I'm looking for advice on why my FPS is so low. I have 3 gigs of RAM on my cpu, processor is good enough, my video card is a decent NVIDIA (don't remember exact number). My internet speed is 10 megs, so that shouldn't be an issue.
I also have all my video settings turned to the absolute lowest, and I shut off everything running in the background as well.
I still am getting FPS in the lower teens and have constant choppy video in 25 man's. Could my video card be bad? Do I need a new driver? I have no clue about any of those issues and really getting annoyed. I need some advice from some computer-smart people. Thanks!
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Causes of low FPS?Follow
we need to know what video card you have.
What OS? List the spec of your hardware. Have you updated everything to latest drivers? What processes do you have running in the background. Have anti virus software? Anti spyware? Need more input from you.
Memory should be fine, but the rest of it tells us nothing. For all we know you could be using a 1 gigahertz processor with a geforce FX card.
On the same topic I recently bought a new LG widescreen 19inch LCD monitor. It has both Analog and (I guess) Digital inputs. My video card is a geforce 8600gt and it only has the digital (I guess again) output. IT included an adapter that allows me to plug analog in.
Anyways will it increase speed, quality, etc if I spend the money on the other type of cable. Kinda lame they don't even give you the cable with a new monitor but for now it is in analog mode. I am assuming this connector that looks sort of like a game controller connector with a long rectacle thing on the left is digital? Apparently that is what my video card wants to use and the monitor.
Cable is like $30 though.
On the same topic I recently bought a new LG widescreen 19inch LCD monitor. It has both Analog and (I guess) Digital inputs. My video card is a geforce 8600gt and it only has the digital (I guess again) output. IT included an adapter that allows me to plug analog in.
Anyways will it increase speed, quality, etc if I spend the money on the other type of cable. Kinda lame they don't even give you the cable with a new monitor but for now it is in analog mode. I am assuming this connector that looks sort of like a game controller connector with a long rectacle thing on the left is digital? Apparently that is what my video card wants to use and the monitor.
Cable is like $30 though.
Hi
fronglo wrote:
Memory should be fine, but the rest of it tells us nothing. For all we know you could be using a 1 gigahertz processor with a geforce FX card.
On the same topic I recently bought a new LG widescreen 19inch LCD monitor. It has both Analog and (I guess) Digital inputs. My video card is a geforce 8600gt and it only has the digital (I guess again) output. IT included an adapter that allows me to plug analog in.
Anyways will it increase speed, quality, etc if I spend the money on the other type of cable. Kinda lame they don't even give you the cable with a new monitor but for now it is in analog mode. I am assuming this connector that looks sort of like a game controller connector with a long rectacle thing on the left is digital? Apparently that is what my video card wants to use and the monitor.
Cable is like $30 though.
On the same topic I recently bought a new LG widescreen 19inch LCD monitor. It has both Analog and (I guess) Digital inputs. My video card is a geforce 8600gt and it only has the digital (I guess again) output. IT included an adapter that allows me to plug analog in.
Anyways will it increase speed, quality, etc if I spend the money on the other type of cable. Kinda lame they don't even give you the cable with a new monitor but for now it is in analog mode. I am assuming this connector that looks sort of like a game controller connector with a long rectacle thing on the left is digital? Apparently that is what my video card wants to use and the monitor.
Cable is like $30 though.
I usually use dvi to dvi if my monitor and card both have it. Otherwise I use a vga adapter. VGA is an older standard, more for CRT monitors. DVI is more for LCD and is higher quality. I don't believe speed is really a factor. Most DVI cables are made to handle both dvi and vga signals and a simple adapter, like the one that came with your video card, will work.
If it works for you to use the VGA and you don't notice any problems with the picture I wouldn't worry too much about it.
While I'm not sure if using the right cable for the video card will help, but what you described is indeed a digital video connection.
Strange that your monitor didn't include it though, I've bought 3 Samnsungs over the past few years (21.6, 25.5, 22.0, I run 2 at a time) and all 3 came with DVI (Digital Video... Interface?) and Analog cables (I think the last 2 also came with S-Video). Maybe LG is just cheap :p.
As to the OP. More info will be really needed to help you out. As others have said, there's countless issues that you could be having that's lowering your FPS. Check Addons (see if any are sucking up the RAM), analyze the fragmentation on your HD (in win XP, Start > Programs > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter), dust the system out (use a can of compressed air) and check for overheating (there are a lot of free tools out there to check for high temps), check cable connections and seating of various components, check video, motherboard , and network card drivers (granted, the last of the 3 won't really affect framerate), there's a whole lot more that it also could be, but without knowing the actual setup, it's tough to guess.
