Legion performance at 4K is... bad?

[tyrindor]

I have a 6700k @ 4.5GHz and a Titan X. I run 4K, and the game recommends 7 out of 10 for the graphic preset which looks worse than live in some aspects. Setting it up to 9/10, in many areas my FPS becomes low 30s due to the new draw distance and grass density. This seems insane given my specs. GPU usage is 99%, so no CPU bottleneck.

I can go on live, max everything, and see 100FPS everywhere. Sure it doesn't look as good but I never expected my computer not capable of maxing WoW. It seems others have experienced the same, and i've made sure it's not my computer by running 3DMark and other benchmarks.

I noticed on the PTR the build is marked "release" so I doubt those background processes are still running that some people blame. Fingers crossed that when 7.0 goes live Tuesday these performance issues don't carry over... =/

[Jtbrig7390]

Wow is CPU demanding. You can throw 4 GTX 1080's at it and it won't run any different then a GTX 970.

If you are wanting WoW 4k/60fps max settings your not going to get it. I highly dough you get it on live as well even more so in Garrison and in Mythic raiding.

Legion will be more graphic demanding but wow is still a CPU whore.

[tyrindor]

Wow is CPU demanding. You can throw 4 GTX 1080's at it and it won't run any different then a GTX 970.

If you are wanting WoW 4k/60fps max settings your not going to get it. I highly dough you get it on live as well even more so in Garrison and in Mythic raiding.

Legion will be more graphic demanding but wow is still a CPU whore.

I actually get ~110FPS in my garrison on live, at 4K and max (including 4x MSAA). Just checked. Increased resolution is going to cause increased load on the GPU, which reduces CPU bottleneck. It's pretty hard to have a CPU bottleneck at this resolution (I get 99% GPU usage on both live and in legion proving no bottleneck).

I just checked a 4K benchmark for WoW showing a 1080 being ~30% faster than a Titan X. GPU definitely matters at 4K in this game.

EDIT: Here you go https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/...X_1080/23.html.

[Deleted]

Titan X is just old and busted.

[KOMO1211]

make sure to turn down/off AA? also until they (game developers) learn to make good use of all the cores/threads on new cpu's dont expect much else. you have that shiny new 6700k but wow still mainly runs off of 1 core/thread. it does use a second for some processes but the main game uses one. unless they have changed this in legion which i doubt.

[Jtbrig7390]

I actually get ~110FPS in my garrison on live, at 4K and max (including 4x MSAA). Just checked. Increased resolution is going to cause increased load on the GPU, which reduces CPU bottleneck. It's pretty hard to have a CPU bottleneck at this resolution (proven by the fact I get 99% GPU usage on both live and in legion).

I need video proof to believe it sorry. Doesn't matter how much you increase the resolution with WoW its still a CPU whore. Also you don't need any AA at 4k.

[Morssoe]

You need to turn low like shadow effects and such cause those destroy fps.

It doesn't matter if you pay 1million for your pc it won't run WoW at high fps in cities and raids.

Best you can do for rest of us is to go blizz HQ and slap their faces for not giving us proper game engine.

[tyrindor]

Titan X is just old and busted.

Haha, I know right.

I will be buying a 1080Ti when it releases but going to a GTX 1080 for 20-30% gain doesn't seem worth it.

I need video proof to believe it sorry. Doesn't matter how much you increase the resolution with WoW its still a CPU whore. Also you don't need any AA at 4k.

Stop trolling, I just linked you a benchmark above that shows GPU matters in the game. The whole "GPUs don't matter" is from back in BC/MoP days where it actually didn't matter. The engine has undergone serious changes in WoD/Legion when they introduced new character models and other graphic improvements.

Increased resolution = less CPU bottleneck with any CPU bound game, it's very hard to get a CPU bottleneck at 4K in any game. MSI Afterburner shows 99%+ GPU usage, which proves no CPU bottleneck.

Also, If you think MSAA doesn't make a difference at 4K than you have never actually tried it. Not needing AA at 4K is common misconception, you need it less but there's still an improvement in using it. A pretty big one in some games.

You need to turn low like shadow effects and such cause those destroy fps.

It doesn't matter if you pay 1million for your pc it won't run WoW at high fps in cities and raids.

Best you can do for rest of us is to go blizz HQ and slap their faces for not giving us proper game engine.

But why would I need to do this when I don't on live? Seems like legion is less optimized overall.

make sure to turn down/off AA? also until they (game developers) learn to make good use of all the cores/threads on new cpu's dont expect much else. you have that shiny new 6700k but wow still mainly runs off of 1 core/thread. it does use a second for some processes but the main game uses one. unless they have changed this in legion which i doubt.

No AA and 4x MSAA doesn't seem to make any impact in FPS on the PTR. I lose maybe 1-2FPS depending on the scene. Makes me think something it very wrong with their optimizations.

[Deleted]

The burden of an extremely old engine (the one that was used for WC3 and on which WoW expands).

[sys01]

I run at 4K too and yes I noticed a big(ish) performance drop in Legion: Beta compared to Live. I can easily go above 60 fps on Live with everything maxed out + FXAA High, but in Legion it seems there are times where I drop below 30 fps... wtf.

