GPU, CPU, or both?

[ruuBEN]

Hey there, got a little bit of a problem and would love some help here.

I just recently bought a 144hz monitor kind of on an impulse buy here,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824236313
The main reason is... well, in WoW, at times I would get way over 60 FPS. sometimes I could cap out at 200 FPS in some small dungeons.
When playing the only other game I ever play which is CS:GO, I would get at LEAST 150 FPS. there's one map that isn't even play competitively that I would get under 100 FPS, but I play it competitively as I said.

Well, I bought the monitor and now have two 1080p monitor hookups. When playing WoW today on full ultra settings I would get anywhere between 30 to 60, and even on GOOD settings I wouldn't even break 100. Which was really, really odd to me. In CS:GO I ranged from 90 to 160 at random times. I need to clean out my computer which I suspect may be a problem (In my experience), but... it leaves me wondering under a few options. I really love the monitor, but for those of you who are wondering "Who cares about the FPS problem?" I basically am getting quite the amount of screen tear with the jump in FPS. In other words, at this rate, I might as well cap my FPS at 60 and take back my other monitor I just bought.

Here's my specs:
i5-3570k out-of-box settings (never overclocked)
GTX 480
8 GB of RAM
100-GB-free on a 500 GB 7200 RPM HDD (Non SSD)

I have the opportunity to right now get an i7-3770k for $60 brand new (Rather, anytime in the next month.) But I sat down and went: Would that even matter? The increase in performance UNLESS i'm streaming or using fraps would be outrageously abysmal and wouldn't really be noticeable at all... right? Since these games only use one core, the hyper-threading would be obsolete?

In the exact same scenario, my GTX 480 was pretty high up there on GPU benchmark, ranked #8 when I bought it. Now as time has passed, it's only 19. I get it's GPU benchmark, (and I know what people say when referring to CPU benchmark, but idk about GPU), but would upgrading my GTX 480 cause such a better increase in FPS?

Basically, if a 3770k does that much more in performance, I can buy it. But if I need a better GPU, then out of the options I have to pick from it's going to be very costly and I don't know if I can afford that now -- I may have to take back the monitor.

Any help? Could the fact that I have two monitors cause an issue in performance as well?

[Nuckels]

Curiosity, when you were playing wow/cs:go before the dual monitor setup, was it fullscreen? (not windowed fullscreen or windowed)

As for wow, my 4770k at 4.1ghz with a 270x gpu on max settings does not give me 60+ fps steady especially not in 25man raids, (sure chilling somewhere in the middle of nowhere it goes through the roof or in 5mans).

I doubt you are gonna notice much of a fps boost upgrading your cpu, but upgrading gpu when it comes to wow also doesn't make a huge difference.

[markie10101]

Its neither, It could just be settings for the games.

I use a 3570k non oc with 6 gigs of ram and a 760 gtx i get roughly 175 fps in wow on ultra pre 25m raiding. and in css and csgo i get 300 max never drops. even with my old 550 ti i never dropped out of 300 fps for for css or csgo.

[Fascinate]

This is concerning to me as i plan on getting the asus 144hz as well.

You should NOT be getting screen tear with this monitor if you are not getting above 144fps. Have you tried vsync on/off, does wow show refresh rate as 144hz, did you go into nvidia control panel and set it to 144hz?

I just dont understand how you are getting such a large FPS difference just from changing monitors, you obviously have something setup improper. And no, your hardware is MORE than enough for the games you play. I have a 2500k and a gtx 465 and i have no qualms about getting the 144hz monitor for wow, as like you i get over 100 fps in most parts of the game, even high detail areas like jade forest.

[chazus]

1) Upgrading your CPU won't help, simply put.
2) If you mainly play WoW, and are concerned about WoW performance, I would return the monitor.
3) OC'ing your CPU (You paid extra for it, may as well do it) will help some keeping more stable frame rates. The GPU is a bit older, however it won't make a big difference in WoW, either.

[Fascinate]

Set your settings to this:

Put the slider on good then change these to what i suggest:

AA: 2x
AAF: 8x
View distance: Ultra
Shadows: Low or medium
SSAO: Off
Sunshafts: low
Dont touch anything else, just move slider to good and adjust what i said above.

Outside of shadows (i like low cause ive played wow so long like this) the game looks nearly identical to ultra with these settings and plays amazingly. Also make sure dx11 is enabled. Again test out vsync, try it on and off to see what happens, and make sure wow is recognizing your monitor as 144hz as well as your desktop settings to 144hz (nvidia control panel).

- - - Updated - - -

Any help? Could the fact that I have two monitors cause an issue in performance as well?

I missed this part, dammit. Yes, this is likely your problem. Diagnose your problem with just the 144hz monitor hooked up, make sure you use the DVI cable that came with the monitor.

[Kazlofski]

WoW Engine is crap, FPS will never be high stably unless you run in small places on your own or so.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Don't ever expect tons of frames in WoW if you are in a 25 man raid or a crowded city. Also don't believe you need to have 100s of frames either for it to be butter smooth 30-60 is still smooth unless its jerking up and down rapidly. Even a slight overclock would get you more performance though. The i7 won't give you much either unfortunately if you upgrade the CPU. Its clock will be just about the same, and WoW doesn't take super advantage of tons of 'cores' either.

If you don't have a good cooler on that CPU I suggest you get one. Then OC that chip. Even if it is just a little and you will see a much bigger bang for your buck. Even a super boss self contained liquid cooler will only cost you in the range of 90-110 bucks. A really, really good air cooler can range between 30-80 bucks and are just as good in my book. If you go with the i7 you will likely ALSO have to buy this cooler and overclock it to get what you can out of it. Trust me, the i5 is great for gaming.

The reason CS runs so much better is it just takes so much better advantage of the GPU. WoW doesn't, sadly.