This appears to have been my problem too. Thanks for the help lads

did this except for the shader cache thing, now that config in dx8 runs very nice (albeit still with the occasional drops, but less so). the only gripe is that I cant find a fix for the texture issues (most notably this)

so my best bet is basically just wait till I can upgrade? i mean AMD even got sued over these chips

im getting minimally better performance after doing this, but still getting bad frame drops mid game. cpu usage still doesnt go past 44%

User benchmark with specs: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/21548395 (TF2 is installed on the SSD)

I have been searching around the internet forever to try and find a fix for the framerate on this stupid game. I've got more than capable hardware, as I can run CSGO, L4D2, HL2 at comfortable frames.

No matter what I've tried, I always get the same experience; A solid 150-ish fps while not in battle and constant drops to as low as 30 in high intensity firefights in pubs and especially in community servers.

- I've tried every single config on CFG.TF; either Comanglia's Cinema config, or the old mastercomfig maxperformance, there is 0 difference (except for Cinema running a lot better than the low end configs)

- I've tried all of the new mastercomfig presets and the client application, still no difference

- None of the launch options i've tried have made a noticeable difference (-threads, -high, etc)

- The force_vendor_id/force_device_id trick doesn't work, both as the spoofed GTX 680 and the currently used graphics card

- Changing the ingame settings doesn't make a difference, as the highest settings perform the best

- Using DX80/81 yields minimally better performance but still suffers the 30/45fps mid fight drops, and all the DX90+ settings don't have a noticeable difference performance wise

- Turning off core 0 and setting the game to 7 threads (8 total) makes no difference

- No hats mod didn't change anything

- The -autoconfig -default trick only solidified that the graphics configs made no difference

- Running Steam as administrator after restarting computer doesn't make a difference

- I've completely reinstalled the game 6 times, reinstalled steam twice, and verified game files more times than I can count

- All power options are set to max performance

- Cool'N'Quiet in the BIOS is off, no difference

-I've updated every driver I can

Among many other minor tweaks that have made absolutely no difference.

My CPU usage never goes past 44% ish and GPU averages about 55% with tiny jumps to 70%. Even with maxed out graphics, temps are fine.

I am at my wit's end here. Can anyone help??