EggXpert

So I went out and bought a Raedeon 4850 card, a new PSU (Thermaltake 850) and easily installed them. I backed up my files, repartitioned my hdd, and reinstalled Vista 32. Reinstalled latest ATI drivers and catalyst and still I have junk framerates.. Any suggestions? Thanks ahead of time..

EDIT: Also defragged HDD and Registry.

Define "Junk framerates" What game and what graphics settings are you using and what are you getting?

A 22 inch monitor is a bit big to be running a 4850 on if you turn the graphics settings up on games like Crysis..

Also, what are the framerates doing? Are they consistently low or are they going from high to low within the same scene?

Sup dude! Helping me again =D

We're talking sub 40 fps (WOW in Dalaran) and sub 30 FPS in some instances during fights.

 

Graphics settings -all up except shadows and ground clutter. Even with it on low, fps still is pretty much the same. Went to MS website and downloaded the latest dx installer. ran the dx checker and it says I'm good there. And ran a speed test (24mbps dl and 4-5 mbps up)

Well, for WOW a 4850 should be overkill.. So something else is likely killing your framerates, but just to be sure you should run 3DMark and compare it to other 4850s to make sure your card isn't slowing down due to overheating (from a bad heatsink install out of the factory  or something).

Will it give me any probable issues to pursue? Where do I get it lol, another dumb question I know. I'll post again after I check it out. Thanks man.

If you turn your graphics settings all the way down, but leave your resolution the same,  does that help your framerate at all? If not, it's probably your CPU that's the bottleneck then... That's not uncommon for WOW since there's just so much going on in those big fights..  Also make sure you turn off your anti-virus and such..

3DMark (get the free edition, don't pay for it, it's not worth it)

Sidicas:

If you turn your graphics settings all the way down, but leave your resolution the same,  does that help your framerate at all? If not, it's probably your CPU that's the bottleneck then... That's not uncommon for WOW since there's just so much going on in those big fights..  Also make sure you turn off your anti-virus and such..

3DMark (get the free edition, don't pay for it, it's not worth it)

You beat me to it, Sid; I was going to suggest his CPU is a bottleneck.

But anyway, the human eye can't detect anything over 20fps--or was it 30?--at any rate, there's a certain point at which it won't make a difference what your frame rate is, and it's a lot lower than most people will acknowledge. Now, if this frame rate issue is cause problems (e.g. visible skipping, artifacts), then there would some concern.

Do a comparison test. 3Dmark or some other FPS intensive game and then WoW.

Usually the WoW lag is caused by network latency not graphics capability.

Capt. Insane:

You beat me to it, Sid; I was going to suggest his CPU is a bottleneck.But anyway, the human eye can't detect anything over 20fps--or was it 30?

Depends on the person..  Some people can and some people can't notice any difference in motion when comparing 20 to 30 fps.. white/black Flicker on the other hand can be detected as high as around 85fps... Above that, most people just see a grey screen..  It's interesting, I've read that on old CRTs, people who got headaches from the flicker of lower refresh rates, the threshold at which they don't get headaches is the same as their threshold where they see grey on a black/white flicker.. Of course now we have LCDs that don't flicker, nobody cares anymore about flicker and just use the lower 20-30fps or so for motion on the screen as all that really matters.

 

Edit: And as you said above, it's pretty much your minimum framerate that you should be most worried about if it ever drops below your motion detection threshold because then you get a slideshow effect.

CheapAsianGamerGuy:

Do a comparison test. 3Dmark or some other FPS intensive game and then WoW.

Usually the WoW lag is caused by network latency not graphics capability.

Ya, just for the heck of it run a network speed test to make sure it's not just lag.

http://speedtest.net/

Did that, guess you missed it lol (24mbps DL and 4-5 MBPS UL)

I can definitely see the fps drop, also happens in Aion.

Wow sometimes has allot of detail to it which can drop the frame rates as well. You also have to consider data transfer as well, WoW server to your PC and back again. Speedtest.net is ok to get basics on. But in gaming you have to think how much data on the graphics has to be drawing between the two locations. Also depends on where the server is located, and the ping rate to the server as well that the game is on. I have the same issues at times in other game some more graphic complex than others. And yet the servers are set all in Texas and California that I do play on. In single player modes your FPS will be higher then in a MP match up with a bunch of people. It has to draw each player and their location, buildings, trees ect... You would get better FPS at a LAN party then over then net.

