TF2 Slowdowns...

[eraser]

Is anyone else getting random slowdowns during TF2?

It'll be like, 5 minutes smooth as butter, even with TONS of people on the screen, but then 5 minutes later my FPS will go between 20-30. I know it's not a problem with my computer being incapable, due to "5 minutes smooth as butter, even with TONS of people on the screen".

Any fixes for this? This happening to anyone else?

Oh yes and, latest video card drivers of course, 2 NVIDIA SLI'd 7950GTs, 2 GB Ram, XP Home, Intel Core 2 Duo X6800 @ 2.93. ALSO, I tried rolling back to drivers from Nov '07, still the same problem.

Damn.

edit: Not sure if this is in the wrong forum. (Help & Support Desk instead?)
If it's wrong could someone move it, please?

 

[(SGA) Doctorwho]

There might be a few ways to solve your problem:

- What is your ping? Depending on how high your ping is or what the server latency is lag can become a problem and reduce your frame rates. Go into the connect to server window and got to change filters; then under latency select >50 and see if that makes a difference.

- Are the cards seated properly in their PCI express slots? Slowdown can occur if your cards have wiggled loose from their connectors. Open up your case and put a little pressure on both sides of the card for a few seconds you should hear a small click. You can do the same thing with the SLI bridge connector.

-Do you run AVG antivirus on your machine? AVG 8 has been known to cause slowdown in
TF2. Try disabling it before playing the game and see if that changes anything.

- Try turning off HDR lighting and motion blur in the advanced section of the options menu. Geforce 7 Series cards usually run into horrible slowdown if you run HDR and AA at the same time turn HDR and motion blur off and see if that makes any difference.

 

[eraser]

I've put my responses in bold print.

There might be a few ways to solve your problem:

- What is your ping? Around 10-20 on a good server.

- Are the cards seated properly in their PCI express slots? Will try and post back with results, though I don't think they've become unadjusted.

-Do you run AVG antivirus on your machine? Nah, had it for about 2 days and uninstalled it/it's folders about a week ago though.

- Try turning off HDR lighting and motion blur in the advanced section of the options menu. Geforce 7 Series cards usually run into horrible slowdown if you run HDR and AA at the same time turn HDR and motion blur off and see if that makes any difference.
The thing with this one is, it only started happening very recently (last 2 months). Before that it was always smooth as butter with HDR and AA on/Max Settings on everything else.

I appreciate the lengthly response, I'll get back to you.

 

[(SGA) Doctorwho]

When you upgraded your Nvidia Drivers you might have downloaded Nvidia WHQL version 177.
Those drivers were made for the Geforce GTX 200 series cards putting those on your machine would cause the problem. You could also have remnants of older display drivers on your hard drive that would wreak havoc.

-In the event that this happened get Nasty File Remover from Guru3d and run it to remove your Nvidia drivers.

-Once you have a clean slate get the latest 7 Series-compatable drivers WHQL Version 175 from Nvidia and install them

 

[Adabiviak]

I did, but just before that match of TF2, I had a message recommending defragmentation of my TF2 files, which I ignored for the time being. I haven't played since defragmenting them (last night)... I'll let you know if this cures this instance of slowdown for me.

edit - my 'Internal Data Fragmentation' was 15% at the start.

 

[eraser]

Well, I took my PC apart, and checked the cards like you said, they were in fine.

Thing is, my PC's fans/vents were covered in so much dust from poor maintenance that it literally looked like a dungeon. After cleaning it out and playing a few rounds of TF2, I don't want to jinx it, but it seems to be fine.

Looks like I'll be taking better care of my PC from now on. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Druckles]

Try AVG.

 

[Iron_cube]

lol oh noes, 20-30

That's my permanent rate in normal situations

 

[(SGA) Doctorwho]

Well, I took my PC apart, and checked the cards like you said, they were in fine.

Thing is, my PC's fans/vents were covered in so much dust from poor maintenance that it literally looked like a dungeon. After cleaning it out and playing a few rounds of TF2, I don't want to jinx it, but it seems to be fine.

Looks like I'll be taking better care of my PC from now on. Thanks for the help guys.

Eraser, if you take some swiffer cloths and some masking tape you can make air filters for your computer's fan's and vents that will help to cut down on the amount of dust in your machine or you can buy fan filters from newegg.

 

[eraser]

lol oh noes, 20-30

That's my permanent rate in normal situations

I definitely feel you man, I hated that shit with my old PC.

Eraser, if you take some swiffer cloths and some masking tape you can make air filters for your computer's fan's and vents that will help to cut down on the amount of dust in your machine or you can buy fan filters from newegg.

I'll check it out, Thanks.