Your computer is largely irrelevant as long as it's dual-core or higher.
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Well, good Gaming PC is not only because of multiple CPU cores and believe or not, but dual-core or higher in these days is standard... You should know this better than that - like you I am a computer scientist.
As for 'newer games', you're wrong - especially when it comes to impact on the performance by game content.
...More staticmeshes is a good thing, they're faster to render than BSP which a lot of 2.5 maps are made out of (Pipeline...).
Yeah, but height polygons SM will have the same effect... Besides, conversion of BSP to SM entails a deterioration of visual quality (shadows, lighting...). Generally, in such cases, is used LightMap, but probably AA2.5 engine doesn't support it. There is many more aspects, but we are already Off Topic.
It's always been like that: only a tiny part of all players come to this forum.
What's funny is how admins keep creating those polls, and base their decisions on such an illusion of "community".
Still only 37 votes (+1)... Now I see, what you have in mind...