FPS Issue

[Nezime]

Okay i recently got into wow and am having major fps issues.

on my laptop with all effects turned to low or off the average fps is 18
Specs are:
windows Vista home premium
intel core 2 duo T7250 @2.00 GHz
2GB ram
Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS with 880 MB ram
DX 10

While my desktop with all effects and settings turned to maximum the avg fps is 35
specs are:
Windows XP home
AMD Athlon 64 3300+ 2.4 GHz
1GB ram
Nvidia Geforce 6800 128 MB ram AGP
DX 9

Is there a reason for this? Or is something wrong? Also on the laptop i frequently experience tearing and end most if not all actual programs running while with the desktop i can run messangers and other programs. framerates were taken from the same area and server latency is low on both.

Can anyone help me with this?

[Khab]

That's weird, I have a laptop with a lower end video card and my fps are higher than that. I do have 2GB of ram.

[Tunga]

Either your graphics card is borked, or more likely it's a driver issue. Have you updated all drivers, especially graphics?

[Nezime]

Yeah. All the drivers are up to date.

[infernoxrocks]

Vista kills system proformance. A good system can seem laggy and bogged down due to Vistas insane idle ram usages. I suggest formatting back to XP Pro. Just my 2 copper though I guess...

[Tetamesh]

ya, vista really isnt that great for gaming. I'm not sure how much a downgrade would help, but i'm sure it would help a bit.

[infernoxrocks]

Vista idles at near 512mb ram on my comp (4 gig ram) and XP idles around 128mb. The boost might help make the difference hes looking for.
Just back all your files up onto an external/seperate computer. Or get a program like Partition Magic that allows you to seperate an exisiting partition. Just format the windows partition (this is a common practice with avid computer users - part of a HD just for the OS so it can be formatted fast without losing info) and all your info will still be there from the existing extra partition. If you need help with anything feel free to pm or post here.

[Kalos]

I'd just like to say that the 8400 is partly to blame as well as the OS, actually they tie into one another to make a single issue worse. The graphics card uses partial System Ram as well as it's own dedicated banks, thus it's taking ram away from a ram hungry OS, then being used to run a ram hungry game. Add that to rendering graphics on a graphics card utilising shared memory being inherantly far slower than a card using total dedicated memory of its own, it should turn out worse than the 6800, which was the pinicle of a generation not too long ago.

[Tunga]

Regarding Vista, this is true to an extent but also Vista dumps OS code from RAM more than XP does becase it loads things that it doesn't need as much so if you do use them then it's got them ready and if you don't use them then it can replace them with whatever programs you are using instead. So idle RAM values aren't the best indication.

Generally you'll see around a 20% performance increase on XP compared to Vista. It definitely exists but it's not the cause in this case.

The problem here, after some research into that card, is that the 8400M GS is a terrible card. I mean really bad. This thing is about five years behind a modern 8800 card in terms of speed, and two/three years behind the card in the other machine. It is the second from bottom card in the Geforce 8 series and it certainly does not have 880MB RAM. It's designed as a replacement for onboard graphics chips. For modern gaming it's pretty worthless, I'm impressed that it runs it even as well as it does.

You may be able to upgrade the card but it would depend on the specific laptop.

That's weird, I have a laptop with a lower end video card and my fps are higher than that. I do have 2GB of ram.I think you, like I did at first, overrated the card he has.

[infernoxrocks]

Is the 8600m shared? I know my laptops 8600m (i think its 8600m O.o) GT is dedicated 512mb.

If it is shared thnk of it like this - You have 2gb ram but you are limited to 1.5gb which then is bing split further by the horrable OS and any BG processes.

We all know Kalos rocks :P But I think its only because of the kick ass AV. WC3 FTW!

EDIT: Its a GO 8600 GT Mobility Graphics card

[Tunga]

This is an 8400M not an 8600M.

[infernoxrocks]

Regarding Vista, this is true to an extent but also Vista dumps OS code from RAM more than XP does becase it loads things that it doesn't need as much so if you do use them then it's got them ready and if you don't use them then it can replace them with whatever programs you are using instead. So idle RAM values aren't the best indication.

Generally you'll see around a 20% performance increase on XP compared to Vista. It definitely exists but it's not the cause in this case.

The problem here, after some research into that card, is that the 8400M GS is a terrible card. I mean really bad. This thing is about five years behind a modern 8800 card in terms of speed, and two/three years behind the card in the other machine. It is the second from bottom card in the Geforce 8 series and it certainly does not have 880MB RAM. It's designed as a replacement for onboard graphics chips. For modern gaming it's pretty worthless, I'm impressed that it runs it even as well as it does.

You may be able to upgrade the card but it would depend on the specific laptop.

I think you, like I did at first, overrated the card he has.

I guess by idle processes I ment more inexcapeable background junk than nessisaraly idle. But i dint know it dumped more tha XP. Good to know... Still a terrable OS though :P Have u gotten the "There is no error message for this error" message yet? GG Microsoft! O.o

[Tunga]

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