video card issue

Try changing the rendering mode from the default Opengl to Direct3d, or vice versa

Open the World of Warcraft folder on your hard drive.
Open the WTF folder.
Open the Config.wtf file using a text editor, like Notepad.
Edit to either SET gxApi "opengl” or SET gxApi "direct3d"
Save the file and start World of Warcraft again.


Since ATI is not a great opengl performer, I am betting you are set to OpenGL and setting it to direct3d may improve things

And no, no way to change video cards...


btw, upgrade to the latest omegadrivers, which are based on the ati catalyst drivers that promise better opengl performance

Misery loves company, I guess. I have the same problems like the previous post. For no apparent reason, my computer would crash while playing World of Warcraft. I went to the .wtf file but I didn't find the gxApi switch/variable. Should I just add it? Also, where would I find an omega driver? I don't see any reference to it on the Sager site. Actually, I can't find anything about the 5680 on Sager's or their technical support site. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I would add it.

Omega drivers are third party drivers, so look for them here:

http://www.omegadrivers.net/

Me too!! :-(

Well sad to say that I am experiencing the exact same thing on my Notebook with World of Warcraft. Below is a bit more history and info about my experiences.

VIDEO GAMING:
- World of Warcraft
1. Horribly long load times
2. Horribly slow frame rates in cities/towns (i.e. 1 frame per 20 seconds).
3. Constantly beating the s#!* out of my hard drive.

- All other video games have run great, with the exception of the sound bug in Half Life 2.


BIOS UPGRADES:
- Currently using the .9(?) version of the firmware (with switched <Fn> and <ctrl> keys.)

- Could NOT flash using the 10s version. Recieve an error message in reference to HiMem when attempting to flash this version.


VIDEO DRIVERS:
- Currently using the 7.97 (latest) ATI drivers available through Sager.

- Would like to use the Omega drivers, however, I am unable to playback video with them. Games work fine, but Win DVD and Windows Media Player both cause system freezes when attempting to play video while the Omega drivers are installed. I thought that the BIOS updates were supposed to fix this.


SYSTEM SPECS:
- NP5680
- P4 2.6GHZ
- 512MB RAM
- ATI Mobility 9600 Pr0
- Windows XP Pro SP1

I'll try the OpenGL vs. Direct3D change and let you know how it worked...keeping my fingers crossed because I've recently started cursing my otherwise beloved Sager.

It helped!

Although not perfect, adding that direct3d change to the WoW file did imporve the performance considerably. However, it still chugs in cities and towns, just not nearly as bad as before.

Thank you very much for the advice!

Chub, re: your inability to flash bios to 10s.....

Win98 boot disk, I surmise? There seems to be a glitch in the flash program with some machines....try either a win95, or better yet, a dr dos bootdisk, which is by far the best bootdisk I've ever used.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gerryf/drdos.zip

This is a copy of a drdos bootmaker and the required 10s files for the 5680

Sager sucks , Alienwares the BEST !!!!!

thank you for your uninformed opinion...move along.

Why do people persist in this endeavor to spread discontent in the forums. Ih you have the cash for an Alienware go for it. If you would wrather save some cash and get the same if not better performance go elsewhere.

Thank you very very much Gerryf,

That BIOS 10s upgrade finally fixed the Omega drivers video problem! However, the performance in World of Warcraft remains far from perfect.

Are there any other "low risk" tweaks that I can make to improve my gaming experience (i.e. using radlinker, etc.)?

Any help is much appreciated.

You should have more than enough machine to play that game--I suspect other things may be going on (too much stuff loading into memory/spyware/hd fragmentation)...but, to be fair, I have never played the game so it would be useless for me to speculate.

Take a swing by the WoW forums

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/bo...w-tech-support

There are a number of pinned posts that may point you in the right direction.

From what I hear my gaming buddies whine about WoW, they say it's a hog.

I just purchased my 5690 from another person on the forums. I set it up last night.

Windows XP Service Pack 2
Latest Omega Drivers (Based on Catalyst 5.1)
Directx 9.0c

I installed World of Warcraft and it plays fine, no issues what-so-ever (on 1280x1024 high details). *knocks on wood* So I would think there might be something wrong with your software or something. Hard to diagnose something like that via the web.