How to fix low FPS on 25+ man

[eternalalive]

Updated step 2*
Update Misc*

After weeks of trial and error and many forums I've finally been able to fix the low FPS "lag" when doing 25 man with bunch of AOE crap going around.

The problem: Have a steady 60fps in world, then you join a 25 man and as soon as everyone AOE's the first set of mobs your game drops to 5fps or as soon as you pop CD's? Can't move, cant cast, cant interact? This guide is for you.

Disclaimer: Make sure you understand your "lag" issue, is it low FPS? if yes this guide will fix the problem. Is it input lag from server connection? if yes then this guide will not help you. This is assuming this is a windows computer, you have good connection, all your drivers up to date and have a CPU with 4 or more cores. If you have a CPU with 2 cores then this may not work for you.

Ok, ready?
1. Exit the game

2. Delete the following folders:
Cache
WTF
Interface, you can back up your addon folder if you want
*Rename the folder Utils to Utils.test

3. Return your video card to default settings
Makes sure 3D settings are controlled by video card not by application
Makes sure video settings are controlled by video card not by application

4. Go to youtube and search how to access your computer Bios, watch the whole video so you don't get lost once you're in Bios

5. In Bios change your computer frequency voltage setting to "performance mode" from either normal or power saving mode.
- Save and exit Bios and let the computer restart

6. Start the game, do not load addons yet

7. Set the game system setting as follows:
http://imageshack.us/f/268/uuvy.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/f/5/fe8o.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/f/713/4kak.jpg/
Yes there's a huge improvement in game performance in full screen

8. You have 2 choices now (but do not skip step 10):
- Run a test run on an LFR without addons (skip to step 10)
- Run a test run on an LFR with addons (continue to step 9)

9. Load addons
I recommend using ACP - Addon Control Panel, this will let you enable and disable addons without logging out.
There're some addons that are a memory hog and WILL lag your game, I know 4 for a fact:
- DBM, specially if you have all instances loaded
- Recount
- Dominos
- Silver dragon

10. You have to do this step every time after you log into the game, EVERY TIME
Minimize game and open Task manager. In the details tab (windows 8)
- Set the game priority to High
http://imageshack.us/f/51/gsp4.jpg/
- Change Process affinity to use only 2 cores (I selected 3,4)
http://imageshack.us/f/812/xbny.jpg/

11. Repeat step 10 every time you exit the game to load new addons

12. Queue to an LFR or a large raid and test new build

13. Test enabling addons one by one every other pull to see your FPS performance, if a specific addon drops more than 10 FPS then you decide to keep addon at the cost of FPS game performance.
If all addons are now enabled and there were no issues with framerate go to step 14 only if you feel there can be more tweaking done

14. Play and adjust with your in-game settings to get a more desirable framerate or better feel to the game. The following settings are the major contributors in FPS performance inorder of importance:
- SSAO
- Particle Density
- View Distance
- Texture resolution
- Texture filtering
- Vertical Synch
- Environemt detail
- ground clutter
- shadow quality
- liquid detail
- Sun shafts
- Fore and background FPS

15. Misc:
*Google chrome and google desktop uses a lot of system resources, I suggest closing google chrome or customize chrome advanced settings to minimize cpu usage

Before I made this guide I also used the following macro:
/run SetCVar("raidFramesDisplayIncomingHeals",1)
Then reload UI, this helps a little, but I think once you follow this guide in full you should be fine, if not you can try it.

Always perform Step 10 before playing the game, there's no way to save those settings permanently.

I've been testing this all night and I'm very comfortably sitting at 35-40 FPS in a full raid with full AOE damage and heals.

Please comment and rate or make sticky if this work for you.

Regards
~Eternal

[Draakken]

What kind of CPU do you have? How about some other PC specs, I've been troubleshooting this kind of issue for months now.

You can find my (Draakken) "Unplayable fps in 25 man" thread on the wow forums - I can't link it here.

[Ailylia]

I used to use recount + omen, but when I started down the path of performance improvement I found that switching to skada to do the job of both the addons simultaneously seemed to improve my performance quite a bit.

[eternalalive]

I have an I7, with 16gigs of ram and an nvidia gtx 480

- - - Updated - - -

Yes like i said in the post addons have started to lag behind in updates and they have taken a toll on performance, dominos, recount and DBM drop my framerate quite a bit.

I check out skada, although I really dont care about meters I think they're distracting

- - - Updated - - -

Honestly all I can say it's just try this guide and post your results:
disabling Addons helped very little
renaming the Utils folder helped more
CPU priority helped more
changing affinity order was the one that helped the most
....and...believe it or not getting rid google chrome also helped a lot (that is if you use chrome)
besides that in game system setting will help you at end get to a more comfortable less spikey framerate

[SoulForge]

I have an I7, with 16gigs of ram and an nvidia gtx 480

- - - Updated - - -

Yes like i said in the post addons have started to lag behind in updates and they have taken a toll on performance, dominos, recount and DBM drop my framerate quite a bit.

I check out skada, although I really dont care about meters I think they're distracting

- - - Updated - - -

Honestly all I can say it's just try this guide and post your results:
disabling Addons helped very little
renaming the Utils folder helped more
CPU priority helped more
changing affinity order was the one that helped the most
....and...believe it or not getting rid google chrome also helped a lot (that is if you use chrome)
besides that in game system setting will help you at end get to a more comfortable less spikey framerate

Getting rid of chrome? I assume you mean CLOSING chrome. A non-running program doesn't use resources.