Tickrate drop along with choke

[GreenLabel]

Hey, I'm running a Public 16 slot 100TickRate server on the following machine:

Dedicated Intel QuadCore
OS: Linux Debian
Intel Core2Quad Quadcore Q6600, 4 cores each
3x 2048 MB DDR2 Ram, PC667, Kingston
100mbit connection

When I'm alone on the server, the tickrate is quite stable (staying above 100 most of the time, sometimes drops to 98). When there are around 5 players on it, you can notice choke going up to around 5-10, and TickRate drop down to around 95. At 16 players, choke gets quite serious, and TickRate also goes down to around 60.

It's a GunGame server, and I'm positive that any mods aren't causing this, as this also happens when there's nothing installed on it. So, the main problem is that the tickrate is VERY unstable, jumping like crazy all the time.

Server FPS & CPU usage looks like this (with no one being on the server!):

Quote:10:58:39 stats
10:58:39 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.00 0.00 0.00 1120 12 235.52 0
10:58:40 stats
10:58:40 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.00 0.00 0.00 1120 12 122.65 0
10:58:41 stats
10:58:41 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.33 0.00 0.00 1120 12 121.98 0
10:58:42 stats
10:58:42 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.25 0.00 0.00 1120 12 126.12 0
10:58:42 stats
10:58:43 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.25 0.00 0.00 1120 12 250.19 0
10:58:43 stats
10:58:43 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.20 0.00 0.00 1120 12 246.91 0
10:58:43 stats
10:58:43 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.20 0.00 0.00 1120 12 83.09 0
10:58:44 stats
10:58:44 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
2.00 0.00 0.00 1120 12 123.85 0
10:58:44 stats
10:58:44 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
2.00 0.00 0.00 1120 12 249.88 0
10:58:45 stats
10:58:45 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.50 0.00 0.00 1120 12 122.65 0
10:58:45 stats
10:58:45 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.50 0.00 0.00 1120 12 245.04 0
10:58:46 stats
10:58:46 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.67 0.00 0.00 1120 12 123.14 0
10:58:46 stats
10:58:47 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.67 0.00 0.00 1120 12 122.06 0
10:58:47 stats
10:58:47 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.50 0.00 0.00 1120 12 250.63 0
10:58:47 stats
10:58:48 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.50 0.00 0.00 1120 12 81.95 0
10:58:48 stats
10:58:48 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
1.60 0.00 0.00 1120 12 119.50 0

And the server rate setting looks like this:
sv_minrate 35000
sv_maxrate 45000
decalfrequency 10
sv_maxcmdrate 100
sv_mincmdrate 60
sv_maxupdaterate 100
sv_minupdaterate 60

The machine seems to be great, rate settings seem fine, where's the problem then?

Thanks for helping me out!

[afterhoursgaming]

Kernel version? Even with a great hardware spec you can still get unsteady fps Prehaps you should recompile the kernel.

[GreenLabel]

Can unstable FPS also have an effect on tickrate (along with choke)? And I have no idea what kernel this server has, as I don't have access to it, I just have this single GameServer on it...

[janne]

Yes, as the number of ticks per second can never be higher than the fps...

[BehaartesEtwas]

GreenLabel Wrote:Can unstable FPS also have an effect on tickrate (along with choke)?

but not with choke. choke is a pure client problem (unless forcing the clients into bad settings by sv_min/max rate commands). it will occur if you set the maximum allowed bandwith (-> command "rate") lower than what is required for your cl_cmd/updaterate. the idea is to protect against loss and highping, which would occur if you try to send more data than your connection can handle (and would be much worse).