 Just on my system.

Complex

COD4   SP  50 - 100 on high AAX4 MP 30 - 50  on high AAX4

Less complex.

Counter strike 1.6 SP 100 -200  Dust 2 map with everything on, MP 50 - 160 Dust 2 map with everything on.

Frame rate explained

NTSC and PAL frame rate explained.

Well even testing w/ west coast servers, it's only 1-2 mbps less DL and maybe 1-1.5 UL difference. As for lag, I have two ps3's and never had an issue with them lagging. Which setting am I missing that's dragging me down? LOL there has to be a simple solution, either settings aren't right or I'm bottlenecking, which would suck.

Might want to look at this then http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=229&threadid=103934. Also you cannot compare a PS3 to a PC.

Well comparatively speaking, lag is lag ps3 or PC. I'm saying the DL and UL prove that it's not my ISP.

After reading through, I'll try the 3d mark program this evening, and see what the issue could be from there. Other friends have a similar setup and no issues at all. I don't know what can be wrong..processor/ MB maybe....settings....or server lag possibly... but for 2 games having similar issues idk..

there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how WoW works if you think a PS3 online experience matches it.

Example: When you enter any auction house in WoW, all of a sudden what you see must eb "synced" with hundreds of other player-nodes. THIS CREATES LATENCY.

3d mark took forever to get working, but when it did it ran fine. high fps, no lock ups. I don't know why wow isn't working right. Played with settings for 3 hours, no improvement. there has to be a reason lol.

Oh and the difference in latency wasn't an issue before I upgraded, hence why I need help figuring it out, also the latency is <150 at all times. and on tests <100 most times. Didn't have this issue tiI I bought a better PSU and Video card. Already have 4g of Crucial ballistix ram, clean install and registry. DX 10 is updated, and driver software has been updated. I looked @ new motherboards, and I have a totally different case design that the newer boards. (opposite side of board is where stuff is mounted). My case opens to the right opposed to the left. If I can't get this figured out, I'll have to rebuild. Starting with case, mobo, and processor. Honestly I'm clueless as to what the issue could be, if everything is set up properly, I shouldn't have an issue. In fact I should be seeing 100 fps.

Anyone hear of Vista Anti-Lag before? I'm going to DL and see if that fixes my issue. If not, it looks like I'll be taking the 4850 back in place of an Nvidia card.

The fact that you listed 2 MMO games (Aion and WoW) being laggy and 3D Mark as NOT lagging means this *IS* a network related issue. Perhaps your ISP is throttling? Or You need to turn details down to handle more sync data passing?

I tried messing with all settings last night. There was minimal effect on my fps. Of course if I turn settings down fps will go up lol! I'm not and eggxpert, but I know enough to get me into trouble. ISP isn't trottling, I did a speedtest playing WoW, with almost identical results. It's a system issue. I'm going to try a Nividia card tommorrow, and see if there is a difference.  My guess is that either: A- Ati drivers suck, or B- my Mobo doesn't have the HP to push the card.

Sidicas:

CheapAsianGamerGuy:

Do a comparison test. 3Dmark or some other FPS intensive game and then WoW.

Usually the WoW lag is caused by network latency not graphics capability.

Ya, just for the heck of it run a network speed test to make sure it's not just lag.

http://speedtest.net/

Heres a new one they have. ping is very important for online gaming.  http://www.pingtest.net/

Make sure yours is better than mine for a good online experience    (the lower the better)

 

You might also try disabling your Firewall, Anti-virus, and Anti-maleware programs (just for testing) to see if you see an improvement.

Another thing is that many online games need certain ports to be open for better playability, you might wanna "google" {port forwarding for WoW } to make sure your router is properly configured for the game.

 

*EDIT .................. Also, with the NUMEROUS posts on this specific issue in our forums this week I wonder if they didn't release a patch or something that just isn't working correctly. Might try the WoW forums to look into that.

 

Ya, also try going back 3 or 4 driver versions to see if that doesn't fix your issue..   Sometimes they release new features for the newer cards into the driver and that extra code can cause you to lose some of the performance boosts of previous drivers until the next driver version.