A while back I posted about solving lag in World of Warcraft and other games load times. I found by moving the game to a seperate hard drive did wonders. However, I'm noticing that my framerate and performance isn't what I "believe" it should be and I'm trying to narrow down what could be causing the bottleneck.

I've raised and lowered the graphic settings and it doesn't seem to make much difference as in some areas it just can't get over 20-30fps. Shattrath for example. I'm hoping that someone else has run into this and might tell me what was causing their issues.

Here's what I got.

Nvidia 7900 GT 256mb (PCIE) running at 32bit color (60hz)
MSI-7151 Motherboard
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3700+, 2.2ghz
2GB of Corsair Gaming Ram with heatsink
Dedicated Gaming Harddrive (SataII)

Now, when running WOW and the framerate is like it is, I notice the CPU Usage is maxed. What I'm concerned about is that this processor was rated pretty high when I purchased it less than a year ago. I don't overclock anything in my computer. I've also verified that the inside of the case temperature isn't too hot.

My questions are:
1) Could there be motherboard limitations? It was a cheap motherboard?
2) Is it really the processor maxing out with WoW needs?
3) Could the processor be misconfigured somehow and simple changes in the Bios affect it significantly? I never changed it off it's default settings.
4) Is there any tool out there similar to 3DMark that could identify bottlenecks in a system?

Before I shell out the $$$ to replace parts I'd like to have a better idea if it's something I could easily fix and have just missed.

6/18/2007 6:57:45 PM

Quote :

"Shattrath "

6/18/2007 7:03:48 PM

Hmmm.

If only there were some kind of tech section of TWW.

Where you could talk.

About this kind of stuff.

6/18/2007 7:16:16 PM

Quote :

"running WOW"

There's your problem, right there.

6/18/2007 7:19:31 PM

It's WoW and you're in a major city.

Give up.

6/18/2007 7:28:18 PM

why would you buy a single core proc in the last year?

6/18/2007 7:33:38 PM

I find it amazing people are willing to drop so much money to make a game play at 5 more frames per second.

Lower the resolution to like 800*600. If it still crawls, it's either your CPU being not up to snuff, or the game being shitty (my vote).

But honestly, just stop playing, sell the computer and buy a sailboat.

6/18/2007 7:45:24 PM

I don't think you can buy a sailboat for the cost of a used computer.

6/18/2007 7:45:57 PM

Get a job with the spare time you'll have and you probably could.

6/18/2007 8:09:01 PM

Quote :

"I don't think you can buy a sailboat for the cost of a used computer."

Have you seen what some of the nerdos here have done with their God Boxes!?

6/18/2007 10:16:19 PM

^exactly. You can get a sunfish that is a heck of a lot of fun for a few hundred bucks used. I'd take that over a computer any day.

Not saying I dont love me some electronics (im itching like hell to build a new machine for work, being mine is close to 4 years old now) but seriously, shit is gettin out of hand if he is considering an upgrade with those components already in the system

6/18/2007 10:27:58 PM

He could also probably get a girlfriend too

6/18/2007 10:45:07 PM

*laughs*. Not sure how i posted this in lounge. Have a job, have a very awesome girlfriend but I don't have any helpful advice!

I purchased the motherboard and proc in early 2006 along with the video card. It was a simple upgrade. Only recently with the new expansion of WoW did I notice problems.

Helpful comments welcome. Others please go troll chit chat or something.

6/18/2007 11:33:11 PM

Quote :

"It's WoW and you're in a major city. Give up."

wow's programmed like shit. I have the exact same performance with a 6800 as I did with a 7900gt. (read: piss poor scaling) the only thing that helped my gameplay was going to a dual core with 1mb L2/core

6/19/2007 1:55:36 AM

1MB /core is low end these days.

6/19/2007 3:34:32 AM

Eh, it may be proammed like shit but from my point of view that won't change so my only solution is to get hardware that can manage it. I think it's time for a new mobo/proc. Thanks smooth.

Noen, it's not 5ms that I'm worried about. 99% of the time I'm at 50-60fps, and when I enter a city it's suddenly in the teens and low 20's. I'm some situations it's in the single digits so it's obviously a lack of something in my hardware.

6/19/2007 7:40:40 AM

purchased these two

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103771

Both got excellent ratings and awards. Great reviews and if I should ever be insane/stupid enough to spend another $200 on a video card I can do sli.

Toal was $300ish.

