That is a huge amount of difference between your comparisions.
But yes, it is true that the UI slows down the framerate a lot.
It is due partly to the way that EQ2 displays text. The more chat windows you have, the more your system will slow down. In fact, the more of any window that is open, the more EQ2 will slow down
One of the quick ways is to clear your chat windows text is by right-clicking on the chat window and selecting "Clear Text" so that there is less text on the screen.
You can set chat windows to hide unless you move the mouse over them. I have heard that helps.
And I would also disable smooth fonts. In game, go to:
Options > User Interface > Game Windows > Smooth Fonts
Getting a new UI from EQ2Interface may not be an option because, even though they look smaller, most have extra windows that are displayed and may slow your performance down more.
I'll also see if I can find this chat window mod I saw once that removed shadows from the text which helped performance.
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