Low fps, well all you need is tweaking.

Well as a matter a fact, source engine still looks great, and plays great, but if you have old hardware, then you will suffer, by watching a slideshow.
Do you have dual core proceccsor?
Type in console:
r_threaded_renderables 1
r_threaded_particles 1
This two commands will help your fps in huge battles, calculation procces will be done quicker and it will let GPU some off, by some off I dont mean that your graphic card will stop working, what I mean is that your CPU will speed things upp by participating into the work, the GPU will still work, dont worry mates.

Well lets get back to Source Engine mates
Type in console, this command:
r_sse2
r_3dnow
ai_expression_optimization [0,1] - If set to 1, disables NPC expressions when you can't see them, potentially improving performance, but it kinda ruins a big part of the game, so I dont recommend it, sacrifce something else, instead of this.
mem_max_heapsize [MB] - This command tells the Source Engine the maximum amount of memory to be allocated to the system heap. If you are using the -Heapsize command line variable (see previous page), then you may need to increase this value from its default of 256MB to allow a larger heapsize to be used for certain caches.
datacachesize [0-128] - Determines the amount in MB to allocate to the game's general data caches. The default is 32MB, and the maximum is 128MB. Note that in testing this in recent Source games, altering this value even to 128MB can actually reduce the size of certain caches which are already larger by default (or have been made larger by the Heapsize command), so on balance now I recommend leaving this at its default. Note further - if you see strange white textures after altering this setting, return it to its default.
Graphics]

cl_detaildist [range] - Determines the range at which detail props are shown (e.g. grass). Reducing this setting can increase performance, and conversely increasing this setting will improve image quality through more detail at the cost of performance.

cl_detailfade [range] - Determines the range at which detail props fade into view. Increasing this value can raise performance.

cl_maxrenderable_dist [distance] - Specifies the maximum distance from the camera at which things will be rendered. The smaller the number, the less will be rendered, improving performance (cheat).

cl_ejectbrass [0,1] - If set to 1, weapons eject shells as they fire. If set to 0 they don't, which can improve performance especially during heavy combat.

cl_show_splashes [0,1] - If set to 1, splashes in water are shown, if set to 0 they are disabled. Can improve performance if disabled at the cost of realism.

crosshair [0,1] - If set to 1, enables the crosshair on the screen, if set to 0 disables it. The performance difference is negligible, so set to taste.

lod_TransitionDist [range] - The distance at which the lod is reduced on objects. The higher this range, the lower your performance but the better distant objects will appear.

mat_bumpmap [0,1] - If set to 1, enables bump mapping which makes flat 2D textures appear three dimensional. If disabled, textures will be loaded without bumpmapping and will appear far less realistic, however performance will be improved.

mat_clipz [0,1] - If set to 1, uses an optimization technique to reduce what is drawn on screen for a performance improvement. Note that some Nvidia FX card owners need to set mat_clipz 0 to fix rendering problems.

mat_diffuse [0,1] - If set to 1, uses diffuse lighting on materials. If set to 0 such lighting is removed and while performance is improved the screen is almost completely black from lack of this diffuse (ambient) lighting and hence is not recommended.

mat_drawwater [0,1] - If set to 1, all water is rendered. Setting this to 0 can remove water for a performance boost at the cost of realism (cheat).

mat_dxlevel [dxversion] - Determines the shader version for special effects applied to materials. Options include 70, 80, 81, 90 and 95 (e.g. mat_dxlevel 81). This is similar to the -dxlevel switch in the Advanced Tweaking section on page 7. Using shader versions lower than the highest level supported by your card will improve performance at the cost of varying degrees of image quality loss (depending on the shader version used).

mat_fastnobump [0,1] - If set to 1, floor textures have all bump mapping removed and will appear flat and smooth. This can improve performance without affecting all bump mapping in the game, but will make floors appear unrealistic.

mat_filterlightmaps [0,1] - If set to 1, static lightmaps are rendered correctly. If set to 0, all areas of pre-rendered lighting will be blocky and unrealistic, but performance will be improved slightly at the cost of realism.

mat_filtertextures [0,1] - If set to 1, textures are rendered smoothly. If set to 0, textures will be blocky and unrealistic (similar to the original Doom!) but performance will be improved.

mat_fullbright [0,1] - If set to 1, lights every texture will up brightly lit up (cheat).

mat_hsv [0,1] - If set to 1, converts everything to black and white.

mat_mipmaptextures [0,1] - If set to 0 disables mipmap textures, which harshens textures greatly but can improve performance.

mat_showlowresimage [0,1] - If set to 1, loads extremely low resolution blocky textures in place of the normal ones for a significant performance boost at the cost of a great deal of realism.

mat_softwarelighting [0,1] - If set to 1, uses only software-supported lighting. Image quality is not greatly affected, but this may increase or decrease your performance depending on whether your CPU is far more powerful than your graphics card.


If you have a multicore setup, then your computer isnt taking fully advantages of that power.
I suggest that you guys use this multicore config to speed things upp a bit.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60416