WoW was just fine, now its horrible -- please help!

[Faithh]

My reccomendation is that you check speed of your HDD. Sometimes games are constantly reading something from HDD and it can take down your FPS by a good margin. This is specially seen in MMOs like WoW is. Also check RAM frequency and if your GPU card is on x16 speed or not. As I see you have too much money on your place I would put SSD in that notebook.

You can't get more fps with a faster HDD because the CPU takes reads information from the HDD and calculates them everything in the ram so the HDD is pretty much "idle" during gameplay. Checking the ram frequency is pointless because he has a major cpu bottleneck and it's obvious the gpu barely gets information so the gpu would pretty much get into a power saving mode, forcing the ram & gpucore clock is only going to decrease the gpu load. A 5800 would run Wow easily with a load of 99% on gpu..

[Goldfingaz]

Almost never does it do that. Only in crappy engines does it do that.

What do you think VSync does? It synchronizes your frames per second to your monitor's refresh rate, to help prevent screen tearing (And a few various other things).

@OP: First get HWMonitor from CPUID and let us know what temperatures you're at during low frame rates.

If the temps are fine, look into your power options. Start->Control Panel->PowerOptions (If on classic view).

If you're on category view: Start->Control Panel->System and Security-> Power Options

What is selected? If "High performance" is not selected (Under additional plans) select it and try the game again. Did it clear the issues up?

Try these things and get back to us.

[wildrooster27]

I am on High Performance.
Uninstalled and reinstalled Wow - No change
HWMonitor says all my cores are between 59 Cel and 64 Cel that is when very low FPS -- and when WoW is even off.

[Draenox]

To me this really sounds like a broken addon, especially after changing from one expansion installation to another, but I guess you didn't install any after you reinstalled WoW?

[wildrooster27]

To me this really sounds like a broken addon, especially after changing from one expansion installation to another, but I guess you didn't install any after you reinstalled WoW?

I have only 1 addons be4 I reinstalled and that was MiKBattletext. And after the install I left it off. So you are correct, no addons.

[Deleted]

Your CPU is not powerful enough to push the kind of data that WoW demands.. Its a notoriously CPU heavy (in respect to CPU to GPU demand)
Your GPU is not powerful enough to take up the slack that your CPU leaves..

Please do not listen to this guy because even though it is a couple of generations old now it should do fine at medium to high settings even in raids. I suspect you have disabled turbo boost. Did you re-install your chipset drivers when you re-installed your OS? Pretty sure there is a toggle switch for turbo boost in the bios. You can check to see if it working by checking the frequency of your CPU under stress/playing WoW to see if it boosts up to 2.4ghz (as far as i remember that is what your CPU should boost upto?). Also doing a thorough check on your temps using Real Temp, GPU-Z or HWMonitor would be a good idea.

[Goldfingaz]

I am on High Performance.
Uninstalled and reinstalled Wow - No change
HWMonitor says all my cores are between 59 Cel and 64 Cel that is when very low FPS -- and when WoW is even off.

What about your GPU temps?

Also, check your Bios for something called "SpeedStep" and disable it if it is enabled.

I should also note: Those CPU temps are pretty high for just idling.

I'd suggest cleaning the laptop out with some compressed air and seeing if there is an effect on it.

[shadofall]

this sounds like a speedstep (not turbo boost) issue.

make sure first off the power settings for windows are set to performance and not balance or power saving. also check the bios and see if you can lock the cpu to run its max speed.

most laptops adjust the cpu speed to run significantly lower to save power. this is GOOD in most cases. however very bad for gaming.

my guess is you made some changes to bios/windows lately that you've forgotten about.

[wildrooster27]

I dont have turbo boost in my msconfig...... how do I get that -- maybe somehow it got deleted or something

Found Turbo Boost in BIOS = Enabled
Speedstep in BIOS = Disabled.

But I still cannot see intell turbo boost in my msconfig.

[shadofall]

I dont have turbo boost in my msconfig...... how do I get that -- maybe somehow it got deleted or something

Found Turbo Boost in BIOS = Enabled
Speedstep in BIOS = Disabled.

But I still cannot see intell turbo boost in my msconfig.

check the wording on the speedstep option in bios very carefully. i have an old dell XPS and disabling speedstep in its bios actually forces the CPU to run slower on that machine

[wildrooster27]

check the wording on the speedstep option in bios very carefully. i have an old dell XPS and disabling speedstep in its bios actually forces the CPU to run slower on that machine

When I disabled Speedstep my whole PC went a lot slowers... I put it back on and now im back to where I was since I started this thread.

[Killora]

What do you think VSync does? It synchronizes your frames per second to your monitor's refresh rate, to help prevent screen tearing (And a few various other things).

I realize how Vsync works, but very little modern game engines actually will cut your frame in half. I almost always have vsync on and the game will still run between 40-50.

[Goldfingaz]

I realize how Vsync works, but very little modern game engines actually will cut your frame in half. I almost always have vsync on and the game will still run between 40-50.

That's because your monitor is most likely running at 50+ Hertz.

I'm next to certain that VSync isn't the issue because monitors these days are rarely under 50Hz, especially new laptops.

Howeer, if your refresh rate was set to lower than 50Hertz, you would receive less frame rate.

