getting ready for HL2: tweak guide?

[CptStern]

I'm a little panicky (I played panicky idiot number 2 in the movie The Poseidon Adventure ). My specs:

p4 2.8C
9800 pro
512 mb ram
Catalyst: 4.8

in the half-life stress test I'm getting an average of 35fps at 1024 by 768 2X AA 2X AF, everything on high ...it's seems a little slow for my rig

what can I do to improve my fps? Is there a tweak guide that would help me prepare for HL2's release?

any help would be appreciated

 

[DarkStar]

Do you mean panicky? Sorry, but "panicy" looks a bit too much like "pansy."

Anyway I always apply all these tweaks anytime I do a clean install of XP.

 

[CptStern]

yes, my mistake

thanks for the link ...what about hardware tweaks specific to HL2? I know it hasnt been released but maybe there's some tweaks for CS:S

 

[Subatomic]

The Catalyst 4.9 betas are supposed to increase performance with AA.

 

[blahblahblah]

AA is highly performance intensive. You turn that off, and your VST numbers will be much higher.

However, there is always tweaking that can be done.

1) Uninstall your graphics card drivers and then use a drive cleaner and then install the latest graphics card drivers. That can eek out a few extra FPS by doing that.
2) By an extra stick of RAM. I don't know Canadian prices, but a stick of 256 MB of RAM costs 40 USD.
3) Defrag your harddrive.

There will be no specific HL2 or CS:S tweaks unless you want to change in-game graphics settings. HL2 will be like Doom 3, that both will have a highly optimized engine. If any tweaks do emerge, don't expect then to work for everybody.

 

[CptStern]

AA is highly performance intensive. You turn that off, and your VST numbers will be much higher.

However, there is always tweaking that can be done.

1) Uninstall your graphics card drivers and then use a drive cleaner and then install the latest graphics card drivers. That can eek out a few extra FPS by doing that.
2) By an extra stick of RAM. I don't know Canadian prices, but a stick of 256 MB of RAM costs 40 USD.
3) Defrag your harddrive.

There will be no specific HL2 or CS:S tweaks unless you want to change in-game graphics settings. HL2 will be like Doom 3, that both will have a highly optimized engine. If any tweaks do emerge, don't expect then to work for everybody.

I'll try some of your tips blahblahblah, thanks

I have dual channel ram ..so for me it's about $200 (canadian) for another 512mb

3) my HD is 2 months old ...will defragging make that much of a difference?

 

[blackeye]

Whats the proper order to install drivers in? I hear so many people say that if you dont install your drivers in order it degrades performance.

 

[blahblahblah]

Driver Order I do

1) Motherboard
2) Graphics
3) Sound and peripheral drivers
4) Windows Update

As for degragging, it always helps. Especially since you have installed a bunch of software on a new harddrive, defrag can help make sure everything is properly organized. If nothing else, it will help with loading times for HL2.