Here’s my system:
Asrock Z370 Extreme4 board
i7-8700k (overclocked to 4.5 GHz)
GTX 1070-Ti
Crucial MX300 SSD
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 16GB
I built this in 2018 when BfA released, and was expecting that I’d be able to run the game on Ultra settings at 10. No joy. Sure, I can crank it up to 10 in the graphics settings window and it looks beautiful if I’m not moving in game, but it’s not a smooth gameplay experience when I do move. The graphics are “jumpy” and not smooth when turning the camera and it causes eyestrain and headaches.
So fine, I play with it on 7 and it’s okay. Note that I also have to have the “Vertical Sync” box ticked even at 7 to keep the graphics smooth enough to play without headaches and eyestrain. I’ve also looked in on the beta, and it’s even more jumpy than live, so I’ve had to put the settings down to 6 on the beta. It’s time to figure this out.
I did keep my old monitors, because I love them. Two HP 2210m monitors, LCD TFT, 1080p, glossy screens. It’s the glossy screens that keep me from buying new monitors, because there just aren’t any out there!
Is it the monitors that’s holding me back from playing on max settings? I can play FFXIV maxed out (though RIFT is still a dog, but that’s no surprise really, and I’m not playing that game much anyway; who is?).
Is a G-Sync monitor the answer? If not, what is? I can spend whatever it takes, I’m just not going to spend unless I know it’s a fix.
There really isn’t a better gaming CPU available. There’s single digit sub-5% differences between an overclocked 8700k and a 10900k, but otherwise you’re essentially still at the top of the dog pile of CPUs.
DDR4 3000 is a bit slow, but I don’t think it’s worth it to spend money on faster RAM if you already have 3000.
For reference, I am using a 5ghz 8700k and a 5700xt - and at one point i was using the 8700k stock with an RX 580 - it ran fine even on the 580 which is way slower than the 1070ti. I was able to play the game at 1080p on an RX 580 and with some settings adjustments, maintain 144fps often.
Your displays are definitely holding you back here. They are very old. The 1070ti can absolutely drive you well above 100fps with that CPU in WoW at 1080p and 1440p - I think the issue you’re experiencing is tearing on the displays and the jitteri-ness is the slow response time on the monitors.
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Hey, thanks for the reply, Salhezra!
Good to hear I did something right when I built this thing. 
First time builder, and didn’t have much of a clue really. At least the CPU is a good one.
So the specs on my monitors say they have 2.5ms response time. Is that really slow?
I know my GPU can power something better (I planned for that when I built it), I’m just worried that I’ll give in and get new monitors and it won’t make any difference. Right now, I do see some tearing and much more jumpiness/jitter with vertical sync off (which lets the fps hit 90+ in new Dalaran but drives my eyes crazy), and I guess I’m just trying to convince myself that it means that a new monitor that can put out 100+ fps (with 1440p and G-Sync in the bargain) will solve my problem.
As you can probably tell, I know just enough about all of this to be slightly dangerous, so I appreciate your help!
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Try enabling in-game fps limit at 60fps as well as vsync.
Those frames above 60 aren’t being registered by the monitor so that’s why you get tearing with vsync off.
You get some input lag with vsync on, but it SHOULD make it feel smoother.
That said, the reported response time isn’t really meaningful.
A lot of claims aren’t measured properly.
I have some cheapo VA 1080p displays for my secondary displays but they look terrible in a game even vsync at 60hz.
I think if you get a better display, like any number of inexpensive 24" 144hz displays, you’ll enjoy your experience more
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I will enable the fps limit as well. Actually, I did have it enabled already, but it was set at 100 which obviously makes no sense at all with vsync on. I’ve never noticed input lag, though I might not really understand what I should be noticing!
Perhaps I’ll start shopping for monitors! Thanks again for the input!
you may wish to check your thermals too. what’s your CPU temp during play? and frequency?
~https://i.imgur.com/CuIVPKT.jpg
That shows everything, right?
I do remember that years ago (like back in early Cata maybe? or even late WotLK), when my CPU fan was dying, I would get terrible, terrible fps issues especially in Dalaran. Since then, I’ve been pretty aware of temperature issues!
Yes! I took the screenshot while the WoW window was focused.
Ok, just checking.
What about ram? Are they dual channel? Are you running off an SSD or hdd
SSD and the RAM says dual/quad channel.
When you installed the 1070ti, was it fresh install or was it replacing a different card
Fresh install on a new build.
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Just brainstorming other potential problems so you don’t go buy new displays and not solve your problem.
I think new displays will fix it, but I could be wrong.
Does ff14 experience the same issues with choppiness?
Are you using dx11 or 12 in wow
I still think either way you should upgrade the displays to a higher refresh one, but if you aren’t experiencing it in other games, then someth6 else might be up
dx12, and I’m not sure FFXIV has a setting for that. Not subbed ATM so can’t check either.
14 is only 11.
Try running dx11 on wow see what happens?
Eeewww, DX11 made the jumpiness worse, even out in Drustvar where it’s not usually bad. If I go to Dalaran in DX11 it might lay me out. lol