try anything fancy Last edited by Coud; August 25, 2009 at 12:27 AM.. |
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August 25, 2009, 08:03 AM
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#4 (permalink) |
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Status: <Demon Trainer>
Character Info
Pernicious 80 Blood Elf Warlock Dark Iron US PvP Guild: Allmacht Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/13/58 |
Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
Coud: My case is actually already opened. I had to reinstall the OS about three weeks ago due to an unusual error. I ended up installing a new Hard Drive. Whenever I open the casing, I make sure I clean everything out. I have yet to reattach the side of the case, mainly because I have a third hard drive with data on it I've been meaning to attach. I have a lot of fans in the case, and my CPU/video card temperatures are very low as well. I can definitely see what you're talking about though, if the fan gets clogged up the Video Card could overheat causing the entire machine to crash after a little while. Lavath: Thanks for that Registry edit. I gave it a shot, but I still don't see any noticeable improvement. I'm still leaning towards this being a problem with either my ISP, Router Setup, or my Network Card (which is integrated into my MB). I suspect the Network Card because prior to installing Windows 7, I had Vista installed and it had issues with the network card every time I started the computer. Sometimes it wouldn't work at all until I restarted the machine a second time. Windows 7 seems to have no problems using the card, but I wonder if Vista was picking up on some type of error that Windows 7 is working around. I also thought that perhaps there is a Router Setting I could enable, or change, that might help. I don't know much about configuring Routers, but I do know that they can have special gaming settings. Third, if it isn't either of those things, I'm thinking it may have to do with my ISP, Comcast. I'm not thrilled about having Comcast (especially since before I moved I was using Verizon Fios) but it's all I got. Given that regardless of whether or not Warcraft is configured for the highest graphic settings or the lowest and it performs the same, I'm likely to believe that it isn't an issue with my cpu/graphics hardware not being up to par. So the issue must be some type of bottleneck in the data it sends and receives to/from Blizzard. Unless I'm overlooking something.
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Like what you see? Support the Den Exploring The Depths of the Den Last edited by Pernicious; August 25, 2009 at 08:08 AM.. |
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August 25, 2009, 08:29 AM
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#5 (permalink) |
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Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
I think that your memory is slow (400MHz) and maybe you have problems with your windows. |
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August 25, 2009, 08:56 AM
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#6 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Borgette 70 Undead Warlock Terenas Euro PvE |
Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
your symptoms sound just like what's being discussed here GTX 260/280 Clock Throttling While in 3D Apps. An Explanation. - Page 3 - nV News Forums the 3d low power mode is bugging out and cutting your performance post 44 gives a possible solution using rivatuner if your using the latest 190.38 drivers theres a power management mode option in manage 3d settings, change it from the default adapative to "prefer maximum performance" then reboot.
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AFFLICTION, n. An acclimatizing process preparing the soul for another and bitter world. - Ambrose Bierce |
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August 25, 2009, 09:00 AM
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#7 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Zeroneo 80 Undead Warlock Hellfire Euro PvE Guild: Cartel Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 3/13/55 |
Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
Looking at your specs, I think it is your memory aswell. Unless you forgot to mention it is DDR2 (in dual channel or not) its very old.
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"Around the clock lock rock." |
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August 25, 2009, 09:08 AM
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#8 (permalink) |
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Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
Hey there. First off i would say that your machine should be running at higher fps, but you already knew that  If there were to be any hardware in your machine that could possibly be causing a bottle neck i would most probably point my finger at the cpu first. Your ISP or network adapters for the most part will NOT cause you to have low fps. What they will cause though is high MS or as its often called, lag. The lower your MS the better so anything from 20 to 250 is what you should hopefully have  I will make afew suggestions, my appoligse if i cover old ground; Heat is a killer. Your cpu ideally should be running no hotter than 60c and you should be able to check this temp in your motherboards bios. Software that reports temps can often get it wrong so check the bios first if possible. Dust is terrible for causing heat problems as has been said above, so if you have a build up of dust hoover it out. Any dust caught in heatsinks on cpu coolers etc should be removed also. Your Gfc should be running around 70-80c under load and shouldnt go much over 100c. I am assuming that you actually have DDR2 memory in your machine which would mean its actually running at 800mhz. Check your bios to make sure your ram is running at the correct voltages and memory timeings as this can cause issues. If your memory is not all identicle then remove the sticks that are different and run the machine any take note of any difference in fps. If your memory IS all the same you may have a faulty stick in which case run the machine first off with only 1 stick and then swap and change noting any changes in fps. Lengthy proccess yea....but in this case its the best way. What wattage is your PSU? The gfc you are running is quite high end and will require alot of juice. You should be using a PSU of atleast 550w and have all the correct connecters on the gfc. Defragment your hard disk if you have not already as this can often help general performance. Thats it for now....if i can think of anything else during the day i will add it. Good luck!  <--- felt the need to use this smiley as it makes for lulz.