I used this review to give me a good idea what to go for.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6389077-1.html

6/19/2007 8:09:41 AM

The Wolf Web > Tech Talk > Tell me what I want to hear so I can justify spending $300

Oh, and you just bought a motherboard that uses DDR2. 99% certain your old one used DDR. Time to go add RAM to cart.

Also, that article is two years old and doesn't even mention Core Duos, let alone the Core 2 Duo, so it might as well be written about a Pentium 2.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 8:25 AM. Reason : .]

6/19/2007 8:23:41 AM

Hahahahahah

Oh dear

6/19/2007 8:31:53 AM

C2D>X2

6/19/2007 8:47:23 AM

1) used the article to review the level of processor I wanted to invest into. Not the newest and best. At the time those were the best and the prices at the end reflected that. I used it as a reference. As you notice what I purchased was not one of the listed procs.

2) Core Duo is not the range I wanted to spend AND get a new motherboard. At least compared to the processor I purchased. Yes I probably could have spent about $400 and gotten a better processor and motherboard using an Intel Core Duo but I looked at what I had and compared it to what I might want.

3) I wasn't using TWW for a reason to spend money. I was looking to see if anyone else had run into similar problems and what they did for solutions and if you notice what I got was mostly trolls.

There's two kinds of people here. Those that genuinely want to help and those who try to be self important and rag on someone instead of trying to undertand their decision. Guess we know which you are.

6/19/2007 9:01:22 AM

Quote :

"It's clear that Intel's Core 2 Duo lineup offers superior performance across the product line when compared with AMD's Athlon 64 X2. In some applications, even a lower-cost Core 2 Duo can outperform some of the higher-end Athlon 64 X2s."

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2014646,00.asp

6/19/2007 9:06:28 AM

^^Dude I fucking told you how to diagnose the problem in my first post in the thread.

And you just paid MORE for a less powerful X2, than you could have gotten a core2duo for.

E6300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115005 costs less, more powerful, and overclocks like a fucking beast.

Cancel your order, get the good shit if you are going to do it anyway.


Now WHY you are spending another 300 dollars on ONE GAME, that you ALREADY pay for, is beyond me. And it's still not going to make everything all better.

6/19/2007 9:31:14 AM

Quote :

"1) used the article to review the level of processor I wanted to invest into. Not the newest and best. At the time those were the best and the prices at the end reflected that. I used it as a reference. As you notice what I purchased was not one of the listed procs."

You used a completely outdated reference. Lots has changed in the past two years.

Quote :

"2) Core Duo is not the range I wanted to spend AND get a new motherboard. At least compared to the processor I purchased. Yes I probably could have spent about $400 and gotten a better processor and motherboard using an Intel Core Duo but I looked at what I had and compared it to what I might want."

An Core 2 Duo E6400 and Gigabyte DS3 are about $300 combined.

Quote :

"3) I wasn't using TWW for a reason to spend money. I was looking to see if anyone else had run into similar problems and what they did for solutions and if you notice what I got was mostly trolls."

It was mainly a joke, however we told you it was a software issue, it wasn't your computer. You decided "screw it, I'll just buy a newer computer to try and get around the problem".

Quote :

"There's two kinds of people here. Those that genuinely want to help and those who try to be self important and rag on someone instead of trying to undertand their decision. Guess we know which you are."

You know, you started this thread because you thought you might have made a mistake with your earlier purchase. We told you that it was more software than your computer. Then, instead of posting again and saying "Hey, I realize it's a software issue, but what should I get at X price range to get better frames?" you went out and consulted a two year old article as a reference saying that it had to do with the "level of processor". People would have been more than happy to help you upgrade. That's what half the threads in this forum are about.

So don't go calling me self important when you're going to wind up in the same situation again because you decided to blaze you're own trail instead of asking for further help.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 9:40 AM. Reason : .]

6/19/2007 9:39:32 AM

Let me be a bit clearer about how I reached a decision.

I take several things into consideration, performance being one of the top.

However, performance only goes so far if you have hardware that will fail, has crappy bios issues, bad built in sound card, etc. What could I buy that would give me much better performance than what I current have, stay within my $300ish budget I had planned, and still allow for me to grow if I wanted.

The motherboard I have currently has ddr2 memory in it. So that wasn't an issue when shopping. It's Corsair ddr2 gaming ram. Good stuff, no need to replace.

