Tell me how you do that :O I get 220 in spawn and ~55-60 when I'm in a fight

System:

AMD Phenom II x4 945 3GHz
4gig RAM
ATI HD 4890

I use the dx9 config (tried maxframes but got only ~5fps+)

Really bothers me because I got a 120Hz monitor and I wanna use it to its full potential.

we really shouldn't be derailing this guys thread but i'll anwers you, i used this command "m_filtertextures 1" and i got much smoother fps, like +30 during fights and things. i also found that using recommended settings for the the anti aliasing and the texture filter option in advanced video options helped a little bit. i'd experiment with it.

as for op, i'd check that you have enabled multi core rendering and your core's affinity under task manager.

Multi-core rendering is enabled (that setting is forced on by Chris' maxframes). Also my hl2.exe core affinity is set for both cores at "normal" priority. I've read from multiple threads that setting it to a higher priority could cause issues.

Since creating the thread I've deleted my Team Fortress 2 folder and am still getting the same issue.

#2

If you have an uncapped fps it's not going to remain steady. If you're using maxframes make sure you set the launch options so that you're running -dxlevel 81 on your first launch. Make sure you don't have a lot of background applications and use task manager to filter processes by cpu usage. Ideally, the only % of cpu usage should be coming from hl2.exe. Disable aero if you're running Windows 7 (I forgot to add this in the OP, but I'm running Win7 and have aero disabled) for a few more fps.

this use to happen to me, try updating your video card if it's not updated already. if that doesn't fix it then i recommend you getting a new video card.

Drivers are updated and I don't have this issue with other games. I don't think I've ever lost a frame playing Quake Live.

does this happen on local servers with only yourself playing?

Yes. I just tested it out and it will stay at 131 and then dip to yellow every 5-10 seconds. I was just looking at a wall in spawn (offline) while I was testing.

Have you been able to watch your CPU load while it happens? If not I recommend opening task manager. Making sure task manager is "always on top". Resize it so all that you see is your CPU load. Open TF2. Play. Watch. Hopefully it helps you figure out the problem faster.

It's hl2.exe taking up absurd amounts of cpu at random times, but it only happens with TF2. The CPU spikes up - but it's only for TF2. Like I said, the affinity shows both cores and the priority is normal so I don't know what the cause is.

pls halp im running out of ideas

I really dont think there's any benefit to allowing TF2 to use multiple cores. Search your Chris' config for the command "mat_queue_mode" and change its value to 0 to disable multi-core. Like I said, I've never heard a single negative thing about using that, and the benefit is your POV demos will never crash again while skipping ticks. I wonder if this will help at all.

Just found this very informational guide for the first time ever just now.

http://whisper.ausgamers.com/wiki/index.php/Fps_problems

when i was on a phenom build having an xbox360 controller driver caused me to stutter in tf2, on the offchance you might have one.

#12

Thanks, this link is pretty interesting. Most of it is basic system compatibility check but there's some stuff here worth trying. I'll post the fix if one of these ends up working for me.

#13

Nope, however I have some mouse drivers that are worth cleaning out if that fixes the problem.

Try getting an invite to this new Razer software.

http://teamfortress.tv/forum/thread/898-razer-booster

you don't even need an invite, the same software is available for free under the name "Game Booster", it's basically the same software rebranded as razer.

I think I found the issue. Apparently Everest was giving me false temps on the CPU cores. While playing, Everest said my CPU was running at about 50 degrees. The outside of my desktop felt cool so it seemed reasonable and I didn't doubt it. When launching Game Booster the temps at the bottom when running TF2 for a while measured 80 degrees (Celsius).

Needless to say, that's wayyyy hotter than it should be and it was worth investigating. I found out that one of the main fans had a bent blade and was getting stuck from rotating the majority of the time. Hopefully replacing the fan and cleaning all the dust out of my pc fixes the issue.

UPDATE - Even with installing a working fan, Game Booster still says my CPU is running at 81 degrees or 178 farenheit. The temp never seems to change from playing and idling so I'm questioning how accurate it is compared to the Everest temp that fluctuates from 38-50 or so. I find it hard to believe it's running at 81 Celsius when there's a fan and liquid cooling just for the CPU. The exterior of the PC feels cool as well and there is no signs of overheating outside of TF2. Still having the same bugs.

Also, running Game Booster has caused my computer to crash in the same way as described in enigma's thread. I haven't had this issue in a year with TF2 so I'm pretty sure it's directly related with Game Booster.

WELL, THE HUNT CONTINUES. I think I've narrowed it down though:

TF2 hates my processor or graphics card. I've read threads saying that TF2 hates AMD processors and others on this board saying TF2 hates 8800/9800/other NVIDIA cards. Luckily, I have both!

so, maybe it's only a cpu bottlenecking problem.

#19 i have a similar setup (his video card is better) i just dip a ton like 200+ when im not fighting and then i'll get 50-70 durin fights needs to be fixed.

I don't think so. The CPU is just slow.

Amd's philosophy since a while back (phenom 1) was that Multithreaded apps will become the norm. They threw out single threaded performance for Lots of cores and MT optimizations. Amd is still on that philosophy, Look at bulldozer.

Tf2 isn't a heavily threaded application. If it was we'd see more fps per core.

==============

OP, try using the TLB patch (only for amd)

On my past system with a PhenomII 940x4. I benched 20 frames higher on the x264 benchmark than without the patch.

This exact thing happened to me a couple months ago. After doing all the same things you did-- verify/defrag/reinstall/viruscheck/etc (with nothing working), I did a major compressed air clean job, and the that seemed to fix the problem entirely.

fuck you all

He's already running Maxframes and should have those in his launch options. His hardware is probably just old and needs an upgrade.

What do you think a CPU bottleneck is?

When other components are being limited by it. If he upgrades his GPU and if there are any FPS gains at all (especially with GPU intensive applications), I can assume there is no bottleneck with CPU<->GPU.

I forget what review site had a nice experiment about bottlenecking. But basically they benched a high-end intel cpu with a configuration of regular/tri/quad-SLI nvidia graphics cards and the benchmark showed a clear bottleneck which was indicated with near zero fps gains between the SLI configurations.

Though I still have a tough time getting my mind around this concept of 'bottleneck'...How can you even diagnose one without having to upgrade/spend money. Most of the times I see it used, it's just a moniker for "slow cpu".

A bottleneck in a computer is anything limiting your performance. That is why unless your computer is infinitely powerful, you will always have a bottleneck. So in this case, since TF2 is very CPU dependent, his slow CPU is the limiting factor or bottleneck.

Unless you have some obscene or cryptic problems with your computer you can easily determine what kind of bottlenecks your computer has with certain applications without spending any money.