Low FPS in TF2

[DEATH eVADER]

I have recently installed the new 195.62 drivers for my nVidia 9800GTX. From what I can tell from the System Information tab at the bottom of the nVidia Control Panel my system has DirectX11.

Now I know that this version of DirectX shouldn't give a boost in performance for pre-existing games, but what is worrying is that I am experiencing worse performance in some games. I do know that Source Engine games have taken a hit; Ep2 has 20-25 FPS, HL2 has unstable FPS (between 15/35), and TF2 runs well at first (30-40 FPS) then slowly creeps down to 5FPS in less than 10 minutes.

To give you an idea, HL2 and EP2 use to play fine (never dropped below 30) and TF2 would not drop below 25 (This being in huge firefights)
Rather than blame the DirectX version or Driver Version, I was hoping to see if anybody else has had the same problem.

The other specs are

Gigabyte X48-DS4 Mainboard
Corsair 2x2Gb DDR2-SDRAM PC2-6400
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz

 

[Viperidae]

I wasn't aware the 9800 supported DX11--which begs the question of why you have DX11.

And yeah afaik DX11 isn't very optimised atm.

 

[VirusType2]

Roll back the drivers

Also, you can't take any advantage from DX11 unless your card supports it.

 

[Asus]

You have DX11, the software, installed from MS. You can not enable DX11 effects as your GPU is not. Games will be run using DX8, 9 or 10 paths.

If you installed a newer driver and get lower performance then roll back to the previous version. You should be back to the performance you were used to if it was the driver at fault. New drivers can result in worse performance for some things which is why usually it is recommended only to upgrade if you use the things on the list of improvements for that driver version.
(Example for v195.62: Includes numerous bug fixes including improved performance for Need for Speed: Shift.)

I remember a Nvidia driver update back in the day made the graphics weird in BF1942. That was right when it was popular and everyone had to roll back to the older nvidia version.

 

[VirusType2]

So what happens Asus, it ignores DX11, and just defaults to a lesser?

The game wouldn't run at all if DEATH eVADER didn't have a compatible version of DirectX installed. It's got to be a video driver or video card issue.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Finally got it running at a pace that I like, by going back to the 180's drivers

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Sorry to bump this thread but I'm still having problems; it turns out the game will hold out at 40-70 fps for a longer time then the other drivers, then it will plummet (the 182.50 drivers). And as the latest drivers are even worse, I was wondering if anybody would advise me on the best drivers. This is for the Vista OS, but if anybody knows the best drivers for Win7 too I would appreciate the help (dual boot)

 

[VirusType2]

Plummeting performance sounds like a heat issue for the CPU or video card. Are you overclocked?

A bug in the program--like a memory leak or stack problem--could also cause degrading performance, but other people aren't having the problem, and I know you've got your game updated because it's Steam.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Plummeting performance sounds like a heat issue for the CPU or video card. Are you overclocked?

A bug in the program--like a memory leak or stack problem--could also cause degrading performance, but other people aren't having the problem, and I know you've got your game updated because it's Steam.

I have found people with simillar specs on the Steam Forum that are encountering problems, but regardless I was going to spend this months money on general maintenance of my rig anyway (Fans, Cleaning Agents, Etc)

Can you recommend any fans or cooling equipment (Except Hydro)?

If the cooling on my GPU, which is a 9800GTX, is crappified, where should I get a replacement unit

Would something like this work?

 

[VirusType2]

I can't help you with cooling solutions; I just don't know enough about them.

If other people are having the same problem with that card and that game, then cooling solutions won't fix it. In other words, it could be an issue with the card, drivers, or the game itself.

What did you learn about the problem from them?

 

[DEATH eVADER]

I am getting bizarre readings; I have solved the problem, I think, by cleaning out the fan/heatsink on the processor. Speedfan before cleaning said that my processor was idling at 40, but after it says its 29 (after playing a game of TF2, which runs steady now)

And after playing a game of TF2, the temperature has dropped from 90 (before cleaning; despite not able to clean the GPU due to the big cover) to 61.

Does the Automatic Speed Fan toggle in Speedfan affect the Processor directly, and would the same apply to nTune.

 

[barbarbarbarbar]

Nvidia 9 series sucks - I'm having the same problems T_T

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Nvidia 9 series sucks - I'm having the same problems T_T

Install speedfan, and tell me what readings you are getting on your cores and GPU. Plus it might be telling you to stick a vacuum nozzle inside your case.