Help! FPS Issues

Hey All,

I'm just writing in to complain of a bit of an issue. I have a NVidia 8600MGT DDR2 w/ 256MB. I just purchased left for dead, and the game is so slow (FPS wise) I cant stand to play it! Can anyone give me some advice? (Ive even set the game to 1024x768, but the frames per second are still dragging along). Is it a driver issue? Or is my one year computer already antiquated? I appreciate the help in advance.

PS- Using Riva Tuner, I already have my card overclocked 25%.

System Specs:
Vostro 1500
1.8Ghz Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM
256 MB 8600MGT
Vista
Driver: 174.31 (I got this information from Rivatuner).

 

Try turning off multi-core rendering, that's known to cause stuttering.

If that's not the case, maybe your AA is too high? I know I can run L4D pretty much maxed at 1280x800 as long as AA isn't above x2.

 

It's not the graphics card, you have a week processor, the Source Engine uses a lot of computing power.

 

If I turn this off doesn't that leave my second processor effectively useless?

 

I've got an intel c2d at 2.0 GHz, 3 GB RAM, and nVidia 8600MGT (512 MB RAM), on WinXP Pro. And I'm hooked on L4D, it's an awesome game, but definitely a demanding game.

If I go with the 'recommended settings', the game chooses:

Resolution ................... 1440x900,
Anti Aliasing ................ 2x MSAA,
Filtering Mode ............... Anisotropic 4x,
Wait for vsync ............... Enabled (double buffered),
Multicore Rendering .......... Enabled
Shader Detail ................ VeryHigh,
Effect Detail ................ Medium
Model/Texture detail ......... High
Paged Pool Memory Available .. High


And, the resulting framerate is pretty much unplayable. For example, I just fired up DeathToll (single player, expert mode), and started on 2nd stage - 'The Drains'. Inside the spawn room, framerate (using cl_showfps 2) varies between 20 and 35. Soon as I step out the door, the zombies spring into action, and my framerate drops down to 10 to 15. It's awful.

So, I normally set my video options to:

Resolution ................... 1280x800
Anti Aliasing ................ None,
Filtering Mode ............... Trilinear,
Wait for vsync ............... Disabled,
Multicore Rendering .......... Enabled
Shader Detail ................ Low,
Effect Detail ................ Low
Model/Texture detail ......... Low
Paged Pool Memory Available .. High


And then I get a MUCH more playable game (in same safe-room, start of DeathToll's 'The Drains', I get 100+ fps, stepping out into first room, with lots of zombies coming after you, and it drops down to 50-60 fps. Normally, even during the craziest horde/finale's, it doesn't drop below 30.

It doesn't look nearly as nice, but it's not too bad. I've tried using Bilinear filtering, instead of Trilinear, but that seems to cause rather frequent stutters, where my game locks up for a couple of seconds every few minutes. Not sure what's up with that.

Another good tip: when you are outdoors, especially in wide open areas, turn off your flashlight!

 

I played it last Friday. I had no issues at all with their recommended settings (played the first two chapters). Check my specs for comparison. Have you tried to update your drivers to something more recent?

I hope this helps.

 

Begging your pardon, but the Source engine is the most resource-efficient PC gaming engine out there. And by that, I mean it will run on tin cans. I was playing Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike Source comfortably at 1024x768 on my old desktop with an AMD Athlon 2700+ (2.2GHz single core), 1GB of RAM, and an AGP FX5200 graphics card. And frame rates were very comfortable.

Now, Left 4 Dead is a new game, so it's more demanding than the original Half-Life 2, but it should still run very well on the OP's setup. Disable vertical sync, set AA and AF to 2X and 4X, respectively. Everything else should be fine.

 

I doubt it is due to a weak processor. I bet that ''weak'' processor paired with a better GPU would make a huge difference. They only have a 256 MB 8600MGT which is considered low range and only has has DDR2 RAM. I am guessing it is either 64 or 128 Bit too. (I am sure some one will be more specific).

A 1.8Ghz Core 2 Duo paired with a decent GPU (for example 8800GTX) is enough to run Crysis on high quality settings with a resolution of 1600x1200 at 26 fps so I really doubt Left 4 Dead is any different.

 

I second that I can run HL2 and CS:S maxed on my desktop which is only a AMD 3200 2gb ram and a 7900gt

 

This may be caused by having multicore rendering on. It's a known issue and IIRC valve is working on a fix.

 

Left 4 Dead in particular is more processor intensive than most games, as all them ZOMBEHS are on screen.

Don't know if that's the only reason, I would axe HDR and AA. Always makes a big difference on my rig.

 

I'd keep the multicore problem in mind, and if that's the case, you may have to just wait for a fix.

In the mean time, try (in addition to other suggestions) turning off VSync if you have it enabled, and running standard clocks.

I don't know if this is true for L4D (certainly not true for dark messiah, which is perfectly happy running the clocks in my sig), but FEAR, for instance, was very sensitive to the slightest instabilities and would bog down like nothing else if I so much as thought the word overclocking.

 

of course, no sooner do I claim that I don't get stuttering issues when I use Trilinear filtering, as opposed to Bilinear... it starts happening pretty frequently.

I disabled multi-core rendering, and while my framerate doesn't top out at 100+ any more, it averages 65 or so in most areas, dropping to 50's in a big horde.

So anyways, another vote for disabling multi-core rendering (and do turn down the details, that helps a ton).

 

yeah what dire ntropy said, i'm running l4d at highest on 1.7ghz amd single core, 768ram and geforce 6600 256mb. 1024x768