Improving Game performance

Forestlordx · Post by **Forestlordx** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:45 pm

I need some help in getting the game to work more efficient on my system. I have an AMD 1.9Ghz cpu with 1Gig of DDR ram. I have a 256 meg Nvidia 5600 video card and have a cable modem. My video drivers are all updated and I run with lower graphic settings. At best I am getting only 20FPS when I really should be much higher. Also I find I get a lot of latency when playing AV, Scholo, or Strat. Does anyone have any suggestions for improving game performance?

Thanks

oiseaux · Post by **oiseaux** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:16 pm

I think almost everyone gets slow FPS in AV because of all the graphical details in that place. Especially if Horde or Alliance are bottlenecked at a point.

I don't know a whole lot about computers. I just know what I have come across with my own computer and my husband's, so this isn't expert advice.

Unfortunately it is probably your AMD or your video card giving you a bottleneck. Most likely the AMD is the problem. I had a Celeron D 2.0 Processor in my old computer and as soon as I upgraded to a Pentium 4 3.0 Processor WoW was like a whole new game for me. I kept the same video card and Ram too. Now of course the motherboard was new so that didn't hurt either!

What slot type is your video card?

DM. · Post by **DM.** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:19 pm

Latency is more related to your connection than your current configuration. I run WoW on a worse system but I still get a nice green latency bar all the time.

First thing is to make sure that nothing else is using the Internet when your playing WoW. Also look at the realm your playing on. If its west and your east then obviously there is an issue there and your latency will be a bit higher.

Also it is normal to get a higher latency in high traffic areas like AV, or in Ironforge, Orgrimmar, etc... A 5 man instance however, shouldn't result in a high latency. You can check your in game settings as well. Stuff like Terrain distance will effect your latency because its basically what you see that will get loaded. If you dont see it then you dont receive any data about it.

Also WoW Techincal Support people do a very good job in helping people get their issues solved:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board ... umId=11110
So post this question there as well and see what other things they say that can help you

Skyfire · Post by **Skyfire** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:19 pm

It's either your processor, or your connection. I suspect it to be the latter.

xpolockx · Post by **xpolockx** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:44 pm

Definitely sounds like your connection if you're getting latency while running a 5 man instance. Most people tend to get a little bit in AV - having that many people in a small area can be rough. I would definitely look into upgrading your MB/processor though if possible, since the rest of your gear seems to be up to par.

Good luck

Skyfire · Post by **Skyfire** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:13 pm

Eh, I run a 2.0 ghz p4 (I think its a 2.0 -_-) with 1 gig of ram; the only times I lag are when my brother's hogging the bandwidth (wireless ftl). Even then, I just DC every 30 minutes... which is an unrelated issue

!

xpolockx · Post by **xpolockx** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:43 pm

With the inexpensiveness of single core processors atm, I'm just saying that if he's got the extra money it's worth the upgrade. That's all

BWDemor · Post by **BWDemor** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:51 pm

Updating the Video Card would also help the improvement of game. Any NVIDIA 6xxx would help out. If you think about getting the G7xxx card then you should think about getting new motherboard and moving to PCI-E.

BW
[-(

Alanthus · Post by **Alanthus** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:31 pm

Before doing anything else make sure you don't have other programs doing things in the background, if something is downloading for instance and accessing the HDD it kills your performance when it does causing intermittent or pervasive lag depending on the application.

Generally the WoW client is becoming more bloated with every update (like most other programs) and uses a lot of memory and resources. A system getting good performance now would have 1.5 - 2GB of RAM, a geforce 6600 eq. or better graphics card and a 2.4GHz processor or better. Of these the RAM is the most important, the game will run fairly good on a 4xxx eq. graphics card but there will be less eyecandy and the cpu is not that big a deal really. If you run tasks in the background you may want a little more RAM and maybe an extra CPU core, a decent cache HDD helps too since regardless of how much RAM you have the system insists on swapping to HDD at times which kills performance.

Forestlordx · Post by **Forestlordx** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:17 pm

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I don't have the means to do any large upgrades. I recently bought RAM to get to 1 gig..was running at 512megs. The 1 gig really improved the gameplay in a big way. I've just been trying to optimize my current system configuration without having to buy any other hardware.

I just got done defragging my HD...which could have been a culprit. I'm thinking too that after the large patch tomorrow I will be uninstalling all the UI's I use and add them on one by one. It's possible some of them were lagging my system in certain situations.

