FPS issues despite decent build (for Warcraft)

[Wikiy]

Hello all.

First of all, a bit of context. I got my current build (which I'll describe a bit later) about 3 years ago. One of the first games I installed (just to showcase its abilities) was Crysis 3. I could manage it at medium/high and get something like 40 fps. I was pretty satisfied with that, seeing as Crysis 3 has even to this day some pretty amazing graphics. Anyways, I specifically remember playing Warcraft the last summer (after formatting the PC a year in) and having something like 30-40 fps in ultra. I reinstalled it again this summer (having done no formatting in between, so that was 2 years of no formatting) and had 20 fps in cities and raids and 30-40 in the open, with graphics set to high. I thought it made sense that it'd be that bad, seeing as I'd rewritten the disk a gazillion times in those 2 years.

The problem, though, is this. I got an SSD, formatted the old disk (not that it matters), installed Windows 10 on my new disk and WoW along with it. It was one of the first things I installed, specifically to see how WoW would fare. It's equally shitty. 20 fps in cities and raids, 30-40 out in the open with graphics set to high. It made absolutely no sense to me, but oh well, I didn't try to do anything about it because PC issues end up being resolvable in maybe 10% of all cases for me. I'm a pessimist that way.

So, why am I posting here? Well, a few days ago, I visited a friend who has WoW installed. I thought I'd get him to run the game for me so I could see the difference. I paid for my build something like 50% more than him, and he bought his build a year later, so I figured that the two should roughly cancel out, the approximation being negligible seeing as we're talking about a 12-year old game. Plus, I later compared our GPU's and CPU's and found that they perform about equally, his maybe slightly better than mine. But yeah, he started up the game. And he had fucking 70 fps in cities and 100 in the open. Jesus fucking Christ, I almost trashed his computer right there out of jealousy and almost did the same to mine back home except out of rage. Anyways, to get to the specifics, here's my build (not sure that anything besides GPU and CPU matters, but oh well, can't hurt):

CPU: AMD FX-Series X6 6300 (3.5 GHz, 14 MB, 95W)
GPU: AMD Sapphire HD7850 2GB
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43FX
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo (Basic)
RAM: Kingston DDR3 8GB, 1.33 MHz

Friend's GPU and CPU:

GPU: GTX 760
CPU: i5-4460 3.2 GHz

Side note, whenever I have a program up and running besides WoW, the FPS plummets by another 50%. Oh, and I haven't even tried an actual RAM-gobbling (be it main or GPU RAM) program, I'm talking about having a browser active, something like Facebook being in background.

Side note #2 (unrelated to this problem, probably) I have weird days where MMOC is really laggy. It completely stops for seconds (not able to scroll or type) and then acts normally for seconds and then all over again. And here it is happening again. And just MMOC, no other website.

So, anyone got any idea what the fuck is going on with my PC? Why I can't play a 12 year old game on its highest setting without simultaneously wishing to throw my PC out the window? I would deeply appreciate any help you may be able to offer.

[Master Guns]

The problem is your AMD processor. AMD processors are notoriously bad for gaming and offer low FPS in games that are CPU bound, and WoW is about as CPU bound as they get. Your friend probably has better FPS because he has nvidia/Intel hardware. The GPU doesn't matter much for wow but AMD CPUs are just a no no.

[Nootz]

I agree about the Intel vs AMD response. While AMD isn't "bad", Intel has always performed better for me.

Also have you updated your mobo BIOS to support Windows 10? I had the same issues with the freezing you mentioned in browsers and even just explorer.

[Wikiy]

Are you sure a decent AMD processor could cause shitty FPS such as this? I get that it's worse, but this is fucking bad on an epic scale. And it's worse than I remember it ever being.

And Nootz, I have no idea what "mobo" stands for. I didn't do any BIOS updating, but I shall, thank you.

[Soisoisoi]

1) Have you checked Render Scale (Anti-Aliasing) - If not, make sure they are off/at 100%.
2) AMD CPUs are just not that great for games like WoW. Intel will do better just because of the higher single-thread speeds.
3) Mobo is Motherboard

[Nootz]

Mobo = motherboard

[Denpepe]

I could not find the same CPU in the list, but to give you an idea, check this out

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/699?vs=702

[Wikiy]

1) Have you checked Render Scale (Anti-Aliasing) - If not, make sure they are off/at 100%.

Had it somewhere in the middle, turning it off bumped FPS to 25 over 20.

As for all the AMD/Intel comments, you don't have to convince me, I'm aware that AMD is worse. I just wasn't aware 3 years ago. The problem is that I can't afford another PC component right now. But yeah, seems I'll just have to be patient.

- - - Updated - - -

I could not find the same CPU in the list, but to give you an idea, check this out

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/699?vs=702

Hmm, the site is saying the Intel one has a 50% better FPS rate. Great, that'll boost me up to 30-40 in raids. Which is quite okay. But still not what it's supposed to be for a game like this, no?

