TS killes 2/3 of my FPS

[Jarraxx]

Hello, does anyone know why it is that when i start TS and then play (any game: BiA, CoD, CoD:UO, CS:S, ...) that my frame rate has been killed by 3/4, where i had 100 fps, i only get 25 MAX.. and i've tried several settings.. PLZ can anyone help me?? :confused: :(

System specs are:
Windows XP Service Pack2
GeForce 6600GT AGP
mobo: MSI K7N2 Delta
512 MB DDR400 RAM
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1.62 GhZ)

look @ the CPU usage because of TS..

[Brain]

Interessant. Wie viele Leute sind denn zu dem Zeitpunkt auf dem Server gewesen?

[Jarraxx]

in English plz?? i'm dutch, but i think u asked how many there were on TS?? that would be 3 people (including me)

[Jarraxx]

Can someone answer plz? :)

[Brain]

Whoops, sorry. Yes, I was asking how many people.

This is most interesting. It seems that Teamspeak uses an unusually high amount of CPU time on your system. When I'm on a (clan) server with about a dozen people Teamspeak still takes about 2 to 3% CPU time on my Athlon XP 2400.

My guess is it's related to sound card drivers since the Teamspeak software itself is the same for every system. Maybe you can get better results by switching between DirectSound/Wave or downloading more current sound drivers.

[Jarraxx]

ty for the respond :D

but uhm.. i've tried switching between wave and direct sound.. wave is impossible, the entire system blocks, and direct sound, laggy as hell.. And there are no newer sound drivers than the ones i have now :confused:
this really bothers me tbh :eek:

[Brain]

This is quite bad. I daresay you're thoroughly boned.

Onboard sound stresses the CPU more than addon sound cards because the CPU has to take on some tasks that addon sound cards do themselves.
I think in your case the onboard sound and the drivers are rather crappy, that's why the bad performance with DirectSound and the problem with Wave.

As a point of reference: on my system there's no noticeable difference between DirectSound and Wave and the CPU usage barely hits 5% when I'm on one of the official public servers.


Often 30€ sound cards from the electronic stores produce miracles. I have been using Teamspeak 2 with a Terratec DMX XFire 1024 and a Soundblaster Live 1024 without any problems almost since the day it was released. I used both sound cards for TS2, first the Soundblaster and later the XFire after I got my surround system.
They key point in keeping TS2 functional is updating the sound card drivers whenever you update DirectX. That's what I've been doing and I never had any sound-related problems with TS2 over the years.

[Jarraxx]

i greatfully thank you :D I'll buy meself a soundcard then ;)

[Jarraxx]

Just to make sure, cause i don't see how a sound card would fix the CPU usage, even when no-one is saying anything..? If you could explain that to me plz? :)

[Brain]

In layman's terms: Onboard sound is teh suxx0rs! Especially AC'97. AC'97 is not AC'97 either. The AC'97 on my old mobo was great, but the AC'97 on my current mobo is total garbage.

With onboard sound the CPU has to do most of the tasks, especially effects processing and sound stream mixing takes processing power.
Sound cards have effect processors that do all that and thus free the CPU of some burden. They also have better driver support.

[Jarraxx]

ty for clearing that up for me :)

So, would this one be a good one? (i don't have much money u see .. :))
Creative Soundblaster Live 24bit (http://www.soundblaster.com/products/live24bit/)

like €40 is maximum.. so? :)

PS: I have a MSI K7N2 Delta Mainboard (Nforce2 soundcard)

[Brain]

You're welcome.
I don't know if the Sound Blaster Live! 24Bit is any good. I have the Sound Blaster Live! 1024 (1024 polyphonous MIDI, yay!) and it works well as both primary sound card for game and system sounds and secondary sound card for Teamspeak only.

[Jarraxx]

can't seem to find a price of the Sound Blaster Live! 1024 :rolleyes:

Is that one over €40 :confused:

[Brain]

It's a very very old one. I bought it in 2001 or so. I don't know if you can still buy it.
Here is a review (http://www.au-ja.org/review-sblive1.phtml) (German)
I paid 120DM for it which should be about 65 Euro.

By the way, if you paid 40 Euro for the SB Live 24 Bit you're getting ripped off. You can buy it online (http://www1.alternate.de/html/shop/productListing4C.html?cat1=025&cat2=999&cat3=000&treeName=HARDWARE&Level1=Sound&Level2=Karten&#Creative) for as low as 22 Euro.