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Alienware 9700 Choppy TF2 Play

post #1 of 37
10/12/07 at 9:31pm
Thread Starter 
Hi everyone,

Just to give you a little overview, I have the 2ghz processor, dual 256mb 7900's, with 2gb of ram. I just recently purchased TF2 and it runs HORRIBLY. HL2 recommends high settings on many of the options, but even after reducing these I get horribly choppy gameplay.

Do any of you have some advice for me? One thing I do realize is that I haven't arctic silvered my system, but even playing the game before my system gets hot doesn't result in much better performance. Does this have anything to do with the drivers for this system being so old? Whats the deal? I've read on the steampowered forums of people with systems far less capable than this running HL2 perfectly.

I'm really hoping I can get some help from some of you 9700 owners out there, as TFC was one of my favorite games of all time.

Thank you for your help,


Arjuna
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post #2 of 37
10/12/07 at 9:42pm
which drivers do u have...
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post #3 of 37
10/12/07 at 9:56pm
Thread Starter 
I have driver version 84.74.
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post #4 of 37
10/12/07 at 9:59pm
vista or XP...
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post #5 of 37
10/12/07 at 10:01pm
Thread Starter 
I apologize, windows XP. These drivers are the same ones that are from last year and doesn't seem like nvidia has any intent to release updated drivers for a system like this.
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post #6 of 37
10/12/07 at 10:03pm
very strange since your specs should be able to run it...
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post #7 of 37
10/12/07 at 10:30pm
Thread Starter 
That's what is frustrating me so much! I know that this system is much more than capable to run this game yet it runs like crap. I just don't know what to do.
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post #8 of 37
10/12/07 at 11:19pm
It may be your video driver. Check out www.laptopvideo2go.com There are many m9700 users along with m9750 users here who have downloaded modded drivers that have helped gameplay extremly. I myself am using the 93.31 driver on my m9700 as it has been the best one for BF 2142 which is pretty much the only game I play right now on my computer.

If you do a bit of research here and type in laptopvideo2go you will find many times numerous of instances of laptop users using these drivers.
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post #9 of 37
10/12/07 at 11:57pm
I'm using modified drivers from laptopvideo2go.com.

If you try this, download the driver you want AND the modified INF file listed next to it. Unzip the driver, then put the modified INF file into the driver folder. You'll get the "are you sure you want to replace this INF file, with this INF file?" Click yes. Then install the drivers, enable SLI, and you should be good to go.

The source engine doesn't get much if anything out of SLI, so you might just try playing it on a single vid card. My fps in counter strike source isn't much different between SLI or not...

If you're playing at high resolution, try reducing it to 1280 x 800 to see if that helps.

It may also be that TF2 was just released, so it may be buggy. Watch for Steam updates for the game.
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post #10 of 37
10/13/07 at 1:25am
I have a completely different system, but was having a similar issue with TF2. I upgraded to the latest drivers (163.76) that GeForce Tony posted here. Seems to be working good so far.
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post #11 of 37
10/13/07 at 3:23am
My m9750 was getting laggy and defragging the hard drive solved the problem.

Have you cleaned the fans and radiators lately?

dt
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post #12 of 37
10/13/07 at 3:30am
People have reported stuttering for audio and video and this has been linked to an engine problem. However this issue has been patched as far as i know but it also may be due to outdated drivers
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post #13 of 37
10/13/07 at 9:27pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you all for the positive responses, next I'll try those drivers from laptopvideo2go and let you guys know how it goes!
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post #14 of 37
10/13/07 at 11:01pm
scarface... Did you buy the orange box thingy?

If so, it comes with HL2. That should run beautifully on the m9750. If HL2 runs fine, but TF2 doesn't, it's likely just that TF2 is new and has yet to be optimized by Valve.
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post #15 of 37
10/14/07 at 11:32pm
Thread Starter 
I tried the newest drivers from laptopvideo2go with no improvement. Single graphics card rather than SLI, no improvement. I'm getting the weakest FPS it drops to 10fps, never running smoothly at all.

I am downloading HL2 now to test if any difference between performance.
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post #16 of 37
10/15/07 at 1:54am
Thread Starter 
I downloaded HL2 and did a test with no improvement. I put all settings on LOW, and even still I got horrible fps. How is this possible? I'm starting to feel very discouraged as I don't even know where to start with this issue.

It hasn't been very long since this laptop was wiped clean using the boot disk, I've barely played any games on here since I've gotten this new Orange Box. I would think that at least if I lowered my settings I would see some stable fps, but with barely any change, what now?

Just so you know, Hammerhead I have almost the same system as you except the 2ghz processor, 2x 256 Nvidia 9700, 2gb ram.
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post #17 of 37
10/15/07 at 1:59am
i would call alienware and let them figure out your problem because it sounds like your vid card isnt working well...
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post #18 of 37
10/15/07 at 4:18am
You shouldn't have any problems with HL2, so something must be wrong.

Are you using Vista?
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post #19 of 37
10/24/07 at 6:15pm
Thread Starter 
I just called Alienware today regarding my system. They had me run CPUZ and told me that my memory was incorrect. I bought this ram from newegg which was recommended by users here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=CT12864X40B

but under cpu z under memory my frequency is only at 200mhz. She was saying that it should be running at 400mhz. I know I bought the correct ram, it says PC3200 but why is the max bandwith at 200?
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post #20 of 37
10/24/07 at 7:58pm
did you buy two sticks or one...
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