My 6yo computer can no longer run this 11yo game :(

[Paula Deen]

My Build:


My Settings in the World:


My Settings in Raids:


My Advanced Options (Applies to both Raids and World)



My Results: 60 FPS outside of Heavily Populated Areas (More than 20 People on Screen) and 60 FPS at all times in raids. ALL. TIMES. Important Note: WoW is on my SSD.


I just figured I would help some people get better frames.

[Schattenlied]

WoW is an odd one. My rig (i7 4790k, GTX 980, 16GB) seems to struggle to keep a nice 60fps at max settings, and since pre-patch it hits even 28fps in effect-heavy areas.
So I guess I need a goddamn Titan X?

Nope, it's just that WoW is absurdly CPU heavy while simultaneously not using multiple CPU cores very well... If you go grab something like GPU-Z and watch your GPU usage while you play, it's probly not getting anywhere near capped out in the problem areas...

While they have upgraded the engine a lot since it was first developed, it's still an old engine, and is honestly not well optimized relative to current hardware.

[Deleted]

WoW is an odd one. My rig (i7 4790k, GTX 980, 16GB) seems to struggle to keep a nice 60fps at max settings, and since pre-patch it hits even 28fps in effect-heavy areas.
So I guess I need a goddamn Titan X?

Most likely addon errors. Just disable all to check quickly if it's true with the outdated button.Basically all combat addons tracking buffs are screwed cause skills got removed/renamed.

To find the problem addon use /console scriptErrors 1 to enable lua errors - blizz removed it as an interface setting

[the boar]

It's an old system, I know, but it ran the game just fine up until the Legion pre-patch. This computer was massively over the top for WoW for years, running the game on all-max settings with ease. WoD was the first sign of struggle and I had to tone the settings down a little in order to maintain rock-steady 60 FPS. Now, however, I have to go all-minimum settings just to get it playable, and even then it'll still dip down into the 20s quite a lot. It's not an addon, I only run ElvUI and WeakAuras and I've tried disabling these with little result. Is there any chance that they'll roll out a performance patch before the expansion hits? Even with the modern WoW graphics, the game doesn't look anywhere near fancy enough to warrant this kind of performance.

if this is a genuine concern, post your pc specs and current wow settings (exact settings, not just 7 or 3) in the computer sub-forum and people can help.

6 year old pc's can run the game fine, some can't. without knowing what you have and what you're trying to run exactly, nobody can help you.

[Zoneseek]

Have seen gameplay on one of those plenty of times, and no. Smooth is smooth.

hahahaha ok keep telling yourself that, you'll save some money. why not actually just play 30fps ps4 games, best for the human eye according to console players! lol

[Draeth]

Something I'm surprised no one has said in 3 pages: make sure your drivers are up to date. The Legion pre-patch has made a ton of rendering changes, that'll have adverse effects on old drivers. Also, if you're a hold-out on an older version of Windows, update to 10 now before the free upgrade is over, DX12 is only supported on Windows 10.

[Queen of Hamsters]

hahahaha ok keep telling yourself that, you'll save some money. why not actually just play 30fps ps4 games, best for the human eye according to console players! lol

Haha, you made a funny! Only I don't listen to console players, smooth is smooth and if I had to play WoW with 30 fps, I'd rather quit. Besides, I'm upgrading my computer (1070 or 1080, haven't decided) since a stronger setup is never wrong, so not much "saving" going on.

I'm not on the dick-measuring train that fps-whores like riding so much, and that works just fine for me.

[ComputerNerd]

Firstly it is not an 11 year old game.
It is as old in terms of requirements as the latest change to them.
But it has continued at best as possible to support older hardware due to it representing some financially worthwhile portion of the playerbase.
There is still only so low that can go while continuing to demand more from it.
Minimum requirements in WoW have never represented some widely acceptable minimum performance standard.
That could I expect be seen by many as 30fps consistently.
The low-end is supported as far as letting them play, but being able to play and having a comfortable experience are different things entirely.

[Alienshroom]

Something I'm surprised no one has said in 3 pages: make sure your drivers are up to date.

Im not surprised, at least I did not have to read through this vile to see confirmed what I had already known. OP, update your drivers and you will see your old WoD frame rate back guaranteed.

[Sansnom]

It's an old system, I know, but it ran the game just fine up until the Legion pre-patch. This computer was massively over the top for WoW for years, running the game on all-max settings with ease. WoD was the first sign of struggle and I had to tone the settings down a little in order to maintain rock-steady 60 FPS. Now, however, I have to go all-minimum settings just to get it playable, and even then it'll still dip down into the 20s quite a lot. It's not an addon, I only run ElvUI and WeakAuras and I've tried disabling these with little result..

