I feel like I should be getting better performance from this laptop I bought from Walmart 2 years ago for $550 but I was hoping I could get some input from you guys! It’s an Intel and here are the specs:
I5-1035 1 Ghz quad core
Intel UHD graphics (integrated, but not sure which version it is, not the 620 but possibly icelake)
8 GB DDR4
512 GB SSD
I run the game at 1080x1920 with lowest graphical settings, except for maximum drawing distance. FPS varies between 35-60fps depending on the zone and the mob I am fighting (lower end when fighting big mob or spell effects). Even if I reduce clipping distance to the minimum, FPS drops to 40 at times.
In big cities, I run around 30 fps when there are a lot of people around. Is this normal for min settings with my rig? I don’t care about graphics as much as smooth gameplay and steady 60 fps would obv be optimal. I can really notice the difference between 40 and 60 and it’s irritating.
There are 3 options as I see it:
Something isn’t right and there are more steps I can take to optimize performance.
This is perfectly fine for my rig and I can just suck it up and be grateful for what I have.
That PC is a dinosaur, probably with too many bottlenecks on your performance to count. Just forget trying to optimize it and invest in a new machine. I can recommend digital storm. I recently build my new PC on there (for over 3 grand). They have decent prebuilts and a build to order. You can this beast for 1,500$, not far behind my own but for less than half the price. https://www.digitalstorm.com/configurator.asp?id=4502564
All you’d really have to do with this is add a storage drive for more space.
Edit: It can run on a potato but if you want to run it well you need to get better than that. I don’t personally do laptops and digital storm is limited for options on those. For a good laptop though, you’re probably still going to be looking at 999-1,500$.
I mean it’s only 2 years old and everyone says Wow classic can run on a potato. I get that an integrated GPU sucks, but I have also heard from several sources that Wow is much more cpu intensive than GPU intensive. Maybe it’s the fact that even though it’s quad core, it’s only 1Ghz per core.
Thank you for the referral for new PC, but if I did upgrade, I’d really like a laptop as I am renting a room and not allot of room for desktop. I was thinking refurbished and wouldn’t really want to spend more than $600 again.
You’ve got a potato and WoW runs on it. Just maybe not as well as you would prefer.
Add on to that you’re using integrated graphics so that lower tier CPU is having to pull double duty.
Honestly, the first thing I’d do is make sure you don’t have issues with heat dissipation. If it’s thermal throttling due to clogged fans/bad design/resting on a pillow then you’ll never even see it’s true potential.
Yea that’s not even worth $200. It’s archaic. You’re lucky to get 60fps at minimum settings… you don’t need to upgrade to the extreme, but there are pre-builts for a decent price with FAR MORE power.
I would bet this is the main issue. It’s good enough to use Windows and watch videos, not so much for 3D games. The CPU is also a potato and depending on the OS you’re using, 8GB RAM isn’t much either.
You’re in luck though, GPUs are starting to get cheaper, so getting a new computer should be overall cheaper now compared to the last few years. Just make sure it has an AMD or NVIDIA GPU.
That CPU is far from a potato…a mid range mobile cpu from 2019 isn’t archaic…People are probably being misled by the 1ghz core speed you provided but that isn’t it’s actual permanent speed. It’ll turbo up to 3.6ghz given your laptop has proper cooling. If it isn’t, then there’s yer problem and some sort of power savings, or cooling, is preventing it from boosting. You might need to set your power plan in windows to “High Performance”. Power savings in laptops can really kill gaming performance.
But as someone else said it’s probably the integrated graphics letting you down. You might get better results running it at 720p to get a steady framerate or updating the graphics drivers from intels website. It can make a noticeable difference to update them if your laptop is using whatever driver came with it from the factory in 2019. I can’t list links so just google “Ice lake graphics drivers” and it should be the first real result that’s on intels actual website (not the scam sites google will list as “ad’s”), it’s the same driver installer for 6th through 12th gen so it’s hard to pick a wrong one. Should be driver version 31.“something”
Also, this might be a bit out of scope but having dual channel memory makes a big difference. Meaning, if your laptop only has a single 8gb stick of ram, it’ll get way worse performance on the integrated gpu than if it had 2x 4gb sticks of matching ram (or 2x8gb). This might not be something you can even fix since some laptops only have a single socket to begin with or don’t have user serviceable ram slots (it could be soldered to the board) so it might not be viable to upgrade the ram.
Also (again), you can find out for sure what’s being bottle necked by using MSI afterburner/Rivatuner and using the onscreen display to show CPU/GPU usage during gameplay.
Intel Integrated graphic have always been bad. Also that CPU isn’t that bad but it’s limited by thermal and disables cores to reach a decent frequency (over 3ghz, because 1ghz is laughable).
Any laptops under 600$USD will not do well in games and WoW is more demanding than you expect, especially with Wrath.
I would highly recommend getting a new PC. Get something with nothing less than 16Gb of RAM. Personally, I would get 1TB of SSD however 512gb is just fine. Even though Classic can run on 8gb of RAM, I would never recommend settling for the bare minimum.
My PC spec are as is:
Ryzen 5 3600 CPU
Corsair Veng LPX 16GB Ram
ASUS 2060 GPU
MSI B550 Tomahawk motherboard.
650watt Power Supply
I get around 175+ fps with this PC only costs around $1300
Lmao. Thank you and everyone else for the replies!
I have tinkered with most of the settings and things are pretty optimized based on what guides have said. I did confirm that it is set on performance rather than power saver. I even alt tab when I remember to set WoW to High Priority.
I have the laptop on a cooling pad that is plugged in with the fans running. I suppose I can check for built up dust but I believe I’d have to open it up to do that?
I guess I’m surprised this model doesn’t perform better, as I thought 1Ghz quad core wasn’t bad, plus the 8GB Ram. If I turn framerate cap off, I can get over 100FPS (spikes) in lowbie zones at min settings. And honestly, it doesn’t even drop off super bad in high pop zones, like I said AV I get 30-40 fps in big battles (but this is all with min settings). Worst is WG where I dropped down to 12 once…
As for retail stores being ripoff, is that really the case? I figured it’s Walmart, so I’d get the best brick and mortar deals out there lol. I tell ya what, I almost bought the $450 laptop but at the last minute decided to upgrade to the $550 one, and boy I’m glad I did! In fact, I got worse performance with this laptop the first year of using it. I believe my graphics driver wasn’t loading properly. I quit the game at level 55 when fighting the one dragon skelly boss who decides to throw a rave with LED lazer lights all over the floor. Needless to say, my FPS dropped to 5! I unsubbed and uninstalled WoW after that and went back to Hearthstone. I started playing again after 6 months, and found out the initial trouble may have been my graphics driver up to that point.
Anyway! I am not unpleased with this laptop, as it runs most everything like butter (YT, multi-windows, etc) but it would be nice to be able to play WoW at 60 fps with good graphics!! I am kind of stubborn on sticking to a laptop, because I am renting a small room, but I could be convinced of PC if I figure out a setup.
My thought is to get a refurbished laptop and use solely for gaming, while using this one for bills and documents. Any suggestions?