When you had your friend test, did you make sure s/he was looking at the same area of MD as you, and not at the floor? As a couple others have pointed out, I'd just blame DirectX 9 being slow. It doesn't matter how fast your CPU or GPU are if the graphics API itself is a snail. I run an older i7 2600k with a GTX 970 OC, at max settings, and get anywhere from 20-30fps in the heart of Mor Dhona. S ranks ive dropped to ~15fps. Not unusual in crowded areas. I highly doubt you are bottlenecked anywhere.