WoW low frame rate is making me want to smash things!

Grimm

Manufacture: Asus
Model: Asus Notbook G50VT Series
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P7450@2.13GHz
RAM: 4GB
Operating System: Windows Vista
System Type: 64 - bit operating system
Video: Nvidia Geforce 9800m GS



World of Warcraft ran fine on my three year old gateway laptop with average video settings. When i first installed WoW on this computer, it ran great on maxed out video settings and with other programs running. Now for some reason 95% of the time im getting 2 FPS. It will jump up to something like 8 for a bit and then if im really lucky, maybe 30 FPS for a few seconds before it drops back down again. I've tried my video settings all the way up, all the way down, all my add ons disabled, and with no other programs running in the back ground. I've also checked my video card for updates but device manager says its current. I tried opening a ticket in game so i could talk to a blizzard tech but after two days of the little icon on my screen saying im in line, i gave up and canceled it. Can anyone tell me how to fix this before either smash this thing into pieces and/or cancel my account?

MindLib

Run these programs:

Adaware
Spybot
O&O Defrag
Ccleaner

Do these things:

Get canned air and spray out the heat sink fan.

Get a boot-up/services manager for your version of windows and deselect ALL of the proggies you don't need to run in a service.

Update your card drivers.

Grimm

MindLib wrote: »

Run these programs:

Adaware
Spybot
O&O Defrag
Ccleaner

Do these things:

Get canned air and spray out the heat sink fan.

Get a boot-up/services manager for your version of windows and deselect ALL of the proggies you don't need to run in a service.

Update your card drivers.

I've already run adaware, spybot, and a virus scan as usual. I also regularly spray out the computer. I also have already selected which programs to run in msconfig.

Grimm

I also just went to Nvidia's website and downloaded the driver manually. It got my frame rate up to about 50 for a couple minutes then took a nose dive right back down to 3

Awk

When is the last time you did a fresh install of windows? This might be windows rot.

Grimm

Awk wrote: »

When is the last time you did a fresh install of windows? This might be windows rot.

Sometime over the summer. I just bought this thing over the summer but after a couple weeks, i had to do a reinstall to fix some corrupted file.

Grimm

Tried once again putting all my video settings all the way down. My frame rate shot up to over 200. Best i had ever seen. Then after about 20 seconds, back down to 8 fps

Grimm

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=32056

wonder if this could be my problem

theclam

Install Speedfan and watch your CPU temps while playing the game.

Grimm

theclam wrote: »

Install Speedfan and watch your CPU temps while playing the game.

about 90c or 190f

EDIT: Thats the video card

Grimm

Grizzly_Addams

Did you dust it yet? A friend of mine had the exact same syptoms on his Dell XPS. Even fresh install of windows did no good. Finally dusted it and it ran like a champ.

YMMV.

Edit: Oh, dusted regulary. But those temps are still too high. Hopefully the fan hasn't broken?

Grimm

temps are still rising. about 200 for the gpu and 170 for the core 1 and 2

Foomy

those temps are way high, high enough to trigger some sort of step-down in the clock speed of either your gpu or cpu, or both.

check to make sure that your fans are still running fine, and that nothing is blocking any intakes/exhausts.

TychoCelchuuu

Also keep a fire extinguisher nearby.

Trillian

What you have to do with the Asus (I just did this) is take your handy-dandy vacuum cleaner and put it on the fan exhaust grill and turn it on. It made a world of difference on my Asus F3SA which would randomly shut down because it got too hot. Now it runs like brand new.

neville

Honestly, Windows Vista is just NOT a good operating system.

I was running Vista (and my system is a fucking monster) and had constant problems.

Upgraded to Win 7 64-bit and its like an entirely different computer.


If this is an option at all,I'd highly suggest considering it.

Druhim

neville wrote: »

Honestly, Windows Vista is just NOT a good operating system.

I was running Vista (and my system is a fucking monster) and had constant problems.

Upgraded to Win 7 64-bit and its like an entirely different computer.


If this is an option at all,I'd highly suggest considering it.

It may not be the cause of your problems, but I agree with neville having recently upgraded to 7 myself. If you're a student you can get it cheap. If you're not a student, see if someone you know who is will get it for you.

Grimm

Druhim wrote: »

neville wrote: »

Honestly, Windows Vista is just NOT a good operating system.

I was running Vista (and my system is a fucking monster) and had constant problems.

Upgraded to Win 7 64-bit and its like an entirely different computer.


If this is an option at all,I'd highly suggest considering it.

It may not be the cause of your problems, but I agree with neville having recently upgraded to 7 myself. If you're a student you can get it cheap. If you're not a student, see if someone you know who is will get it for you.

I was actually considering that. Im working seven days a week, twelve hour shifts so it might be awhile before i get a chance to get to the store though.

Druhim

Grimm wrote: »

Druhim wrote: »

neville wrote: »

Honestly, Windows Vista is just NOT a good operating system.