Has nothing to do with game engines.

@OP: I'd suggest trying to clean the laptop via a can of compressed air.

[Killora]

That's because your monitor is most likely running at 50+ Hertz.

I'm next to certain that VSync isn't the issue because monitors these days are rarely under 50Hz, especially new laptops.

Howeer, if your refresh rate was set to lower than 50Hertz, you would receive less frame rate.

Has nothing to do with game engines.

@OP: I'd suggest trying to clean the laptop via a can of compressed air.

It's 60 hz...please don't act like i'm a blithering idiot.

But i'm getting off-topic.

I don't see how this is still causing problems. If theres nothing extra running in the backround then the only real explination is either heat or the game is only using like 1-2 cores.

[Faithh]

It's 60 hz...please don't act like i'm a blithering idiot.

But i'm getting off-topic.

I don't see how this is still causing problems. If theres nothing extra running in the backround then the only real explination is either heat or the game is only using like 1-2 cores.

Are you even sure you didn't enable some extra graphics options? Shadows should be set to low and SSAO to off.. It's kinda strange that wow is just running fine and later it's just fucked up. Did you monitor your temps? Use coretemp for the cpu & gpu-z for the gpu. You can test your hardware pretty much easily, if the tests are passing you can really blame the programs/drivers/OS.

[Goldfingaz]

It's 60 hz...please don't act like i'm a blithering idiot.

But i'm getting off-topic.

I don't see how this is still causing problems. If theres nothing extra running in the backround then the only real explination is either heat or the game is only using like 1-2 cores.

VSync LIMITS your max FPS. if you're on a 60Hz refresh rate, have VSync on, and are getting 40-50 FPS, that's normal. It just doesn't allow it to go over 60fps on a 60Hz refresh rate. It doesn't even them out, just puts in a max frame rate.

Not acting like you're a blithering idiot, just that you may be confused on how VSync works.

@OP: check your wow config file and look for "processAffinityMask", if that's there erase it, save the file and try again. (Highly doubt this is the issue, but worth a check. BTW it's in your wtf folder and called config.wtf)

I'm not sure if you have mentioned whether or not you've re-installed WoW, if you have not tried that yet delete your WTF folder (Back it up first so you can keep all of your existing settings for the game and your toons), run wow again and see if there is a difference.

Failing these, again try using some compressed air to clean it out (Blow the dust out of it).

Another possibility and a long shot would be spyware/viruses, however I do mean it when I say a long shot.

[Zogarth]

It's 60 hz...please don't act like i'm a blithering idiot.

But i'm getting off-topic.

I don't see how this is still causing problems. If theres nothing extra running in the backround then the only real explination is either heat or the game is only using like 1-2 cores.

WoW is a very taxing game compared to what it gives (aka shitty optimization)... i would suggest just trying to turn your graphics down. You can try to force WoW to run with more cores by going into the joblist, under processes and make it use 4 cores there... but not sure if it will, work but worth a try. If it is heat, try to get MSI afterburner installed, and see if your system gets too hot. If it does get one of those neat fan-stand-thingies that you can place the laptop in. They really help. Last option, buy a new PC

[wildrooster27]

I used 2 cans of air on my latop, there isnt a spec of dust left in nor on it. Shadows went from high to low and SSAO is off. Still same issue..

All settings on high (minus the 2 above) and I am getting 20ish FPS.
Same settings cept set View distance to low and I get 60+.
I set view distance to fair and its like 24FPS.

I am very mad. All I did was upgrade from Cata to MOP. *Angry Fist*

EDIT:
What is the best spyware scanner/cleaner to use now-a-days?

[Goldfingaz]

I used 2 cans of air on my latop, there isnt a spec of dust left in nor on it. Shadows went from high to low and SSAO is off. Still same issue..

All settings on high (minus the 2 above) and I am getting 20ish FPS.
Same settings cept set View distance to low and I get 60+.
I set view distance to fair and its like 24FPS.

I am very mad. All I did was upgrade from Cata to MOP. *Angry Fist*

EDIT:
What is the best spyware scanner/cleaner to use now-a-days?

I've used spybot search and destory and malwarebytes in the past and both have worked well.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/
http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Sear...-10122137.html (This is the last place I've downloaded Spybot Search and Destroy, so I personally trust it).

As always, these links and downloads are a use at your own risk kind of thing. I'd suggest running them in windows safe mode to ensure safe removal of any crud found.

Hopefully it fixes the issue, however like I said.. I'm thinking it's a long shot, but always worth a try,

Also, one quick thing: Make sure you're wow client is running in 64-bit and not 32-bit.

[wildrooster27]

I've used spybot search and destory and malwarebytes in the past and both have worked well.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/
http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Sear...-10122137.html (This is the last place I've downloaded Spybot Search and Destroy, so I personally trust it).

As always, these links and downloads are a use at your own risk kind of thing. I'd suggest running them in windows safe mode to ensure safe removal of any crud found.

Hopefully it fixes the issue, however like I said.. I'm thinking it's a long shot, but always worth a try,

Also, one quick thing: Make sure you're wow client is running in 64-bit and not 32-bit.

how do I check if wow is running in 64 bit??