CS Source low frame rates

pmontone · #1 (**permalink**) 07-25-2005, 02:12 PM

Hey I have a Inspiron 8600 with a 9600 Pro Turbo and when I play CS Source I only get 20fps at 1280x800 low settings, I have tried running at 1024x768 with all low settings and still get the same rates. I have tried using the dell drivers and the newest omega drives is what I am using now. Is this the average frame rate for a 9600 PT? or is it my system ram i only have 512mb.
Here are my sys specs:

Dell Inspiron 8600
Pentium M 1.6GHz
512MB PC2700
Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo 128MB
Toshiba 80GB 4200RPM

Blahman · #2 (**permalink**) 07-25-2005, 02:16 PM

CS:S is a pretty demanding game especially on large servers. Try playing alone and then with just a few other players and see if it's playable.

DanFortH · #3 (**permalink**) 07-25-2005, 03:12 PM

pm,

I know this stuff is obvious, but did you try changing the advanced graphics settings in Source? Blahman's right, it's somewhat demanding, but I managed to play reasonably quickly on medium to medium/low settings on a desktop with far far inferior specs to your laptop. I see no reason you couldn't play it. RAM isn't as much an issue, and 1.6 GHz isn't fast, but I played using a 1.4 Ghz Celeron and 512 RAM, and it ran pretty smooth. Just lower settings. Still got wupped up 'cuz everything was inferior to the rest of the crowd, but those specs you have aren't toss-it-out-the-door horrible. Try fiddling with quality settings, and pleez tell us you're using a DSL line.

vietboy · #4 (**permalink**) 07-25-2005, 03:42 PM

I have a 9600 for the desktop and I get average 85 fps on the stress test

pmontone · #5 (**permalink**) 07-25-2005, 08:14 PM

Yeah all my advanced settings are set to low, and still only around 20fps even on my own server its still just as low. I thought it was a driver problem but like i said i have tried both the newest omega drivers and the dell drivers.

DanFortH · #6 (**permalink**) 07-25-2005, 09:23 PM

Oh right. Skimmed through your first post, sorry. Hmmm. Not real sure here. Most people will tell you the usual: Shut down unnecessary tasks, don't run any background antivirus programs if you don't need to.

did you update to 5.7 catalyst drivers? My 9800 runs smooth with them. I was also able to get stable gameplay with midrange FPS out of Doom3 when I had the Mobility 9700 in my XPS, medium settings of course, so I can't believe your 9600 won't play freaking CS:Source.

Somethings bloating the system. Try either reinstalling the current driver or go to the new Catalysts. Here's a link from DriverHeaven for the mobility Catalysts:

Document Moved

Defrag.
Add/Remove unused programs.
Check msconfig by using Windows "run" app. to make sure you've unchecked all programs from the :C drive you don't want starting up with Windows
Download Cacheman, and run a memory optimization to ensure as much of the game is running in memory as possible.

These are mostly tweaks, but you check that you've downloaded the most recent DirectX support to date. Steam has reminded me before, but that was on nVidia supported cards. I've never been scolded by Steam to update the ATI card.