NP8660 Low FPS when playing WoW

I play WoW on full settings and I get max 60fps that my monitor allows with vertical sync on, but when I enter a more load intensive city like Shattrath or some other places, my FPS falls from 56-60 to anywhere between 20-40 ish.

I got:
P9500
4Gigs of DDR3 ram
9800gt


Should I be having these problems???

My power plan is on Performance.

 

Updated the drivers at laptopvideo2go?

Running on Vista or XP?

What resolution are you running at?

 

Vista

1680 x 1050

 

Anyone else that plays WoW on a 8660?

 

I am running two of those video cards and I am getting about 105 fps (on single GPU mode). Mind you, I am running at 1920x1200. With V-Sync on, mine slows to around 60 or 120. Mods seem to drop the fps for me heavily. Anything above 60 doesn't matter. Your screen only refreshes at 60 Hz (or 59Hz if you set it there). Hence, 60 refreshes a second. Anything beyond that will not be detected by the monitor.

 

my desktop : Core 2 Quad Q9400, 4 gig 1066 mushkin, with Ati 1950 XT, on all max WoW settings with 1650 X 1050 resolution in major cities gets roughly 22-35 fps, 60 fps everywhere else. The 1950 XT is pretty decent vid card and i score 8+ K on 3dmark06.

There is alot of loading/rendering going on in major towns of WoW, so i think thats probably alrite...

 

I get about 75-95 minimums in most places (like UnderCity). After playing for 3 hours and 51 mins, I had a min of 60.4 fps, max 303.0 and avg 100.5. This is running Bageon, TitanPanel, and QuestHelper. Also, by max, I had 24bit/24bit/8x-multisample, max sound options (except low channels because I am using stereo headphone and reverb).

 

By all means I should be getting more than 25fps in Shatt.

right now im flying around in terrokar forest and im getting around 40fps...

I run it on 24x24x2 multisample

 

Well, put it on 1x multisample. I find that multisamples (AA?) put my framerate down 5-15 fps. Make sure that you are using the 177.92 drivers. They seem to work much better than 176.02 stock drivers for the 9800M GT. Also, make sure that you have SP1 for Vista installed. I installed it and my average went from 52 fps to over 100 fps.

 

I can actually notice a huge difference in graphics between 1 and 2 multisample.

It bugs me to have it at 1. And at 4 gameplay is choppy.

This game is like 4 years old. Why is my new rig not handling it???

 

Here, PM me on MSN and I can walk you through some ideas...

[email protected]

 

Was this supposed to help the OP in any way at all or just brag about your system?

@ OP

The only explanation I can think of is that all the textures loading maybe are not pre-cached into the ram and its coming from your hard drive. Next time you have this happen look for your hdd activity light and see if its page filing.

Also like some of the first posters said make sure you have updated the video drivers, or vice versa if you have problems with new drivers do not be affraid to try the stock drivers or older ones to see if they work better. Be sure to do a full clean install of the drivers or it may cause more problems than what it fixes.

If your seeing 20fps bottom I wouldn't worry about it too much thats still manageable and since its only when loading a large zone its not game breaking.

 

9113 3dmarks06

And cant get higher than 35 fps in shatt.

 

That was to help him. Sorry that it looked like bragging to you. I've been trying to help the OP for a while now. I was trying to make a comparison between systems to explain some losses, but show that his system isn't much difference. Also, I run the game in Single GPU, so the framerates should be similar.

ViciousXUSMC, I edited the message so that it wouldn't object to those as delicate as yourself.

 

Dude, there's something wrong with your computer. You were also in the temperature thread complaining about HDD temps. Send it back. There is DEFINITELY something wrong with your computer.

 

I'd say to try to monitor the computer in WoW and other games and see what is wrong with it. Try to monitor temps and GPU/processor while gaming and see what that tells you, maybe there's some overheating and "downclocking" like it was the case in the early m15's?

 

I'm pretty sure this guy Daweism is just trolling these forums complaining about the 8660.

 

For the temps he have, I don't think he's complaining that much, maybe subtly but he's not saying the NP8660 sucks.

 

Maybe not, but I still don't know if I believe this kid. Firstly, his HDD temp has been in excess of 71 degrees (the highest I've seen documented) and secondly, his WoW performance is lower than standard television despite his high 3dmark scores. Clearly, there is something wrong with his machine, and it's an extreme outlier in terms of performance (compared to other things i've read), or he's lying for some really odd reason (and I don't put it past some people on the internet).

Also, in both threads, he failed to give any details that would help this community fix his problems (i.e. which HDD he was using, etc). I've been in his shoes, and typically, the way I've done things (dating back to the days I was in my teenage years) was to describe exactly what I'm using and what is causing the problem so that troubleshooters have no doubts and can provide sound advice.

