World of Warcraft 30FPS on a new Xfire PC

[Paladone]

I got my new PC about 2 days ago and it's brand new. The first thing i did on it was install World of Warcraft but when i went to log in i got error #114 and after hours of troubleshooting i was able to solve it. When i logged in for the first time on this computer, i noticed that i was quite laggy; 30FPS to be exact. My mate has a non OC'd i7 3770k, 1 HD7970, 1600Mhz RAM and generally lesser quality hardware and yet he is getting 80-90FPS in populated areas on a 1080P 32" TV. Any idea why i am getting such bad FPS? I assume it's something to do with my settings as my Asus HD7970 Matrix's Load indicator is still blue which i believe means that it's idle.

PC specs
i7 3770k OC @ 4.3Ghz
32GB of DDR3 RAM @ 2400Mhz
1x Asus Platinun ROG HD7970 Matrix and 1x XFX Radeon HD7970
128GB Samsung 840 pro SSD
1TB Caviar Black Western Digitial HDD
Corsair H100i closed loop cooling system
Asus ROG Maximus Formula V eATX Motherboard
NZXT Switch 810 /w 6 140mm fans
Monitor - Samsung S23A950D 23" 1920x1080 120Hz Monitor

Game settings:
Ultra (Only 1x Multisampling)
Full Screen (Windowed)
Refresh rate - 60Hz

 

[Dent1]

It's not your hardware,

Sometimes settings or drivers can lock the frame rate.

Turn off vsync if it isnt already.

BTW you've posted in the wrong category.

 

[Paladone]

It's not your hardware,

Sometimes settings or drivers can lock the frame rate.

Turn off vsync if it isnt already.

BTW you've posted in the wrong category.

Oh did i? Sorry :s
it's not like it's constantly 30 FPS though either, it drops a spikes a little bit sometimes.
Edit: Also, when i change the setting to the lowest, it goes above 100 FPS (My laptop goes higher)

 

[andrewsmc]

sounds like its using your CPU graphics. I for got how to fix it though... Brb


EDIT: Look here http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178907

 

[Paladone]

sounds like its using your CPU graphics. I for got how to fix it though... Brb


EDIT: Look here http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178907

I disabled my iGPU, can't notice a difference. After disabling Vsync though i did notice a difference. Now my FPS is literally all over the place, jumping around from 20-100. I still really feel as if something is not right as my Asus HD7970 still has the blue Load indicator. However, it's around 70 Degrees whereas the XFX HD7970 is around 55.

 

[Guitar]

Assuming you're running Crossfire? Try disabling it.

 

[Paladone]

Assuming you're running Crossfire? Try disabling it.

I tried that earlier, literally 0 difference, same FPS range, same spikes.

 

[NinkobEi]

do you get the same problem in other games? run a quick 3dmark and see if the score fits your card average.

 

[dark2099]

Try each card individually if you haven't already, if the XFX is the main card, and Asus 2nd, and the Asus isn't showing load, then it could be faulty and causing the issue. What drivers are you using, and have you installed the latest Catalyst Application Profiles (ATI done crossfire configs for various games, link.

 

[Paladone]

This sounds weird, but i think for some reason i'm capped at a certain FPS. In Furmark i noticed that no matter how hard i OC'd my GPU's my FPS stayed around 105-115. When i'm in wow, on ultra it's the same except now it keeps dropping to 40-50 occasionally. When i put my settings on the lowest possible, i get the exact same as if i was on ultra except when it lags, it drops down to about 70. Note: My laptop can pull about 180FPS on the lowest settings.

EDIT: I shouldn't say it occasionally drops to 40-50 FPS, it happens a lot.

 

[Paladone]

Try each card individually if you haven't already, if the XFX is the main card, and Asus 2nd, and the Asus isn't showing load, then it could be faulty and causing the issue. What drivers are you using, and have you installed the latest Catalyst Application Profiles (ATI done crossfire configs for various games, link.

My computer is only 2 days old and i had it assembled proffessionally, they ran tests and everything to make sure it was all ok.

 

[Paladone]

3D mark results -

GRAPHICS CARD
Graphics CardAMD Radeon HD 7970 VendorUnknown# of cards2SLI / CrossFireOnMemory1,920 MBCore clock300 MHzMemory clock150 MHzDriver nameDriver version9.2.0.0Driver statusFM Approved
GRAPHICS CARD (SECONDARY)
PROCESSOR
ProcessorIntel Core i7-3770K Processor Processor clock1,699 MHzPhysical / logical processors1 / 8# of cores4PackageLGA 1155Manufacturing process22 nmTDP77 W
GENERAL
Operating system64-bit Windows 7 (6.1.7601)MotherboardASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. MAXIMUS V FORMULAMemory32,710 MBHard drive model128 GB Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series ATA Device

is this normal?

Edit: i ran the test on Performance (P)

 

[m&m's]

First install the latest drivers, you're using 9.2 (12.10) and the latest one are 9.12 (13.1).
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx
Than open the device manager and verify that there is no question mark or exclamation mark.

 

[CrackerJack]

Try Full screen, (not windowed, Full screen).

Also double check foreground fps isn't set to ~30, best to just turn off.

 

[Paladone]

Try Full screen, (not windowed, Full screen).

Also double check foreground fps isn't set to ~30, best to just turn off.

I updated the drivers and it didn't help. How do i change the foreground fps?

 

[CrackerJack]

System/Advance There will be two sliders on the right.

Did you try complete full screen also?

 

[Paladone]

System/Advance There will be two sliders on the right.

Did you try complete full screen also?

Yes i tried both. That seems to have fixed the problem of limiting my FPS. 375 FPS on low. I think it may have fixed it D I'm on ultra and my FPS is like 65+ sitting around 70 when i stop moving. I still feel as if it should be higher though.

