Framerate Issues with a GTX 560 Ti

[Smigel]

I recently upgraded my machine but I'm not seeing the performance increase that I had hoped for.

I imaged my old HDD (WD Raptor) and put the image on a new Crucial M4 128GB SSD. On the SSD I have the OS (Win7 64bit) and a couple games, including WoW. I have a larger second drive that I use for media storage. I also replaced my GTX 260 with a GTX 560 Ti from EVGA. I also overclocked my processor, a Core 2 Duo E6850 from 3.0GHz to 3.5GHz. These were all 3 done in one weekend.

Here is an Amazon link to the video card:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

I have the latest nvidia drivers installed etc. I am running a dual monitor setup, my main monitor at 1920x1200 (this runs WoW) and another monitor at 1680x1050. While I play WoW I will have Chrome, Vent, SpeedFan, and Pandora running.

I changed my engine from DX9 to DX11. When I am out in the world by myself I will generally hover at 59.9 to 60 fps with all settings on Ultra. However, during my 25 man raid my framerates drop significantly. On Zon'ozz last night, I lowered my settings from "Ultra" to "Good" and was getting 12-17fps during the tentacle phase. For Ultraxion, I turned off Skada and by the end of the fight I was at 10fps. We did an LFR afterwards. This time, I turned on Skada but left the healing module off (I have heard that the healing is what bottlenecks the system). With Skada on I was getting 2fps at the end of the Ultraxion fight. As far as raiding goes, this feels like a marginal increase AT BEST from my setup $500 ago.

My question is: where is the bottleneck coming from? I would have thought from reading the reviews for the card that it could handle some of the higher settings for WoW. Is my processor what's killing me, here?

[Evildeffy]

I recently upgraded my machine but I'm not seeing the performance increase that I had hoped for.

I imaged my old HDD (WD Raptor) and put the image on a new Crucial M4 128GB SSD. On the SSD I have the OS (Win7 64bit) and a couple games, including WoW. I have a larger second drive that I use for media storage. I also replaced my GTX 260 with a GTX 560 Ti from EVGA. I also overclocked my processor, a Core 2 Duo E6850 from 3.0GHz to 3.5GHz. These were all 3 done in one weekend.

Here is an Amazon link to the video card:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

I have the latest nvidia drivers installed etc. I am running a dual monitor setup, my main monitor at 1920x1200 (this runs WoW) and another monitor at 1680x1050. While I play WoW I will have Chrome, Vent, SpeedFan, and Pandora running.

I changed my engine from DX9 to DX11. When I am out in the world by myself I will generally hover at 59.9 to 60 fps with all settings on Ultra. However, during my 25 man raid my framerates drop significantly. On Zon'ozz last night, I lowered my settings from "Ultra" to "Good" and was getting 12-17fps during the tentacle phase. For Ultraxion, I turned off Skada and by the end of the fight I was at 10fps. We did an LFR afterwards. This time, I turned on Skada but left the healing module off (I have heard that the healing is what bottlenecks the system). With Skada on I was getting 2fps at the end of the Ultraxion fight. As far as raiding goes, this feels like a marginal increase AT BEST from my setup $500 ago.

My question is: where is the bottleneck coming from? I would have thought from reading the reviews for the card that it could handle some of the higher settings for WoW. Is my processor what's killing me, here?

Short answer? Yes.

Whilst your processor can do 10 man raiding and random world stuff without issue, it may have issues in 25 man raids due to the CPU being used to calculate most things.

Hell at that resolution, it would matter little between the GTX560 and GTX260.

[George]

Indeed, an i5-2500K would be so sweet with the rest of your setup (you also need a new motherboard for it). Worth it! Also, turn off Vertical Sync to see the real FPS when it is over 60.

[Deleted]

I'm in a similar situation as I have an e6800 processor running at 3.8ghz or so. I recently upgraded by HD 4870 X2 (because the fans on it broke) to GTX 560 TI OC and I can say the FPS in WoW has only dropped. Ultraxion and the add phases on other bosses are pretty terrible. I'm not sure what the bottle neck is either. Naturally the processors we have are quite bad but they shouldn't be that bad for WoW which is an old game. The card just doesn't work in WoW very well it seems.

[Goregasm.]

