Low Frame Rates for Half-Life 2.... help!

[whr2206]

Hey all...

I've been getting some weird numbers for frame rates.... On some maps like de_dust 2 I get like 15-40 fps when the round first starts (at the end its like 50-85) But on other maps like prodigy I get higher fps.. I've got no clue what kind of fps I should be getting but its a BIT laggy at times.. How could I increase my FPS?

My Specs Are:
Asus a7v8x-x Mobo
AMD 2500+ Barton w/ Thermaltake Copper Heatsink Fan
1gb Crucial pc 2700 RAM
ATI 9800pro AIW
32x12x40 Lite On Cd Burner
Floppy
80gb WD 7200prm 8mb cache hd
Antec 350Watt Psu
Linksys Nic
Hercules Gaming Theater 6.1
Generic Case
etc.

Here are my half life settings... I don't really want to downgrade the graphics settings to get better FPS but Someone suggested to change to Directx 8 for amix of higher fps but still good graphics?
* = Recomended Setting

Model Detail - Medium*
Texture Detail - Medium*
Water Detail - Reflect World*
Shadow Detail - High*
Antialiasing Mode - None*
Filtering Mode - Trilinear*
Shader Detail - High*
Wait for Vertical Sync - Disabled*
Hardware Directx Level Directx v9.0
Software Directx Level Directx v9.0

Oh yeah, I looked around online for ATI's most updated drivers.. But I couldn't find the ones for my card
Any suggestions? thanks a lot! :)

[BeardedClem]

All ATI Radeon cards use a unified driver. The newest version for WinXP is catalyst 5.2 here:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-w2k-catalyst-8-09-041221m-020455c.exe

Try these before any other tweaks. How old are the drivers you have now?

[netnamakan]

How much are you running in the system tray?

Also, check in the task manager and see how many processes your running.

And as always check for spyware/adware.

Is it the only game you get bad performance? and what are the temps?

edit: just thought I would mention that I get way different framerates on each map. Also what are you using to tell you framerates, or is it just visible?
Because I noticed that fraps really slows down alot of games.

namakan

[Hi Ho]

Try updating your drivers. I have all the settings as high as they go including 6x AA and I get perfectly smooth performance in both single and multiplayer. I don't know what the frame rates are (don't know how to find out :eek: ) but it must be over 30.

[whr2206]

Try updating your drivers. I have all the settings as high as they go including 6x AA and I get perfectly smooth performance in both single and multiplayer. I don't know what the frame rates are (don't know how to find out :eek: ) but it must be over 30.

type in the console cl_showfps 1 for your framrates...

Ok, thanks for the link to the drivers... ATI's website IMO is hard to navigate to find what you need...

Netnamaken - Yes, I have scanned with a number of programs for spyware/adware.... I've posted my hijackthis log... and have deleted what people have told me to...

I'll get back to you guys... :)

[whr2206]

Try updating your drivers. I have all the settings as high as they go including 6x AA and I get perfectly smooth performance in both single and multiplayer. I don't know what the frame rates are (don't know how to find out :eek: ) but it must be over 30.

oh yeah.. I forgot to ask... What resolution are you playing at, and does running it in a window affect your FPS??

[Hi Ho]

I'm running at 1024x768. I have never run it in a window. Don't know why anyone would. :confused: I have tried it at 1280x720 (highest monitor will go) and the performance was still good.

[whr2206]

haha I run it in a window just to see if anyone IMs me or anything... OR sometimes I play with music..

BTW THANKS for those drivers... wow really made a difference.. In the settings before these 5.2 drivers the recomended settings were Medium* for everything... But now the recomended settings are High... My FPS are a lot better... I guess the whole time i was downloading the wrong drivers?!

thanks a lot! :)

[Hi Ho]

Good to hear you got it working better. You know you can play music without it being windowed and if you use MSN Messenger you can set it to show alerts while in a full screen program by unchecking that box in options. I don't know if other IM programs have that option or not.

[BeardedClem]

Helping someone in need warms my baboon heart. And it gives me an excuse to go get a beer from the fridge so you're welcome and thanks. Glug, glug.

[Hi Ho]

I checked my framerates and I'm getting about 40-60FPS in all levels but "Follow Freeman" where it drops to 25 once in a while. I'm surprised.