Good PC doesn't run WoW as expected.

[Owhale]

So I haven't overclocked yet, I'm going to have to wait a few days until I'm done raiding for the week and I know I can have a day or two of downtime. Should I look into replacing my 4k monitors with native 1080p. I don't care for the crispness of font or how great it looks when I'm browsing the web. I legitimately use this machine solely to play WoW and I intended to stream with it. Nothing else to me matters.

[Stefanus]

Hi friends. I built this machine a little over a year ago and didn't realize that my computer is quite underwhelming for the hardware that's in it.

Mobo: Gigabyte Z97X
GPU: Zotac GTX 980 4GB DDR5
RAM: 16GB DDR3
CPU: i7 4790k @ 4.0 GHz
Storage: 512GB Samsung Evo Series
OS: Windows 8.1

Peripherals
2x Samsung 4k Monitors each plugged in via Display Port
Razer Naga epic Chroma
Razer Blackwidow Chroma

I noticed the underperforming when I saw a friend of mine with similar specs streaming @ 60 FPS @ Ultra settings. Sitting in my garrison on Ultra I stay at 60 FPS and that's not at 4k Resolution whereas when he's not streaming he flies in the high 100s for FPS.

Here are some things I tried;
*BIOS Update
*Windows Updates
*Turning down resolution on monitors to 1920x1080 and changing WoW's resolution to 1920x1080
*Using only one monitor and disconnecting the other
*Ran MSI Afterburner to see any mishaps, I wasn't really sure what I was looking at but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
*Full wipe and clean install of 8.1. I put my WoW folder on an external, and after the install was completed I transferred the folder back to Program Filesx86 and ran it from there.
*Based on NVIDIA control panel, I turned the liquid detail to 'Fair' as that was the only suggestion in there.

I don't know what else to try, I'm frustrated that I spent a little over 5 grand on this machine to be shown that it's not running to its potential. I don't know if anyone was has NVIDIA settings to try or in game WoW settings to try or any suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Hey man I'm interested how much money did you spend for that setup, I'm looking to buy high end gaming PC as well and yours looks like it can't get any better Tell me the price with and without peripherals if you could? Tnx in advance

[Owhale]

Hey man I'm interested how much money did you spend for that setup, I'm looking to buy high end gaming PC as well and yours looks like it can't get any better Tell me the price with and without peripherals if you could? Tnx in advance

Hi friend, I bought most of these pieces when they were new in the market. You could probably get a rig like mine for 2500 with a GTX 980 TI. Maybe. I don't know. I know there's a sub forum for build recommendations, that's where I got mine from. Someone gave me a link to everything and I bought it all and put it together. Quite the experience building a toy for yourself instead of someone else.

[Kagthul]

TBH, the second monitor in 4k is not the issue. If he's not running a game on it, it is NOT sucking up a lot of overhead from the GPU to draw browser windows, etc, unless they have 3D elements running in them. the Intel HD 4000 in my Mac Mini here can run 4k via Thunderbolt, thats how little power it actually takes (for normal GUI elements/apps).

Overclock your CPU, upgrade to Windows 10, see how that goes. A single GTX 980 even running JUST WoW in 4k is not that awesome. The GTX 980 was a terrible price/performer from the day it was launched, honestly. Its only about 15% faster than a GTX 970. The second monitor is not a serious cause of framerate issues - maybe 10% performance loss at worst.

Try it out with just one monitor plugged in.

If you're still not getting the framerates you want, consider running the second monitor off of your Intel Integrated (Win 10 for sure here though - in 7/8, sometimes Windows loses its shit if you have the integrated GPU enabled alongside a discrete GPU, Win 10 has no issues with this - actually has support for just such solutions) to relieve that little bit of stress...

or upgrade to a GTX 980Ti or Fury X

[Owhale]

TBH, the second monitor in 4k is not the issue. If he's not running a game on it, it is NOT sucking up a lot of overhead from the GPU to draw browser windows, etc, unless they have 3D elements running in them. the Intel HD 4000 in my Mac Mini here can run 4k via Thunderbolt, thats how little power it actually takes (for normal GUI elements/apps).

Overclock your CPU, upgrade to Windows 10, see how that goes. A single GTX 980 even running JUST WoW in 4k is not that awesome. The GTX 980 was a terrible price/performer from the day it was launched, honestly. Its only about 15% faster than a GTX 970. The second monitor is not a serious cause of framerate issues - maybe 10% performance loss at worst.

Try it out with just one monitor plugged in.

If you're still not getting the framerates you want, consider running the second monitor off of your Intel Integrated (Win 10 for sure here though - in 7/8, sometimes Windows loses its shit if you have the integrated GPU enabled alongside a discrete GPU, Win 10 has no issues with this - actually has support for just such solutions) to relieve that little bit of stress...

or upgrade to a GTX 980Ti or Fury X

Again, I'm on W10 already!
I'll try overclocking to 4.7 (hopefully). I paid extra for the 980 because it is that 15%. The intel chip for the second monitor is a good idea, and I'll give that a try after overclocking if I don't see good results. Thanks for the assistance!

