Super Low FPS in Source Engine

[ricky715]

I've been trying to play a few source games until i get my shiny new computer from newegg to build, and I have some weird problems
Garry's Mod and CS:S are the same

cl_showfps shows between 1 and 10 fps
net_graph shows a constant 10 fps

All settings on low, same fps at 640x480 as 1280x1024, so i think something is fishy

My Specs are: (yes it is horrible, but i only have it because my monster machine decided to piss itself (powersupply got all up in watercooler loop's turf, and things got nasty XD )

Biostar P4M80-M4
Some generic 512mb ram 184 pin 333mhz i'm guessing
BFG Tech Nvidia 7300gt 512mb
450W power supply, came with case

I used to get a clean 30 on this box, but after a new install of xp, all games hate me now.

[Bretts31344]

I hate to ask a stupid question, but I assume you did reinstall video drivers with the clean install, right?

[ricky715]

Lol there are no stupid questions, but yes thats the first thing i did on the new install, installed nvidia drivers, version 175.19

[FireUltima]

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/07/02/benchmark-reviews-lo.html
In short: 175.19 are bad drivers.

I don't know if these drivers have been fixed recently or not, but I would roll back.

[ricky715]

well i beat u too it lol i found out bout the 175.19 drivers and there suckiness just now, installed driver cleaners pro and rolling back now, ill tell u if it works as soon as i get everything rolling again

[ricky715]

much to my dismay, it didnt do a damn thing, still 1-10 fps in garry's mod.

i uninstalled 175.19 through driver cleaner pro and then installed 175.16
rebooted and loaded gmod, no effect, still extremely low
any other suggestions, i dont think its the hardware since its never ran this slow until the reformat.

[ricky715]

bumpity bump bump (sorry)

anybody? ive tried reinstalling the drivers 3 times now, and i need to know what else i can do

[ricky715]

sorry for the bump again but i tried portal first slice and no dice, still super slow, i though it crashed when i faced the portal in first level, but the fps was just reporting 0. 0!!!! How does that even happen?

[NTolerance]

Did you install motherboard chipset drivers when you re-installed XP?

[ricky715]

i looked on the website and all i found were the lan, onboard vga, usb, and audio, i installed all but the vga, can you point me to the drivers?

[NTolerance]

i looked on the website and all i found were the lan, onboard vga, usb, and audio, i installed all but the vga, can you point me to the drivers?

http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/via_hyperionpro_v518a.zip

[HeadRusch]

Also make sure you install, if you haven't arleady, direct x :)

[ricky715]

Installed, and it gave about a 2-3 maximum fps increase, now it doesnt stutter nearly as much but the fps still shows 13 max, and I can clearly see its in the sub 20's. I have directx 9, but I dont know where from, since I never upgraded, nor ran a windows update. It's XP SP2 slipstreamed by the way. Any other drivers I may need to install?

[NTolerance]

If you've got an XP SP2 disc all you should need to get Source running is chipset and video drivers. I suspect something might be wrong with your Source config. Are you running with an old copy of your Steam directory from a previous install?

[ricky715]

Nope everything was downloaded and updated from Steam itself, no restored backups

[ricky715]

ummm 2 hours later, no response?
sorry for being so pushy I just have nothing to do until I get my new compy XD

[SOSTrooper]

Let me ask you these: Are ALL your games (source, non-source) run at ridiculously low frame rates at any resolution and detail? What is the CPU you have in your PC right now (brand, model, speed; i.e. Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz)?

Direct X 9.0c comes with Windows XP SP2, and one of the most important is probably your chipset drivers and AGP drivers (on CD that came with the motherboard). I'm assuming you did install them.

[ricky715]

All games run uber slow at lowest possble settings. Intel Celeron D 2.66Ghz

It has already been established that I have installed chipset and AGP drivers.

[option.iv]

Did this reduction of fps happen after you installed the slipstreamed xp? I'm thinking you're missing some sort of critical driver. You make sure your pc graphics is not set to integrated graphics/motherboard graphics? Check in the BIOS as well.

[ricky715]

yep, it happened after i reinstalled xp

nvidia is enabled, bios is set to agp, not integrated, so that means its working fine, tried to plug it into integrated and monitor wouldnt pick up signal unless set to integrated, so that proves its the nvidia doing all the work, not the motherboard graphics

i am sure it is not a driver issue, i never installed any drivers other than the ones i have already on my old install as far as I know, and I never installed those modified drivers, always stuck with nvidia website drivers

[SOSTrooper]

I say you should reformat and install a non-slipstreamed XP, then manually updating to SP2 or SP3 afterward.

[ricky715]

tried, and after installing all of the drivers, it was the same as the slipstream install, so the slipstreaming had nothing to do with it.

[SOSTrooper]

How about selecting the Load Optimal Settings in the BIOS, save and exit. Just for the heck of it.

I can't really tell you what is really wrong, there could be a million other things causing this problem. You seem to know what you're doing, so everyone else on here are pretty much guessing on possible causes that you already know is not the problem.

If you already reformatted & reinstalled many times and still come up with the same problem, then that means: during installation of drivers and software you did something that the computer didn't like (and you don't realize what you did), or you need a new computer altogether.