Low FPS in Counter-strike:Source

[epicRelic]

Ok, so here are my specs:

Processor: AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.31GHz
Ram: 1.93 GB
Video card: nVidia 8600GT
Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP3

When I play Counter-Strike:Source I get anywhere from 5 to 25 frames per second, which seems ridiculously low. I just changed operating systems (clean install) from Vista to XP Pro. Before when I was on Vista I would get about the same. Also, I turned all of the settings to the lowest and turned off Vsync. It didn't create much of a difference.

Any ideas?

[Tiber Septim]

Hi epicRelic, welcome to TSF.
1.93GB of RAM is a bit of an odd amount. How many sticks do you have and what speed and timings do they use?
Also, what Power Supply (PSU) are you using? Make, model and wattage please.

Try cleaning out the PC with a can of compressed air. If there is a lot of dust buildup it can create a lot of heat, which will hurt performance.

[epicRelic]

Tiber Septim,

The RAM amount is just what I copied from system information. It is two 1GB sticks.
As for the PSU, I'm unsure. It's whatever came stock with the Dell Latitude 531. And I've used compressed air on the inside very recently.

:(

[Tiber Septim]

Would this happen to be the Latitude D531 notebook?
Has it always had the Nividia 8600GT?

Please download CoreTemp and GPU-Z from my signature.
Run both when the system is idle and make note of the temperatures.
Then run CS:S for a few minutes, quickly quit out and check the temps again.
Post both sets of figures back here.

[epicRelic]

No, it is a Dell Latitude 531 desktop. The 8600GT came with the computer when I purchased it.

Thanks for the tools, they seem handy. At resting temperature, both cores are at 45-49 degrees C. After running the game for a while it jumped to between 62 and 67 degrees C.

Another thing that is concerning me is that my graphics card is being read as a GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 even though I know that it is an 8600GT. I put the drivers on just yesterday as I had reformatted the day before. I got the driver from nVidia's website.

[Tiber Septim]

Make sure the monitor cable is connected to the 8600 and not to the motherboard port.
If you know what you are doing, have a look in the BIOS and try and find an option to turn off the integrated GPU.

Which version of the drivers are you using?

Lastly, the CPU is way too hot. It should be idling around 30 - 35C and hitting 45 - 50C under load. 60C is pretty much the cut off, so it's possible the CPU is underclocking itself when it reaches that temperature, which would cause the low FPS.

Make sure the CPU is securely seated and that the CPU fans are spinning.
If you feel comfortable, try applying some fresh thermal paste between the CPU and Heat Sink. Artic Silver 5 is best.

[epicRelic]

I got it down to 31-35C while idling by moving it from the corner of the room to in front of a window. I also went over it with compressed air again.

[RockmasteR]

if your PC is reading your video card as a nforce 6150, than you are using the built-in video card
just to make sure, if you have GPUz open it and see what it tells you about your video card