Bad FPS on a Good system. Need help!! Overclocking the answer?

[Dagarle]

I am getting mid 20s-30s FPS just using the standard WoW good-high slider bar for visual settings.
Specs:
i7-2760QM CPU 2.40GHz
64 bit Windows 7 Professional Service Pack 1
8 GB DDR3 1337 RAM SOON TO BE 16 GB Corsair Vengeance Performance
120 GB Corsair Force GT SSD
GeForce GTX 570M 1.5GB Driver Version 310.7 (says latest update when I update) DirectX Support 11.1
Total available graphics memory 4095 MB Dedicated video memory 1536 MB

As you can see this is a really good system, LAPTOP btw, and I should be able to play on ultra and get mid 30's and 40's FPS at least but am still stuck with mostly good and fair settings and still getting crap fps. This is with and without addons, in 32 and 64 bit, and directx 9 and 11.
I have tried many different fixes and such for video settings that I have read on these forums and others and the only one that has made a difference is turning view distance to low, which gained me 5-6 fps. But it looks like crap and I didnt buy a high end laptop to look like crap!
Only other thing I have read is that WoW is a more processor oriented game and so is the 2.4Ghz too low to get the best from my system? Should I overclock it, and if so does anyone have any tips, recommendations, or guides? Or is it better to just buy a new, better CPU?
Thanks!

[organic]

I am getting mid 20s-30s FPS just using the standard WoW good-high slider bar for visual settings.
Specs:
i7-2760QM CPU 2.40GHz
64 bit Windows 7 Professional Service Pack 1
8 GB DDR3 1337 RAM SOON TO BE 16 GB Corsair Vengeance Performance
120 GB Corsair Force GT SSD
GeForce GTX 570M 1.5GB Driver Version 310.7 (says latest update when I update) DirectX Support 11.1
Total available graphics memory 4095 MB Dedicated video memory 1536 MB

As you can see this is a really good system, LAPTOP btw, and I should be able to play on ultra and get mid 30's and 40's FPS at least but am still stuck with mostly good and fair settings and still getting crap fps. This is with and without addons, in 32 and 64 bit, and directx 9 and 11.
I have tried many different fixes and such for video settings that I have read on these forums and others and the only one that has made a difference is turning view distance to low, which gained me 5-6 fps. But it looks like crap and I didnt buy a high end laptop to look like crap!
Only other thing I have read is that WoW is a more processor oriented game and so is the 2.4Ghz too low to get the best from my system? Should I overclock it, and if so does anyone have any tips, recommendations, or guides? Or is it better to just buy a new, better CPU?
Thanks!

i almost have same specs, try to put it in directx 9 not 11... in launcher do that. when i did this i had it up from 30 to 60

[Deleted]

i almost have same specs, try to put it in directx 9 not 11... in launcher do that. when i did this i had it up from 30 to 60

If you read his post, he said he tried that.

I don't think you can replace laptop CPUs. Maybe, try using beta drivers, that might help.

[lordmatthias]

Your CPU is pretty solid, I have the same CPU in my dell precision laptop. I generally play a mix of fair/good and I am getting a fairly constant 50-60 fps just flying around, and between 30-40 in LFR. I am also running a AMD firepro M5950 which is about 60% as good as the gtx 570m. I suggest you download tools to watching your CPU and GPU performance (I use the CPU/GPU tools from from http://addgadgets.com/). I have seen wow only running on one core which will severly limit your frame rates. This may be a problem with your CPU but it also may be a setting you can optimize within wow, you take a look at this guide http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...l-tweaks-Guide for CPU core optimization in wow.

Trying some different Nvidia drivers is also not a bad idea.

Do you see these FPS issues in other games as well?