Do any of you have other ideas for optimizing a computer to improve system performance?

oiseaux · Post by **oiseaux** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:43 pm

I have a question actually. At first you say you have low FPS but then later you said it was latency? Are you referring low FPS as latency?

Perhaps you should do a good old trace route to see if you are losing any packets. Here are quick directions on how to do one of those.

From Blizzard's site

For Windows:

1. Click Start and then Run
2. Type in "command" or "cmd" and press Enter
3. In the command window, type 'tracert us.logon.worldofwarcraft.com > C:\tracert.txt' (without the quotes) and press the Enter key.

A file will be created on your C: drive called tracert.txt that contains your Traceroute information. Please be patient when waiting for the tracert command to complete, it may take several minutes. When you are returned to the command prompt, then the trace is complete. Please attach your tracert.txt to your reply for further analysis.

4. Type exit and press the Enter key to close the command window.
******

If you don't know how to analyze it post it here and I can help some. =D

Forestlordx · Post by **Forestlordx** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:42 pm

oiseaux wrote:I have a question actually. At first you say you have low FPS but then later you said it was latency? Are you referring low FPS as latency?

Thanks for the tracert suggestion. I will try it tonight when I get home. In game I have been experiencing both low FPS and latency in certain areas. The highest FPS I get is 20 FPS doesnt matter where I am at. I usually have a very good ping 100-200ms, but in certain areas I get very bad lag, ie. scholo, strat. I shouldnt get bad lag in these areas, but I do...just trying to find out why. I also lag out and get disc'd in AVs...the ping goes up to 10K.

So in a nutshell I am trying to increase my FPS to higher than 20 and determine why I am getting high latency in places I shouldnt.

Hybuir · Post by **Hybuir** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:53 pm

I have an NVID FX 5200 I run my screen uber huge with an 1152*864 with a high everything... i dont like it as much... i'd rather have a 1024*764 with low everything and running smoothly. 2G PC3200 Ram

big_dady_kane · Post by **big_dady_kane** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 4:31 pm

How do i set up all my gear so when u click on me u can see my real lvl and real guild and real gear?

please message me if u know

Groyff · Post by **Groyff** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:38 am

Try stareing in to a wall with your character and see what your fps is. The fewer polygons the graphic card has to draw the higher the fps. So if u minimize the complexity of the image u should see your maximum fps. Also I know there is a settings "vertical sync" in WOW for LCD-screens preventing some screen tearing effects by forcing the fps to be a multiple of the LCD-screen update, which is usually 60Hz. When I unchecked that I got a lot higher fps, though I get som tearings but I dont even notice them really.

Could be worth a try.

And Addons can addto latency if you are unlucky, especially if you have addons that need to communicate alot with other parties in raid or group

//Cheers

BWDemor · Post by **BWDemor** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 6:00 pm

The other thing I noticed helpped is to turn off names and guild above a person's head. That improved on my system when I did that. Plus it's more enjoyable, not every gets to walk around with a name above their head.

BW

Skyfire · Post by **Skyfire** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:30 pm

BWDemor wrote:The other thing I noticed helpped is to turn off names and guild above a person's head. That improved on my system when I did that. Plus it's more enjoyable, not every gets to walk around with a name above their head.

BW

^^^

Good suggestion, and one that I also adhere to. It certainly helps in IF

.

xpolockx · Post by **xpolockx** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:22 am

BWDemor wrote:The other thing I noticed helpped is to turn off names and guild above a person's head. That improved on my system when I did that. Plus it's more enjoyable, not every gets to walk around with a name above their head.

BW

I like knowing who everybody is at a glance...

so sue me

My cousin has all the npc names activated too though, but I can't handle THAT many names all over my screen, haha

Forestlordx · Post by **Forestlordx** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 2:37 pm

Since patch 2.0 and the times I have been able to get in game to configure things my FPS have increased in low populated areas...up to 32 now which is better than 20..but once i get into an AH area it goes way way down which is probably normal...it also goes down when I am moving . I'll try playing with my video settings...as to the lag part I havent really been able to test it since patch 2.0.

Hybuir · Post by **Hybuir** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:02 pm

I found out recently that i have 1GB RAM instead of 2. I had been wrong for over 9 months. jeez.

Anyways it plays smooth. All settings on low except for terrain distance (good for leading the teams in the battlegrounds) I say that the lag is due to everyone getting those glowy pvp shoulders. darn tootin!