[SOLVED] Crippling performance drops in Warzone only with a high-end PC

Orbit Storm

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Consistently poor performance is something that's synonymous with Warzone. I get it. But, I'm watching content creators with systems that are the same as or even inferior to my own that don't appear to have these issues — issues that seemingly plague a considerable portion of the community.

Before I jump into settings and such, here are my relevant specs:
  • i9-10900K @ 3.7GHz (auto OC)
  • MSI RTX 3070 (no OC)
  • 32 GB DDR4 @ 3600MHz
  • 1TB M.2
  • ASUS PRIME Z490-P
Clearly, this isn't a mid-tier system. Beyond adding a 3090 and doubling my sysmem, this is as good as it gets. Warzone should not struggle on this build. At all. Even at 1440p, which is my resolution.

I've tried running Warzone on a mixture of High/Ultra and Normal/Low. The results are largely the same. Aside from inconsistent frames ranging from 50-200, every few games my frames will randomly tank and won't recover without rebooting the game. When I say tank, I mean they drop to unplayable numbers well below 60, often hovering between 30-40.

I used to think it was an issue with the Cache Sun/Spot Shadows so I disabled them. Issue persists. Read that it can be caused by VideoMemoryScale in adv_options so I set it lower and higher but the issue still persists. NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency? Off, Enabled, and Boosted. Each with the same result. It's not a resource issue either. Both because I have an absurd amount and because I've tried closing everything but the game client with no luck. For lack of a better term, I'm very tech savvy. I've ruled out all of the basic troubleshooting steps. There's no throttling or heat issues. I don't overclock. I've checked voltages and metered the power draw of both the processor and GPU. I've run mem tests using the Windows diagnostic and 86. It's not a hardware issue unless my GPU is faulty which doesn't seem likely because no issues manifest in a wide variety of other titles, including Black Ops and Modern Warfare MP. Ray tracing in Black Ops works fine. Only thing that has stood out is the GPU memory clock and VRAM nearly maxing out but that doesn't seem abnormal. Perhaps there's something I missed though.

It's worth noting that this is a brand new system and I've already reinstalled the game and my drivers about a dozen times each. I'm not going to keep doing that. Not when I have absolutely zero issues running other current titles at Ultra-buttery settings. This is a Warzone-specific issue.

Imgur link to my current graphics settings: View: https://imgur.com/a/t018eWQ


Note: you'll notice the images look weird but that's because I'm using NVIDIA filters to improve the overall image quality of the game. They do hurt my frames by about 10-20 but that's fine. My frames still perma-tank with or without these filters.

I posted this exact thread on the Warzone subreddit with limited feedback; generally just people experiencing the same thing, looking for answers too. I've spent the last few weeks stressing, thinking this is a hardware issue but I just can't figure it out. This performance drop comes and goes. Last night, I needed to reboot every other game until I went AFK for about an hour, closing the game, and when I came back, the performance drops were gone. They'll be back though, as always.

I'm sending up a prayer. Anyone have any ideas?
 
Solution
If changing the resolution scaling and disabling vsync/gsync does not help, I have to suggest disabling auto OC
Your cpu should be more than fine for this game and keep up with your gpu without issue. There may be an issue with the setting on your motherboard to be later fixed.

Orbit Storm

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And another dude with warzone issues. Imo, it's just the game being optimized like sh** guys. This forum is full of people having issue with that game.

I don't doubt it but as I mentioned above, there are folks with systems inferior to or on par with my own that don't experience this. I understand that everyone's system is "different" but there's also a limitation to that.

War zone is also cpu heavy, try to see what gigahertz your cpu is at and maybe boost it a little

CPU usage hovers around 50% under load and I leave it on auto-OC which puts it somewhere between 4.5 and 5 GHz.
 

David0ne86

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Mar 11, 2021
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I don't doubt it but as I mentioned above, there are folks with systems inferior to or on par with my own that don't experience this. I understand that everyone's system is "different" but there's also a limitation to that.

I know that's exactly what i meant. The game is a mess so when it can run super smooth on one machine (even inferior), on another and maybe more powerful runs like s***.
 
I don't have an answer for your issue but I highly recommend you read this indepth review of that power supply you're using. It's a long article but if you value your system then read it.
 
