Framerate dips

[DarkHelmet]

Anyone else getting this?
Either in larger outdoor scenes, or scenes where they are many enemies/characters in view, my framerate will drop from over 60 down to 5-10 (unplayable).

Specs:

Athlon XP 3200+
1 gig Crucial DDR3200
Gigabyte Geforce 6800 : Forceware 67.05 drivers
WD 80gb HDD 7200RPM

Game Settings:

1280x1024
4xAA, 8xAF
Everything set to HIGH
No V-Sync.

I figured my system should be able to handle it without a problem... Any ideas?

 

[Subatomic]

A regular 6800 is a lot worse than a 6800 GT, It has about the same performance as a 9800XT (My card). Turn your AA to 2x, or off...

I use the same settings as you, just no AA, and I run without a hitch, except for some lag when a new level has just loaded

 

[Warbie]

A 6800 is still considerably better than a an 9800 XT.

It's your cpu that's holding you back (HL2 is more cpu intensive than GPU)

Try dropping your res to 1024*768 and see how it plays.

(My barton is at 2.5 gig and I have a 9800 pro. At 1024*764 with 4*AA and 8*AF the framerate very rarely drops below 60 ...... occasionally it drops to 50-45 in the most intensive areas. HL2 doesn't run any better with the AA and AF turned off - which suggets to me that the cpu is the bottleneck)

 

[zair]

In a different topic we determined that the water reflections can bring even a top of the line system down quite a bit! Specifically in the crane/ant lion area with all the water around. When I turned the water to basic reflections only from reflect all, there was a HUGE difference. It plays much smoother now

 

[DarkHelmet]

A regular 6800 is a lot worse than a 6800 GT, It has about the same performance as a 9800XT (My card). Turn your AA to 2x, or off...

I use the same settings as you, just no AA, and I run without a hitch, except for some lag when a new level has just loaded

I think you're wrong about the videocard. My 3dmark scores:
03: 10698
05: 4380
destroy yours with the 9800 XT.

But maybe Warbie is right, it's the CPU...
but my CPU isn't THAT bad, is it? Guess I will need to get a 64 at some point. Or... Maybe its the 128mb of video memory thats hurting me, when trying to load all the textures in larger scenes.

 

[oldagerocker]

In a different topic we determined that the water reflections can bring even a top of the line system down quite a bit! Specifically in the crane/ant lion area with all the water around. When I turned the water to basic reflections only from reflect all, there was a HUGE difference. It plays much smoother now

I did that also... i was having framerate dips on the airboat section, but ive been getting fps drops or slight pauses before something big physically happens... such as an exploding barrel with lots of wood around it or whatever. Im running a gig DDR400 Ram, Athlon XP 3200+ and 9800 pro. Games all on high though, i expect fps drops, but its mostly around 60.