Strange that your monitor didn't include it though, I've bought 3 Samnsungs over the past few years (21.6, 25.5, 22.0, I run 2 at a time) and all 3 came with DVI (Digital Video... Interface?) and Analog cables (I think the last 2 also came with S-Video). Maybe LG is just cheap :p.
As to the OP. More info will be really needed to help you out. As others have said, there's countless issues that you could be having that's lowering your FPS. Check Addons (see if any are sucking up the RAM), analyze the fragmentation on your HD (in win XP, Start > Programs > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter), dust the system out (use a can of compressed air) and check for overheating (there are a lot of free tools out there to check for high temps), check cable connections and seating of various components, check video, motherboard , and network card drivers (granted, the last of the 3 won't really affect framerate), there's a whole lot more that it also could be, but without knowing the actual setup, it's tough to guess.
fronglo wrote:
Memory should be fine, but the rest of it tells us nothing. For all we know you could be using a 1 gigahertz processor with a geforce FX card.
On the same topic I recently bought a new LG widescreen 19inch LCD monitor. It has both Analog and (I guess) Digital inputs. My video card is a geforce 8600gt and it only has the digital (I guess again) output. IT included an adapter that allows me to plug analog in.
Anyways will it increase speed, quality, etc if I spend the money on the other type of cable. Kinda lame they don't even give you the cable with a new monitor but for now it is in analog mode. I am assuming this connector that looks sort of like a game controller connector with a long rectacle thing on the left is digital? Apparently that is what my video card wants to use and the monitor.
Cable is like $30 though.
On the same topic I recently bought a new LG widescreen 19inch LCD monitor. It has both Analog and (I guess) Digital inputs. My video card is a geforce 8600gt and it only has the digital (I guess again) output. IT included an adapter that allows me to plug analog in.
Anyways will it increase speed, quality, etc if I spend the money on the other type of cable. Kinda lame they don't even give you the cable with a new monitor but for now it is in analog mode. I am assuming this connector that looks sort of like a game controller connector with a long rectacle thing on the left is digital? Apparently that is what my video card wants to use and the monitor.
Cable is like $30 though.
You can get a DVI cable for less than $10. Never EVER EVER spend that type of money on a DVI-D cable (especially from the likes of Worst Buy and so forth). Digital is digital is digital. 1s and 0s are 1s and 0s. Look at newegg or maybe even microcenter has some cheap ones (if you have one close to you (I live in Columbus about 10 minutes from one).
Also you can do check out cables4less and other places and get a dvi cable for pretty darn cheap. It gives a bit better quality picture if you are looking for it.
#8REDACTED,
Posted: Jul 14 2009 at 10:10 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) All of your frame are belong to us.
An "OK processor" and "Some Nvidia chip" tell us nothing.
Single core processor? Dual core? How many Ghz? If you're running like a 2.0 ghz single core processor, that's not a good processor at all. This is 2009.
That 'decent Nvidia' could be anything from a 5400 (lawl) to a 250 GTC or whatever they call the damn things these days.
Other ****:
Hard drive space. You need free hard drive space. If you've got a 5200 RPM HDD that's 99% full, you're gonna see some performance issues. Also, be sure and defrag the hard drive if it's been a while.
Connection load. Even though a slow connection does not usually make your FPS lower, weirder things have happened. Even though your connection speed claims to be 10 megs, there's a chance that isn't true. A lot of companies use 'powerboost' and similar claims to up their connection speed, but that isn't so for a constant connection like an MMO. It simply compacts the packets being recieved. Also, if you're using P2P programs, streaming music, or anything of that sort (or have multiple computers connected to the same network), you're using up bandwidth which can affect the amount available to WoW.
Make sure that anti aliasing is turned off (set to 1x) as well. A lot of people miss that because it's not a facerollable bar in the effects menu, it's in the actual graphics menu somewhere near to the Resolution. If you're running a CRT go ahead and lower the resolution too.
Single core processor? Dual core? How many Ghz? If you're running like a 2.0 ghz single core processor, that's not a good processor at all. This is 2009.
That 'decent Nvidia' could be anything from a 5400 (lawl) to a 250 GTC or whatever they call the damn things these days.
Other ****:
Hard drive space. You need free hard drive space. If you've got a 5200 RPM HDD that's 99% full, you're gonna see some performance issues. Also, be sure and defrag the hard drive if it's been a while.
Connection load. Even though a slow connection does not usually make your FPS lower, weirder things have happened. Even though your connection speed claims to be 10 megs, there's a chance that isn't true. A lot of companies use 'powerboost' and similar claims to up their connection speed, but that isn't so for a constant connection like an MMO. It simply compacts the packets being recieved. Also, if you're using P2P programs, streaming music, or anything of that sort (or have multiple computers connected to the same network), you're using up bandwidth which can affect the amount available to WoW.
