A lot of people have seen large decreases in FPS recently for seemingly unexplainable reasons other than lots of new items, could you're having a problem with that. Reinstalling everything isn't likely to have much of an effect. Are you using an FPS config?
Also how much RAM does your laptop have, 54% usage given those numbers seems a bit high.

it's probably your gpu since most laptop graphics cards suck

I thought that at first, but given he said he was getting 500 then to 200, presumably with the same hardware, I doubt it's a hardware issue. Also technically it would be "most laptop gpus suck", laptops don't have graphics cards.

My frames also unexplainably go down to 30-50 when I get >100 normally. Perhaps it's the cpu getting old or overheating too much? I'm not so sure because it happens even right after I start up the computer.

maxframes with dx8.1

6GB

sure they do, usually soldered to the mobo but it's there

That's the GPU, "graphics card" refers to the whole thing, GPU, PCB, cooler, PCI bracket, etc

im using GeForce GTX 660M and im actually using the mini-displayport output in my laptop to hook up with my monitor (asus vg248)

Doesn't seem like a hardware problem to me, what settings are you using?

-dxlevel 81 -full -w 1600 -h 900 -console -novid -useforcedmparms -noforcemaccel -noforcemspd

with default maxframes

haha what

laptops have all those things, except for maybe the bracket since they're not removable anyway

This is a graphics card

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2013/11/nvidia-gtx-780-ti-3gb-review/780ti-1b.jpg

This is a GPU

http://www.techyuva.com/wp-content/uploads/GPU_NVidia_NV40_6800GT_AGP.jpg

yes i am aware thanks mate

are you saying laptops have bare gpus with no PCB or cooling?

how very nice of you to derail an otherwise productive and intelligent thread with your useless internet arguments

someone said i was wrong

i had to i am sorry

Tf2 drops to 16-20 fps when mimized, there's a way to change it too (it's some sort of delay cvar, streamers use it so they can maintain a high framerate when minimized; i don't remember what it is). This is likely why it is using so little cpu.

Screenshot the cpu usage over time on the performance tab so you can see some historical data! (Oh and, set it to show once graph for every logical cpu).

With multicore rendering enabled tf2 uses about 25% of my i7 (quad core + hyperthreading).

Check what this cvar is set to on your system (default is 50, it is in units of ms)

engine_no_focus_sleep

This means that when the game is minimized the max frame rate it can run at is 1/.05 which is 20fps and will not need as much cpu!

Try setting the cvar to 0 and see what the cpu usage is while minimized.

Also, make sure mat_queue_mode is set to -1 (This enables multicore)

I went from 200 frames on mid to 90 also ):

my mat_queue_mode was set to 2, thanks for the tip!

but, like you, my comp also uses about 25% of the cpu. i guess the problem lies with tf2, sad that performance is only declining with each "update".

Do you have the laptop set to "High Performance" in the power options? (EDIT I looked at your first picture haha)

Do you have the video card enabled (often Nvidia's Optimus lets you switch between integrated and your actual gpu).

Do you have an updated Nvidia driver? The latest for you looks to be 331.82 from here:
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/70187

i personally got better performance when i set tf2 be high priority using a program called prio.
http://www.prnwatch.com/download/
goofy domain name.. lol

i've modified the balanced settings to include everything high performance upgrades in terms of processor and gpu limitations

im not sure where to check if i have the card enabled, but it is driving my monitor and in the nvidia control panel, it has this:

http://i.imgur.com/SBbdvj5.png

not sure what to pick here.

my driver is up to date.

does putting -high in tf2's launch options do the same thing, or is this different?

Setting -high should also set TF2's priority.

I doubt it will help anything, and may even make things worse. You have plenty of CPU power available so it's not like TF2 is fighting other processes for the CPU. Often priority settings also mess with the other processes that an application integrates with. You should not need to set high priority.

What temperature is your system getting up to while gaming? You can use HWMonitor to check these.

Have you tried (backing maps/configs/demos up first) deleting (or renaming) the "Team Fortress 2" folder in the common steam files? (This will cause steam to re-generate them)

try using no hats config, the same thing happened due to a new update including lots of hats and using that config helped a lot.

i've never seen my comp peak over 90°C

im in the process of re-installing tf2 (having copied the tf folder)

and when i've tried using -high in the past it just increased stuttering

Thanks man!