[Nellah]

No reason to buy 1080p monitors just to run 1080p. Just run the 4K monitors at a lower resolution and see if it makes a difference.

[Artorius]

No reason to buy 1080p monitors just to run 1080p. Just run the 4K monitors at a lower resolution and see if it makes a difference.

This, it's almost insanity to buy 1080p monitors just for it.

[Nellah]

Yeah, they even scale perfectly 1:2 on the pixel size. It's just like having a 1080p monitor.

[Radio]

You aimed really high for a wow-only setup, but yeah the double 4k is contributing to your dips.

It's not like the machine runs poorly anyway, 45-60 fps is perfectly fine on a 60HZ monitor.

[Rotted]

Two things:

1). You have vsync on.
2). Anything over 60 fps is pointless.

This, my computers a little old now, 12 months or so, but cost around 1200 (thank you mmo comp build shes a beast ) and I couldnt work out why I didnt notice much difference to before playing wow and league, then a friend said the above, and its soared right up to 300 fps in lol, havent checked wow yet.

But I will agree with 2 as well, it is pointless you can barley if any see a difference. I could only notice because I was playing on an older system which was around 20 fps

[Kagthul]

This, my computers a little old now, 12 months or so, but cost around 1200 (thank you mmo comp build shes a beast ) and I couldnt work out why I didnt notice much difference to before playing wow and league, then a friend said the above, and its soared right up to 300 fps in lol, havent checked wow yet.

But I will agree with 2 as well, it is pointless you can barley if any see a difference. I could only notice because I was playing on an older system which was around 20 fps

What hes actually referring to with the "anything over 60fps is pointless" is that most monitors people are using are 60Hz - I.E. they refresh 60 times per second. On a monitor like that, anything over 60fps is literally pointless - the monitor cant draw 120 fps anyway.

now, there are 120hz and 144hz monitors and playing at those refresh rates and framerates is noticably smoother.

[DeltrusDisc]

This, my computers a little old now, 12 months or so, but cost around 1200 (thank you mmo comp build shes a beast ) and I couldnt work out why I didnt notice much difference to before playing wow and league, then a friend said the above, and its soared right up to 300 fps in lol, havent checked wow yet.

But I will agree with 2 as well, it is pointless you can barley if any see a difference. I could only notice because I was playing on an older system which was around 20 fps

Yeah, if your monitor is a 60Hz it can only display 60 fps. I don't know why people turn VSync off, because you're essentially then telling your computer to work as hard as possible and shortening the life of the hardware. There's no reason to do that other than epeen checking, I guess.

But then someone will always come along and report higher fps... so yeah. Moot.

[Lathais]

Yeah, if your monitor is a 60Hz it can only display 60 fps. I don't know why people turn VSync off, because you're essentially then telling your computer to work as hard as possible and shortening the life of the hardware. There's no reason to do that other than epeen checking, I guess.

But then someone will always come along and report higher fps... so yeah. Moot.

You are not shortening it significantly really, so it doesn't really hurt. I mean, it's notlike you shorten the life to 1 year, it's still gonna last a good 4-6 years likely and by then you'll be wanting to replace it anyway.

Also, main reason I don't like having VSync on is even one little dip below 60FPS and you drop to 30. I can live with a few dips to 55-59, but would prefer it to be just that, a dip to 55-59, not a dip to 30.

[Kagthul]

You are not shortening it significantly really, so it doesn't really hurt. I mean, it's notlike you shorten the life to 1 year, it's still gonna last a good 4-6 years likely and by then you'll be wanting to replace it anyway.

Also, main reason I don't like having VSync on is even one little dip below 60FPS and you drop to 30. I can live with a few dips to 55-59, but would prefer it to be just that, a dip to 55-59, not a dip to 30.

I have to play with Vsync on. Screen tearing will literally make me want to punch the monitor.

[Lathais]

I have to play with Vsync on. Screen tearing will literally make me want to punch the monitor.

Yeah, different strokes for different folks, was just explaining to him why some people don't turn it on, since he said he didn't understand. Different things bother different people.

[gooseuk]

One 4k monitor on a 980 is asking alot at decent fps. Two 4k monitors is just silly if there running at 4k that is.

[Artorius]

One 4k monitor on a 980 is asking alot at decent fps. Two 4k monitors is just silly if there running at 4k that is.

He's playing at only one and it's WoW we're talking about ...

[DeltrusDisc]

He's playing at only one and it's WoW we're talking about ...

If anything it would be CPU load, with WoW. However WoW can be demanding, let's be honest...