Does computer speed greatly affect DPS ability?

[UdderTank]

I have a pretty well geared (5.6gs) survival hunter who is fully gemmed/enchanted. I've read all of the hunter guides and believe I have a good grasp of how the class works. My rotation has been matched to maxdps.com and a few other dps sites.

However, I'm doing several thousand less DPS than other toons of my GS in raids. I have a feeling that a major problem I am having is with my macbook that I am using to play WOW on. The cooldowns seem to move erratically and I get pauses during periods of heavy graphics (especially during 25m raid content).

I'm curious if anyone else has run into a problem where a slow computer is causing them to have lower dps than they would expect per their gs/spreadsheet info.

I normally tank/heal without major problems (although tanking in 25m can be problematic)- which doesn't seem as cooldown/timing dependant as DPS.

[Rennadrel]

Maxdps is bad, none of their stuff is up to date, or at least wasn't last time I checked. Elitist Jerks will tell you what you need to be doing properly. And computer performance does, as well as network/internet speeds impact your DPS because it dictates how quickly things are appearing on your screen. A new computer upped my performance in raids as well as have given me the ability to see things on the ground that you can't see when you are running minimum settings. And building a computer that can run the game at max settings shouldn't cost you more then 800 dollars.

[Brog]

I actually do MORE dps than Rawr says I should, despite only running 10-15 FPS in raids. However, Latency can screw you over.

In short, FPS doesn't matter, unless it's <5
Latency however, does matter.

[Sky]

Brog, do you have the ICC buff ticked on rawr?

[Brog]

Brog, do you have the ICC buff ticked on rawr?

Yes. I have every buff I'd have in a normal raid setting, besides Bloodlust/On use/potions

[UdderTank]

I'm not sure it's so simple as just latency. I've noticed that I can't use trade skills in Dalaran due to the FPS problems and slow computer issues. For example, if I try to DE items with my enchanter it takes two to three times as long as it does if I hop through the portal to Org. I've seen similar things with my cooldowns in dungeons, they jump as time passes, rather than the cooldown timers slowly and consistently counting down.

Then again, I have seen 1 fps frequently in Dalaran.... I never check in raids because I'm busy doing other things.

[nobel]

FPS does matter.. and latency matters.. two different things. Latency is how fast you are communicating with the wow servers.. and FPS is how fast your computer can render the images. FPS can be improved tho by lowering some settings.. showing effects and so on.

Both are wow battlenecks.. FPS bottlenecks however will typically lock your system/crash or shuttering.. where latency will just make things take a long time.. ie an instent spell not instent.

Both matter.. thats why some people have issues with boss fights with alot of AoE or some other mass ability..

If your getting pausing it will lower your dps.. and it is your computer. I recently build a mid range computer for under 1k.. total cost was around 800 i think.. i easly get over 60 fps anywhere in wow and much more in raids..

[Fledern]

Latency will matter the most. For casting it's a bit less of a problem as you can queue up your next cast during the latency portion of your previous cast. For GCD bound classes though, latency has a huge impact as the client wont let you spam before the GCD is over.

Working over landsoul's sheet, i noticed that my latency dropping from 250ms to 75ms gained me more dps than ungrading 4 pieces of gear to 277.

FPS is a weird beast. It can go down from your graphics card not being able to handle it or your CPU not being able to handle it. If it's your graphics card, you can keep "blindly" dpsing and you wont lose much dps to it. The CPU will process your keystrokes and send them to the server regardless. If it's your CPU bottling up then yes, you will lose dps, potentially a lot.

Another contributer is the keyboard. If you're a very mobile fighter, you're bound to end up pressing 3-4 buttons at the same time. Most regular keyboards cant handle that and will either ignore keystrokes or put them in a buffer that can mess with the timings. This is a very minor issue if you know how to work around it but i've also seen people really smashing their keyboards for really bad results so i wanted to point it out.

[Alamelie]

Simple enough, yes it will. All comments aside straight forward answer is yes. I know for a fact I raided as a rogue for almost two years with 1-3 FPS during bosses such as Aurayia, Hodir, Freya, Mimiron. I did not notice a 'huge change' I still had the same numbers. 1-2# in 10ms or 5# in 25m.

Now the source of the issue for FPS~ may not just be graphics it could boil down to a factor a lot of people forget is your add-ons. Some add-ons seem completely harmless but at the same time such as Recount, the more information it has to provide through the game to the host and back again to everyone else is a lot OF peoples issues that they do not see. DBM is typically stored information and not relying on the game as much as Recount given you have to take so much information. Same thing with Quest Helper it is constantly tracking information regardless if you want it to or not.

-To help your OVER all Raiding experince with a less than up to par computer-

*Turn off Useless or non-needed add-ons. (You do not honestly need Recount).

*Turn down SHADOW EFFECTS.

*Turn down all general settings off unless the fight requires it. Such as 'Projected Textures'.

Also! A tip not so many people throw out there but wireless internet !SUCKS! for gaming. If you have the router close enough just plug your computer right up into it, Faster Connection (: also if you are thinking about serious raiding upgrade the computer and your internet then you will never have a issue(:

[Quinafoi]

FPS itself has no actual direct impact on DPS, however, low FPS is an indication of poor computer performance in general. As a side effect your computer is spending significantly more CPU cycles trying to process the graphics than it is processing your actions. Low FPS doesn't lower your DPS because FPS is low, it lowers your DPS because your computer is too busy trying to draw a screen that it hasn't gotten to the point of processing your key press yet. You can't actually measure the impact of FPS on DPS because it will vary from machine to machine based on how it prioritizes your hardware interrupts over the actual game display.

Latency however does have a measurable impact on DPS, and improving it will improve your DPS. This is most obvious in the form of the GCD. While your GCD may only be 1 second, if you're latency is 250ms, it takes you 1.25 seconds at least to do your next ability. Abilities longer than the GCD don't have the same issue because of how spell queuing functions and how the GCD is tested. By lowering your latency from 250ms to say 100ms, you effectively turn that 1.25 second GCD into 1.1 seconds allowing you to DPS 12% faster than you were before (at least in regard to instant cast abilities). That is a huge increase in DPS for melee classes in particular. Ranged classes benefit from it as well, but not on the same scale.

Something else to keep in mind is your latency varies over time (hence that Quartz casting latency indicator). That tells you what your latency was on your last cast. You're screen may show 100ms, but you may actually vary between 100ms and 200ms in actual application. In any case, lower is always better.

One of the easiest ways to improve this is to adjust your TcpAckFrequency on Windows machines. You can either do this directly yourself through the registry editor, or can use an third party tool like Leatrix.
http://www.tankspot.com/showthread.p...ce-Information

[Quinafoi]

Also, a good video to watch about DPS (and it is even by a hunter, though the concepts are univeral).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgDjG_0ecTI

[Mallekai]

very low fps can certainly affect dps