Low GPU load when playing WoW

[newtekie1]

If only you knew how wrong that statement was. Xeons are designed for different workloads.

For the past several generations(since the 775 days) Xeons have been identical to desktop chips with a few extra instruction sets enabled, and sometimes support for ecc memory. They handled workloads exactly the same.

But yes, the ability to overclock goes out the window, but the same goes if you buy a non-k desktop CPU. Though even with the Xeon he should be able to use the extra 8 boost bins to get the processor running at 4.1Ghz.

 

[ssawgift]

How about trying to mess with CPU affinity? http://www.wowwiki.com/CVar_processAffinityMask

I don't know what else to suggest. I have a 4670K with a 760 and it plays the game smooth as silk on Ultra with 8xAA. You should be having no issues. Hope you get it sorted.

The article says: Manually adjusting this CVar is no longer needed as of 3.3.2 unless you're trying to run the game on specific cores. It is now uncapped so it will run on whatever core your OS deems as fit.

I did try setting this cvar, but it made no difference.

 

[ssawgift]

If you don't mind me asking, why did you get a Xeon in the first place? It's not like any the features of a Xeon will help you game while you throw your ability to overclock out the window.

There is no special reason. It's just that I had no idea about computer hardware though I am a software developer. The only reason is that this CPU offers the best price-quality ratio.

 

[...PACMAN...]

I'm aware what the article states, it's just sometimes an OS can get a bit funky with what it deems fit. It was just something to try, you know, help. Anyway, done with this thread. Off to play some Wow with max details on my lowly 4670K and weak Nvidia GPU.

 

[Kaynar]

To simply put it, if your Xeon CPU is at 3.3Ghz (as I saw on google) then your CPU is on par with an i3 worth about $100 when it comes to games like WoW. In games like Crysis 3 however, your CPU should be close to a non-overclocked i7 since your Xeon is a 4C/8T.

WoW is an old game and additionally its made to run on low end systems so that many people can actually play the game, I find it normal that things are like that.

That said, both my older overclocked i7 930 with 7970 and my newer 4930k and Titan cannot run the game at 60fps on full graphics and 1200p when I am in Orgrimmar with 50+ toons around me.

 

[newtekie1]

To simply put it, if your Xeon CPU is at 3.3Ghz (as I saw on google) then your CPU is on par with an i3 worth about $100 when it comes to games like WoW. In games like Crysis 3 however, your CPU should be close to a non-overclocked i7 since your Xeon is a 4C/8T.

His Xeon boosts to 3.7GHz, it would fall somewhere between an i5 and an i7. It has the cache and 4C/8T of an i7-3770K but with a 200MHz lower clock speed.

 

[Kaynar]

His Xeon boosts to 3.7GHz, it would fall somewhere between an i5 and an i7. It has the cache and 4C/8T of an i7-3770K but with a 200MHz lower clock speed.

Well maybe his fps (below 30) is a bit too low for these specs then...

 

[Aquinus]

Well maybe his fps (below 30) is a bit too low for these specs then...

Or maybe when he raids, there is more stuff than the software can truly handle. I'm willing to bet that disabling shadows will help.

 

[Kaynar]

Or maybe when he raids, there is more stuff than the software can truly handle. I'm willing to bet that disabling shadows will help.

that always works on laptops but the 280x yawns with WoW's shadows

 

[Aquinus]

Except that shadows are calculated on the CPU then rendered by the GPU. WoW does more stuff than it actually should on the CPU and it's important to remember that.

Another side note: Are you running in DX9 or DX11 mode?

 

[Kaynar]

That might be a possible explanation for the OP's low fps, DX11 is certainly smoother on high end machines but i think WoW runs on DX11 by default now

 

[ssawgift]

I tried DX9 but it made no difference, as I had expected.

I also tried set shadow to lowest level, but could not see any obvious improvements.

 

[kn00tcn]

are there other options you can lower that reduce polygon/object counts or their LODs? things like draw distance, model detail, terrain detail, these are usually cpu limited & you can keep the gpu settings high (post processing, shaders, etc)

also to prove that it's cpu, lowering resolution & turning off AA should result in identical fps instead of higher

similarly, underclocking the cpu or disabling turbo should reduce fps together with the above test

 

[ssawgift]

are there other options you can lower that reduce polygon/object counts or their LODs? things like draw distance, model detail, terrain detail, these are usually cpu limited & you can keep the gpu settings high (post processing, shaders, etc)

also to prove that it's cpu, lowering resolution & turning off AA should result in identical fps instead of higher

similarly, underclocking the cpu or disabling turbo should reduce fps together with the above test

Thanks for the reply.

Actually the FPS is not my biggest concern. My confusion is why the GPU load is so low which means its full capacity is not utilized and my money is wasted in some way.

 

[kn00tcn]

that's what being cpu (or gpu) limited means, an imbalance of utilization that's either the fault of software or choice of hardware (such as buying a dualcore & a high end gfx card)

utilization it's entirely related to fps, the end result

EDIT: but i always want to run tests to confirm where the issue lies, if there's anything that can be done, etc

seeing what settings affect fps in what way would be the data to help decide what's going on, utilization not so much

 

[Mussels]

Thanks for the reply.

Actually the FPS is not my biggest concern. My confusion is why the GPU load is so low which means its full capacity is not utilized and my money is wasted in some way.

if the GPU has nothing to render, its going to idle. thats like asking why doesnt my car stay at 5,000RPM all the time, its wasting its power!

 

[Blue-Knight]

Isn't because the game access the disk too often? Not sure, I never played this game. It is just a possibility.
I played some games of similar genre and they accessed the disk very often which caused a high FPS fluctuation.

Running on a RAMDisk may be interesting, if possible. And if it is online game mode, online game modes can use much more CPU than offline game mode.

Not sure.

 

[Aquinus]

Isn't because the game access the disk too often? Not sure, I never played this game. It is just a possibility.
I played some games of similar genre and they accessed the disk very often which caused a high FPS fluctuation.

Running on a RAMDisk may be interesting, if possible. And if it is online game mode, online game modes can use much more CPU than offline game mode.

Not sure.

It's possible, but if you're standing still it should let everything load. I don't think that this is the issue, but I guess it could be.

A ramdisk isn't feasible with WoW because it's such a big game.

 

[Paladone]

It's normal foreground play. GPU-Z is capable of recording stats over time.

Sounds dumb, but I was having an issue like this, and it turned out to be an issue with an in game addon. I would recommend that your first upgrade your addons.

Secondly, make sure that you havn't set a foreground/background FPS limit. You can do this by hitting escape and going into "system".

EDIT: You can also try disabling Vsync.