EDIT: NVM, it's still spiking down to about 40 :\ But thanks for your help, at least the fps cap is fixed. Do you think i should be happy with what i'm getting with 2 hd7970s and an OC i7 3770k?

 

[CrackerJack]

In my experience crossfire/sli has never scaled right with WoW.

My current setup:
Display Mode: Window mode
API: DirectX 11
Resolution: 1920x1080
Vsync: Enabled
Multisampling: 2x
Texture Resolution: High
Texture Filtering 8x Anisotropic
Projected Textures: Enabled
View Distance: Ultra
Environment Detail: High
Ground Clutter: High
Shadow Quality: Good
Liquid Detail: Good
Sun Sunshafts: High
Particle Density: High
SSAO: High

Server: Stormrage, Heavy Alliance Server
Faction: Alliance
Location: Stormwind (Trade District), Hovering over Auction House

Min fps: 37
Avg fps: 45
Max fps: 60

 

[Paladone]

In my experience crossfire/sli has never scaled right with WoW.

My current setup:
Display Mode: Window mode
API: DirectX 11
Resolution: 1920x1080
Vsync: Enabled
Multisampling: 2x
Texture Resolution: High
Texture Filtering 8x Anisotropic
Projected Textures: Enabled
View Distance: Ultra
Environment Detail: High
Ground Clutter: High
Shadow Quality: Good
Liquid Detail: Good
Sun Sunshafts: High
Particle Density: High
SSAO: High

Server: Stormrage, Heavy Alliance Server
Faction: Alliance
Location: Stormwind (Trade District), Hovering over Auction House

Min fps: 37
Avg fps: 45
Max fps: 60

Oh right, that's interesting. Maybe I'd be better off just running one when I play wow then?

 

[Aquinus]

In my experience crossfire/sli has never scaled right with WoW.

My current setup:
Display Mode: Window mode
API: DirectX 11
Resolution: 1920x1080
Vsync: Enabled
Multisampling: 2x
Texture Resolution: High
Texture Filtering 8x Anisotropic
Projected Textures: Enabled
View Distance: Ultra
Environment Detail: High
Ground Clutter: High
Shadow Quality: Good
Liquid Detail: Good
Sun Sunshafts: High
Particle Density: High
SSAO: High

Server: Stormrage, Heavy Alliance Server
Faction: Alliance
Location: Stormwind (Trade District), Hovering over Auction House

Min fps: 37
Avg fps: 45
Max fps: 60

That's because CFX requires full screen. If you run windowed mode it won't run in CFX mode. Aka: It won't scale at all because it isn't working.

Full Screen (Windowed)

Run in full screen, not any form of Windowed mode...
As I said above, CFX doesn't run in Windowed mode, at least for every application I've tried out. Just switching to full screen should make CFX kick in.
Capping at 30FPS sounds like vsync is enabled or foreground frame rate is set really low. All in all, try running full screen.

 

[Paladone]

That's because CFX requires full screen. If you run windowed mode it won't run in CFX mode. Aka: It won't scale at all because it isn't working.



Run in full screen, not any form of Windowed mode...
As I said above, CFX doesn't run in Windowed mode, at least for every application I've tried out. Just switching to full screen should make CFX kick in.
Capping at 30FPS sounds like vsync is enabled or foreground frame rate is set really low. All in all, try running full screen.

Have tried it

 

[Aquinus]

Have tried it

Install MSI Afterburner and turn on the OSD and turn on gpu usage. Start up WoW and you'll see your GPU usage overlayed on top of WoW in the corner of your screen. What does your GPU load look like? Remember to enable it for both cards because we can determine a number of things just by how hard each one is working.

GPU-Z OSD Server can do the same thing as well.

If one GPU is 100% and the other is 0% you can take a wild guess what what is happening.

If both GPUs are at something other than 100%, say 30 or 40%, there is a limitation somewhere else.

You could also have a mix of the two where one GPU isn't even being used but the other is only running at say 60%.

Either way, we need more information and figuring this out would be a good step.

 

[Kaynar]

Have you made sure that CCC or any other program like MSI AB is not capping your FPS in games? I had this problem with 30fps cap due to this a long time ago.

EDIT: Do you actually get ~12400 score in 3dMark11? WoW that seems low for 2x7970... a single card does 11000...

It could really be an incompatibility issue with XFX and Asus cards since they are not both the same cards (different design)? What version of XFX you got?

 

[Mussels]

just make sure you set the limit so something like 120, otherwise you risk your hardware overheating (sure it can push 300FPS on low - but its gunna run at 100% to do so)

as was said above as well, crossfire will only work in fullscreen. not windowed or borderless window mode.

 

[Paladone]

XFX card - http://ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=608655&CategoryID=259
Asus card - http://ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=611193&CategoryID=259
And thats a good point, thanks for letting me know, i'll limit my FPS. I am currently moving house so from tomorrow i will have no Internet and am currently on my laptop as my PC has been packed away. I updated my drivers so when i can i'll run another 3D mark test.
Update on the game situation - When on ultra with crossfire enabled, my FPS will sit around 70-120 but will spike down to 40 or 50 and even as low 10-30 when i load into an area or something intense happens. Without Crossfire enabled, i honestly can't notice any difference. With the game on ultra, my Asus card had the blue/purple load indicator which i believe means light/medium load. I've also been told that AMD cards just aren't good with WoW, and neither is crossfire. As i mentioned earlier, my mate gets around 80-100 FPS constantly with no lag spikes on his single Asus card and Non OC'd i7 3770k. Any way, i'll attempt to fix it when i'm next able to access my PC/Internet. I really appreciate all of your help and efforts in helping me solve this. I may be able to access the forums on my phone but either way, see you all soon