World Of Warcraft Problem

Does anyone here with the M1530 w/ 8600m GT play WoW? I have all settings maxxed with 8x multisample. I pull anywhere from 60-140 FPS..EXCEPT when I see a spell! Just one spell will make me skip frames and chug downwards of 20, once I seen the spell once it does not seem to happen again.

Any ideas? Im playing with th 174.74 as they are highly rated and said to be good, the same problem came with Dells drivers, and 175.80 (latest possible drivers). The problem stays if I up the clocks (I figured the memory was the problem but even at 650/1000 (holding infront of air-conditioner) I get the same problem.

Work your magic awesome NBR people!

 

hmm, have you tried reducing the "spell effects" slider a little bit? or tried reducing it to x4 multisampling? i doubt you'd notice much of a difference at that level

also, 60-140fps, have you got Vertical Sync on? it will help prevent you from getting screen tearing issues ( where the graphics card is making pictures faster than the monitor can display them, and is usually evident when moving around as a "line" where the two pictures changeover). doing so will synchronise your monitor with your graphics card, though at a slight loss of framerate ( which can be combated by applying "triple buffering" if your card is compatible).

try playing around with the settings, you can always reset it all to your defaults again by deleting the WTF folder in your WoW directory.

 

Well, I just dont understand why I would need to reduce the graphics. I will try turning Vsync and trip buffering on. Thanks.

 

Even on low spell settings and 4x multisample I get 10-15 FPS when I buff myself.

 

Anyone have an idea?

 

Hey Lucan. I have the same lappy with the same video card. It runs WoW great, pretty much the same FPS you stated above. I have 8xAF and 4xAA running also. Although, I dont get this fps hit when buffing at all. Does this happen anytime a spell is displayed on the screen? The only time I notice a big FPS hit is with smoke, for exmaple, if the camera were to zoom in on a fire elemental.

Edit: Lucan, I did some testing for you, just to see if I could get the same results as you in hopes of pin-pointing your problem. I was unable to get the same results. When you get a chance let me know what you mean by "buffing", even what class if possible.

Mine seems to be able to hold 150+ fps during a buff.



While playing WoW is your laptop plugged in? Also was this a clean install of WoW?

 

I run WoW @ 1920x1200 with AA/AF on full and do not experiance this (same laptop). But also my card is OC'd.

 

Was raiding in Sunwell earlier using a Dell Vostro 1710 with T5670 (If I remember correctly), 2GB of RAM and a 256MB Nvidia 8600M GS. I had no problems with graphics, staying above a constant 30-40fps and thats with the graphics on max and the very hectic and graphically intensive fight that is Kalecgos. Unfortunately a horrendously acting connection forced me to bow out. I'm using the stock drivers that came with the laptop and have had no problems.

Check that you aren't on a power saver profile for the laptop or graphics card as that will reduce performance greatly. Try putting the spell details down, casting a spell and then letting us know how that affects performance.

 

Im always plugged in, with Performance Enabled. I run the 174.74 drivers at normal clocks.

I run with 8x multisample, I dont force AA as its not an option in the game and im lazy.

As of now, 1400x900 8x, bars slid all the way. I get about 60-80 fps, sometimes getting higher than 100. If I activate my Defense Aura, the spell beneath me will stutter me for 2 seconds. If Im in Underground and walk by the two big gaurds with the green mist flying around them I stutter 4-5 seconds, then regain fluid motion with reduced FPS (35-40)

I also noticed my average FPS in gnomer is 25-30 fps. Adjusting the Multisample yields no difference in FPS for me.

Sooo frustrating!

I think its also worth noting my GPU peaks at 96C while I play with NO o/c and a Targus laptop cooler

 

Hey Lucanesti. Those temps do seem a bit high. I would suggest having a talk with a XPS Tech agent to see if those are in normal range at all. When playing I get about 82c peak. Like I said above, smoke will slow mine down, when running close to a guard in undercity i'll take a fps hit but nothing horrible. It will go from 70 down to 40 for a second. This happens only if i'm zoomed in on the smoke around them. As far as the game slowing down when you put on a Aura, I do belive this is not normal either.

I was unable to obtain the same results in any of the tests I have ran.
May I also suggest if you have not already, visting the tech support fourms on the blizzard website. they have lots of people using the M1530's actually.

Good luck.

 

I'm retracting my previous post everything being fine. I'm now getting random dips in my fps from around 60 or so to less than one (the game becomes like watching a slideshow presentation). These can occur at any time be it in a battle ground, taking a gryphon or during a raid and nothing in particular can account for it. Its rather frustrating that this is happening to a laptop less than a week old and Dell ****ed up and gave me the 8600m GS and not the GT.