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Can someone explain something to me please? Ever since I bought Orange Box, I struggled to play TF2 at 800 x 600 with medium low settings. I always felt my notebook was a bit slow in this regard (Intel Core Duo 1.83 GHz, 2GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7400) but since it was sufficient enough for me I didn't really complain, considering most of the time I could do my work just as well and my friends weren't really that lucky in getting a notebook with a similar specifications as mine.

Fast forward to today, I've only just restarted playing TF2 again but I've always launched Steam to update it. When I launched TF2, I couldn't join any of the servers as it says I needed the Steam Client Beta. All right then, exit and restart into the Beta version. When I launched TF2 again, I was amazed how fast it went in. Even more amazing was when I selected my native resolution, 1280 x 800 at medium high settings, the game was still playable with a little bit of lag, but still playable whereas before it was just a slideshow! Mid lows were about 15-20 while the highest is 30 which is good enough for me. Multicore rendering which came out a few weeks ago was also turned on but it never seem to make a difference. This time however is much different and I am now enjoying TF2 in a whole new way.

Whatever Valve did was certainly good enough for me :D !

Scirwode

@Scirwode: The multicore rendering was released before it was completely ready (It was kind of a beta), so I guess that some of the work they did after it was released improved it for you.

Oh yeah it's SpecialAttacks third birthday, so this week we have been having extra SpA points for your time played (so you can buy reserved slots, maps, spray permits, class limit immunity just for spending time on the server). Also we have party hats :fun:

Is it not possible to invite friends thru steam?

Theres no option for invitation when I'm in game.

You mean like invite to game your in? Or invite someone your playing with to be your friend?

For the first just click that triangle thingy next to your friend name and choose invite to game. If it aint there you have to go offline in friends and then online again. Invite to game should appear then.

And to answer previous question - as of now im only playing in Festers Place. Amazing regulars/community, even though it is 32 player, alltalk server.

So just out of curiosity .. what server do the Neowinites usually play on?

Do we have a regular server?

Do we have a Neowin clan? {NW}?

Normally I'm on the SpA servers...see the link in Minimoose's sig. The servers are hosted in the Netherlands so your ping might be a bit high. And for your other question I'm pretty sure there isn't a Neowin clan :p

New update released.

Team Fortress 2

  • Updated cp_egypt with changes based on player feedback, added additional health/ammo and updated routes
  • Additional character loadout menu changes to support future features

Also, Valve have a great sense of humor.

//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// TF2 MMO
"TF_MMO_LFG"		"Looking For Group"
"TF_MMO_Quest1"		"You must kill %s1 %s2 to complete this quest."			
"TF_MMO_Monster1"	"Boars"
"TF_MMO_Monster2"	"Rats"
"TF_MMO_Monster3"	"Bats"
"TF_MMO_Monster4"	"Wolves"
"TF_MMO_Monster5"	"Spiders"

}

}

[rant]Stupid valve and their silly flawed systems[/rant]

They decided to delist all our servers on a certain IP address because one server was getting below the connections threshold, the reason; bball2. We have 3 servers running bball2, all of which are very popular, but no one plays bball for ages because it's not that kind of mod (It's pretty much a fun/warm up mod). So they decided to delist 9 of our servers since one was underperforming due to running a mod which is likely to be under the threshold anyway. Bloody idiots :/

It took them long enough to tell our leader that they had been delisted as well, we were wondering why our daily connections had gone down by about 30-50%. Supposedly they have been relisted, but that might mean we have to take the bball servers offline so it doesn't happen again.

Respect for valve: -10

You mean like invite to game your in? Or invite someone your playing with to be your friend?

For the first just click that triangle thingy next to your friend name and choose invite to game. If it aint there you have to go offline in friends and then online again. Invite to game should appear then.

And to answer previous question - as of now im only playing in Festers Place. Amazing regulars/community, even though it is 32 player, alltalk server.

Thanks. I ment when I'm in a server and I want to invite friends into the same server. That offline trick worked.

