What's holding me back?

B

Bugbear

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 13, 2003
Messages
220
My cpu is an AMD 4000+ with 2 gigs of ram and a bfg 7800 gtx oc card. Games like CS:S slow down a bit and get choppy when there are multiple players on screen or with explosions. What's slowing my system down? Is it the processor, the video, both?
 
Is it always laggy? or does it happen after some amount playing time? Temps ok? Case clear of dust? OS running ok (maybe time for re-installing)?

That system 'should' be able to run CS fine, although that GPU is getting pretty dated
 
Temps are fine. Only happens when there's a lot going on on-screen. OS is running fine too. I'm running XP.
 
the entire thing i would say, the source engine is updated frequently so it's always getting more graphically demanding. compared to source when it was released and what it is now, its totally different.
 
but a 7800 gtx should still rip apart any source game except for maybe L4D. I was running CS Source with full eyecandy including AA and getting ~75fps average with a x2 3800 and 7800gtx at 1920x1080. Defrag your harddrive and run some antispyware stuff. Also, make sure the inside isnt full of dust.
 
[A good way to find out if your GPU or CPU limited]
First drop the resolution to as low as it will go, and turn all settings on low. You may even be able to tweak the game to stop rendering some objects, and really drop the graphics quality. If your frame rates don't improve whatsoever, then your CPU/platfrom is limiting your performance. So you would then know, that upgrading your GPU will not bring that game to playable levels.
However, if you find that by lowering your settings to such a disgusting degree, actually brings the game to a playable level. Then an upgrade of the GPU will let you turn the settings up, and your CPU should remain up to the task.
Click to expand...
 
It's either your video card or that you need to clean up your hard drive. Make sure there aren't any programs running in the background that demand a lot of CPU usage as well. Clean installs generally fix those type of problems if you haven't done so in a few years.
 
like risqu3 said, you might wanna just upgrade your system. I doubt it would cost you TOO much to upgrade, considering you have decent psu, and only need to buy like 1g of ram.
 
To be honest, theres nothing that should be holding you back from playing a good game of CS:S unless you're running it on full settings in which case I might tone it down a little. My friend has an older setup than you and he runs TF2 and CS:S just fine, with a AMD 3800, 1gb of ram, some outdated graphics card he got off woot for $24. So, check your drivers, update them if necessary. Try reinstalling windows if you've had this one for awhile, as windows naturally gets cluttered or virus scan if you dont want to do that. Besides that, its going to be hardware based, and thats a fine setup for CS:S.
 
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