Any advice - low fps

[~Lazarus~]

AMD Duron 900 Mhz
384 MB RAM PC100Mhz
20GB HDD
DVD/CD
PD
OS : WinME
Hayes Accura V92 Modem (Internal)
ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200 128mb
Detonator 29.42 drivers.
3D Mark Score 5836

Upgraded the GFX Card from Geforce 2 Mx 32 mb which gave me (roughly) 45 fps in CS. 3D Mark score with the above systme and the GF2 card was 2604.

Overall the card has increased the system, however in CS, I STILL get the 40ish fps.

This is on a CLEAN install of CS Retail with NO custom skins/sounds

CS command line :

C:\GAMES\Counter-Strike\cstrike.exe -console -noipx -nojoy -32bbp

Play at 800x600

Main CS Settings :
Rate : 4200
cl_rate : 4000
cl_cmdrate 15
cl_updaterate 30
fps_max "999"
viewsize "110"
gl_dither "1"
gl_polyoffset "0.1"
gl_overbright "1"
gl_flipmatrix "0"
gl_monolights "0"
cl_himodels "0.000000"

ANyone got any clues as to why I am still getting 40ish fps ? With this card I was expecting 99+ constant.

Any advice in increasing the fps (console commands, tweaks etc)

 

[S-Gray]

You should be getting 99fps with that Card. The CS Config isnt really what you should be modifying..

Do this:

Right Mouse Click > Properties on your Desktop
Click Settings Tab > Advanced
Geforce4 4600 (Or whatever you have) > Additional Properties

Antialiasing
Manually select Antialiasing Mode > 4x

OpenGL
Bufferflipping Mode Use Block Transfer
Vertical Sync Always Off



Try that

 

[ECA]

Also go to BIOS and allocate as much memory as possible to the gfx card.
to further boost fps use low detail player models.
your cmdrate should be over your fps, mine is set to 101.
Update your gfx drivers to the latest nvidia detonator drivers.
Update your motherboard drivers - this will give a significant FPS tweak - I used to have an abit board.
Also get the 4-1 via update pack off the abit site.
Update to DirectX 8.1
Update your BIOS.
Defragment your hdd, make sure you have 500megs + free on your hdd.
drop to desktop, right click and go to properties, then go to the settings tab and advanced, make sure your performance tab is set to full hardware acceleration, and make sure your monitor refresh rate is fairly high - theres no point having 100fps if your monitor is only refreshing at 60 - mine refreshes at 85, so as long as my fps doesnt drop below 85 the fps doesnt matter.
Make sure your using OpenGL and using the default opengl drivers in the video settings section within CS.


As for Vsync - people make a big deal over this, from personal experience it never makes a lot of diff, although you can try it.

ingame there are the odd tweaks you can perform
r_drawviewmodel 0/1 - 1 - draws your weapon - 0 - doesnt draw your weapon - this will get you an extra few fps.

I dont tweak ingame gfx settings as I get a near maxxed fps all the time, I have drawviewmodel on toggle tho cuz when your camping you want maximum visibility

 

[ECA]

an odd little thing, but when i was playing a game with a voodoo 3 3000 this game I was playing I was getting a medium fps, so I wanted to tweak it, I took down the gfx details etc. and to my shock I got a worse fps - so try using maximum detail.

 

[S-Gray]

Originally posted by ECA
As for Vsync - people make a big deal over this, from personal experience it never makes a lot of diff, although you can try it.

It made a shitload of Difference for my old GF2 MX400, i was only getting 60fps before i disabled V Sync, once i disabled it, i was getting 70fps, not a big jump but still it makes a difference ingame

/Edit:

I got the info from:

3D Spotlight btw

 

[throdgrain]

I think you're all expecting far too much. I must have said this 20 times to people who've bought new Video cards and expecting an improvement in fps. Hardly ever happens. Try turning up the resolution, you'l find that your pc can run the higher res at the same fps, but it wont improve the lower res fps.
Why? Because your cpu is holding back your fps Im afraid. It simply cant "push the fps along " any faster, though the improved video card can handle the higher resolutions.
Ive experienced this twice before on my own pcs m8, there lies your answer.
p.s. 99fps constant with a 900mhz processor, you should know beter by now Gray

 

[S-Gray]

heh d'oh

 

[ECA]

troddy you spoon
my p3 500 with a gf2 mx 400 was hitting 70fps minimum - topping out at 90-100

but that said for some reason that pc just fcking 0wns, its only 20fps behind my amd 1.5ghz

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by ECA
Also go to BIOS and allocate as much memory as possible to the gfx card.

