[Performance Guide] How to run WoW to the limits without OC'ing

[Magichick]

Before flaming me saying, "REPOST!" I've searched looking for my method, there are close ones, but not how I do it.

|XP or Vista?|
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Some pointers for all you Vista users out there....
*****Your destroying your fps by HALF or MORE!*****
A friend of mine has tested it, using the same computer, installing drivers, as he installs Windows XP and then running Crysis. Crysis atm is the highest graphic game if I recall, if I remember him telling me, WoW uses ~60k triangles, while Crysis uses ~300k?
ANYWAY, off that, if you want to increase your performance, get rid of Vista and "Upgrade" your gaming experience with going back to Vista.
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|Processes|
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To get here, a lot of you already know this, (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and go to Processes.
Here you will find all the Executions, your PC is running.
What you want to do, is get rid of all the things your user name is running. (SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, and NETWORK SERVICE should not be of concern, unless you want to take chances on getting rid of things there to push the limits, for this, I wont be touching it.)
You should look at how many processes you are running in total, which you will find at the bottom right of your Windows Task Manager Window. Right at this moment, I am running 33 Processes, which is a little bit above the amount I usually will run. I might be at maybe 23-27 when I want the massive performance, even though I do not need it, as for I have a Intel Q6600, Nvidia Geforce 8800GT, and some very decent RAM, forget the name of em, OCZ maybe.
If you can get pretty much only WoW.exe running under your User Name, you are in the right direction. Ending AIM and Explorer.exe is huge, now you might freak out seeing that everything is gone, your "Start" Button is gone, the whole Bottom Bar is gone, EVERYTHING is gone! But WoW. Your computer does not care about anything, BUT WoW, and its internet, and a couple of very small programs to keep it up.
Another big one is to right click WoW.exe, set its priority, "Above Normal" but some may want "High" which I think is fine, I have yet to try Real Time, and I don't ever think I will.
*For Dual Core and Quad Core Processor Users*
Right click WoW.exe and Set Affinity, Now for me, I have a Quad Core, so WoW sets itself up only using 2 Cores, 0 and 1. But I make it use all FOUR processors checking 2 and 3.
*Side Note*
If you want to run Explorer to see your desktop, start menu, etc.
Go in the Windows Task Manager, and go to File at the top left, click "New Task (Run...)" and then type in, "explorer.exe" without Quotes, and its all back.
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|Inside WoW|
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Some of you guys will run Fraps to see how much FPS you are running, don't unless your going to record. Hit Ctrl+R to see your FPS.
Now in one of the guides in the forum, I read that he wanted you to make sure WoW is ran on Full Screen Mode, not Windowed Mode, Maximized. He is right, and it will make it easier for your graphic card to focus on WoW over everything else.
The graphic settings in the Video Settings of the game are very self explanatory and I won't go into much detail in them.
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|How it turned out|
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*Without even doing this I get 60 FPS Solid in the middle of Shattrath. Editing after I post this.*
*Edit*
It is now at 75 fps, same view and everything, this is also running a lot of mods.
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|End|
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Hope you guys use this guide for your advantage! Now lets show our family and friends what our computers are really made out of!
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[Xzodus]

Before flaming me saying, "REPOST!" I've searched looking for my method, there are close ones, but not how I do it.

|XP or Vista?|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some pointers for all you Vista users out there....
*****Your destroying your fps by HALF or MORE!*****
A friend of mine has tested it, using the same computer, installing drivers, as he installs Windows XP and then running Crysis. Crysis atm is the highest graphic game if I recall, if I remember him telling me, WoW uses ~60k triangles, while Crysis uses ~300k?
ANYWAY, off that, if you want to increase your performance, get rid of Vista and "Upgrade" your gaming experience with going back to Vista.
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No offense, but the reason for that is because to WoW Vista is using DX9.0c+ not regular 9.0c, and in Crysis; your friend is running in DX10.0 mode which utilizes many graphical features, and makes it look a hundred times better than DX9.0c mode in XP.

Vista 64-bit runs only 2-10% slower than XP in games; now with SP1 coming out it should be a consistent 2-5% slower (because of Vistas GUI).

WoW looks better in Vista, enough said; 30 FPS is great for WoW because it is not as fast moving as an FPS.

Most people who play WoW do not have the super computers that we have; and WoW is mostly CPU orianted, so you need a Quad core to really take advantage of FPS. I have benchmarked WoW's engine; and did find it to rely more on the CPU like stated above, the GPU renders everything; while the CPU calculates the movements and feedback of the server and other players to your computer.

Please look up your information before posting things about an operating system; I don't really like when people flame Vista for no reason, and are wrong; Also I don't think you have your graphical settings all the way up

[Magichick]

No offense, but the reason for that is because to WoW Vista is using DX9.0c+ not regular 9.0c, and in Crysis; your friend is running in DX10.0 mode which utilizes many graphical features, and makes it look a hundred times better than DX9.0c mode in XP.

Vista 64-bit runs only 2-10% slower than XP in games; now with SP1 coming out it should be a consistent 2-5% slower (because of Vistas GUI).

WoW looks better in Vista, enough said; 30 FPS is great for WoW because it is not as fast moving as an FPS.

Most people who play WoW do not have the super computers that we have; and WoW is mostly CPU orianted, so you need a Quad core to really take advantage of FPS. I have benchmarked WoW's engine; and did find it to rely more on the CPU like stated above, the GPU renders everything; while the CPU calculates the movements and feedback of the server and other players to your computer.

