Slow Frame Rate - Need Help

[flmoose]

I've been continually experiencing frame rates of about 15-25fps on my system and can't figure out why.

I have a P4 3.06ghz
Nvidia x1600 512mb video card
2gb ram
120gb WD HDD with about 60% free

I have my oversampling set to 24x24x1 and other details set on the higher side. I've disable smooth mouse and am running WoW in a window. My screen resolution is 1280x1024 with a refresh of 70ms.
I've tried changing all the video setting in the game, setting everything to bare minimums with no visable improvement, including deactivating all addons.
Any ideas? I've heard some talk that it could just be the Nvidia chipset sucks with WoW. I've also heard from some that it could be that my power supply is not large enough. I have a 420w supply, but I've heard from others that if it couldn't handle the system I'd get an error message, not reduced performace.
Help!

[Stigg]

You are running in windowed mode.....try maximizing the window. I play windowed as well...but unless it is maximized I get about 10 fps.

[HolyDemon]

The x1600 is from ATI, not Nvidia. :wink:

EDIT:
Now that I gave some more thought to it, running in Windowed mode always gives you some of an FPS drop, because your system is giving less CPU power to the game.

So my advice is to either not run in windowed mode, or tune down your graphics settings, I'm not sure if it will restore your FPS problems to normal, but it will surely help.

Did you have any of these problems before? If not, did you change any of your hardware configurations?

[Kalos]

Your problem is there's no such thing as a "Nvidia x1600 512mb video card". The X1600 is an ATI card, try loading ATI drivers for it, the reason you're getting poor frame rates is A. The X1600 wasn't that great a card B. You've mistaken an ATI card to be from Nvidia and probably haven't even got the right drivers loaded, cutting performance way down.

The X1600 is not a high performer, it gets ousted by it's much older and cheaper X800. Research your purchases.

[flmoose]

I apologize. I mistakenly posted my card was Nvidia, but it's ATI. I do have the most current driver(from 02/17/07) and the newest version of directx too.

I've tried running WoW in full screen mode, but it only marginally improves performance (about 5fps) I'm still hovering about 25fps.

I've also run anti-virus, spyware and registry cleaners and my HD does not need to be defraged.

[Kalos]

For an X1600, these are normal FPS levels. There's a reason it's at the price it's sold at, being it lacks any real power, but has a high number to pull in the buyers. Any card that sells for less than $70 can't be that good, and any game needs a decent video card, especially at the resolutions you're trying to hit with it.

[flmoose]

For an X1600, these are normal FPS levels. There's a reason it's at the price it's sold at, being it lacks any real power, but has a high number to pull in the buyers. Any card that sells for less than $70 can't be that good, and any game needs a decent video card, especially at the resolutions you're trying to hit with it.
Ummmm. the x1600 is a 512mb video card and does not sell for less then $70. I don't know where you're getting that info.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__ATI_Radeon_X1600_Pro_Video_Card,__16656000/

[Kalos]

Ummmm. the x1600 is a 512mb video card and does not sell for less then $70. I don't know where you're getting that info.
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__ATI_Radeon_X1600_Pro_Video_Card,__16656000/
There's a big difference between an X1600 and an X1600 PRO. Please stop leave out details like this. There's a huge difference between the 6600 LE and the 6600 GT, about double the framerates. Likewise, the same applies here. I am correct in that the X1600 (Plain) does indeed sell for $70. However, your card is not an X1600 at all, you neglected to provide the vital suffix that makes all the difference. It's a souped up version of the base X1600 with a completely different core chip driving it.