TF2 low FPS on good computer? Help?

TheDoctorIsIn

Honorable
Jan 9, 2014
30
0
10,540
For quite some time now, I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my performance in TF2 was sub-par, and inexcusable on my system. I can play nearly all demanding games either maxed out or on high at 1080p at >=60 fps. Battlefield 4 on Ultra? Can do. Skyrim with a realistic ENB? Cakewalk. Max Payne 3? Try and stop me. Any other game made by Valve? Generate so many frames I have to cap the framerate, else I reach 100 C even with both liquid and air cooling. TF2? Hold the phone. TF2 has to look like it was made for the PlayStation in order to keep my framerate above 60. And even then, it cuts it pretty close; dipping down to low 80's. Without a maxfps config on DX8? I'm looking at as low as 20-30 fps, and also sometimes crashes the game. No crash dialogue, no warning, just pfft. Desktop.

Now, before the obligatory "30 fps is more than playable", let me dump some exposition on you.

I play TF2 competitively, and for that, 30 fps will do nothing more than cause me to be used as a mop to clean the badlands with. That, on top of the fact that because I play competitively, I also have my network settings set up accordingly: where my client will send the server updates about my avatar and what he's doing at any given time 66 times per second. Now, if I am correct, having a framerate lower than that 66 (fps, in this case) means that I am not generating info quick enough, leaving the server guessing not only where I am, but the locations of everyone else as well (relative to my screen). This, of course, causes the bane of all FPS players: bad hit registration.

My setup:

Galaxy GTX 670 (x2) in SLI
Intel i5 2500k @ 4.3 GHz
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
1TB HDD

The laundry list of things I have tried:
-Defragged game directory
-Defragged entire computer
-Verified integrity of game cache
-Deleted TF2 folder
-Uninstalled and reinstalled TF2
-Upgraded my CPU
-Overclocked said CPU
-Disabled SLI
-Tweaked various settings in Nvidia Control Panel
-Restored said settings to factory defaults
-Tried 5 different drivers
-Installed mods made for older computers
-Installed a patch that adds LODs to most items in the game
-Installed the NoHats mod
-Made absolutely sure that nothing was overheating
-Ran in compatibility Mode for Windows XP, Vista & 7
-Ran as administrator
-Increased heapsize
-Increased size of page file (did fix sound loop crashes, but no affect on fps)
-Ran in borderless window
-Ran in fullscreen
-Cleaned entire computer
-Reapplied thermal paste

Whoever helps me fix this problem will be my best friend. Thanks in advance!
 


Knew I was forgetting something. The antivirus link I have already tried, the second page I've visited a good 7 times, repeating the process every time, and the third is for AMD cards, mine are Nvidia. Plus, most of the settings that he tried aren't even on my control panel, at least. Thanks for the help, though.
 


According to the supported products list on that driver, it's about 4 series too old for my cards, but thanks for the effort.

And I have run several virus scans; both quick and full. I also disable them when playing the game, so it isn't hogging resources.
 


Only using about 50% of my RAM (the only things I have open when I play games are Skype and Steam), GPU usage only managing to get to maybe 30% and 25% if I'm lucky, temps are also good, getting up to maybe 55 C under load. CPU usage seems to hang around 75%, temps on that are also good; as liquid cooling keeps it down to around 45 C.
 
This just in: Nvidia has released a new driver (337.88) which claims: "Introduces key DirectX optimizations which result in reduced game-loading times and significant performance increases across a wide variety of games compared with the previous 335.23 WHQL. Significant CPU overhead reductions in the driver result in performance gains that will often favor CPU-bottlenecked situations. Per usual, results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings."

One of the games that they claim have a performance boost in is Team Fortress 2. Will install driver and see if there is a noticeable difference in performance.

EDIT: There is indeed a noticeable performance boost. From using this driver, I have gained 30-45 fps, and rarely go below 90 fps even in heavy firefights.