Help with PC performance

Hello, all. I recently purchased a new high-end PC to enjoy the new expansion and some other games I have been looking forward to. Oddly enough, despite my new hardware specifications, I am not getting the kind of performance in WoW that I had hoped for and would like some help with in-game settings and maybe some insight into AMD’s Adrenlin software. This is my first AMD PC.

Here are my specs:

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16-core/32CPUs ~ 4.5GHz
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB VRAM
64GB DDR6 RAM
ASUS ROG 144Hz 1440p display

I was so sure this would be overkill for WoW in 2024 but I am getting 60-80 FPS in Dornogal, 90-110 FPS in 5-man dungeons and delves, and about 50 FPS in raid environments. In-game graphical settings are “Good/High” with some specific settings like shadows at “Fair.” There seem to be a lot of settings on which I am not knowledgeable. I do use a fair amount of addon modifications but from what I could tell by experimenting with disabling them, the difference in performance is negligible.

I have also experimented with the AMD Adrenalin settings and realized that, for the most part, it seems like disabling everything but “Anti-Lag” yields the best framerate performance. I need some help adjusting my settings so that I can get the frames I should be getting with this PC. Are there any particular graphical settings or specific addons that, if set in a certain way, could severely impact the game’s performance? Am I wrong or is my PC capable of 100+ frames at all times in WoW, sans an instance where 50 players are on my screen in the middle of Dornogal?

Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I can tell you now that Razer Cortex is completely free and works like a charm. It integrates with Windows and speeds up all gaming. I was averaging 120 FPS on my Nitro 5 laptop 2 years ago, and now get higher than that on my Alienware i9 with a 4070 ti Super. Highly recommend, sets up in minutes, and once it scans and finds your game, everytime you launch, it launches too.

Would that work on a really old computer? I have an i5 with a nvidia geforce 620 gpu.

Ty in advance.

My specs are a lot lower than yours and I have zero issues. I’m guessing your pre-built pc came with some bloatware installed that’s slowing things down.

I have Radeon anti-lag enabled and Radeon image sharpening.

You can check your memory, cpu, and gpu usage with something like MSI Afterburner at all time with an on-screen display and keep tabs on what’s going on.

1 Like

My Nitro 5 was an i7, but it was an older model. However, I shared it with friends who still stream on old PCs and they no longer have lag, dropped frames, or torn screens when gaming. So I would say “it should” and since it is free it is worth a shot. Worst case, you are back to square one and exhausted a free option. Best case, you jump straight to 120+ fps and never have issues again.

1 Like

The only thing I can think of is do you have the Max Foreground or Background FPS set? If so, uncheck those boxes along with Target FPS. You should also check that vertical sync is not enabled in-game then go into the settings for you monitor and disable any feature that syncs framerate. After that, make sure within the Windows display settings that you have your refresh rate set to the highest your monitor and gfx card can handle.

Let us know if that helps.

1 Like

WoW is CPU-bound, very heavily. It is not optimized well to take advantage of multiple cores. There is nothing you can do.

This is also a good point. You can google “safely remove specific bloatware with Powershell” and there is a site that will walk you through, with screenshots, how to remove that bloatware and free up even more RAM.

2 Likes

There’s a specific forum for this where you’ll get much better help than the random guesses usually found in GD.

Just click on the edit button and choose the tech support forum and the post will move.

A 7950x is more than enough to handle WoW without any issues. Even my 5600 doesn’t struggle or the 3900x I had previously. There is something else going on for sure.

1 Like

I do have Max Foreground FPS set to 144 and Max Background FPS set to 30. I also have Target FPS set to 144. Is this no good?

Should have gone with a 7800X3D or a 7950X3D (if you actually need more than 8 cores).

WoW benefits from the 3D cache more than almost any other game. Even an older 5800X3D would be considerably faster than a 7950X (the non-X3D model) in WoW.

It’s actually incredible how much WoW benefits from the huge L3 cache enabled by the 3D cache. If WoW performance is one of your main goals, then you shouldn’t even remotely consider anything but an AMD X3D CPU.

Wow isn’t greatly optimized. That being said, you’re also going to take a hit to performance in major cities because of all the other people in game as well.

Those frames are around what i get on my custom built laptop from 3 years ago. There’s not much you can do but lower the view distance and turn off ray trace shadows and tinker with the other settings.

As others have mentioned wow is CPU intensive, you’ll also get bigger benefits out of a CPU that has a higher single core clock speed than one that emphasizes more on higher core counts.

WoW does quite well on multi-core cpus, but cpu will not be the limiting factor to the framerate when you have a high-end card and system like op has.

Just uncheck them. That will allow your card to do what it chooses. Did you check the other settings?

1 Like

Basically what this guy said, although i am suprised you get less frames in raid compared to the main hub (dorn)

I have my settings on low but fps is fine for raid (atleast 60) but they will sometimes drop below 60 at Dorn (especially near the AH)

P.S. then again im running on a 1080p screen, which uses less resources than a 1440p

Just so I am clear…I bought the wrong CPU? Is the 7950X3D going to improve my performance significantly if I were to replace the 7950X with it? What is the major difference between the two? Is the X3D better in all aspects or do they both have strengths over one another?

Your CPU is running at 4.5 Ghz. That should be more than enough to handle everything, especially when you consider how fast your ram is and how much you have. The only hardware bottleneck you might have would be on your board with the pipes from CPU to RAM, at this point.

Did changing all of the settings I recommended not help?

EDIT: There could also be a bottleneck on your board from the PCIE that your gfx card uses. Some lower priced AMD boards will reduce the actual paths your card has to the rest of the system.

Your cpu is by far more than enough. There is something else going on.

It runs way less than ideal with a 7800X3D/4090 too, so don’t get your hopes up if you plan on changing your CPU. Almost every action in the game causes stutters. Opening bags, achievement tab, mounting up, abilities, people nearby etc etc.

You won’t get any help from support, which just completely ignores the fact that this 20 year old engine needs a damn replacement. No, it’s not a problem on our end. “Try disable this, try that.” Every other game runs buttery smooth.