Make sure that anti aliasing is turned off (set to 1x) as well. A lot of people miss that because it's not a facerollable bar in the effects menu, it's in the actual graphics menu somewhere near to the Resolution. If you're running a CRT go ahead and lower the resolution too.
Ok, I'm retaking my original thread here! Here's some info on what I have:
Cpu speed and ram: Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHZ, 2.99GHz, 3 GB of RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Free Space: 12 Gigs
While Running WoW: I was in Dalaran and my CPU usage was between 60-70 percent...my PF usage was .99 GB.
I have shut off everything running in the background, and I mean everything. My OS is Windows XP. I have never updated my video card driver.
Please tell me if other info is needed.
Cpu speed and ram: Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHZ, 2.99GHz, 3 GB of RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Free Space: 12 Gigs
While Running WoW: I was in Dalaran and my CPU usage was between 60-70 percent...my PF usage was .99 GB.
I have shut off everything running in the background, and I mean everything. My OS is Windows XP. I have never updated my video card driver.
Please tell me if other info is needed.
Jedius wrote:
Ok, I'm retaking my original thread here! Here's some info on what I have:
Cpu speed and ram: Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHZ, 2.99GHz, 3 GB of RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Free Space: 12 Gigs
While Running WoW: I was in Dalaran and my CPU usage was between 60-70 percent...my PF usage was .99 GB.
I have shut off everything running in the background, and I mean everything. My OS is Windows XP. I have never updated my video card driver.
Please tell me if other info is needed.
Cpu speed and ram: Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHZ, 2.99GHz, 3 GB of RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Free Space: 12 Gigs
While Running WoW: I was in Dalaran and my CPU usage was between 60-70 percent...my PF usage was .99 GB.
I have shut off everything running in the background, and I mean everything. My OS is Windows XP. I have never updated my video card driver.
Please tell me if other info is needed.
Have you tried the lowest graphic settings to see if that makes a huge difference or not? Sometimes you can tweak a couple of settings to low and keep others high and get good framerates. I know on my old computer I had to turn shadows off or barely on in high populated areas or my video card didn't like it. Other than that my fps was fine. There are certain settings that have a bigger impact on fps than others, and some you won't really notice a loss in picture quality.
I have every single video setting cranked down as low as possible.
Odds are it's your processor, that P4 is like 6+ years old.
The processor is geriatric, but if you've never updated your video drivers, do it.
1GB of usage on XP is horrendous, run a few real virus / spyware scanners and see if something's up.
You can't expect a fully updated modern program to work well on 5 year old drivers.
1GB of usage on XP is horrendous, run a few real virus / spyware scanners and see if something's up.
You can't expect a fully updated modern program to work well on 5 year old drivers.
I used to run WoW on a similar rig -
I have never updated my video card driver.
Could your main issue.
I have never updated my video card driver.
Could your main issue.
I updated it last night, but didn't have time to play afterwards. Thank you for the feedback and I'm hoping that fixes the issues. If not it sounds like I may need a new rig because my processor is old.
Quote:
Odds are it's your processor, that P4 is like 6+ years old.
I had the same problem so I upgraded TO that processor.
What helped a lot for me even before I upgraded is that I opened the case and cleaned out all of the dust that had collected in and around the heat sink. I was having heat issues so doing that and adding a little arctic silver instead of the stock thermal compound gave a significant boost to even the P4 2.4 I was rocking before I upgraded a few more components.
WoW, isn't a graphically intensive game. Now you won't ever get 60 FPS in the heat of battle with your set-up, but it's close enough to mine that I can say you can get 25-30 in a 25man and get from place to place in Dalaran without wanting to gouge your own eyes out.
I would strongly agree with those who said update your video driver first. If that doesn't help crack open the case and see what shape your processor fan and heat sink is in, along with the cooling fans and airflow of the case as a whole. Heat also becomes an issue if you cram your tower into a cabinet that doesn't allow the fans to do their job properly.
If you can get a new system, do it! I wish I could, but my old fossil will have to get me through a few more years.
I assume you are not running a gigaton of addons.
Without addons on max settings I run at around 130FPS, but I have 194 addons installed which drags my FPS down to as low as 40FPS in Dalaran.
Obviously, it could have quite a detrimental effect on a weaker computer.
Edited, Jul 15th 2009 12:29pm by Karelyn
Without addons on max settings I run at around 130FPS, but I have 194 addons installed which drags my FPS down to as low as 40FPS in Dalaran.
