Rubber banding

[Plinko]

There's no reason to have your issues with those processors - they're more than needed for TF2. I get 300fps with an i5.
They should be fine.

Either you have something eating cycles, someone is sucking up your bandwidth or you have a very bad ISP from the sounds of it.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

I have Cox for my ISP and didn't have problems before (unless they have switched something). There are no new devices on my wireless. I do have 2 new neighbors on the block, and there are a ton of wireless users. POssible to be getting interference? One neighbor who programs for Blizzard said that one problem we have on our block is that everyone has a 2.4ghz wireless setup.

Would it help to try something with my tf2 file itself?

[belak]

2.4Ghz vs 5Ghz is a huge difference... a month or so ago I switched to a newer router and started using the 5Ghz connection and things instantly improved... I'm not sure if that's your issue (since I thought you said you tried wiring it in) but it might be worth looking into.

[Plinko]

It could well be you have a bunch of neighbors blowing out the local node watching a lot of Netflix or something every evening. Have you tried playing in an off peak hour to see if it stays?

If it was overuse of the wireless band, the issues would go away when you put it on the wired connection.

If it's something inside eating your CPU cycles, it wouldn't hurt to do a format and reinstall of everything.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

Well it's pretty clear that it is something in the computer now. Played tf2 on my desktop for the first time in 3 years. No lag, no slowness, actually able to play (don't know how you guys use a mouse though). Desktop is wired and newer.

Seeing similar cpu issues on other steam games (civ5, lotro etc). Think it's my computer.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

And the answer is:

Bad Sectors.

Bonus points to you if you had that as your pick.

Took it in, ran some tests, hard drive failed. After trying the various fixes and suggestions here and online, this seemed like the most probable and it was confirmed. New drive going in now and I should be back to normal, productive gaming soon. Hmm. productive gaming seems an oxymoron. Oh well.

Thanks again for all the help folks!

[ADevilishPotato]

And the answer is:

Bad Sectors.

Bonus points to you if you had that as your pick.

Took it in, ran some tests, hard drive failed. After trying the various fixes and suggestions here and online, this seemed like the most probable and it was confirmed. New drive going in now and I should be back to normal, productive gaming soon. Hmm. productive gaming seems an oxymoron. Oh well.

Thanks again for all the help folks!

sweet, it'll be good to have ya back!

[Larry]

Well it's pretty clear that it is something in the computer now. Played tf2 on my desktop for the first time in 3 years. No lag, no slowness, actually able to play (don't know how you guys use a mouse though). Desktop is wired and newer.

Seeing similar cpu issues on other steam games (civ5, lotro etc). Think it's my computer.

Wait, you don't use a mouse?

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

Nope. I play on a laptop with my trackpad and single button mouse. It certainly makes things a bit different, but its what I've gotten used to.