LE.: You don't really need MSAA 4x on 4K. FXAA High does almost the same job as MSAA in regard to 4K since FXAA behaves differently at that resoultion. You also gain a little bit more performance with FXAA and no image quality cost.

[tyrindor]

The burden of an extremely old engine (the one that was used for WC3 and on which WoW expands).

Yeah that's what I am thinking too.

I run at 4K too and yes I noticed a big(ish) performance drop in Legion: Beta compared to Live. I can easily go above 60 fps on Live with everything maxed out + FXAA High, but in Legion it seems there are times where I drop below 30 fps... wtf.

LE.: You don't really need MSAA 4x on 4K. FXAA High does almost the same job as MSAA in regard to 4K since FXAA behaves differently at that resoultion. You also gain a little bit more performance with FXAA and no image quality cost.

I notice a texture blur with FXAA and jaggies on some distance surfaces. I don't seem to have any performance hit between the two settings for some reason, so I just use 4x MSAA. 8x MSAA on the other hand is where I start seeing a hit.

I'm really hoping our performance issues don't carry over to live... otherwise the 1080Ti can't come soon enough. If the 1080 is getting about 30% higher in WoW than a 980Ti/Titan X, then it's safe to say a 1080Ti would put us back up to around 60FPS at max.

4K RIP.

[Morssoe]

But why would I need to do this when I don't on live? Seems like legion is less optimized overall.

I already gave you solution for problems, it's up to you to decide what you want.

We all have struggled with blizzard engine, and bad fps. They won't do anything to help you out.

Most wow players are poor, and want their wooden comps to fulfill their wildest dream to fight against dragons and protect the princess. SAD.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Just remember as you bump up resolution you don't really need that AA anymore. Or at least a lot less at each step up. 4k really doesn't need it at all. So that is a big help on the FPS front whent moving up the ladder.

Next thing is just don't expect WoW to always be smooth in all situations. It just isn't reasonable. You will find in 90% of WoW it will run great with not much problem. But on certain raid encounters or extremely busy city situations it is going to drop. It is just how it is going to be. The engine is old and simply doesn't take great advantage of more powerful GPUs. Not to say they don't help a little, but they aren't going to be a quick and easy solve.

[coprax]

I run at 4K too and yes I noticed a big(ish) performance drop in Legion: Beta compared to Live. I can easily go above 60 fps on Live with everything maxed out + FXAA High, but in Legion it seems there are times where I drop below 30 fps... wtf.

LE.: You don't really need MSAA 4x on 4K. FXAA High does almost the same job as MSAA in regard to 4K since FXAA behaves differently at that resoultion. You also gain a little bit more performance with FXAA and no image quality cost.

The current/old ultra setting is more like 7/10 in legion iirc, that's why.

[tyrindor]

The current/old ultra setting is more like 7/10 in legion iirc, that's why.

Indeed, but 7 out of 10 looks worse than live and gets about the same performance. The distance textures are especially blurry at 7 out of 10, compared to Ultra settings on live. Setting it to 8 out of 10 and performance starts to dip below live's FPS.

Really hope this is just a PTR thing, and not the fact they threw optimization out the window in order to achieve higher graphic settings.

Just remember as you bump up resolution you don't really need that AA anymore. Or at least a lot less at each step up. 4k really doesn't need it at all. So that is a big help on the FPS front whent moving up the ladder.

Just tried again, 0x AA versus 4x MSAA results in *maybe* a 1FPS difference sitting in my garrison on the PTR. 45FPS vs 46FPS on "10" preset.

It's really strange... You would think there'd be a huge hit but there's not.

[sys01]

The current/old ultra setting is more like 7/10 in legion iirc, that's why.

Yeah, I kinda figured that out since more than likely they've updated the engine, textures, particles, whatever technical stuff fits in here. Too bad, since during raids if it behaves the same I'll have to drop down the settings. Not going to drop down the resolution since 4K gives crystal clear image quality and I don't want to give up that awesomeness.

[Deleted]

Have you checked render scale?

[l33t]

Really hope this is just a PTR thing, and not the fact they threw optimization out the window in order to achieve higher graphic settings.

They've already did optimisation. 2 months ago beta had way worse fps than it has now.

[tyrindor]

Have you checked render scale?

Yea, it's 100%.

Yeah, I kinda figured that out since more than likely they've updated the engine, textures, particles, whatever technical stuff fits in here. Too bad, since during raids if it behaves the same I'll have to drop down the settings. Not going to drop down the resolution since 4K gives crystal clear image quality and I don't want to give up that awesomeness.

My performance in raids seems to be roughly the same as live. It's flying around the world and being outside that took the hit.

With the new draw distance/detail density settings, I actually think raiding is far easier to handle than being outdoors because raiding is typically a closed indoor environment

[sys01]

Yea, it's 100%.



My performance on PTR in raids seems to be roughly the same as live. It's flying around the world and being outside that took the hit.

With the new draw distance/detail density settings, I actually think raiding is far easier to handle than being outdoors because raiding is typically a closed indoor environment.

When the very first invasion tests began like a month ago (I might be wrong), I went to Tanaris to do a recording for my channel, the big ass final boss of that zone came up in Gadgetzan, BOOM 12 FPS. :| I felt that my PC was worthless...