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August 25, 2009, 09:52 AM
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#9 (permalink) |
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Status: <Demon Trainer>
Character Info
Pernicious 80 Blood Elf Warlock Dark Iron US PvP Guild: Allmacht Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/13/58 |
Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
Borgette: That does sound a lot like the issue I'm having, and it would certainly explain a lot if that's what it turns out to be. I'll check this out as soon as I get home. Thank's so much for finding that for me. Rachakuka & Zeroneo I am aware that my memory is a bit on the slow side (It's not DDR2). I had to go with this one as I had a lack of cash at the time and had to get my computer up and running (it had been fried in an electrical storm). I could have gotten a better MB/Processor, but the added cost of getting new ram was too much, so I opted to get the best board I could find that used my existing memory instead, since I already had 4gb worth of memory. Perhaps in the near future I'll upgrade to a Quad Core with faster memory. Bollywood You're absolutely right. I'm not sure what I was thinking by pointing my finger at my ISP. The latency would have been obviously high if that were the case and I find that I typically sit between 50 and 250 latency. I am well aware of heating issues, which is why I have so many fans in my case right now. My CPU tends to set around 35degrees when idle, and can get up near 45 when I'm running WoW. I like to keep it cool in there. I'll admit that given how warm it has been lately, and the fact I keep my AC down to save on power, it probably is a little warmer in there as a result, but I doubt that it would be higher than 60 degrees. My case has a 700w Power Supply, which should be more than enough to power the GPU and other devices I have attached. Also, the Hard Drive is brand new. I installed it 2-3 weeks ago, formated it, and set up Windows7 / Warcraft / Open Office / and my Adobe Suite. I haven't installed anything else. I'm fairly certain that it is not a Defrag issue. Still, it wouldn't hurt to run the Disk Defrag again. And your right... The Smiley Face does make for good lulz! Everyone Thanks so much for your help. One of the reasons I love this community is that everyone steps in to help when someone's in need. Keep it up! I have some Green Cookies for all of you!
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Like what you see? Support the Den Exploring The Depths of the Den Last edited by Pernicious; August 25, 2009 at 09:55 AM.. |
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August 25, 2009, 03:35 PM
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#10 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Dakou 80 Orc Warlock Akama US PvP Guild: Lovely Bunch of Coconuts Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 3/13/55 |
Re: Low FPS, help me optimize my settings
I was having similar problems. I had Comcast as well and had read about Comcast killing bit torrent streams and WOW does use bit torrent. But that wasn't my problem. What made the best improvement for me on my Vista box was to update the firmware on my network card (onboard). My PC was only a few years old so I didn't think it was it but I searched and realized there was. I installed it and was rewarded w/ much better latency. As far as frame rate I did all I could do w/ my on board video card, so I upgraded to an ATI 4650 1gig card. It was like 50 bucks from Tiger Direct. It was a giant improvement. Low FR in Dal ect. I also upgraded my power supply as I found out that my old one was barely big enough to power my PC. I moved to a 550 watt PS and am happy. If you are playing from a wireless connection try connecting w/ a LAN line to see if your connection improves. Wireless is limited to connection speed 54mbs as opposed to 100mbs to a LAN cable. I have a wireless router but I am plugged into it and use it to broadcast for use w/ laptops, surfing the net, ect. |
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