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12-31-10, 12:28 AM   #1
TzarinaHyjal
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New Comp, worse graphics???

I just upgraded from a 1.9 gHz dual core with an AMD 4500 series graphics card, 4g ram, windows vista to a 2.7ghz amd phenom II six core, with a AMD Radeon HD 5450, 6 g ram, windows 7.

Somehow, I have worse graphics than I did before. With everything defaulting to "good" settings, I'm getting 15 fps on average, where as before, WoW defaulted to High Settings, and I averaged 30 fps or more.

I upgraded this computer specifically for graphics performance in WoW, and I'm close to tearing my hair out trying to figure out why this is happening. Logically, I should have much better performance, no?

Does anyone have any advice?

I have a dxdiag, but it's quite long and will only post it if asked. Also, CCC/ATI drivers have been un/reinstalled twice, windows is up to date. Power settings are at max performance. Help please?
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12-31-10, 12:41 AM   #2
Cralor
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Here's some things to look over.

First, make sure that you have your CCC settings correct. Specifically, go to Gaming Performance > Standard 3D Settings. Check "Use custom settings." This will allow the software to control the video card for optimal settings. You might also want to peruse the rest of CCC to make sure all of that is okay as well.

Second, generally, a 4500 series card is only slightly slower than a 5500 series card. I just want to let you know that the graphics card difference you have might be minimal (but I am definitely not saying that you should be seeing some more improvements because of the rest of your computer's upgrades.)

Third, which ties on to #2, is that you may be reaching some bottlenecking with your video card (though I'm not positive here). Bottlenecking is the term used when one particular component in your PC is limiting the power of the rest. While bottlenecking exists in everyone's computer (there's always a limit somewhere), it's always good to limit the bottlenecking. In your case, and in my opinion, the graphics card you have chosen is sub-par to the rest of your components. You might want to upgrade the video card to something a little more fitting for the rest of your components.

Lastly, I recommend reading up this "Low FPS" guide. You might find some other options to choose. http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...FPS-Check-Here!

Hope some of this helps Good luck!

EDIT: Also, for your particular CPU, your Config.wtf setting for processAffinityMask should be: SET processAffinityMask "15"
I recommend editing the Config.wtf file (WoW > WTF > Config.wtf) and finding this line. If it is not shown, add it on a new line. If it is, let me know what the value is. See http://www.wowpedia.org/CVar_processAffinityMask for more information/details.
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Last edited by Cralor : 12-31-10 at 12:46 AM.
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12-31-10, 12:44 AM   #3
TzarinaHyjal
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Thank you. I appreciate the response. I'm aware of what bottlenecking is. :P But I appreciate trying to be clear in your answer.

Another thread that I posted this problem has brought to my attentino that my gpu specifically sucks for gaming. I agree that an upgrade would be advisable, but do you think it would be worth returning to my old gpu?
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12-31-10, 12:49 AM   #4
TzarinaHyjal
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Oh, and regarding my Catalyst settings, I had everything turned up to max quality settings, which didn't make any improvements. Everything is not at default as I just un/reinstalled again....
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12-31-10, 12:52 AM   #5
Cralor
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Try the CCC settings at default then. Also, putting it to Max Quality will lower your FPS and instead will try and provide you with a more crisper/higher-quality picture. You could possibly try Max Performance.

I would try your 4500 in the current setup. It's worth a try to see what kind of result it will give. It shouldn't be too much of a hassle to swap those out. Just double-check (I'm pretty sure you're okay, though) that the current driver you have supports the 4500 as well.
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