[dr.crow]

I just bought my son counterstrike source and the video and audio stutters. I tried changing all the settings to low, and I started his computer in selective startup to eliminate background processes. He is still not happy. Has all the requirements and recommended elements on his laptop to use the program. This was his #1 Christmas wishlist item, and I'd like to get it working for him to his satisfaction.

Thanks!

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Hello Dr.Crow!

Does the stuttering occur in single player or multiplayer mode? If it stutters during multiplayer it may be your connection speed. If it isn't too much trouble could you post his system specs here? thanks, I hope I can be of some help to you.

[LinkmasterSon]

Hello Dr.Crow!

Does the stuttering occur in single player or multiplayer mode? If it stutters during multiplayer it may be your connection speed. If it isn't too much trouble could you post his system specs here? thanks, I hope I can be of some help to you.

[dr.crow]

He is using a Dell Inspiron 1150, which has a 2.6 GHz processorand 512 MB RAM. I forgot to mention that I also downloaded the latest driver for his video, which is Intel 82852/82855, and the driver is 6.14.17. He wanted this for the internet play, so everything we tested was in multiplayer mode. Thanks for your help!

[dr.crow]

I forgot to mention that we are using a cable modem (Comcast) via wireless router with a range expander. On toast.net, Comcast shows a speed rating of 3089 kb. I haven't specifically checked his computer recently however.

[LinkmasterSon]

OK Dr.Crow,

I checked the gaming compatibility of your son's video card with Counterstrike. It seems that his video card should be fine for this game.

What kind of connection do you use? and what is the connection speed?

That may be one of the problems: Your connection may not be fast enought to support online play.

Another problem could be that your son does not has enough memory to play the game.

But just to make sure check your connection speed, and see if your son can play the single player with no trouble. This will tell us if it is, in fact, the video card.

[dr.crow]

My son tells me Counterstrike Source is multiplayer only, so there is no way to check single player.

I pinged Yahoo yesterday and got 4 ms, which seems very fast. Is there some way to tell for sure if it is the connection speed?

Thanks

[zonka]

Unfortunately that videocard only works for Counterstrike barely.... I believe its 64mb if I am right...I play counterstrike competively and trust me when I tell you that vid card is not upto standards compared to CS: Source. Also, being as it is a laptop, I think it's not being able. Right now for counterstrike, the least you need is 128 mb ram video card for good performance. Either ATI radeon 9500 pro+ or GeForce 4 + is acceptable. I think the major problem you might be having is that your vid card is overheating. Most of this vid cards come with a cooling system of their own.
Other than that the problem might lie within your CS: Source settings. If you search the internet there are many settings that one can do to improve CS: Source. Personally i havent played CS: Source for the very reason i needed a new vid card and its too choppy with my 128 mb ati 9500 pro. These are some of the settings I use in CS to improve my FPS and overall gaming performance for counterstrike. You can either change this in game console by pressing " ` " key (left side of #1 key). Other way you can change this you have to go into your steam folder and find your cstrike folder. There is a file called config.cfg. Open it up and type these settings in and save it.

fps_max 101
cl_cmdrate 101
cl_updaterate 101
rate 25000
cl_rate 9999
fps_modem 100
ex_interp 0.01
s_eax 0
s_a3d 0
ati_subdiv 0
ati_npatch 0

To be able to view your fps type in console : net_graph 3 (it should show up in the bottom right corner)

Average video card you should be getting 60 fps.. which is still choppy at times. To have high performance the fps range should be somewhere between 85-100 fps.

Another suggestion is that if you have the option of AA : anti-aliasing and Vertical Sync for your video card make sure to turn them off.

Also, some monitors for some reason locks the refresh rate at 60 hertz. You might have to change that to 70hertz+ to see a better performance.

Again this settings are for counterstrike..but they should be similar I assume, if not I would suggest looking into CS : Source forums for help as I think they will be of greater help in terms of video game settings.

Edited by zonka, 06 January 2006 - 10:46 PM.

[warriorscot]

Refresh rate is unimprtant with LCD, you might try running it in direct x 7 mode it wont look very good but it will run, i have had friends with much faster laptops experience that problem, a 64 meg intel integrated gfx card just isnt good enough for new DX9 games no matter what the settings it will be pretty choppy at times, if you can get a good average fps of in the 30s in dx7 mode it will be playable, its the average you want to keep up it depends on the card you use though.

Basically its not really fast enough with the integrated gfx and only 512mb of ram.

[dr.crow]

Okay, thanks. I think I got it:

* An integrated 64 mb card in a laptop is not really suitable for playing this game. I see online where there is a petition for Dell to provide video card upgrades for their laptops, so it appears this is a common issue when games such as this come out demanding higher performance.

* Acceptable video card suggestions include ATI radeon 9500 pro+ or GeForce 4+. I assume these are for a desktop (without investigating it further at this point in time) .

* This is an inference from your inputs, but it seems computer gaming is better on a desktop where components can be more easily interchanged .

* Best test is to measure FPS, which should be minimally in the 30s, preferably in the 60s and ideally in the 90s.

Hey - thanks again - I wouldn't have gotten this level of insight anywhere else.