Hey Guys, I need help!

So, I recently built a new PC and in TF2 it seems like I am getting extremely low FPS no matter what the graphic settings.

Machine is: AMD X2 5600+ (dual 2.8) GigaByte M61P-S3, 2GB Gskill DDR2-800 (5-5-5-15), OCZ 700W PS, Dual WD SATA2 7200RPM Drives in RAID 0, Running XP SP2, Direct X 9c Through GeForce 8800GT 512 to a LG 22"WS @ 1680x1050.

In TF2 I get 100+ FPS at Spawn and in intense action it can drop to ~25 FPS. This seems unusual.
I have updated all drivers including Chipset, Video (New, Old, & Beta) Tried disabling everything in msconfig, updated BIOS FW, tried various BIOS configs, unplugged peripherals and anything else I can think of. Even if I run the monitor @ 1280x1024 it does the same thing.

Any Suggestions???

TF2 is based off the HL2 engine, and like CS:S it's quite CPU bound. In fact quite a lot of online multiplayer games are like that nowadays, I don't know if it's the physics engine, netcode or hitbox detection that is so CPU intensive.

Anyhow, try overclocking your CPU and see if it helps. An X2 5600+ should be able to overclock to around 3.3GHz, that may help you get closer to 30fps, and speaking from experience, there is a BIG difference between 25fps and 30fps!

welcome to dx10!

right...

That does seem unusual though, a X2 5600+ sounds like it would play it fine at max settings...

This is VERY strange, i can run it fine on my old 3.5ghz Northwood P4 with a 6800GT!

Only thing i can think of is possibly formatting the computer and reinstalling everything from scratch with all the latest drivers. Apart from that i'm totally bemused.

c'mon ppl!! THe 5600 X2, is too slow for TF2?? Gimme a break. Didn't you read the comparison in the legion hardware site? anything above a 4000+ X2 is fine for any type of game. I think there might be something else wrong in your system. Try a clean install of XP and see what happenes. Also, do you have similar problems with other games?

Yeah, began the reload last night. Working on the patching and what not...

After reload, same thing... Ran PC mark and everything looks fine. Tried disabling all onboard peripherals and using PCI ones with no change. Tried jacking up the fan 100% to be sure there is no overheating. Only thing I can come up with is the fact that I mostly play 32 man maps , though I can get the problems with just a few people present. I have Comcast Cable and the connection in my area is awesome.

???? Guess this the way it is going to be.

Even if you get really bad lag, your fps should still stay high. Lag doesn't effect fps.

Is TF2 optimized for dual cores? If not, you can try downloading and install CPU optimizer for AMD. I know it helps in some of the games that I play.

Also, have you checked the temps of your CPU and GPU while you're playing. Try downloading speedfan and rivatuner and see if you've got some abnormal temps.

h\Have the optimizer installed. Temps are well within range.

Check your bios for a setting called Nvidia GPU EX. Make sure that is off. When I had XP I went from 6000 points with 3dmark06 to 10500 when I turned that setting off.

Now if I could find something like that to help me with Vista... Back to getting 6000 points can't figure it out =(

Im having the same problems getting like 20 fps in a big fight in tf2.

Im running X2 4600+ 2 gig ddr 400 ram wd raptor hdd and 2 nividia 7800 gt's in sli mode.

iv tried a full format and re install but thats not helping.

on thing i noticed is if you run task manager and look at the cup performance one core is maxed out and one core is doing nothing..

does not matter what settings you run full or lowest its the same.

got me stumped..