Very poor performance with UHD630 in WoW after latest patch (BFA addon)

[idata]

So... Blizzard has removed fullscreen mode with the latest World of Warcraft patch (upcoming BFA addon) and goes for DX12. Only windowed mode and borderless windowed mode are still supported. After this change, I can't get more than 20-35FPS anymore in WoW on my laptop with UHD630. Before with DX11 fullscreen mode, I had flawless 60FPS on low settings and could easily play WoW on my laptop.

It seems UHD630 isnt able to use windowed (borderless) mode properly and performances way too bad as it could do. DX12 doesnt support fullscreen render mode anymore it seems, though UHD630 is stated as DX12 compatible.

So whats the culprit here? Bug in Intel drivers? In Windows 10? I dont think the problem lies in WoW. This is a huge issue and makes playing WoW literally now broken on Intel iGPUs.

The laptop has Optimus too with Nvidia GTX1050Ti, and switching to the Nvidia card also shows now a massive performance drop in WoW. It shows both GPUs are being used for whatever reason, Intel GPU usage next to the Nvidia one is also 60%. This change seems to have also impact on Optimus based solutions.

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20765956869?page=1 Very low FPS due do Fullscreen windowed mode - World of Warcraft Forums

[idata]

Hello klumsch,

Thank you for joining our community.In this case please go ahead and try the following:In System > Graphics settings window: 1) Check that Anti-Aliasing is set to "None".2) If that doesn't help, or it's already at "None", reduce the "Resolution Scale" below 100%. Go as low as 50% (the minimum) if you have 4k screen. 3) If you have good FPS now, try turning on one of the cheaper anti-aliasing options (nearer the top of the list) to monitor the performance.In order for me to assist you better, please provide me with the .txt file that the System Support Utility will generate. To attach a file, you must click the "Attach" option on the bottom right-hand corner of the response box.https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows- https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows-

I hope this helps.

Regards,Diego S.

[idata]

... I already tried everything of course.

I never use AA (because I wont need it with 4k displa< and downsample to 1080), I have set all settings to LOW in Wow, render resolution is of course set to 50% (1080). Nothing helps. FPS are since the past which removed fullscreen DX11 support horrible and WoW forums are full of this issue. Blizzard has removed real fullscreen mode (DX11) and just allow borderless windowed mode now, and this gave a huge performance loss on it seems Intel GPUs but also Optimus solutions (Nvidia card next to Intel in laptops).

I had stable 60FPS with Intel UHD630 on my laptop before the patch, also with the Intel GTX1050Ti of course. And now I just can get about 25-35 with Intel GPU, and even switching to the Optimus card I cant reach stable 60FPS anymore.

It seems the difference between real fullscreen 1080, and borderless windowed with render resolution set to 50% isnt identical in performance, at least for Intel GPUs and Optimus pass through.

I could link at least 10 threads in the WoW technical forums, of different people, all laptop users and having an Intel GPU or use Optimus, which cant get decent performance anymore now in WoW.

[idata]

As you can see... everything is set as low as possible, everything is deactivated, render res is 1920 (so it seems), and you literally just get 27FPS standing at some spot in the game, where nothing happens. It is just insane. I had ALWAYS 60FPS in that spot before the patch, and the GPU was "yawning" of usage of about 60%.

There is something terribly wrong now with WoW and Intel GPUs. Some people in the Blizzard forum suggest, that the Intel GPU cant take advantage of borderless windowed mode correctly, and gives a horrible performance, compared to a true fullscreen mode.

It also seems, that render resolution and windowed borderless isnt really the same as fullscreen and true 1920x1080 screen resolution. It seems the Intel GPU cant properly take the same performance out of the first compared to second.

[idata]

Hello klumsch,

Thank you for your response.In this case, have you tried (just for testing purposes) to lower the "Window size" setting from the actual game settings?As well, as shared before, please provide me with the .txt file that the System Support Utility will generate. To attach a file, you must click the "Attach" option on the bottom right-hand corner of the response box.https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows- https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows-I hope to hear from you soon.Regards,Diego S.