Just a quick point, but increasing memory used for the grpahics card makes no difference at all these days. It was implemented when most graphics cards had 2MB or 4MB of on-board memory, so reserving system RAM was beneficial. With graphics cards of 32MB or more (Laz's card will have 64MB or 128MB) you're better off setting memory reserved for AGP slot down to the minimum, usually 32MB, or set it at 64MB for running benchmarks.

 

[ECA]

summo, using 3dmark 2001 SE, my system registers about 250 better off when going from 64-128 and about 100-150 when going from 128-256.

Another thing I forgot to mention when your in the BIOS check your AGP settings and make sure its running at 4x - the amount of times people bitch their fps aint what it should and their mobo is set to 2x agp isnt funny.

 

[throdgrain]

Yeah and I got a Morris Marina that does 140 mph lol.
try the hardware forum. See how many pple post with exactly this problem. They all expect better fps, and none of them get it. I have done it twice myself.

 

[Skyler]

Ignore the "you should be getting 99fps with that card" type comments and listen to someone who knows.

FPS in HL is mainly CPU limited more than graphics card limited, ie. a 1.6ghz chip + tnt2 = solid 100 except in smoke...

Your fps should be higher than what you say with a 900mhz chip, but you need at least 1.2ghz cpu speed to achieve 100fps on a more solid basis, 1.4 for solid imo...

I have a 1.6ghz chip + gf4 ti4600 and I get solid 100fps 24/7 no matter what

I was using a tnt2 32mb for a while last week and had 100fps still, just smoke made it drop a little

 

[Tom]

remove the -32bbp from ur command line

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by ECA
summo, using 3dmark 2001 SE, my system registers about 250 better off when going from 64-128 and about 100-150 when going from 128-256.

Yes, I know. I did say you'll only want to increase the AGP memory when running benchmarks for just this reason. Reserving system RAM for a card that has 64MB of onboard RAM is just a waste of system RAM.

Also, for an old game engine like Half-Life you'll not notice a difference between running AGP at x2 and x4.

God I am pernickety today.

 

[S-Gray]

heh time to ask..

When you peeps on Hi Spec Machines run thru Smoke on CS, whats your FPS go to?

When i run thru it, it drops to like 20 / 30fps, so i go shit load meaning i die eventually.

My Specs are

GF3 Ti200 128mb
Athlon 1800+

 

[Summo]

I have 1.4Ghz and a Ti4400. I don't even notice running through smoke. I also run in the top resolution with 4x full-screen anti-aliasing.

 

[S-Gray]

I have it selected to 4x AA too, and my Res is 1024*168, but the res cant be the problem surely?

 

[Skyler]

Originally posted by Super_Gray[SG]
heh time to ask..

When you peeps on Hi Spec Machines run thru Smoke on CS, whats your FPS go to?

When i run thru it, it drops to like 20 / 30fps, so i go shit load meaning i die eventually.

My Specs are

GF3 Ti200 128mb
Athlon 1800+

I dont notice a drop at all

 

[S-Gray]

hmm whats your settings which could effect the FPS Drop runnin thru Smoke?

 

[Skyler]

My settings are all 100% default, out of the box settings

I havent changed a thing except controls a few commands..

Those commands being:

cl_bob 0
scr_conspeed 9999
con_color "255 255 255"

Other than that its all default and still runs at 100fps, I use no "fps h4x" etc.

 

[Trem]

I don't notice it either, or is that because I'm too busy playing the damn game!!!

