why does my game not run at 60 fps?

[B@nj0 P3do]

My system:
Windows 7 64
Asus P8P67 Deluxe
Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4,8Ghz (watercooled)
2x GTX 580 in SLI @ 930 core, 2150 mem (watercooled)
Corsair Dominator GT 2000 C8 (running at 1866 C8)
8MB down 0,2Mb up internet connection.
2560x1440 resolution @ 60Hz, Dual-Link DVI

while raiding yesterday, I was annoyed that my fps dropped to the low 30's several times:
The game is completely maxed out:




I have also adjusted the driver settings for the game with higher AA, Supersampling and high quality textures.
(Higher AA is probably not needed, but I can still see some faint bad lines in the distance)

I use MSI Afterburners overlay, and my GPU's rarely go over 35% Usage each. and memory usage is about 1000-1100 MB

My processor and memory also never goes to 100%


So to my knowledge there should be absolutely no Bottlenecking going on.
A 2500k @ 4.8 should not be bottlenecked?

What do you think is going on?

[Primernova]

Background apps and shadows are the bane of any MMO. You're way overspeced for WoW, yes but it's not a toy app if turned up to Ultra and at that resolution.

I have the same problem and I'm overspeced too but it's just an MMO thing, the game can't be perfectly optimized from a developement perspective. Anything can be happening on the screen in an MMO, players feed you video spam basicly.

Lower shadows is the best advice I can give you, if you want a solid 60fps thru any kind of MMO visuals.

[0ptimo]

I have a similar setup to yours, not as high of an OC (4.3) or the watercooling but similar. Once I installed my 2nd 580 I noticed that my FPS would dip down to 30 for no rhyme or reason. I've read similar reports from other people using SLI 580s. I'm not sure what the issue is but I can almost guarnatee (almost) it's related to SLI. While just using one 580 i was 80+ FPS everywhere without a hitch.

[B@nj0 P3do]

Just tried in Orgrimmar with both SLI enabled and then SLI disabled. I had almost the exact same FPS. I'd say it was withing the margin of error seeing as different amount of people were standing infront of me at the time of checking

[0ptimo]

Just tried in Orgrimmar with both SLI enabled and then SLI disabled. I had almost the exact same FPS. I'd say it was withing the margin of error seeing as different amount of people were standing infront of me at the time of checking

Mine is the same. I tried disabling SLI too and I would still get the drop in FPS which never happened before the 2nd card touched the mobo. It's a weird problem for sure.

[anb]

Similar issue. yesterday i checked my 560Ti load during rhyolith pull and it never passed more than 70%, most of the time its 50%. Yet my fps on this boss drops from 60 to 40. Forgot to check CPU though.

[Asera]

Drop shadows down one notch.

[anb]

Drop shadows down one notch.

mine are already at high, not ultra.

[Asera]

I wasn't referring to you, I was referring to OP.

However, I also drop to 40fps on Rhyolith on a 560Ti/2500K combo. Firelands just doesn't play nice is pretty much it.

[Wries]

Similar issue. yesterday i checked my 560Ti load during rhyolith pull and it never passed more than 70%, most of the time its 50%. Yet my fps on this boss drops from 60 to 40. Forgot to check CPU though.

It's hard to monitor CPU load, especially in WoW. Iirc it's called load balancing when it lets the thread bounce around to another core every other clock cycle, making it look like any core isn't really fully taxed, when looking in task manager. It won't show 100% on any core yet you can confirm it's a CPU-bottleneck by tweaking its clock frequency and observing the difference in FPS.

[Deleted]

when you say 'water cooled' can you show the system they installed into it? And ultimatly it isn't a very well optmized game for newer graphics.. oh which reminds me.. you did choose the "directx 11" option in wow?

[Deleted]

You're running very high resolution with above max graphics settings, there just isn't hardware (specifically cpu) that's capable of pushing steady 60 FPS in WoW raids with that kind of settings, you just have to accept the fact and either turn down shadows a bit or accept the occasional fps loss.

It's not a matter of SLI or not, a single GTX580 is absolute and total overkill for WoW to begin with, your minimum fps in raids is determined by cpu, it's as simple as that.

[vesseblah]

Just tried in Orgrimmar with both SLI enabled and then SLI disabled. I had almost the exact same FPS. I'd say it was withing the margin of error seeing as different amount of people were standing infront of me at the time of checking

You can max out WoW with single GTX560ti, SLI of 580's is so far overkill it's not even funny.

Drop shadows one step, and you will be at 60fps most of the time. It's CPU limited no matter how hard you try to quote Task Manager screenshot.

[OhpUldum]

Unfortunately MMO's by nature are poorly optimized in comparison to the BF3's out there. With that in mind you can throw as much of the best hardware at the game and it will still bog down at times. My suggestion is to turn shadows down to low or just off altogether. I play without them on and rarely see my FPS dip below 60, so rarely that I don't even remember a time right now.

Probably not the answer you are looking for but it is better than nothing.

[B@nj0 P3do]

when you say 'water cooled' can you show the system they installed into it? And ultimatly it isn't a very well optmized game for newer graphics.. oh which reminds me.. you did choose the "directx 11" option in wow?

I installed the equipment myself. its mostly EK waterblocks and a swiftech 655 D5 pump