What is the Bottleneck?

HumanMage

HumanMage

New Member
Since the release of The Burning Crusade, my performance of W.o.W has been sluggish, forcing me to lower my settings from all maxxed, to basically all low. Now It has got me wondering, since I have the supposed reccomended system requirements, what is holding me back? My specs are a Pentium 4 2.8 GHZ proccessor, 1.5GB of RAM, an x700pro graphics card (AGP), and a 40GB hard drive (which is about 70% full). Could it be the fact that I have an agp video card? Maybe the motherboard is just too old? Overall the computer is 4 years old maybe 5. I wonder whats holding it back?
 
Yes I have, I use a program called diskkeeper (the 30 day trial) to defrag my hard drive on a regular basis. That program does a great job in cleaning things up
 
Right, What are the specs of the game and what are your current computer specs?
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Did you read his post?

I'm not familiar with the requirements for that game, but I'm thinking your cpu is holding you back. Also your ram is not configured for best speed either. Everything with your system is considered low end, but last I checked WOW did not require that much power. I'm not sure about the new expansion though.
 
A Pentium 4 1.5ghz is the reccomended processor. I have a 2.8. I dont follow :confused:

Also the "reccomended" system requirements for The Burning Crusade are as follows (I'm not going to list the AMD alternatives):

-Intel Pentium IV 1.5 GHz
-1BG RAM
-64 MB VRAM 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability ( NVIDIA Geforce FX 5700, given as example)
 
I see... Well as I said I was not sure about the minimum system requirements on that.

Usually when your system meets the requirements on a game such as that, and it runs so poorly as it is... Well there must be something wrong with your system. Defrag does not have to be done with 3'rd party tools (just thought I'd mention), Clean for spyware and virus's. Your HD is pretty full, the fuller it gets the slower your PC will tend to run. Would not hurt to remove junk that you do not need ;).

Now are those the recommended specs? or the minimum?
 
Also, try setting your graphics card drivers to "best performance" settings (if not already) then try turning up the graphics in game again.

Edit:

Also, check that both your video and sound drivers are up to date.
 
Think I should Format my hardrive? (I've never had to reformat, I guess you'd right click on the C drive and click format?)

I was toying with this idea, but I was affraid of the consequences. Also, the specs I listed were the reccomended specs for the game.
 
HumanMage said:
Think I should Format my hardrive? (I've never had to reformat, I guess you'd right click on the C drive and click format?)

I was toying with this idea, but I was affraid of the consequences. Also, the specs I listed were the reccomended specs for the game.
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To format is not quite that easy, you need your Windows disk, and you would have to back up everything you needed off of it. A format will delete completely everything off of the drive.
 
By backup everything on the drive, you mean important files I would want to save right? If that is what your talking about, then that is not needed. I have no important documents that need to be saved, and THe only things I have on my computer now are downloaded off the internet and easily recovered. Also I do have the disk, but is this what I really want to do?
 
Windows would not allow you to format that way. When You format your windows partition (drive C), you need to do it during boot. Of course then you have to install the operating system right after. Of course you loose everything if you do not back up, as you've said you do not have anything important, then that would not be an issue.

I do not recommend reformatting though. Just remove any programs you do not use, delete any files that you do not need. Truth be told, it is doubtful your gaming issue is yet your HD. Yes windows hates a full drive, but you still have a considerable amount of space before Windows shows signs of slow down. When you are down to about 2gb's left, then start to worry. I just mentioned it because it is good practice to remove unneeded junk.

If your PC is showing signs of poor performance, then try removing spyware and scan for virus's. Remove the sides and see how dirty it might be. A dirty computer can overheat and slow down. It is always a good idea to check for updates for drivers etc. If there is a considerable amount of dust build up inside, use a can of compressed air to blow it out.

Edit:

Did you check your video drivers settings? are they set for best performance?
 
Quick question about that reformatting from boot. When I go to install the OS again, does it clear away the old installation, or do they "pile up" each time I perform a format? As for files and folders, There are a few that might need to be deleted, but not many.

Now, spyware and programs like those are scanned for nightly. Hard Drive is defragmented weekly. I need to purchase an up to date copy of my Anti-Virus, but I am enjoying the performance boost without it:o . Overall however, no performace declines have been witnessed by me, infact IE 7 runs better than it has in months (due to the anti-virus not being enabled I'd imagine)

As for the video and sound drivers being set to max, how might I go about doing that. As far as I know they are set to the max settings.

Thanks for all yous guys help thus far;)
 
erm.. before you reformat.. have you tried running Adaware SE etc? to check for spyware. that pc should be able to handle BC easely if you ask me.
 
Archangel said:
erm.. before you reformat.. have you tried running Adaware SE etc? to check for spyware. that pc should be able to handle BC easely if you ask me.
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I've recommended against the format, and already suggested removal of spyware and the likes... He seems determined to format for some reason.
 
No no I'm not detirmined on formatting, it just got me wondering. As for the spyware, and adware scans, yes I run those nightly. I thought I stated that already :( . I cleaned up my C: drive to the best of my ability, some items I didnt know what they were so I left them, and others the system wouldnt allow me to delete because they were being used by another program.
 
bump your fsb up and run your ram 1:1

if you're running that processor at the factory clock, there's no way you're running that memory at full speed
 
hmm I've never attempted to do any of that. My ram that I bought was value ram from Corsair, and then the standard 512mb from Dell. So I dunno if that would be safe.
 
DO NOT FORMAT! That seems like the logical answer to anyone and everyones computer issues. I myself would make sure your drivers for your graphics card are all up to date and then follow everyone elses suggestion on cleaning up your computer. I agree with Blue, I dont think it's a HD issue. More than likely something is not meshing on your system.
 
As for the video and sound drivers being set to max, how might I go about doing that. As far as I know they are set to the max settings.
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I'm sorry, I seemed to have missed this question somehow. Unfortunately I'm not proficient with the ATi cards, I've been using an Nvidia card for the past couple of years now. One way to get into the control panel would be to, left click on your desktop and click on "ATI CATALYST(R) Control Center".

- You will see "3D" under the "Graphics Settings" list, click that.

- check all the settings there, set "Anti-Aliasing" to 2X (if set higher).

- Check the rest of the settings and lower them when possible. Try running your game again.

Also, you can set these settings to "Let the application decide" when possible.
 
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