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[richiek13]

This is my first ever computer game. I don't know much about harware and what to upgrade so I decided to ask for help.



Back before the war, I would get 50-60 FPS in this game. Perfect FPS for playing. After the war, I went down to 35, 25 in heavy combat. Now I get 20-25 


I have:

Windows 7
3 gigs of open ram
Intel pentium core dual 2.2 GHz processor
Nvidia Geforce 8400 GS
250 PSU

Friend saied I should upgrade my PSU and get a new video card installed... Can't trust him though


I have 200 dollars to spend


What would be the best thing to upgrade for a good FPS boost before I sink down to 5-10 FPS after the Engie update?

[Maijclue1]

put your audio quality to low, if that doesn't work,
put all your graphic options to low, if that doesn't work,
you need to lower your resolution, if that doesn't work...

then is your PC,
the PSU shouldn't be your problem except if it is a really really really cheap PSU made in DPRK
i have a nVidia 8600, and it can take heavy graphics... so i don't think that is the problem

if the above 3 options doesn't work, post again to see if it's another issue, or just to tell that didn't work...

[Célic]

Heh, an 8600 is much more powerful than an 8400. To be honest, its roughly twice as powerful if I'm not mistaken.

Hm...after the war...that means more explosions etc from all the soldier/demo spam. Thus, I say it's your CPU since the Source Engine isn't as GPU-heavy as other game engines out there.

Here's what I recommend. Raise your graphic settings up a notch and see if your FPS drops. If it doesn't, then it's primarily a CPU bottleneck. Use the console (check the box in the settings, under "Advanced" I think, to enable it). Then type "showfps_1" (without the parenthesis) to get the FPS to show. See how that goes.

If what I said is the case, then since your CPU is Socket 775, which is technically out of date, you could buy yourself a faster processor. Also, since the prices on Core 2s dropped ever since Nehalem-based CPUs (i7, i5, i3) were released, you could definitely buy a really fast Core 2 Duo, such as this one. Or, if you'd like, you could always go Core 2 Quad and future proof yourself with 2 more cores (but with slower speed).

Let us know what's up.
 

Fine Print: Upgrading your CPU will boost FPS but I do not guarantee it will boost eye candy.

[0ckhamsRazor]

You might also want to look into multicore rendering since you have a dualcore processor. Enabling it along with a few other console commands nearly doubled my framerate from 25-30 to a steady 60 FPS with occasional spikes on uber-intensive maps.

My rig copy-pasta'd from Xfire if anyone cares:

Manufacturer: Gateway
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6420 @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 3068MB RAM
Hard Drive: 164 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
Monitor: BenQ FP937s
Sound Card: Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)
Speakers/Headphones: Generic $20 Headphones+Generic $20 Headset (worn on neck)
Keyboard: Generic Logitech Keyboard
Mouse: ione Lynx R22
Mouse Surface: Steelpad QcK+
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate, Service Pack 2
Motherboard: Intel i975X
Computer Case: Generic Gateway Casing

[Matt_bagels]

I would say probably upgrade the graphics card and PSU if needed for the better graphics card.  I went from an Nvidia 7300LE to an 8800 GT and oh my goddddddd.  The difference is ridiculous.  I know it was a big upgrade, but an 8400 will probably only get you by on low/medium settings.  An upgrade to an 8600 probably won't require a new PSU (however I'm not sure) and it definitely won't cost you $200. 

[Koldar]

Yeah, 8800GTs are still amazing bang for the buck, but you would have to upgrade your power supply to get one. You'd find used 8800GTs for probably 50~100$, you could probably score a 400-450W PSU(of a good brand, PSU is never a place to cheap out imo) to balance out, and you just might fit in 200$.

Your CPU might be a bottleneck, but it's a little hard to figure out what CPU fits your motherboard unless you come up with your motherboard's name. You can run things like Belarc Advisor(free program) if you're unsure, and it will tell you. Come back with the motherboard name, and we'll figure out what's your best bang for your buck.