WoW low framerate/framerate drops

RavynBlackheart

I've got the laptop outlined in this link: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2006/psgconsumer/ds_dv9000.pdf (Not an Intel processor, an AMD Turion but it shouldn't matter). Specs are on page 2. My framerate in WoW rarely goes above 14 or 15, running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit with the theme on classic mode (otherwise my framerate in Northrend is never above 9fps). I know it's an integrated graphics chip technically and that it should suck but I didn't think it would be this bad. I have almost all my graphic settings at minimum, sound turned off, and the only addons I use are Cartographer, Auctioneer, and QuestHelper. I even uninstalled Xperl, TitanPanel, Recount, Omen, and Bartender. Any ideas? I'm at wits end with this whole situation.

Meiz

Where's the ram specs? I mean it explains what the video card has but not the laptop.

bowen

Not surprising, GeForce Go are really the bastardized brands of their full-on desktop counterparts. A 7600 would struggle with this, and like you mentioned, it's an integrated chip.

That said, try reducing your AA and bitrate, drop down to as low as you can go there, and resolution wise.

800x600 with 1xAA might do a world of difference.

bowen

Meiz wrote: »

Where's the ram specs? I mean it explains what the video card has but not the laptop.

256 MB dedicated DDR2 VRAM, which is a funny way to say "256 MB onboard ram dedicated to video memory" as I take it to understand.

Arikado

Also, don't forget areas like Northrend have a lot of server-side stuff that tends to bring down people's FPS. Phased areas, tons of NPCs, and a good amount of vehicles adds a bit to it (just try walking into a big battle in Wintergrasp).

PeregrineFalcon

bowen wrote: »

Not surprising, GeForce Go are really the bastardized brands of their full-on desktop counterparts. A 7600 would struggle with this, and like you mentioned, it's an integrated chip.

That said, try reducing your AA and bitrate, drop down to as low as you can go there, and resolution wise.

800x600 with 1xAA might do a world of difference.

[strike]A Go7600 isn't an integrated chip, but it's no beefcake either. Turn off AA/AF, drop the resolution, and lower the draw distance.[/strike] Disregard that, I suck cocks, etc. Apparently you only get the Go7600 on the Intel-based models, so you're probably on a 6150/7050 integrated.

Turn off everything and make it look like World of Wiicraft.

RavynBlackheart

4gb of RAM, didn't see if that was missing in the factsheet. I'll try the other tips here in a moment as much as I can and report back.

EDIT: 7150M according to Device Manager. Ugh, this game looks hideous but now I get 30+ FPS in Northrend. Haven't tried hitting up Wintergrasp or Dalaran yet but still, it's a speed improvement if not a little eye-bleeding.

EDIT 2: Ugh now even with everything min settings it's back down to 10FPS...

bowen

That is a huge gain of speed right there. While utterly ugly you're still at playable speeds.

Since you're on a laptop I'm going to share a secret that worked with mine, drop your CPU to medium-low. The heat generated by your CPU will often snuff out the processing power of your GPU. And since wow uses almost 0 CPU power, doing this will pretty much do nothing to your gameplay. Make sure the input and ouput are both open and allow good circulation, and keep the settings with the AA low. You might just be able to play it in a raid environment at that point.

RavynBlackheart

Any gain in framerate was very temporary, even in areas like Elwynn Forest I was back down to the mid teens even eith everything at lowest, or as Peregrine said, World of Wiicraft. I don't know how do drop my CPU like that, but it might work.

bowen

It's usually in the power saving settings of your laptop's battery management utility. At 100% or plugged in use X% CPU and x% GPU.

You are using this plugged in right? If you're not I recommend that.

RavynBlackheart

Yeah, it's always plugged in on a desk with good ventilation.