I might be in luck, though. My non-gamer brother has an i5-3350 processor (which seems to be about on par with the one in your link) and he's willing to trade. ^^

With regards to the browser issue; I updated the BIOS and it's still buggy. I should note, I'm using Microsoft Edge. At this point, it's still beautiful enough for me to not switch back to Mozilla Firefox. xD

[Sorshen]

That locked Ivy i5 is like 3 generations behind Skylake and is still pulling 65% more fps in WoW. A Skylake i3 beats any AMD cpu. That's the way things are and will be in Legion still. Strong core IPC is the highest impact on your gameplay in WoW.
Try turning down shadows, they're one of the big offenders in performance.

[Master Guns]

In WoW, you pretty much cannot maintain 60 FPS during raids on ultra. It's just not possible. That's a testament to how CPU bound the game is. So getting 35-40 FPS in raids on ultra is pretty good to most people I'd say. I hover around 55 even on my (well used to be) beefy rig. I even drop lower than that sometimes. Remember: the single core speed is what matters.

[Wikiy]

Try turning down shadows, they're one of the big offenders in performance.

Not much difference. In Warspear, I seem to have 20 no matter what, just as an example.

[DarkBlade6]

Have you tried to play the game at lower settings?! If not, please turn down shadow quality to Low or Fair, no MSAA (and set render scale to 100%, FXAA or CMAA is OK!), reduce your view distance/environment details/clutter to ''Good'' (or lower if you're ok with that) and turn down particle density to low (<-this help only during fights), turn off SSAO, depth effects and sunshafts, set light quality to Good but keep Texture resolution to High. Also Turn off Vsync and play the game in Windows (Fullscreen) mode but cap your max FPS at 75 and make sure you have disable any eco mode in the drivers (I dont remember what's called in the AMD drivers lolz).

[caervek]

While there has been a lot of good talk about the CPU difference, it's also worth mentioning that WoW favours Nvidia over AMD and so his GPU although not amazingly better than yours will be at least 20-25% more effective in WoW.

[Hellfury]

In WoW, you pretty much cannot maintain 60 FPS during raids on ultra. It's just not possible. That's a testament to how CPU bound the game is. So getting 35-40 FPS in raids on ultra is pretty good to most people I'd say. I hover around 55 even on my (well used to be) beefy rig. I even drop lower than that sometimes. Remember: the single core speed is what matters.

Wrong, some fights you can even pull 100fps never even with a 970 you just need the right CPU with the right OC, this myth was already debunked

[Deleted]

Tried archi m last night on a 4.5ghz 6600k 1850mhz ish 1070fe everything on ultra 100% scaling 1080p and got 75-130 fps.

I need a way to record my fps during a fight as I wasn't exactly staring at my fps meter for the entire fight. Just my dps meter

[Mythbredor]

In WoW, you pretty much cannot maintain 60 FPS during raids on ultra. It's just not possible. That's a testament to how CPU bound the game is. So getting 35-40 FPS in raids on ultra is pretty good to most people I'd say. I hover around 55 even on my (well used to be) beefy rig. I even drop lower than that sometimes. Remember: the single core speed is what matters.

Yeah this just isn't true. I'm running a 6700k and a 970 and can easily maintain atleast 60fps in raids on Ultra settings.

[Supakaiser]

Keep in mind there are performance discrepancies between Fullscreen and Fullscreen Windowed mode unfortunately.

[Wikiy]

Have you tried to play the game at lower settings?! If not, please turn down shadow quality to Low or Fair, no MSAA (and set render scale to 100%, FXAA or CMAA is OK!), reduce your view distance/environment details/clutter to ''Good'' (or lower if you're ok with that) and turn down particle density to low (<-this help only during fights), turn off SSAO, depth effects and sunshafts, set light quality to Good but keep Texture resolution to High. Also Turn off Vsync and play the game in Windows (Fullscreen) mode but cap your max FPS at 75 and make sure you have disable any eco mode in the drivers (I dont remember what's called in the AMD drivers lolz).

I've already done most of that. Also, a year ago, I could play the game perfectly well without getting such bad fps, with equal or better graphics, on a partition that hadn't been formatted for 2 years.

[Vash The Stampede]

I have a FX 8350 with a HD 7850 and I have Ultra settings minus the AA. I believe I have something like 2X MSAA or FXAA. I don't get the frame rates you get. About 30 fps is the lowest I get in Heroic raids, and the world is a good 60-90 fps, depending if I'm in the Garrison or not. Don't set the AA to max cause the HD 7850 can't handle it.

[Afrospinach]

With performance this poor I would check to see if it is a throttling issue.

Get a temp sensing program.