You are in almost the exact situation as me right now! kind of strange... i just got the PNY GTX 560 ti OC.... and i really wasn't as impressed as i thought i would be... I have a AMD Phenom II x4 quad 2.9, 6gigs DDR3, and a 550 watt PSU... In games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution I notice a massive improvement... but in games like SW:ToR (Imperial Fleet specifically) and WoW(Madness of Deathwing 25 specifically) my FPS is literally like 10-15 and completely unplayable....

I dont wanna steal your thread... but its so similar i figured id ask... same question from me too... is my CPU or PSU bottle necking the card? Or did I just overhype myself... should I not be able to play WoW and SW:ToR on Ultra?

Im getting a 2500k/new mobo next paycheck... Im hoping this will solve my problem and alow me to play my games super maxed out. thoughts?

[Evildeffy]

You are in almost the exact situation as me right now! kind of strange... i just got the PNY GTX 560 ti OC.... and i really wasn't as impressed as i thought i would be... I have a AMD Phenom II x4 quad 2.9, 6gigs DDR3, and a 550 watt PSU... In games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution I notice a massive improvement... but in games like SW:ToR (Imperial Fleet specifically) and WoW(Madness of Deathwing 25 specifically) my FPS is literally like 10-15 and completely unplayable....

I dont wanna steal your thread... but its so similar i figured id ask... same question from me too... is my CPU or PSU bottle necking the card? Or did I just overhype myself... should I not be able to play WoW and SW:ToR on Ultra?

Im getting a 2500k/new mobo next paycheck... Im hoping this will solve my problem and alow me to play my games super maxed out. thoughts?

Well first off, you're running at 2,9GHz on a mostly CPU limited game, on 1 that is weaker then the Core i series CPUs, to go heavy raiding and keep everything on high/Ultra Quality, you WILL need to overclock.

Secondly, and this may actually be pretty huge a difference for AMD CPUs, you're running 6GB of RAM, which means you're running your RAM in Single Channel mode, which is old and a massive decrease in memory bandwidth up to the point of actually choking your system.

Either drop down to 4GB or spend some really little money (RAM memory is cheap as hell ATM) or upgrade to 8GB.

Simply put WoW can never pull out full strength from the CPUs, so the only way to compensate for it is to get a CPU that can pull out more Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) then the CPU generation you have, so f.ex that the new generation CPU's 1MHz is your CPU's 3MHz (simple comparison for ease).

[Goregasm.]

Thanks a ton for the info guys! Like i said i AM getting a 2500k/mobo next week... and i guess ill add a 2 gig stick to that list as well... im expecting that to help...

again. thanks alot.

[Smigel]

Short answer? Yes.

Whilst your processor can do 10 man raiding and random world stuff without issue, it may have issues in 25 man raids due to the CPU being used to calculate most things.

Hell at that resolution, it would matter little between the GTX560 and GTX260.

Thank you.

Do you think I would see much of a difference between an i5 2500K and an i7 2600K? WoW is pretty much all this computer does that is that processor intensive. Is there any benefit to the Hyper-Threading technology in the i7 or can I achieve basically the same experience with an overclocked i5?

[Nevintsha]

Thank you.

Do you think I would see much of a difference between an i5 2500K and an i7 2600K? WoW is pretty much all this computer does that is that processor intensive. Is there any benefit to the Hyper-Threading technology in the i7 or can I achieve basically the same experience with an overclocked i5?

I highly doubt it. Maybe while recording the game with fraps or a program like it.

[Smigel]

Thank you for all the replies. I think the next step will be getting a new CPU and mobo. I'll probably go with the 2500K and a good ASUS mobo. Hopefully that will relieve some of my issues. In the mean time I'll play with the voltages on my current system and see if I can get a couple hundred more MHz out of it.

[glo]

Thank you for all the replies. I think the next step will be getting a new CPU and mobo. I'll probably go with the 2500K and a good ASUS mobo. Hopefully that will relieve some of my issues. In the mean time I'll play with the voltages on my current system and see if I can get a couple hundred more MHz out of it.

Unless you need it right this moment, just wait until Intel's Ivy Bridge platform releases in a few months. It's so close now that if you keep hardware as long as you obviously do, it would be worth it.