How old is old? I find the claim hard to believe since my PC is also around the same age and I do not have any problems with the game. I am not running at max but neither am I running at minimum either.

Post your spec for people to verify and help.

[Wolfheart9]

Computers require upgrades to keep up with modern times, news at 11.

ElvUI is buggy atm. It also shows additional stuff compared to the default UI and that takes CPU power, in a game starved for exactly that. I'm not sure if they fixed it, but Elvui created some really annoying stuttering on the Beta, depending on what stuff you stood on,. also buffs/debuffs showed on the unitframes had issues.

It's a great addon and it's usually stable and working great, but as expected for what is essentially a Beta version, it has some issues that they will iron out in time.

Also no, it doesn't take up any additional CPU usage than an array of mods would that do the exact same functionality. It's actually one of the better addon suites in that regard It's been patched several times in the last few days. Best way to tell if something is going wrong is turn on your LUA errors and watch, or uncheck things one by one and check your FPS.

[Triceratrozer]

I'm in the same boat. The ground's starting to disappear, taking minutes on end for models to load. Don't really have the money to upgrade anything.

But on the same token, I have an easier time running ESO and GW2.

[MyndZero]

WoW is an odd one. My rig (i7 4790k, GTX 980, 16GB) seems to struggle to keep a nice 60fps at max settings, and since pre-patch it hits even 28fps in effect-heavy areas.
So I guess I need a goddamn Titan X?

Uhh dude, Check under Advanced right below graphics on the left, and make sure your scale is set to 100% and not 200%.

[Sliske]

99% of times people have fps issues after a new patch its addons. I literally get 5 fps if I turn on the addons I had running at 70 fps 2 weeks ago.

[Deleted]

Having no problems with FPS but my fan is working pretty hard which is strange as it barely warms up when I play beta. I think there will definitely be performance improvement by the time we reach Legion.

[Deleted]

WoW is an odd one. My rig (i7 4790k, GTX 980, 16GB) seems to struggle to keep a nice 60fps at max settings, and since pre-patch it hits even 28fps in effect-heavy areas.
So I guess I need a goddamn Titan X?

Its likely add ons. Check cpu usage for each add on.

Games runs around 60 fps and very consistent mostly for my years old system. 670 GTX.

[Deleted]

Be sure to check your addons(disable all for a mo to see if it helps ), not all of them have upgraded to legion yet and they can super lag the client

[Doomislav]

I have a big performance drop with 7.0 - so I am upgrading my PC. Got my 5 years worth of gaming and fun, time to get a bit more up to date. And definately going intel this round. I've tried to like AMD processors, but the way WoW is wired, you got to have an intel cpu to get some decent frames.

[Zan15]

It's an old system, I know, but it ran the game just fine up until the Legion pre-patch. This computer was massively over the top for WoW for years, running the game on all-max settings with ease. WoD was the first sign of struggle and I had to tone the settings down a little in order to maintain rock-steady 60 FPS. Now, however, I have to go all-minimum settings just to get it playable, and even then it'll still dip down into the 20s quite a lot. It's not an addon, I only run ElvUI and WeakAuras and I've tried disabling these with little result. Is there any chance that they'll roll out a performance patch before the expansion hits? Even with the modern WoW graphics, the game doesn't look anywhere near fancy enough to warrant this kind of performance.

i am on a laptop just as old, with a 5850 ati graphics card in it.
and i am getting better performance now.


you do know they added 3 levels above what was considered the prior "max"

if you are still running at max settings then you are running multiples higher performance then pre patch.

ratchet it down 3 notches to see if performance is the same

[caninepawprints]

My husband built my computer ten years ago, and other than giving it a bit more RAM and updating the graphics card and power supply 2 years ago, I'm using the same hardware as when it was originally built. The only thing missing is my DVD/CD drive, which bit the dust last year, and I never replaced it. My husband joked that my DVD/CD drive was so old that it was the "fuzzy dice" of computers.

I started experiencing performance issues when the pre-patch dropped, so I disabled all my addons, and that took care of the problem. I jumped from 20 FPS to 90 FPS. Addons need to be updated. Things should smooth out fine after that. I don't have problems with the beta, so I know my 10-year-old PC can handle the game. It's just something weird with this patch.