[idata]

Look... WoW is just borken for everyone right now with Intel GPUs and a laptop, I can post like 10 Blizzard Forum Threads with that, even a Nvidia one:

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20766496543 https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20766496543

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20765986815 https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20765986815

...

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1065288/geforce-drivers/massive-fps-drops-since-pre-bfa-world-of-warcraft-patch-and-remove-of-fullscreen-mode/ https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1065288/geforce-drivers/massive-fps-drops-since-pre-bfa-world-of-warcraft-patch-and-remove-of-fullscreen-mode/

I want you to get to your Intel devs and look at this, or phone at Blizzard/MS and make this work. It cant be that WoW is DEAD now on at least laptops. The FPS drop is 50-60%, and moving is impossible, the game freezes all the time and seems even have some texture or loading caching with Intel GPUs now. WoW is THE prestige game for Intel GPUs, because it is so "old" but still played by millions and it literally the best laptop game with good performance you can play on Intel GPUs... or should I say... was?

You dont need my PCs stats from the support tool, it happens with every laptop with Intel GPUs. I monitor my CPU temps and usage and it is all fine, no throttling or whatever. All drivers up to date... the laptop is a Dell XPS 15 9570 btw with 8750H CPU, and WoW is just now unplayable with it on Intel GPU.

I even have 40FPS in WoW character selection screen now...

I tried to go windowed mode with 1920 (small window now obviously on a 4k display), and that seems to improve the FPS a little bit, but nothing compared to true fullscreen 1920 mode.

[idata]

Hello klumsch,

Thank you for your responseI totally understand, however in order to try to replicate the issue, all details from the system report are necessary.We will try to replicate the issue and perform further research regarding this situation with the information that we have at the moment.This may cause a delay between our answers; we will reach you back as soon as we have news.Thank you for your patience.Regards,Diego S.

[idata]

Hello klumsch,Thank you for your response.During these past days we were working on the issue that has been reported by you.We downloaded WoW* and ran it into different machines such as the Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i7HVK, Intel® NUC Kit NUC7CJYH and 2 OEM laptops (Acer*, Asus*)Indeed, the issue has been present in every single machine that was running the latest World of Warcraft patch.The latency problems occurred after the latest patch, causing several users to complain about it, users that own non-Intel ® equipments have been affected too.While researching online for solutions, we encountered with an article created by Blizzard* 4 days ago:https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/112214 https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/112214On the article, there are some details to consider, such as the 12 troubleshooting steps specified there.We followed each one of them, without any type of success.Please consider one of the steps published by them (step 4.) :"Update your drivers to resolve any compatibility issues."Based on one of your posts where you specified that "All drivers were up to date", please consider that we do not have any type of system report from your end, so there is no actual way for us to verify your driver version. The best recommendation at this point is to follow Blizzards's last disclaimer:"If you have tried these steps and still require assistance, please visit our Technical Support Forums or contact us."In addition, Blizzard has acknowledged that the issue relays totally on their patch, and has acknowledged new issues for upcoming patches, such as the one that will be released on July 17th:Battle for Azeroth Pre-Patch - Known Issueshttps://us.battle.net/support/en/article/breaking/20943363 https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/breaking/20943363Please consider as well that there is a new Scheduled Maintenance of WoW* (August 2, 2018) that may help improving the issue that you are experiencing.At this point we can try to gather more information of your system if we receive the SSU report that we asked before and the Default level information for reporting Graphics issues specified here:/thread/77761 https://communities.intel.com/thread/77761However we do not guarantee that we can get a fix for this one, as the best recommendation is to contact Blizzard's support directly.Here is the direct contact: https://us.battle.net/support/en/helpI hope to hear from you soon.Regards,Diego S.

[idata]

... the posted links are irrelevant, here is the ssu log though you wanted to have.

[idata]

Hello klumsch

Thank you for your response and for the report that you shared let us look into your system configuration. Best Regards,Leonardo C.

[idata]

Hello klumsch,

Thank you for your response.In this case, based the report that you attached, we noticed that all of your graphic drivers are not updated.Please go ahead and install the latest OEM drivers released by your computer manufacturer on the following links:Intel UHD Graphics 630:https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=MYY4X&lwp=rt https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=MYY4X&lwp=rtnVIDIA* Graphics Application:https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=GGR6W&lwp=rt https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=GGR6W&lwp=rt I hope this helps.Regards,Diego S.