 

[legendario]

on the thing that gray said about turning antialiasing to 4x....do not do this.

4x AA needs a lot of juice and you will more than likely take a performance hit. IF your concerned about AA set it to 2x there isnt that much difference and it takes less GFX/processing power.

And throddy was right about processor/fps. I had the same prob. but I found there was no decrease at higher resolutions. DDR RAM actually makes a massive difference too but your board wont take it. The GFX card made a big difference with image quality but not fps. And leave Vsync enabled, just increase yer refresh rate. Disabling vsync for me made the image rank even though the refresh rate was set above the fps I was getting.

But i do think you should be geting more FPS with that processor as I was when I had the same setup.

Are you running windows XP?
Is the GFX card sharing any IRQs (not pci steering as this is ok)?
My mate was getting a bit better performance on a P2 400 with a GF2.

 

[~Lazarus~]

k guys. Did some of the things you advised :

Vsync OFF
Bios didnt need updated (at latest revision)
Assigned 32mb memory within BIOS
Manually select Antialiasing Mode > 4x
Bufferflipping Mode Use Block Transfer

Result was : FPS dropped to 16 - 25

Next step is : Install Win2k - anyone think this will benefit ?

Additionally, when I tried last night my connection was whored. Ping shooting up from 250 - 2000. When the ping went up, the fps went down. Coincidence - Im starting to think not.

Anyone understand if connectivity is linked to fps?

Thanks for the advice so far (even if it didnt help)

I gave up playing last night and turned to MoHAA

 

[throdgrain]

There may well be wails and gnashings of teeth when I say this, but I am convinced there is a conection between fps and net conncection yes.
Example.
I have a Athlon 2.0xp/ 512 ddr / GF4 ti 4400 / isdn connection. 9450 3dmark.
My pc owns half-life games right ? I can play CS at 100fps all day long.
However, when I play DoD on the J*lt 32-man server, I loose fps, down to 40 fps occasionally. This is when I come around a corner and see maybe 15 people in an open space all shooting/running about/whatever. Why ? Im sure its the connection. If Embattle was here Im sure he'd leap in to tell us (at some length ) about how he doesnt get that with his cable modem. Bandwith my son, bandwith...

As a sort of control however, my old computer is used by my son these days. Its a P3 1 gig with a GF3 ti 200, and he gets 60 fps on CS pretty much all the time. With a modem. Arrrgghh !

 

[-adz-]

tom was right, if i remember right the 32bpp only slows it down as the half life engine was made to run in 16bpp. Something like that anyway

 

[legendario]

turn off antaliasing.

This will give a serious performance hit.

4x is ridiculous for the performance hit you get Vs the image quality improvement.

2x is substantial. or off if you dont notice any difference.

AA = lower fps.

 

[ECA]

your motherboard drivers are not the same thing as your BIOS.
also if it uses any via chipsets then get the VIA 4-1 pack.
Also update to DX 8.1 if you aint already done so.

 

[Summo]

Originally posted by legendario
turn off antaliasing.

This will give a serious performance hit.

4x is ridiculous for the performance hit you get Vs the image quality improvement.

2x is substantial. or off if you dont notice any difference.

AA = lower fps.

Easy there, legend. Anti-aliasing is entirely a graphics card feature. If your graphics card is up to the job (and a Ti4x00 series definitely is) then 4x AA will not effect performance at all. I run 4x in ALL games, including GTA3 which is a resource hog and there's no drop in performance.

 

[Trem]

I can't run it Summo because putting FSAA on gives me fuzzy text, why is my life so horrible WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

So depressed today, I'm depressed about the sick fucks who killed those girls and I'm depressed because my friend showed me a nasty website which showed a Russian soldier having his throat cut by Chechniyn(sp) rebels, I'm sorry guys but this world is shit and I never ever want to bring kids into this, so sorry to bring a bummer on this thread

 

[throdgrain]

Life is horrible sometimes Tremor, its fucking stupid to revel in it too. If your mate saw some dead people in real life I doubt he'd think it so funny :/