<< shouldn't it automatically be optimized?? what i mean is, isn't my vid card acting this way cause it can't handle anything higher?? if i had an ultra or a GF3, would i get a higher rate off the bat?? what's vsync?
btw, what are the console commands to activat the fps? >>
Half-Life doesn't know anything about your video card. The limitation in Half-Life made by Valve and your video card's drivers know nothing about Half-Life's limitations. This is a really old thing they did a long time ago and they never corrected in any patches -- you need to manually adjust this.
You just to adjust the maximum FPS to accomidate your needs. Just adjust this in Half-Life/Counter-Strike and move on. Everyone's done it, you are behind, that's why you are asking this question. Also, Half-Life/Counter-Strike won't go any higher than 100. You can set the fps_max, or fps_modem to 10000, but the engine has a built in limitation to 100.
If you want to see _just_ fps, type this in the console: cl_showfps 1
If you want to see network and fps, type this in the console: net_graph 3
Vsync forces the refresh rate of your video game to be as high as your monitor can display. If your monitor refreshes at 85hz, then the vid drivers will make sure your FPS is never higher than 85. If your fps is higher than 85, you can see "tearing" on the screen because your refresh rate can't keep up.
vash