World of Warcraft FPS spikes

I used to be an avid WoW player back when I had comcast internet and WoW ran very smooth. I quit playing WoW about 6 months ago and now I realized I miss it a bit too much haha. I recently switched to At&t uverse and came back to WoW, and every since I have been back I have had very terrible problems with FPS spikes. This isnt lag or anything, cause I maintain great latency, but every 5 minutes or so, my FPS drops down to 2 or 3, which makes raiding or even instancing near impossible. I am using the same computer I used when I used to play, and well as the same graphics card. I am running a NVIDIA GeForce 9100 at the moment, just like when I used to play. It seems the only explanation is At&t uverse is having something to do with it right? I use a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, and run a quad-processer. I havent even submitted something like this so if you need more info to help me, please ask. Thanks a lot guys!
 
9100, that's an igp right? In heavy situations and all the updates to wow I don't see it being such a surprise. More detailed specs of your pc would help a lot.
 
Frame-rate is not going to be affected by your network connection, the client is running locally on your PC. You should trace your CPU usage and see if something is spiking the CPU during the times when you see the slow-down.
 
As already pointed out your ISP won't have any affect on your frames in-game and is likely being caused by your integrated card. Frames will always be at there lowest in WoW during intense PvP & raiding so make sure you have the same settings that you previously used like resolution, detail/shadow level, vsync off, etc. Mess around with them and see what works best. WoW over the years has become more demanding so you might just have to pick up a low-end card to enjoy better frames.
 
Ya JMMD I was thinking about that but I then thought...its the only thing that has changed and the router might not be supporting all the info going through, but I guess that would = lag right? And Supersmashbrada whatever you need to help me just let me know and I'll post it.
 
Mobo, ram, cpu, etc.

I'm pretty sure its a graphics issue, fps spikes and lag are two different things.

Seems you're having a hardware associated problem.
 
I play WoW as well and get the same thing. It always accompanies the disk and/or fans spinning up. I too play on a system with onboard graphics, so really I'm pushing the limits of my system. Most likely you need either more RAM or even more likely a dedicated graphics card.

If you're using a desktop this isn't too hard or expensive but in a laptop, which is what I use most of the time, it's almost impossible.

You might try Gamebooster for a short term and very slight improvement, but a dedicated graphics card would be the best fix.
 
8192 MB of Ram, AMD Phenom(tm) 9650 Quad-Processor. Idk what mobo is sorry :-/ Yea Beard I use a desktop so it shouldnt be too hard, I just wanna make sure its the problem before I make that investment. I am content with decent graphics if it gets me through haha, but these spikes hafta stop. I cant do anything with em...
 
Yeah, I'd bet money on a dedicated graphics card helping a lot. I'd hit up the Desktop buying guide and the hardware review section here on TS to see what some good options are. If you're looking to save some dough a last generation ATI (4000 series) should still be fine for WOtLK, but when Cataclysm comes out you might want something newer, so you might as well go for a newer one now if you can afford it.
 
I'd look them up rather than getting a guess from someone on a message board. By the time I go look them up, reply to is and then you read it you could have not only gotten the data yourself but also ordered it and paid for it. Plus that way your data is exact, not my estimate or price ranges. TS has several prices of them listed and if you want even more selection you can check online retailers like Newegg.com or Amazon.com.

Just looked on Newegg.com, prices range from $45 to $300 for decent to good ones.
 
Given your processor I wouldn't go too high end with a new GPU. You'd also have to find out info about your power supply to make sure it can power a higher power video card.

Something like an ATi 5770 would probably be a good match for your system. Those run around $150.
 
GTS 250 isn't a bad choice. I use HD 4850 right now and that is just as powerful. I would get constant 60 FPS in WoW with occasional lag drops in FPS every few seconds. Low FPS seems unavoidable unless you have a powerful system in online games that use polygons.
 
Back