Help with sudden drop of FPS

[KrizQoo]

I play World of Warcraft.
My machine is more than enough to play this game smoothly at high settings but however, my FPS would drop from like..... 75 to 30ish all of a sudden.
What are the possibilities of this phenomenon?

Mainboard : Intel D945GNT
Chipset : Intel i945G/GZ
Processor : Intel Pentium D 940 @ 3200 MHz
Physical Memory : 2048 MB (2 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card : Nvidia Corp GeForce 7900 GT/GTO
Hard Disk : ST3320620AS (320 GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111
DVD-Rom Drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111
DVD-Rom Drive : CH4173T XVB443D SCSI CdRom Device
Monitor Type : Philips Philips 190S - 19 inches
Network Card : Intel Corporation 82801GB I/O Controller Hub LAN
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 2
DirectX : Version 9.0c (July 2007)

Driver for my video card is the recommended 84.21

Thanks for ANY help. :)

[Aus_Karlos]

Update all drivers. As WOW is constantly updated so is the games engine and code, mainly for optimizing. Updating your graphical drivers may fix this problem.
Also have you defrag your HDD

[KrizQoo]

I don't think it's the problem with the driver, however I haven't defragged my computer for quite a long time so I'm gonna try that.
Is there anything I should pay attention to if i want to defrag?
Like closing anti virus program or maybe defrag in VGA or safe mode?
Thanks for any help!

[Aus_Karlos]

No, defrag only uses the HDD things like Anti-viruses wont affect it.
But you will need to update your drivers. When newer drivers are released they are more optimized and faster than the older ones. You may see a big difference if you update. There is no harm in trying.

[KrizQoo]

The problem is still here.
I heard someone suspecting it might be due to overheating so I have this information for you experts.

Monitoring Chip : SMSC EMC6D103
Voltage CPU : 1.18 V
+3.3V Voltage : 3.30 V
+5V Voltage : 5.10 V
+12V Voltage : 12.00 V
Chassis Fan : 2216 rpm
Power/Aux Fan : 1930 rpm
Processor Temperature : 87 °C
Mainboard Temperature : 59 °C
Power/Aux Temperature : 37 °C
:
Monitoring Chip GPU : nVidia Driver + Thermal Diode
GPU Temperature : 51 °C
GPU Diode : 52 °C
GPU Fan : 38%
:
Hard Disk Temperature ST3320620AS : 30 °C

These values were taken when my FPS had dropped from 75 to 20 in a raid.
Is my computer overheating?

Btw, I'm using the latest driver for my card, problem still exists.


For my in-game settings, I have vert syn on with triple buffering if that's what you were asking. Settings from nVidia control panel are : 75 refresh rate , 32 bit , high performance.

Any help is hugely appreciated. If my FPS remains the same I might just go to a computer tech. and ask him to format the whole thing for me, might even add 2G of ram to hopefully buff my machine's performance but since i'm using windows XP i'm not sure if 4G ram is useful at all.

[pharoah]

what were you checking the temps with?that cpu temp of 87c is way to hot.

[KrizQoo]

I used PC Wizard.
Like I mentioned, after i reboot my comp and load WoW, FPS is good for a bit then it goes down all of a sudden, it's at that time I alt-tab out of WoW and copy those values from PC Wizard.

[pharoah]

lets get a second opinion on those temps.try speedfan post back its readouts.if the cpu is truly getting that hot that is your problem.

[KrizQoo]

CPU : 85 <----got a fire icon
Internal Temp : 59 <----got a fire icon
Remote Temp : 40
HD0 : 33
Core : 60 <----got a fire icon
Ambient : 0

[pharoah]

ok first off check to make sure your cpu cooler fan is running.also look for a dust buildup in the heatsinks,and fans.

[KrizQoo]

All fans are working, checked it a couple times before, also I clean it with a vacuum cleaner quite often.

My case is a 'Cooler-Master' FYI.

[pharoah]

what kind of cpu cooler do you have?you may need to get a better one,or maybe just reseat it with fresh thermal paste.

[KrizQoo]

My friend just told me it's normal to have high temperature since I'm running with 2 CPUs in case i haven't mentioned.

Anyway CPU cooler? Do you mean the brand of the fans? Thermal paste I will ask a computer tech to do it for me coz I'm a noob. :P

[pharoah]

well i have a dual core cpu,and mine only gets to about 40c under load.the temp yours is getting to is high enough to eventually damage the cpu.

[KrizQoo]

It's kinda weird if the overheating is the cause of the drop in FPS while I play Wow because I didn't have such a problem, had been having high FPS until a couple weeks ago.

Gonna copy my previous message.
CPU cooler? Do you mean the brand of the fans?

[Aus_Karlos]

Yeah there are different brands of heatsinks and fans... Zalman is one of the top leading brands for CPU cooling and they have very affordable prices.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ech+Co.%2c+Ltd I would look around the $30-40 mark if you want a decent one.

But do what pharoah says, add thermal paste, it the cheapest and the easiest way to cool down a CPU.

I will add some steps if you want like to try them.
1) Buy some Thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5 i think is the best)
2) after about 5min of you PC being on turn it off and turn off from wall. (do not unplug, this will keep the PC earthed)
3)Take the fan and heatsink off the CPU. (Having the PC on for a few minutes warms up the current paste as it acts like glue)
4) Remove any thermal paste that is on the CPU (use the card that is in the thermal paste package)
5) Add a paper thin layer of new thermal paste and evenly layer it on. Dont touch it with your fingers as grease from your hands will have an adverse affect. Also having too much thermal paste will also have an adverse affect.
6) Wipe away any excess thermal paste on the sides of the CPU with the card and then attach the heatsink and fan back on. If you have detached any cables make sure you re-attach them.

There all done you can turn the PC back on and check the temps. Adding new thermal paste can decrease CPU temps by about 15c-20c