What's the point of this post? Well, Dawiesm, if you're reading this, give us constructive data points to work with so we can help you. Constantly updating us with higher temps or lower framerates will NOT help, we need specifics. But to be honest, if I were you, i'd send that sucker back if it is within the return period.You just got the machine (i don't see how you could have had it for a while) and already you have TWO major problems with it.

Also, I have been TRYING to research this machine on these forums, and I'm astounded by the signal to noise ratio on this forum. Usually, it's pretty good, but threads with 100 pages of posts, most of them garbage? Keeping this stuff constructive would be best, don't you all think?

Regards,

 

Agreed completely. Most of the threads are panic response threads, mass hysteria and no facts.
I love one of the other OP's post "This is my crap's temperature..." Or something like that.
It's a bit tiring reading through posts that do not really add any info. We are interested in having solid information and reviews about the laptop. We are interested in OP's such as this one, to make ONE post where he can concentrate all the information regarding his laptop.

More, if the OP is going to run games at max AA, super highest settings, etc etc... Then I am sure that even this laptop will suffer from that and will lag eventually.

But to add to what ianiro said, I know that some M15x's owners were experiencing slow downs during WoW gameplay and it turned out to be the CPU downclocking. Use RMclock and HWmonitor to monitor your CPU's clock's and temperatures during WoW gameplay.

 

I've been looking at his actual numbers and they're brutal. He's sent me screens of the game and it is running awful. We have near-identical setups (minus processor).

 

Try to look up in the Alienware m15x forum for the downclocking issue (both CPU and GPU) and monitor them while playing.
Also, it just occured to me, try to check that you are not in (i don't know how is called on the clevo) stealth mode.

 

He might be, but even if he's not I'm pretty tired of multiple threads about the same subject I mean there are multiple official mega threads about the machine and there are even multiple large heat threads.

Basically, everything that milcs has said. I'm absolutely positive that the OP in this case hasn't tried one fig of all the optimizations recommended in the mega thread, as well as multiple useful threads (undervolting, temp monitoring, cooling, elevation, room temperature, etc.) - most of which get lost in noise.

 

And how is yours running? Fine? This is what I mean. Be constructive...i.e. at the very least "We have near identical setups and his is running poorly, mine is running fine." Your post isn't saying anything except stating the obvious. We all know his machine is running like crap.

 

This is why I think he's lying. Seems like a fanboy of another brand. His threads all have a problem in the title, no constructive data in the body, and escalating problems as responses to the troubleshooters.

 

Oh, just another thing... I don't know if it has been discussed already (maybe it did...)... Are you playing on batteries or plugged in? And do as ianiro suggests... check if you have silent mode activated. And... make only one post to put all your complaints there. That would be amazingly helpful!

 

My post my be pointless. However, I was helping him over MSN the other night and I SAW proof. Also, I went through different setups and potential fixes with him, such as tweaking the nVidia profile, updating video drivers, and more. He even went as far as reinstalling his computer. I don't see why YOU need to troll this guy in his attempts to solve a problem. If you don't want to help, find another topic where you may be useful as opposed to calling someone for lying on a situation you appear to not understand.

 

Ok.

I reinstalled windows.

I took my laptop off the elevated rack I had it on now it had no more airflow on the bottom and the HDD stays below 60c now??? Idles around 55-57c, I think it was lower when I had the new CPU patch installed pre-reformat.

Ran 3dMark06 and got something like 9214, over 100 better than the factory install.

My FPS is slightly better in WoW.

What I've noticed is the FPS drops most in heavily populated cities and I monitor the CPU and GPU load and they're both nowhere near peak, maybe 75% max.

So basically my 8660 is not pumping enough power into WoW and Baconcow and I have tried pretty much every single setting to no avail.

Normally i get anywhere between 56-62 FPS, when I look into Orgrimmar bank, say hi to 25 FPS.

 

Try other games, if the issue persists, it is with your machine, if not, you could try getting some help in the technical support forums for WoW.

 

Gee, you ppl complaining about 25 FPS ... I consider myself very lucky if I have 15 FPS on my Dell X1 smooooth experience

 

And also... wasn't there a problem with WoW supporting multiple CPU cores?

 

I find that hard to believe. WoW runs a pretty dated engine by now.

Um, okay wait, your frame rates are fine normally. What you're describing is MMO lag at really congested spots, and has nothing to do with your hardware..... Really; no one's mentioned this? WoW has had and still has major issues loading large city centers at decent rates, due to the number of players there (except on underpopulated/new servers). Christ.

(Just like when this forum lags and doesn't load, it's not an issue with your hardware or internet.)

VV Right, 25fps is actually GREAT in Orgrimmer from what I've experienced.

 

I think tarentum is right, even with a 8800m gtx and a x9000 at 3.2ghz FFXi still dipped into the 13fps sometimes during big events. Considering the game was capped at 30fps and I still struggled in some areas, I'm not really surprised WOW would have the same problem.

 

What patch is this that you're referring you?