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Source run in a window

S

stelleg151

Senior member
I have encountered an interesting phenomenon with counter strike source. I have not tested it in other games, but in source, I get significantly (15-30) better fps when I run the game in the window. For example, while running in a game in office, in full screen it would run at consistently bottom out around 42fps a lot of the time, and when in a window, it would bottom out more around 60. I am not sure why this is, as the load on the gpu and cpu should be identical, and I would think the load of displaying the desktop in the background would make it even more difficult for running in a window, which is why I am confused.

Any help would be appriciated as to either an explination or something I could do to change this, as I prefer to play full screen.

Thanks
 
Well, in a window, the resolution is lower, since it doesn't need as many pixels to fill the whole screen. Since the resolution is lower, you get more FPS.
 
I'd be intersted in hearing more responses. In my experience, running 3D games in a window has consistently resulted in poorer performance than full screen, I think for the reason you stated.
 
arden, sorry I didnt make this clear, but the window was run at the exact same resolution, only full screen the pixels are stretched out. Also, I am pretty sure it is a cpu/ram bottlneck vs a videocard bottleneck, since my card can easily handle 1024*768 4x 16x. But yeah running that resolution, stretched to full screen lowers my fps by about 10, so any more answers are much appriciated.
 
Originally posted by: ardenJ
Well, in a window, the resolution is lower, since it doesn't need as many pixels to fill the whole screen. Since the resolution is lower, you get more FPS.
Click to expand...

bingo.
 
Originally posted by: tallest1
Originally posted by: ardenJ
Well, in a window, the resolution is lower, since it doesn't need as many pixels to fill the whole screen. Since the resolution is lower, you get more FPS.
Click to expand...

bingo.
Click to expand...

It's not bingo, as was already stated it's the same resolution. Running in a window does not change the resolution.
 
Originally posted by: stelleg151
arden, sorry I didnt make this clear, but the window was run at the exact same resolution, only full screen the pixels are stretched out. Also, I am pretty sure it is a cpu/ram bottlneck vs a videocard bottleneck, since my card can easily handle 1024*768 4x 16x. But yeah running that resolution, stretched to full screen lowers my fps by about 10, so any more answers are much appriciated.
Click to expand...

Oh sorry about that, I thought you meant it was in a smaller window. I didn't realize that it was the same resolution. In that case, I'm not sure why your getting better FPS. I might try it myself to get an increase in FPS.

UPDATE (EDIT):
I just tried running in a window, and I didn't get higher FPS. The FPS lowered a bit. In normal Full screen mode (1280x1024, 4x AA, 8x AF), I get around 42 FPS. In the windowed mode, I get around 30-35 FPS. This is with an ATI 9800 Pro (flashed to XT). I have a 6800 coming in the mail, and I'll try with that card to see if the FPS increases in Windowed mode.
 
hmm, I wonder if it is a driver issue then, as ATI might be flaking on the drivers for the x700 series, as many people have given up on them. Maybe I will send ATI an email asking them about it.

Any more replies are welcome
 
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