Obviously, it could have quite a detrimental effect on a weaker computer.
Edited, Jul 15th 2009 12:29pm by Karelyn
What I would do is to make sure that my swap file is a fixed size. This will prevent XP from grabbing extra disk space from the hard drive, copy the data over to the new swap file and then allow the applications to continue.
Go into the System applet (windows key & break chord is the shortcut) and then Advanced tab, Performance settings, Advanced, Virtual memory click on change, and then set the page file's maximum and initial sizes to be about the same.
I have mine set to 4GB. If you have more than one drive, then you can say no swap file on the C: drive (or the drive where XP is on) and then the swap file on the other.
Go into the System applet (windows key & break chord is the shortcut) and then Advanced tab, Performance settings, Advanced, Virtual memory click on change, and then set the page file's maximum and initial sizes to be about the same.
I have mine set to 4GB. If you have more than one drive, then you can say no swap file on the C: drive (or the drive where XP is on) and then the swap file on the other.
Quote:
What I would do is to make sure that my swap file is a fixed size. This will prevent XP from grabbing extra disk space from the hard drive, copy the data over to the new swap file and then allow the applications to continue.
Go into the System applet (windows key & break chord is the shortcut) and then Advanced tab, Performance settings, Advanced, Virtual memory click on change, and then set the page file's maximum and initial sizes to be about the same.
I have mine set to 4GB. If you have more than one drive, then you can say no swap file on the C: drive (or the drive where XP is on) and then the swap file on the other.
Go into the System applet (windows key & break chord is the shortcut) and then Advanced tab, Performance settings, Advanced, Virtual memory click on change, and then set the page file's maximum and initial sizes to be about the same.
I have mine set to 4GB. If you have more than one drive, then you can say no swap file on the C: drive (or the drive where XP is on) and then the swap file on the other.
I went into that window and this is the info I found:
Minimum Allowed: 2MB
Recommended: 4989MB
Currently Allocated: 2000MB
The initial and the max are both set at 2000...so does this mean I should change it to 4000MB? I'm confused.
Quote:
so does this mean I should change it to 4000MB? I'm confused.
That is, yes, set the max ;).
Edited, Jul 16th 2009 8:26pm by cafeen
Yes, I would do so.
What it's saying is that your recommended page file is 4989MB. But, at the moment it's only using 2000MB. But, what happens if it needs more than the 2000MB what will happen is that XP will grab more disk space, say 2300MB, and then copy the whole of the contents of the swap file over as a priority before releasing the 2000MB back to the operating system.
So to stop your machine slowing down when this happens. And it doesn't half slow down, you simply set your maximum and minimum to some large disk size, say 4000MB and this copying/replacing of the page file won't happen.
This is one of the first things that I do when I build any of my new systems.
In my machines I always have two different hard drives at least. If they are the older IDE cabling I have the two disks on separate cables as well. On the second drive, the D: drive (assuming here that C: contains the operating system) I put the swap file. On the C: there is no swap file at all.
This is the most optimum way of doing things. Of course SATA, or better still, SATA-2, is the way to go as the data moves faster.
I've got a crufty graphics card that I am sure that Noah used on the Ark, and I have no problems with FPS issues. At least not yet in WoW. I used to play, if anyone remembers this one, Asherons Call 2. That thing was a dog for FPS lag.
"Oh look, a tree." Lag...
WoW may not have the same level of graphics, but at least the game is more playable.
Hope this helps a little.
What it's saying is that your recommended page file is 4989MB. But, at the moment it's only using 2000MB. But, what happens if it needs more than the 2000MB what will happen is that XP will grab more disk space, say 2300MB, and then copy the whole of the contents of the swap file over as a priority before releasing the 2000MB back to the operating system.
So to stop your machine slowing down when this happens. And it doesn't half slow down, you simply set your maximum and minimum to some large disk size, say 4000MB and this copying/replacing of the page file won't happen.
This is one of the first things that I do when I build any of my new systems.
In my machines I always have two different hard drives at least. If they are the older IDE cabling I have the two disks on separate cables as well. On the second drive, the D: drive (assuming here that C: contains the operating system) I put the swap file. On the C: there is no swap file at all.
This is the most optimum way of doing things. Of course SATA, or better still, SATA-2, is the way to go as the data moves faster.
I've got a crufty graphics card that I am sure that Noah used on the Ark, and I have no problems with FPS issues. At least not yet in WoW. I used to play, if anyone remembers this one, Asherons Call 2. That thing was a dog for FPS lag.
"Oh look, a tree." Lag...
WoW may not have the same level of graphics, but at least the game is more playable.
Hope this helps a little.
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