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New CPU / GPU for TF2?
Created 15th September 2009 @ 09:32
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Im really getting frustrated with my fps drops in TF2. Since the SnipervsSpy Stuff in May, my fps drastically dropped from like a constant 60-80 to 25-40 on dx9. Thats not a big problem, but when theres too much action going on in the middle the game begins to stutter. I tried everything to stop it, but even with FPSconfigs that give me 50 more fps, I still get those stutters. Found out that almost evryone that has a similiar rig has the same probs, so next month Im gonna get some money for my birthday so I wanna upgrade my PC. First of all here are my specs
AMD x2 6000+ (2 * 3000 MHZ)
2gb RAM
ATI x1950 PRO 512 MB PCI-e
So I personally think the problem here is the graphics card. Its really old (2006). But I often hear TF2 depends more on the CPU so could that be a reason? I dunno, I personally think the CPU is still fine and only the GPU sucks with TF2.
So if you agree with me that the problem is the graphics card, heres MY suggestion: I wanna change to Nvidia, cause I asked so many people that have none of those fps problems and they all have Nvidia cards so I guess its the better choice.
So what Nvidia card would you suggest? Im not really in to all those Graphic Card numbers so I dont really now whats “teh shiiat” at the moment. Pleaser regard that my budget will be about 150€, if its a REALLY good deal, I would go up to 200€.
Thanks for your help and as usual, sorry for the grammar and spelling mistakes :)
new g/card all the way you can pick up a ati 4850 brand new for about 70 quid and will perform alot better than your current card
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_4850/18.html
g/cards give bigger improvment than cpus per $$$
didnt read it properly but anything including and upwards of GT 8800 512mb would be fine
its not like ati gpus lag u know :] .. i have an ati raedon 4830 and runs it on 100+ fps on highest config and it costs ~90$ or less
but u better go for an 4850 or 4870
CPU has little to no effect. Going from e6600 -> i7 did nothing for me. Going from 8800gt -> 4870×2 did a whole lot. Get a 5870/5850 if you can wait a short while. Or whatever nvidia is offering next, doesn’t really matter. Current cards are pretty cheap, but also pretty power-hungry — and runs quite hot.
Depending on what resolution you play in, you could even get a passive-cooled 4850 for next to nothing.
Are you planning to use an fps config? If so: CPU. Your CPU is a major bottleneck. If not: GPU can increase performance, but don’t expect miracles. You will never hit stable 60+ framerates with that cpu.
Are you planning to use an fps config? If so: CPU. Your CPU is a major bottleneck. If not: GPU can increase performance, but don’t expect miracles. You will never hit stable 60+ framerates with that cpu.
Well actually I wanted to play on dx9 then :(
Meh
But even if its like stable 55 fps or whatever that would be ok for me. Im not that dude that goes “OMG need 200 fps or I wont hit shit” I just want the game to run fine for me.
Both of those should be sufficient for TF2. Have you got multicore rendering enabled by any chance? That is known to cause stuttering with certain AMD CPUs, although I can’t remember if the 6000+ was one of those.
To be honest, I would upgrade either all of it or none of it.
CPU has little to no effect. Going from e6600 -> i7 did nothing for me. Going from 8800gt -> 4870×2 did a whole lot. Get a 5870/5850 if you can wait a short while. Or whatever nvidia is offering next, doesn’t really matter. Current cards are pretty cheap, but also pretty power-hungry — and runs quite hot.
Depending on what resolution you play in, you could even get a passive-cooled 4850 for next to nothing.
Did you have a clocked e6600?
My i7 did huge improvements on my fps.
If you choose to upgrade your gfx-card, choose ATI.
4850/4870 will definatly give you most “bang for buck”.
If you have the money, do as Gryzor says. Wait for the dx11 cards.
first question, do you have an AM2 or AM2+ motherboard? if you have an AM2+ mobo, you can get an phenom II CPU, then upgrade the GPU and memory aswell, but keep the mobo
These are emails from robin walker on the steam forums.
quote:
Comparing TF2’s performance to another game isn’t really a useful comparison, because different games have different performance characteristics. Even when games share a fairly similar engine, like TF2 & L4D, it’s still not always a useful comparison, because they might be trying to do different things that result in different performance challenges.
For instance, a big part of TF2’s performance is spent on its characters, which we deemed to be the most important part of the game. Unfortunately, the bulk of that performance time is spent on animation, and most of that impacts your CPU. Most games that are considered graphics heavy, like Crysis, spend the bulk of their time on the GPU.
I’m not trying to argue against your performance experience, by the way, I’m just pointing out that when game X runs well, it doesn’t mean game Y should run equivalently on the same hardware, even if they came out at roughly the same time.
quote:
The problem is that the TF2 engine was written before multicore became pervasive, so it wasn’t architected with multiple cores in mind. We did get some parallelization in towards the end, and a little bit more after release, but they were only in systems that were largely independent of other systems. Re-architecting the engine to be designed for multicore from the ground up is a lot more than we could do in TF2’s lifetime, and hence it’s never going to use multiple cores as effectively as the engines that have come after it (L4D / L4D2).
Minor note: all TF2 machines report back min/max/avg FPS to our backend servers, indexed by CPU & GPU. The average framerate for a 4 core, 2.4 Ghz Intel CPU with a GTX 275 card is 79 fps. So if you’re seeing 40 fps, you’re definitely not getting what you should be getting. I assume you’re running the latest drivers?
@Koeitje
i have ati 4830 and a cpu e5200 (2×2.5ghz), still i can exceed 100 fps with highest settings in empty lan server , and 60+ on any full server except for sawmill and vaiduct (weather effects) .. so a dual core can just doit ;]
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