Game freezing periodically - not sure what it is

[Lathais]

Settings like Shadows, View Distance and Environment Detail are extremely CPU hungry. It is also extremely easy to test that - you simply go raid with 10/10, monitor FPS, then you put just Env. Detail and View Distance to 1, do the same. The fps will vastly improve, especially in fights with open spaces and many draw calls, like Botanist and Aluriel. The less the CPU has to tell the GPU to draw, the better your fps, it's how WoW (sadly) works.

Also, when you raid, you want to extract the maximum performance and fluid gameplay with enough GFX to allow you to do mechanics. There is no room for eye candy immersion while you are looking on the floor avoiding Arcanetic Rings, or matching Conjunctions. You are simply so focused on mechanics and max performance (in Mythic at least), that eye candy means nothing.

On a very weak CPU (which FX 8350 is for WoW), you need to extract the very last drop of performance, not to have 60 fps, but to have playable fps. It was already pretty bad in WoD, and Legion made things way worse.

Anyone having an FX 8350 and raiding Mythic (actually, Heroic 30 mans are worse...) can confirm that. There are points where I went to 10-15 fps and it was the most distracting thing in the world, it's disorienting to have these fps hikes when you need to be 100% focused.

Now for the GPU part. The 960 is quite enough for 1080p if you don't go crazy with AA. However, monitoring GPU utilization will tell you this story: in normal open world gameplay, the GPU will run nicely at 60-100% utilization, and your fps will be fine. Entering a raid and doing encounters will drop your GPU utilization to abysmal levels (think 30-40%) and your fps will go to hell as soon as there is action. That's clearly a lack of CPU power to drive the card. It's just how bad the FX is.

I do agree however that long, regular freezes are probably not related to CPU performance. The FX will allow the game to freeze (rarely) or it can go into a slideshow (for example cheesing on Skorp with 30 people and 20 ads up). But if it happens on other bosses, like the OP with Augur, there might be something else involved too. I suspect some UI problems or lack of cooling. The FX gets extremely hot and throttles often, especially on the default cooler. If that's the case, yeah, freezes like those can happen.

Exactly, which is why I said a few select settings. Even at that though, he should not be freezing. Really low FPS, stuttering, yes, but a complete freeze? NO, and FX-8350 should be able to handle the game well enough, even on 10, with a few select settings turned down, like the ones you mentioned. Saying to put ALL settings at 1 is pretty silly when you can put them ALL on 10 and then just turn down the settings you mentioned.

[oAllElseFailo]

Well raid nights today so i'll definitely throw it on lower settings and just see if that freeze comes up. Then I'll just keep lowering it if it does. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll do a fresh install of WoW.

Stupid question - If I did want to change out the processor to an intel, i'm assuming i'd also have to change the motherboard as well? Then make sure the graphics card/ram is compatible and all that?

[Lathais]

Well raid nights today so i'll definitely throw it on lower settings and just see if that freeze comes up. Then I'll just keep lowering it if it does. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll do a fresh install of WoW.

Stupid question - If I did want to change out the processor to an intel, i'm assuming i'd also have to change the motherboard as well? Then make sure the graphics card/ram is compatible and all that?

Graphics card will be compatible, you will need new RAM though as the current intel and new AMD Ryzen chips have all moved to DDR4. So yeah, to upgrade CPU you need CPU/Motherboard/RAM.

[oAllElseFailo]

Graphics card will be compatible, you will need new RAM though as the current intel and new AMD Ryzen chips have all moved to DDR4. So yeah, to upgrade CPU you need CPU/Motherboard/RAM.

Alright, i'll have to look into all that. Thanks for the help!

[potis]

Alright, i'll have to look into all that. Thanks for the help!

Undeniably you will have a massive difference in minimum FPS drops during raiding by upgrading, but the multiple second freezes when the rest are working fine is 99% not hardware related.