Please look up your information before posting things about an operating system; I don't really like when people flame Vista for no reason, and are wrong; Also I don't think you have your graphical settings all the way up

Well, it is (Hightest Graphics), sorry o_o. And, I'm running it just fine, I do like Vista, but I HAVE noticed a performance drop which I am not so fond of, but I have yet to see the difference for WoW with Vista and XP (Graphic Wise) other than the performance, Crysis had a massive change, from Vista to XP for me, and there was a difference, I know, Directx10 vs. Directx9, but if i can recall, my friend had this Directx10 Hack for XP letting you use x10... but you all I see is your argument with XP vs. Vista.. didn't even admit the performance help if it actualy helped or not, just with priorities, processes and affinities...

[Xzodus]

Well, it is (Hightest Graphics), sorry o_o. And, I'm running it just fine, I do like Vista, but I HAVE noticed a performance drop which I am not so fond of, but I have yet to see the difference for WoW with Vista and XP (Graphic Wise) other than the performance, Crysis had a massive change, from Vista to XP for me, and there was a difference, I know, Directx10 vs. Directx9, but if i can recall, my friend had this Directx10 Hack for XP letting you use x10... but you all I see is your argument with XP vs. Vista.. didn't even admit the performance help if it actualy helped or not, just with priorities, processes and affinities...

Actually, that hack you mentioned is NOT a Dx10 hack; it just enables some of the settings that are locked unless you have Dx10, but you do not get the graphical benefits that are provided in Dx10.

You really don't see a difference graphically? Try looking at the backgrounds, and spell effects; I guess I have a more trained eye (I do 3D work and so on), but there is a clear difference in Vista from XP, but the main reason that I like Vista over XP is the GUI and I really don't see a huge drop (maybe because I actually run a system WAY above the basic requirements, and have tweaked my OS).

And this tweak really didn't help at all hehe; setting the Affinity can screw your OS up, I would never mess with it unless you are running a dedicated server on a Quad-Core.
Also FRAPS slows down your FPS when running by 1%, when recording it cuts it in half, to like 30FPS or lower depending on your current (unless you configure it, but there might be audio tracking problems).

[EcHoEs]

I got Vista and my FPS hasnt really gone down at all.

[XeDin]

Does wow even support 4 cores? i thought it only did support 2 cores.

[Xzodus]

Does wow even support 4 cores? i thought it only did support 2 cores.

You can force its affinity to support 4 cores, but that can limit performance.

[Magichick]

Does wow even support 4 cores? i thought it only did support 2 cores.

Probably, since it only will start with 2 cores, I am constantly Dual Boxing, making 2 cores run one, and other 2 run the other, its fairly balanced, im satisfied =D

[phgn99]

not helping for me at all.

[ota-kun]

The Problem is the Multicore Support of Windows isn't so good....

Some Microsoft representantive said: "Vista supports one, two and maybe 4 cores"

Big performance problem in WoW is more the Ram....1GiB should be minimum and a fast hdd would be perfect.

[Xzodus]

The Problem is the Multicore Support of Windows isn't so good....

Some Microsoft representantive said: "Vista supports one, two and maybe 4 cores"

Big performance problem in WoW is more the Ram....1GiB should be minimum and a fast hdd would be perfect.

HDD will only boost speeds for the loading screen, RAM is for Latency believe it or not; WoW is an MMORPG, and most MMO's are CPU oriented, because the computer needs to streamline information from the Blizzard servers, to their own.

[garoboldy]

No offense, but the reason for that is because to WoW Vista is using DX9.0c+ not regular 9.0c, and in Crysis; your friend is running in DX10.0 mode which utilizes many graphical features, and makes it look a hundred times better than DX9.0c mode in XP.

Vista 64-bit runs only 2-10% slower than XP in games; now with SP1 coming out it should be a consistent 2-5% slower (because of Vistas GUI).

WoW looks better in Vista, enough said; 30 FPS is great for WoW because it is not as fast moving as an FPS.

Most people who play WoW do not have the super computers that we have; and WoW is mostly CPU orianted, so you need a Quad core to really take advantage of FPS. I have benchmarked WoW's engine; and did find it to rely more on the CPU like stated above, the GPU renders everything; while the CPU calculates the movements and feedback of the server and other players to your computer.

Please look up your information before posting things about an operating system; I don't really like when people flame Vista for no reason, and are wrong; Also I don't think you have your graphical settings all the way up

I'm sorry but I have to call BS on this one. Not for the fact of you stating information that is not fully factual, but for stating Vista not being the issue. The comparison of running WoW on an XP machine and a Vista machine with the exact same hardware/software builds your going to get better FPS with XP. you state that its not an OS issue but the type of CPU/board setup you have.

This is not right, since FPS performance is not based around the number of cores running in your system. Yes it plays a part but what he/she is stating FPS wise has nothing to do with multi-core based systems.

Its a bottom line fact of the comparison between XP/Vista systems, xp will win out each time due to the bloated factors contained in Vista.

Please don't call someone out and tell them to get their facts straight first, when you yourself have misleading information as a reply.

have a wonderful day

[Ferag]

Wow, all these big words... don't know what they are saying!! Ahhhh!!!!!

[garoboldy]

Its ok

We're here for you.

[Ikaika726]

To me, Vista with Aero disabled ran WoW at a higher FPS in the same exact system. I went from XP Pro to Vista Ultimate (disabled Aero and other crap thats not needed) and my FPS did jump up a little. I'd say from about 60FPS in Shatt to about 65FPS in Shatt. :wave:

Is it a significant difference? Not normally. But it is an increase over XP. This does not mean that Vista is better than XP or visa versa. Some people will swear by XP or vista others by OSx, etc. All in all it all comes down to the end user and what he/she are actually doing.

Flaming others is not necessary either. Just post what you did and the results you are having. If it worked GREAT if not well thats alright because it gives you knowledge of what to do in the future.

Use the message boards for knowledge not flame fuel.

-Ikaika-