[DarkBlade6]

I am getting mid 20s-30s FPS just using the standard WoW good-high slider bar for visual settings.
Specs:
i7-2760QM CPU 2.40GHz
64 bit Windows 7 Professional Service Pack 1
8 GB DDR3 1337 RAM SOON TO BE 16 GB Corsair Vengeance Performance
120 GB Corsair Force GT SSD
GeForce GTX 570M 1.5GB Driver Version 310.7 (says latest update when I update) DirectX Support 11.1
Total available graphics memory 4095 MB Dedicated video memory 1536 MB

As you can see this is a really good system, LAPTOP btw, and I should be able to play on ultra and get mid 30's and 40's FPS at least but am still stuck with mostly good and fair settings and still getting crap fps. This is with and without addons, in 32 and 64 bit, and directx 9 and 11.
I have tried many different fixes and such for video settings that I have read on these forums and others and the only one that has made a difference is turning view distance to low, which gained me 5-6 fps. But it looks like crap and I didnt buy a high end laptop to look like crap!
Only other thing I have read is that WoW is a more processor oriented game and so is the 2.4Ghz too low to get the best from my system? Should I overclock it, and if so does anyone have any tips, recommendations, or guides? Or is it better to just buy a new, better CPU?
Thanks!

If you are getting 30 fps in raid(25) or big city thats totally normal for your SB laptop CPU, if its while questing thats not. My guess is that your CPU is throtlling, turn off turbo boost just to see if your FPS are more constant and maybe higher. Even if SandyBridge is a really good architecture, at 2.4ghz its not enough for WoW on high/ultra, because its a CPU bound game.

[slasher0161]

That gpu isn't as good as you would like to believe (actually its worse than a $100 Radeon 7770), while your cpu is solid your gpu is letting you down. I would try ensuring AA is at 2x and shadow effects are low.

[vesseblah]

Also in addition to above make sure the laptop is not overheating (will cause it to slow down) and it's not using integrated Intel GPU to run the games but uses the Nvidia chip.

Overclocking is impossible in 99.9% of laptops and swapping processor for better one in 99% so those aren't really first options.

[blackblade]

In the bottom left hand corner (the app tray) there's a battery icon.

pop that menu open and you're going to see power management settings. Chances are, it's going to be set to "Balanced" or something akin to that, which will throttle your computer's performance to help maximize battery life. there should be another option there called "High Performance" that you'll want to toggle on, you should also have the option to automatically set it to high performance while the machine is plugged in.

I am getting mid 20s-30s FPS just using the standard WoW good-high slider bar for visual settings.
Specs:
i7-2760QM CPU 2.40GHz
64 bit Windows 7 Professional Service Pack 1
8 GB DDR3 1337 RAM SOON TO BE 16 GB Corsair Vengeance Performance
120 GB Corsair Force GT SSD
GeForce GTX 570M 1.5GB Driver Version 310.7 (says latest update when I update) DirectX Support 11.1
Total available graphics memory 4095 MB Dedicated video memory 1536 MB

As you can see this is a really good system, LAPTOP btw, and I should be able to play on ultra and get mid 30's and 40's FPS at least but am still stuck with mostly good and fair settings and still getting crap fps. This is with and without addons, in 32 and 64 bit, and directx 9 and 11.
I have tried many different fixes and such for video settings that I have read on these forums and others and the only one that has made a difference is turning view distance to low, which gained me 5-6 fps. But it looks like crap and I didnt buy a high end laptop to look like crap!
Only other thing I have read is that WoW is a more processor oriented game and so is the 2.4Ghz too low to get the best from my system? Should I overclock it, and if so does anyone have any tips, recommendations, or guides? Or is it better to just buy a new, better CPU?
Thanks!

[Deleted]

It doesn't seem all that bad for that system to me. Just try to keep AA, shadows, liquid, and SSAO on the lowest settings, as those eat away your FPS. Using the sliders to pick a pre-set configuration in WoW will bump those up a bit which is costing you a lot of FPS.

Also I have experienced some GeForce M GPUs myself, although some years ago so this might not be completely accurate, and they are not as good as they sound/most people think they are.

[Faithh]

That gpu isn't as good as you would like to believe (actually its worse than a $100 Radeon 7770), while your cpu is solid your gpu is letting you down. I would try ensuring AA is at 2x and shadow effects are low.

This GPU is more than fine but I wouldn't use 8x AA.

@OP I would start to download a tool like GPU-z and enable the logging tool + vsync disabled. If you have a solid 99% gpu usage all the times, it's not the cpu but your gpu is lacking with as result of 40fps.

