Meant to post this to Technical support. I apologize;
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-5960X CPU @ 3.00GHz, 3001 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
Graphics Card: GEFORCE GTX 980 Ti - 6GB
Regardless of settings, Wow is chugging in Korthia. FPS will sit between 43 and 45 with max settings and with minimal settings. Vsync on or off makes no difference. No addons vs. all addons makes 0 difference. Dropping resolution scale to 640 x 360 does nothing. Going from 4k to 480p does nothing. I cannot figure out why WoW won’t utilize my machine and deliver higher FPS.
My computer is sitting at 6% CPU utilization, 40% RAM utilization. Wow is installed on an SSD that is at 36% capacity. Temperatures are fine for all components. GPU is holding at 22 % utilization.
Can anyone help me get WoW to stop frame capping for no reason? In the settings my max foreground is at 200 FPS, Target at 60 FPS. My monitor’s refresh rate is 60hz
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While you are well within Shadowland’s minimum specs to run the game, you are a generation behind in both CPU and GPU in the “recommended” specs department.
Though the 5960x is generally about the same overall performance as the 6700k that’s recommended, games run a lot better at higher frequencies. Especially a game like WoW that has never really been GPU bound. The “k” sku’s are going to be better with gaming vs. the “x” sku’s because they run, in the 6700k’s case for example, an entire GHz higher. Whereas the x sku is designed more for productivity work.
It’s not showing high CPU utilization because of the constraints of the engine itself. Though the game was updated to support multicore, it isn’t using all of your cores. Most people only see ~4 cores in use. And since the cores it is using are at a relatively low GHz, it’s just not very much performance.
Basically, your issues are coming from a relatively even mix of game engine constraints, and older hardware. Sorry. 
Just click the pencil icon on your post and you can change the forum location.
wait, i didnt know WoW is now Metro Exodus, Doom Eternal level of intensive graphics. Korthia is having massive issues as for some high end pcs 3070s above and low/med specs.
Is not well optimized, After 9.1 i didnt have any massive fps drops, only in the entrance of Spires of Ascension and in some areas of Ardenweald but nothing game breaking, as for a med pc spec. Now I’m having massive drops in oribos, in the western side of korthia, got the Map Stutter bug seems (fixed) , so this is a blizz problem not pc requirements. When you hit the same fps lowering your settings is a blizz bug or bad optimization.
As I said, it’s a mix of game engine constraints (i.e. optimization) and in OP’s case, having a slightly older CPU that’s running at lower GHz. It’s a very old engine and the two just aren’t mixing as well as they would have a few years ago.
As a side note GPU doesn’t have as much to do with it because as you said, it’s not very graphically intense.
it is not related to hardware or software, I have a low/med pc just for gaming and graphic design apps and in the start of Shadowlands I didn’t have any fps drops, just a few in some areas mentioned before and yeah those issues are posted in the forums too, as for 9.1, it came out buggy, and yeah I think is poorly optimized, this will be hotfixed, cause we are not the only ones with the same problems of randomly get fps drops. Nevertheless i found prob a fix that helped me to keep normal fps just in korthia, hope it helps you 
NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL
- Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > WoW - Retail
- Monitor Technology: G-Sync Compatible (not global)
- Power Management Mode: Prefer Max. Performance
- Preferred Refresh Rate: Highest Available
- Vertical Sync: ON (MOST IMPORANT)
- Triple Buffering: Off (global)
IN GAME SETTINGS
- Vertical Sync: OFF
- Triple Buffering: OFF
- DX 12 Enabled
- Max Foreground FPS: CAPPED TO 140 (4 less than 144 Hz)
Whether you believe me or not doesn’t much matter to me. This is what happens when the majority of the playerbase is crammed into one single zone opposed to being spread out like in 9.0. It happened in Nazjatar, it happened on Timeless Isle, it will happen again in the future. Older hardware will always be the most effected by it.
Glad you found something to help.
not really I never got this issues in Nazjatar or the Timeless Isle, of course it dropped and lagged when a many players were crammed, but then It was 120 fps again. Just now I killed a rare with the “majority of the playerbase” and my fps just dropped from 75 (capped with my monitor’s refresh rate) to 55, with (7) in graphics, not optimal but still playable. Also, I have a friend with a 3070 high end pc, having the same massive fps drops in Western Korthia from 140 to 30-10s near the flying isles, so yeah is a blizz problem/bug.
Is this only happening in Korthia or throughout WoW? I recently had fps issues where I didn’t before, and turns out it was a driver issue. If this just started happening recently, and you also update gpu drivers (intentionally or not), you might want to try reinstalling drivers and see if that helps at all.
You really should be able to get at least 60 fps on low settings with your hardware. Your cpu and gpu utilization is low, so maybe power supply is not working right or your Power Options settings are set to throttle down the cpu. Make sure it’s set to Active cooling policy and Max processor state is 100%.
Try to put graphics quality setting at 1, vsync disabled, then check Advanced settings:
graphics api - directx 11
graphics card - auto or pick your gpu
max foreground fps - 60
max background fps - 8
target fps - unchecked
When I got the “Open Map Stutter Bug” I did everything, deleting reinstalling, graphic drivers, addons, folders etc. and it was a bug from blizz that is not fully fixed yet. Since the new 9.1. build/version first thing I got was low fps on korthia 50s-40s with out doing anything, the settings mentioned above helped, but still I’m having drops on some other areas the worst of all in Western Korthia looking at the skybox where the floating isles are located.
It definitely has to do with a setting. I have the same gfx card sporting an i7-2600K (yes from 2011), and I’m getting solid 60 FPS with all settings maxed in Korthia. This includes running dual screen at 1440p resolution, usually playing YouTube videos on my second monitor.
Just about the only time it starts to dip or stutter is when loading other player character profiles. Since Korthia is pretty dense, it happens a bit more frequently than not. Perhaps check to see if your SSD settings/drivers are correct and up-to-date? It could be a combination of that plus video/gfx settings previously recommended in the above posts.
Let us know how it goes!