I have been of the game for like a week since I was capped and honestly my skill has dropped so much its insane ><"

With this new patch that came out I was getting so excited as I hadnt really been looking around on the internetz to see whats new.

So I thought that was the sniper pack with all the goodies etc :(

Question: Anyone have any Nz/Aus Servers they would recommend to play on.

I have a few that I thrash all the time but there just like 24/7 2Fort and there fine and all but it would be great to play with some Neowin memberes :)

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

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These are essentially called P-States. If you are not familiar with them, Processor Power Management is done through Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) P-states and C-states. While P-states or performance pwoer states handle CPU voltage-frequency scaling, C-states deal with CPU sleep states so that some of the CPU functions, which are not necessary at that moment, can be disabled. The P-states and C-states work together to make the processor run more efficiently. It helps the OS and apps determine which cores can be parked and which should be boosted. Of course not every user is an enthusiast or knows the technicalities and integrities of how things like overclocking or undervolting work. Thankfully for them Windows itself offers something pretty cool, though it is hidden by default on all systems. By default, Windows only has two P-States, "Minimum Processor State" and "Maximum Processor State." However, this can be changed with a Registry trick to expand the options under a secret "Processor performance boost mode" dropdown. This essentially enables the HWP or hardware P-States available on a device, and these are not controlled just by the OS itself as the underlying hardware gets involved too. In total there are five Processor Performance Boost Mode profiles that control how Windows requests and allows CPU turbo/boost behavior under the different power policies. They are: Disabled: In this mode, processor boosting is effectively turned off. The CPU will avoid entering turbo or boost frequencies and instead operate closer to its base frequency ceiling. This can significantly reduce power consumption and heat output, but at the cost of reduced burst performance and responsiveness in short workloads. Enabled: This is the standard behavior where boost functionality is allowed under normal conditions. The processor can opportunistically increase frequency when workload demands it, balancing performance gains with power and thermal constraints as managed by the system. Aggressive: Aggressive mode favors performance more heavily, allowing the CPU to enter higher boost states more readily and sustain them longer. This should in theory improve responsiveness under bursty or heavy workloads but increases power draw and thermal output compared to the default enabled behavior. Efficient Enabled: This mode still allows boosting, but with a stronger bias toward energy efficiency. The system attempts to use boost more selectively, avoiding unnecessary frequency spikes when the performance gain is marginal. Efficient Aggressive: This is a hybrid approach where boost is still performance-responsive, but the system continuously weighs efficiency more heavily than in Aggressive mode. It aims to deliver noticeable performance improvements while reducing wasted power in less demanding scenarios. Here's how to enable the Processor performance boost mode: Open Registry Editor: Press Win+R, type regedit, and click OK. Go to: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00\be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7 (where HKLM stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_) Modify the value of Attributes from 1 to 2 (you can find modify option by right-clicking) After that, exit Registry, you should now be able to see the new "Processor performance boost mode" dropdown menu: As you can see there are now five new P-States or CPPC states or power profile available that help define the boost mode processor setting on your PC. Wrapping it up here's a quick run-down of the settings as defined by Microsoft itself. Setting Description Disabled The corresponding P-state-based behaviour is disabled. Collaborative Processor Performance Control (CPPC) behaviour is disabled. Enabled The corresponding P-state-based behaviour is enabled. CPPC behaviour is Efficient Enabled. Aggressive The corresponding P-state-based behaviour is enabled. CPPC behaviour is Aggressive. Efficient Enabled The corresponding P-state-based behaviour is Efficient. CPPC behaviour is Efficient Enabled. Efficient Aggressive The corresponding P-state-based behaviour is Efficient. CPPC behaviour is Aggressive. Aggressive At Guaranteed Windows calculates the desired extra performance above the guaranteed performance level, and asks the processor to deliver that specific performance level. Efficient Aggressive At Guaranteed Windows always asks the processor to deliver the highest possible performance above the guaranteed performance level. In the next part we shall be comparing these settings to explore how much of a benefit or regression they can provide in terms of performance and power efficiency. 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