Automapping causes drop in framerate?

[JkWhoSaysNi]

With automapping enabled my framerate drops significantly.... when there are many people on the screen.

If there are only a few people on the screen there is now slow down or if there are many and I have automapping disabled there is no slow down. However, If I have automapping turned on and there are many people on the screen then I experience a vast slow down (enough to make the framerate warning message to pop up).

I cant see how my framerate can drop given the system requirements and the specs of my computer:

AMD XP 2800+ Barton.
1gb PC3200 DDR.
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.


I also cant see the connection between automapping and the number of people on the screen.

On a side note, even with automapping disabled if there is a lot of text on the screen i will experience a small slow down. Why would text cause a drop in framerate?

Any ideas how I can fix this problem?

Thanks.

p.s. I have only ever experienced this in the windows (on XP pro) client. Never the linux one, although I havent used the linux one as much.