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Orbit Storm

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I don't have an answer for your issue but I highly recommend you read this indepth review of that power supply you're using. It's a long article but if you value your system then read it.
Interesting read. For all of the faults listed, they appear to be anomalous. Most of the user reviews on this unit are overwhelmingly positive and the real danger lies in pushing power draw above 900W which I have no intention of doing. With standard OC for my CPU and a small OC to my GPU, this system is only pushing ~520W, well below the 750W rating. I'm not saying it's an ideal unit and I wish I'd had known that before allowing it to be used in this build from iBuyPower but I don't think my system is in any imminent danger.

Plus, as I mentioned above, I can push the limits in other titles just fine. If it were a power issue, I think it'd be fairly obvious by now. This performance drop happens only in Warzone so I think it's specific to some setting, be it a driver or in-game. Heck, it could be the BIOS update I did a little while back. Not to be redundant but I'm here on a prayer.
 
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Interesting read. For all of the faults listed, they appear to be anomalous. Most of the user reviews on this unit are overwhelmingly positive and the real danger lies in pushing power draw above 900W which I have no intention of doing. With standard OC for my CPU and a small OC to my GPU, this system is only pushing ~520W, well below the 750W rating. I'm not saying it's an ideal unit and I wish I'd had known that before allowing it to be used in this build from iBuyPower but I don't think my system is in any imminent danger.

Plus, as I mentioned above, I can push the limits in other titles just fine. If it were a power issue, I think it'd be fairly obvious by now. This performance drop happens only in Warzone so I think it's specific to some setting, be it a driver or in-game. Heck, it could be the BIOS update I did a little while back. Not to be redundant but I'm here on a prayer.
Main reason I replied was to arm you with a bit more info than you may have had. One thing to note: user reviews are not the best choice to use as reference. Here at Tom's, only reviews made by well known, qualified individuals with proper test equipment are used when we recommend for or against a power supply to a prospective purchaser. User reviews can help to show a trend ie.. many users getting DOA units and such, but, component analysis and competency of assembly as well as stress testing is crucial to approving or disapproving any unit. Take user reviews with a big grain of salt. I hope you are able to resolve your current issue. Cheers.
 

dan1991Ro

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Oct 1, 2019
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Hey,i also have problems with this game.
Be careful that you wait until the shader packs are installed.
I have a much worse cpu and gpu(3400g with a rx 570) and in warzone on low i get over 60 fps usually.
BUT in the beggining idk what it was but i definetely got 30 fps,very low fps,unplayable.
So its 100 percent the game,its not your pc.
Wait for the shader pack to install,wait until its green and then enter the lobby.I also set the game sometimes to "realtime" on taskbar priority.
Now it seems to be ok for at the moment.
I have other problems,when i alt tab i cant get back to the game,its a black screen.Also get a blackscreen on game startup sometimes.
Idk what it is with this game.
 

Orbit Storm

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Dec 24, 2014
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Hey,i also have problems with this game.
Be careful that you wait until the shader packs are installed.
I have a much worse cpu and gpu(3400g with a rx 570) and in warzone on low i get over 60 fps usually.
BUT in the beggining idk what it was but i definetely got 30 fps,very low fps,unplayable.
So its 100 percent the game,its not your pc.
Wait for the shader pack to install,wait until its green and then enter the lobby.I also set the game sometimes to "realtime" on taskbar priority.
Now it seems to be ok for at the moment.
I have other problems,when i alt tab i cant get back to the game,its a black screen.Also get a blackscreen on game startup sometimes.
Idk what it is with this game.
I don't think it's a shader issue. There are no artifacts or other oddities when the frames drop. It's consistent with voltage/power just dropping off for either the CPU or GPU but both look fine when I monitor them. Haven't run a proper CPU stress test yet but I'm confident it's not the GPU as I've run multiple benchmarks and stress tests (mostly with 3dmark) and all results are great. I don't actually think it's the processor but it's the only thing I haven't stress-tested.

At this point though, I'm not sure what else to look for. Maybe something in the BIOS? Maybe I'm overlooking minor stuff like my 12V hovering around 11.8? I dunno.
 

Orbit Storm

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Again, it's just the game being shi* coded and can give trouble to some (looking at this forum I'd say most but whatever) builds for no reason.
No. "Most" of the complaints are user error or builds on the fringe of necessary specs. I haven't seen many threads, here or elsewhere, from users with $2k+ systems that get these sudden performance drops. Gradual? Sometimes. Unexpectedly low frames? Plenty. Frames dropping by half on a whim until reboot? Not many at all.
 
If changing the resolution scaling and disabling vsync/gsync does not help, I have to suggest disabling auto OC
Your cpu should be more than fine for this game and keep up with your gpu without issue. There may be an issue with the setting on your motherboard to be later fixed.
 
Solution