[idata]

Please stop telling nonsense, thank you (: The drivers are UP TO DATE. The """OEM""" drivers (copy pasta by Dell) are irrelevant, and months behind the up to date drivers. THIS ISSUE IS NOT A PROBLEM AT MY END AS YOU EVEN STATED ALREADY IN YOUR OTHER POST:

"

During these past days we were working on the issue that has been reported by you.

We downloaded WoW* and ran it into different machines such as the Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i7HVK, Intel® NUC Kit NUC7CJYH and 2 OEM laptops (Acer*, Asus*)

Indeed, the issue has been present in every single machine that was running the latest World of Warcraft patch.

"

So please stop wasting both of our time here, with these posts ok? Get to your devs and make them get in contact with Blizzard to fix this.

[n_scott_pearson]

Hans,

Listen carefully -- and do not respond as you have done so above. This is your only warning: do it again and your account will be suspended.

This is the message that you are going to receive (whether you like it or not): For laptop systems, you should not use any drivers that have not been released by the manufacturer. Why? Because they may have modified these drivers for their hardware design. Most laptops that have hybrid graphics solutions (i.e. utilize both Intel and AMD/NVIDIA graphics) will have been modified and some laptops with only Intel graphics may have been modified. Using generic driver releases could result in many other problems occurring. If you do not like the fact that a manufacturer has been slow releasing driver updates, then you should be complaining to them, not beating up the Intel Customer Support representatives.

Again, this is your only warning. Think very carefully before you go off on a tirade again. It will not be tolerated.

...S

[idata]

Tried the OEM drivers, nothing changed of course with the issue of this topic, because the issue is borderless windowed and bad Intel drivers cant handle it properly. I will just copy the above Intel quote again juust to be sure:

"

During these past days we were working on the issue that has been reported by you.

We downloaded WoW* and ran it into different machines such as the Intel® NUC Kit NUC8i7HVK, Intel® NUC Kit NUC7CJYH and 2 OEM laptops (Acer*, Asus*)

Indeed, the issue has been present in every single machine that was running the latest World of Warcraft patch.

"

[AlHill]

Well, since you like selective quotes without full context, here is one:

"

The best recommendation at this point is to follow Blizzards's last disclaimer:

"If you have tried these steps and still require assistance, please visit our Technical Support Forums or contact us."

In addition, Blizzard has acknowledged that the issue relays totally on their patch, and has acknowledged new issues for upcoming patches, such as the one that will be released on July 17th:

Battle for Azeroth Pre-Patch - Known Issues

https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/breaking/20943363 https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/breaking/20943363

Please consider as well that there is a new Scheduled Maintenance of WoW* (August 2, 2018) that may help improving the issue that you are experiencing.

"

Doc

[idata]

Hello klumsch,

Thank you for your patience. Our newest driver includes playability improvements for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth* with Intel® UHD Graphics 620, you can download it here:https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27894/Intel-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-10?product=126790 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27894/Intel-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-10?product=126790If this does not work, the best recommendation is to contact Blizzard's support directly as we shared before.Here is the direct contact: https://us.battle.net/support/en/help I hope this helps.Regards,Diego S.

[idata]

I already tested 6229 the day it came out. No change or improvements. FPS same as bad.

[idata]

Hello klumsch,

We just wanted to double check if you still need further assistance.Please don't hesitate on contacting us back.I hope to hear from you soon.Best Regards,Diego S.

[IDas01]

Reinstall wow - I have old configuration e6500 / gt 630 / 4gb ram and was playing well with some stuttering after 8.3 and after I reinstalled windows started having severe stops sometimes next following seconds after the end of the previous - even bought new sec hand lenovo i5 comp but after reinstall of the wow now everything is back to normall and little stuttering without stops - the bottle neck seems to be the processor and the ram rather the video card - on xbox gamebar I dont see it loaded more than 30 % while the processor and the ram seldom use less than 60 % of their resourse and easily go to 90+ % . Also excluded some of the windows features that seemed unused.