[EllishaPally]

This is a really silly question, but you do have it plugged in when trying to play wow right? Some laptops will throttle really bad if they're not plugged in to save battery life even if you have maximum performace selected for your power useage. My g74sx does that >.>;;

[Dagarle]

lordmatthias Faithh

I downloaded those tools and it looks like my GPU is staying between 50 and 90 % usage while my CPU cores fluctuate to around 50%. Thanks for the link to those tools, pretty handy. Ill also look at the other link about core optimization.

mnm

Im not sure how to turn off turboboost.

slasher0161

Dumb ? but is AA = Multisampling? That’s the only thing I can find that has 2X options etc.

vesseblah

I have a really good dual fan cooling pad and my temps peak around 78-80C. Good/Bad?

blackblade EllishaPally

I already had them set to max performance while plugged in, and I always make sure to have it plugged in while playing!

Trops

Ill look at those settings!

Thanks everyone for the tips! Ive tried a couple things and it looks to be stabe in the 40-50 range during scenarios/heroics for the last hour or so. Ill try a few more things later and see if we can do better but its looking better so far.

[Faithh]

lordmatthias Faithh

I downloaded those tools and it looks like my GPU is staying between 50 and 90 % usage while my CPU cores fluctuate to around 50%. Thanks for the link to those tools, pretty handy. Ill also look at the other link about core optimization.

mnm

Im not sure how to turn off turboboost.

slasher0161

Dumb ? but is AA = Multisampling? That’s the only thing I can find that has 2X options etc.

It's kinda simple and easy to explain. Your cpu bottlenecked your GPU. If you have 50% gpu usage with 40 fps it means if the gpu is at 99% you have 80 fps. If you have 90% gpu usage with 40 fps it just means that the cpu slightly bottlenecked the gpu but it's only going to vary like a few fps, like 45 fps in that situation if it was at 99% and that's the moment where you need a better gpu if it's running at its full power and still giving you poor fps. So you have to tell us how much fps you have at usages like 90%.

The cpu just takes basics tasks like calculating the positions, the damage crits, addons, physics and feeding the gpu with instructions. Sometimes this game gets very heavy in 25raids that the cpu just doesn't have any computation power left to feed the gpu and that's why the gpu is just chilling at 50% usage. WoW is just so bad optimized for high-end hardware and my opinion would be don't spend money for your laptop because they can't optimize the game properly enough.

There's absolutely no point to disable Intel turbo boost unless you get temps of 90°, so check your temps. The throttling down function can be turned off which is the Intel thermal adaptive monitor but to that you possibly need a modded bios and for overclocking as well. I never tried to overclock mobile versions of Sandy bridges but I'm sure it's going to be pretty much limited. The clocktimer is inside the chip instead of on the motherboard so FSB (BCLK now) overclocking is going to be still limited as they all are with the bclk.

Swapping the cpu's, thought they were soldered to the board?

[lordmatthias]

Some CPU's are, quite a few are not. I know the dells are held in with a standard socket so they are replaceable. It just depends on the manufacturer.

[Faithh]

Some CPU's are, quite a few are not. I know the dells are held in with a standard socket so they are replaceable. It just depends on the manufacturer.

Uhm could you try to get your GPU in wow running around 90% usage and tell me how much fps you're sitting at?

[ebah]

It doesn't seem all that bad for that system to me. Just try to keep AA, shadows, liquid, and SSAO on the lowest settings, as those eat away your FPS. Using the sliders to pick a pre-set configuration in WoW will bump those up a bit which is costing you a lot of FPS.

Also I have experienced some GeForce M GPUs myself, although some years ago so this might not be completely accurate, and they are not as good as they sound/most people think they are.

+dx9
+battery charger plugged in
=better fps.

[Deleted]

I downloaded those tools and it looks like my GPU is staying between 50 and 90 % usage while my CPU cores fluctuate to around 50%. Thanks for the link to those tools, pretty handy. Ill also look at the other link about core optimization.

You have a 4-core CPU with hyper-threading and WoW can't really utilize more than 2 cores, i.e. it's not unlikely that you've reached the CPU limit there.
Core optimization (and disabling HTT) might help somewhat especially if you can achieve better turbo modes.