I was running Vista (and my system is a fucking monster) and had constant problems.

Upgraded to Win 7 64-bit and its like an entirely different computer.


If this is an option at all,I'd highly suggest considering it.

It may not be the cause of your problems, but I agree with neville having recently upgraded to 7 myself. If you're a student you can get it cheap. If you're not a student, see if someone you know who is will get it for you.

I was actually considering that. Im working seven days a week, twelve hour shifts so it might be awhile before i get a chance to get to the store though.

If you can get a student discount, just buy the upgrade online and download it.

exmello

As much fun as it is to bash Vista, it is not causing your CPU or GPU to approach the boiling point. You really shouldn't even have your computer on at this point.

If you haven't been overclocking, you've already got rid of dust, and your computer is in a well ventilated area, your fans just might be dieing.

MindLib

Damn those temps are REALLY high. Has your heatsink fan died? Check to make sure your fans are running and not slow. You might try using one of those USB plug-in thingies that you set your laptop on that blows air.

Grimm

I wouldn't be surprised if you guys are right about it being a heat issue causing my low frame rates. My old laptop ran the game fine till the the cpu fan died and the game acted the same way for a few moments before the computer crashed. I just figured what are the odds of another computer having the same problem. Not to mention this computer only being about 6 months old. I just bought another can of air and sprayed everything out again. The case feels ALOT cooler, the fan isnt running at all now, and from the very little of WoW i've tried, things seem to be a bit better. I'm still getting these temps from speed fan after about a half hour of WoW running in the background and a few tabs open in firefox.

GPU -162F
Core 1 - 135f
Core 2 - 135f

ronya

That seems a bit hot. Not devastatingly so, but maybe because it's throttling to that level.

When did the problem start?

It could well be the Nvidia driver issue you linked; I assume you've already tried updating/regressing drivers? Maybe Windows Update snuck a driver update on you when you weren't looking. System Restore?

At this point you've probably investigated all the easier possibilities, so now's the time to try harder ones. Installing Windows doesn't hurt if you have a clean install disc lying about - if you have 10gb free, you can shrink your current partition, drop Windows 7 there, then test WoW on it (i.e., temporarily dual-boot Windows Vista + 7. This might take about an hour if everything goes correctly, most of it watching Windows slowly install, and can be cleanly undone by just deleting the second install and re-expanding your current partition).

Other tests: look for a laptop cooler, or place your laptop in a significantly cooler (not humid) place - open a window for a while, perhaps. If the problem diminishes, it's a heat issue (which may then be due to driver fault, or bad hardware).

Run something else that eats GPU and see if it slows down as well. This might depend on your being roughly familiar with how such software would behave normally on a laptop of your spec.

Grimm

ronya wrote: »

That seems a bit hot. Not devastatingly so, but maybe because it's throttling to that level.

When did the problem start?

It could well be the Nvidia driver issue you linked; I assume you've already tried updating/regressing drivers? Maybe Windows Update snuck a driver update on you when you weren't looking. System Restore?

At this point you've probably investigated all the easier possibilities, so now's the time to try harder ones. Installing Windows doesn't hurt if you have a clean install disc lying about - if you have 10gb free, you can shrink your current partition, drop Windows 7 there, then test WoW on it (i.e., temporarily dual-boot Windows Vista + 7. This might take about an hour if everything goes correctly, most of it watching Windows slowly install, and can be cleanly undone by just deleting the second install and re-expanding your current partition).

Other tests: look for a laptop cooler, or place your laptop in a significantly cooler (not humid) place - open a window for a while, perhaps. If the problem diminishes, it's a heat issue (which may then be due to driver fault, or bad hardware).

Run something else that eats GPU and see if it slows down as well. This might depend on your being roughly familiar with how such software would behave normally on a laptop of your spec.

The problems started before halloween. At first it was kinda a 50/50 chance if it would happen. Sometimes it would run fine, other times i would get a minute or so of crap every 30 - 45 seconds. The only vista install i have is the system restore cd that came with the computer. I tried to buy windows 7 tonight but staples only had the upgrade from one 7 version to another, walmart, have every version except the one i wanted, target didn't have anything, and the mall was no help either. I was hoping to get the full version instead of an upgrade. While it may cost more, if i ever have to reload this computer in the future, i wont have to install vista and then the windows 7 upgrade. And i wouldn't have to deal with all the crap best buy sneaks in on the restore cd for vista.

New speedfan results
GPU - 127f
Core 1 - 124f
Core 2 - 124f

EDIT: after an hour or so of WoW with much better frame rates

GPU - 145f
Core 1 - 137f
Core 2 - 137f

exmello

Grimm wrote: »

the fan isnt running at all now,

What, what? That's not a good thing, you know.

Grimm

Well it must be a little. Before it sounded like an airplane was taking off, now its not even noticeable. The case isnt nearly as hot as it used to be.