When I look at hardware I want to see reviews about well tested hardware (IE I don't buy just released items). that's part of the reason I looked at an older review of cutting edge stuff. Now I take those reviews and I look at current technology and see what's still for sale and what has excellent reviews by the people who bought them.

A LOT of time when I read about newer hardware I find that the is a problem with the bios supporting a raid environment, or certain video cards have trouble, or some other problem. You can't find this information out if you buy brand new things and then a big hassle to either buy a new video card, or return the hardware.

So sure, I'm a generation or two behind in hardware. But I never run into those issues because I wait and see what performed the best in the last generation and it works great for current games. It's obvious by looking at the reviews that my current setup was more than 3 generations behind. I'm just not willing to pay $800 for something that will cost $300 in a year.

The current processor mobo combo I got for $150. I knew it was cheap but it was a good deal and the processor had a great review. The motherboard had an okay review.

BOTH the motherboard and proc that I chose had incredible reviews. My specific video card was mentioned multiple times as working great with it in games and in SLI which lets me know there aren't any hardware issues to be had.

On my next hardware upgrade I'll might wind up with a core duo. However, I think it's a much more intelligent decision to buy proven hardware than the latest and greatest. You don't have to agree with me and I honestly don't give a shit.

I appreciate the helpful advice I got in the thread and PM's.

Edit: nothing personal but gigabyte is not what I call a "great" motherboard company. They are the cheapest and not always the best quality. You get what you pay for.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 9:45 AM. Reason : !]

6/19/2007 9:43:35 AM

Technology VS Raige

Round 23984729387432


FIGHT!!!1

6/19/2007 9:46:38 AM

Stein, I agreed it might be a software issue on the sense that it tasked your hardware too hard if it wasn't up to snuff. I've seen far too many people with systems that have no trouble in places like that. They of course have $3000 systems. Not what I'm willing to spend. However, identifying the problem that the proc was maxed is a good sign that it's the proc unable to handle the load of whatever it's encountering.

It was time for an upgrade anyway.

As for the self important, that wasn't mainly directed at you. But to other comments made.

Nothing personal man.

6/19/2007 9:48:12 AM

Haha, you're talking like the Core 2 Duo is some unproven, unreliable processor and you want to wait a year before going to a questionable platform.

The thing didn't come out yesterday man. They've been out for a year now. And they're consistently rated faster than the X2 procs. AMD used to be better in the bang/buck category, but with the Core 2 Duos Intel is back on top. It makes no sense to go X2 instead of C2D these days.

But whatever, you made a shitty decision on your last upgrade so why change course now. Good job listening to our advice.

6/19/2007 9:56:13 AM

Oh wow. Bad choice. Send the X2 back NOW. You can get a c2d 6320 for cheaper (165$ on newegg.com). Bad bad choice. You can overclock that 6320 to run circles around a x2 5600 (would on stock too). Please please save us all and return those and go intel. The core 2 duos arn't some new unstable thing. They're very stable and OC like mad, not to mention they pretty much demolish most amd chips.

6/19/2007 10:13:38 AM

Quote :

"On my next hardware upgrade I'll might wind up with a core duo. However, I think it's a much more intelligent decision to buy proven hardware than the latest and greatest. You don't have to agree with me and I honestly don't give a shit."

umm C2D is not 'new' and it is quite proven.... and is hands down the best bet for anything in the last year or so....

6/19/2007 11:48:50 AM

Quote :

"On my next hardware upgrade I'll might wind up with a core duo. However, I think it's a much more intelligent decision to buy proven hardware than the latest and greatest. You don't have to agree with me and I honestly don't give a shit."

When I correctly assume that people will react to what they don't want to hear in this way, I don't have a problem trolling the piss out of them. I mean, fuck dude, you should know this section isn't friendly to script kiddie level shit. And dropping money to play your games faster is script kiddie shit.

People here are creating enterprise level web sites, and doing things a little bit beyond freshman year wow this is awesome I have a 100mb/s connection and my pings are super low crap. Expect to get trolled, ESPECIALLY after you ignored good advice.

6/19/2007 12:09:34 PM

he sounds like a slightly more upto date NASA.... recently "upgrading" to the 486....

6/19/2007 12:16:38 PM

486!!!! I remember all those old school apogee games. My emulated mario kart 64 looks better than WoW graphics. I guess blizzard made the right decision with the shitty graphics, making it run on everything. My 4 year old pentium 4 dell laptop at 1920 by 1200 maxes out WoW.

6/19/2007 1:32:15 PM