[Annoying]

It's kinda simple and easy to explain. Your cpu bottlenecked your GPU. *snip*
Sometimes this game gets very heavy in 25raids that the cpu just doesn't have any computation power left to feed the gpu *snip*

Sort of, but not really. That's not really how the architecture behind dedicated GPUs works. The code loaded into GPU RAM is completely independent of the code being processed by the CPU short of a few very tiny and high-priority synchronization mechanisms. The CPU doesn't feed the GPU, the northbridge, southbridge, and PCI-E bus feed the GPU. The commands don't even have to go to the CPU. The only way the CPU can bottleneck a GPU is if the GPU is forced to wait for an action from the CPU to complete, and the CPU isn't keeping up. Which is maybe happening, but shouldn't be terribly huge on fps, more on stuttering/momentary freezing. This shouldn't affect frame rates too heavily on average, only under heavy load, and not by that much.

As for the issue at hand:

I have a really good dual fan cooling pad and my temps peak around 78-80C. Good/Bad?

You might be experiencing some GPU throttling at temperatures like that. 80C is well under (~15-20C under) the thermal breakpoint that most motherboards will shut down to prevent damage, but without some sort of monitoring tools, it's hard to say. It might only be at 80C because it's already downclocking to keep from overheating. I'm uncomfortable with my laptop hitting 50C, much less 80C.

Only other thing I have read is that WoW is a more processor oriented game and so is the 2.4Ghz too low to get the best from my system? Should I overclock it, and if so does anyone have any tips, recommendations, or guides? Or is it better to just buy a new, better CPU?

With the previous temperatures and with essentially no real ability to improve cooling on a laptop processor, no to overclocking. Super no. Ultra no overclocking. Even a tiny overclock will probably end with you frying your CPU. As I said, your hardware might already be underclocking to prevent overheating. You might consider finding someone with an air compressor and really cleaning the laptop out, might get you some more headroom on temperatures.

The bottom line: Mobile GPUs, even dedicated ones, aren't all that good. They have lower stock clock rates and downclock to avoid overheating in an enviornment where heat is the biggest issue. CPUs have the same problems, and that CPU isn't the fastest thing around.
Turn off your multisampling/anti-aliasing, turn down shadows and water, and you'll probably be fine. Also ensure that you're running wow at your screens native resolution. Beyond that, you're looking at a significantly more expensive laptop (SLI video cards in a laptop = $$$$) for marginally better frame rates or a dedicated gaming desktop that can actually keep decent frame rates with superior hardware that doesn't have to downclock.

Laptops have always (and probably will always) had issues with temperature. It's a tiny chassis for a product that converts everything it does into heat. Even the best laptops can't be super crazy due to heat issues.

[Faithh]

Sort of, but not really. That's not really how the architecture behind dedicated GPUs works. The code loaded into GPU RAM is completely independent of the code being processed by the CPU short of a few very tiny and high-priority synchronization mechanisms. The CPU doesn't feed the GPU, the northbridge, southbridge, and PCI-E bus feed the GPU. The commands don't even have to go to the CPU. The only way the CPU can bottleneck a GPU is if the GPU is forced to wait for an action from the CPU to complete, and the CPU isn't keeping up. Which is maybe happening, but shouldn't be terribly huge on fps, more on stuttering/momentary freezing. This shouldn't affect frame rates too heavily on average, only under heavy load, and not by that much.

I don't think you even understand the basics of bottlenecking. Southbridge? This part of the chipset is only going to show himself while you load a game, during a game this part can get the fuck out performance wise. The chipset is just full of controllers, they're sort of a "bridge" between parts.

Just imagine an animated digital book, where you see at every page animations and you can click the next page etc. The CPU makes sure it's flipping the pages and the gpu is rendering & providing frames. The cpu tells the gpu how it has to be rendered like.

Here it's being said even that the cpu feeds, check post of temile -> http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...-15-bottleneck
Here it's just all about the cpu feeding the gpu -> http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum...d.php?id=67943

[Dagarle]

OK, after some GPU/CPU widgits have had some time to look over everything it seems my GPU is the bottleneck here. My CPU is around 50-60% usage but my GPU hops to 99% continuous when WoW fires up. I have followed many of these suggestions and am up in the high 40s to low 60s most of the time FPS wise so I can work with that. Thanks again to everyone for all the help!