PCSX2 review : CPU power DOES matter.

[RPGW1ZaRD]

PCSX2 review : CPU power DOES matter.

Introduction

Many of you have probably wondered how much faster will PCSX2 run with overclocked or faster CPU and with a dual core CPU. Will the performance be nearly same or will you see a significant performance increase? That's questions that come into my mind and being a person familiar with overclocking and the fact that I've recently ordered an AMD64 Opteron 165 1.8GHz dual core which is pretty equal to my AMD64 "San Diego" 3700+ 2.2GHz other than the dual core vs single core technology and different stock speeds. I thought what the heck, I'll do a little review for you guys & girls to show how good PCSX2 scale with different CPU speeds and single vs dual core with MTGS and Dual Core Mode enabled. I originally meant to include my old AMD64 "San Diego" 3700+ 2.2GHz CPU as comparision but then this ZeroGS plugin gets released and it simply wouldn't be fair to compare the current GSdx9 plugin to ZeroGS v0.95.2 so Opteron 165 will have to do both modes.

Test setup

CPU1 : AMD64 Opteron 165 1.8GHz 2x1MB L2 cache
Motherboard : DFI Lanparty nForce4 SLI-DR
GPU : Nvidia 6800GT 256MB PCI-E 350/1000MHz @ 440/1155MHz
RAM : OCZ Gold VX PC4000 2x512MB @ 2-2-2-5
PSU : OCZ PowerStream 520W
Sound : Creative SoundBlaster Audigy
OS : Windows XP Pro SP2; AMD64 dual core driver, MS hotfix
and dual core optimizer installed
Cooling : Big Typhoon 120mm CPU aircooler and 8x case fans

CPU speeds:

Opteron 165 @ 1.8GHz single core mode (stock speed)
Opteron 165 @ 1.8GHz dual core mode (stock speed)
Opteron 165 @ 2.2GHz single core mode (~22% overclocked)
Opteron 165 @ 2.2GHz dual core mode (~22% overclocked)
Opteron 165 @ 2.8GHz single core mode (~56% overclocked)
Opteron 165 @ 2.8GHz dual core mode (~56% overclocked)

PCSX2 config

PCSX2 Build : v0.9.1 VM build
CPU1 (Opty 165): EERec, VU1rec, VU0rec enabled
CPU2 (Opty 165) : EERec, VU1rec, VU0rec, MTGS, Dual Core Mode enabled
GFX: ZeroGS SSE2 0.95.2; 1024x768, interlace 1, FFX Hack (only in FFX)
Sound : P.E.Op.S. SPU2 DSound 1.4.0; fastest settings
CD/DVD ROM : Linuzappz Iso CDVD 0.5.0

Test method

3 games are used to measure the FPS rate, Final Fantasy X, Grandia III and Phantom Brave. I thought these 3 games are among my best suited games for this review as all 3 of them works with MTGS and Dual Core Mode. I use 4 screenshots per game (I could use more but that would flood with screenshots as it already is and I hope you can excuse me from using ImageShack to get this many pictures attached and to get the pictures better organized ;)) from both higher and lower fps rate areas, should be enough to calculate a quite exact performance increase value. I try to take the screenshots in as exact same position as possible snapping the highest fps rate or with as exact/same polygon count as possible. In some pics it may vary with 1 - 2 FPS or so max but that's not enough to make this comparision biased. CPU speeds used in this review reflect the stock speeds of both the slowest (Venice 3000+ & Opteron 165), average (San Diego 3700+ & X2 4400+ or Opteron 175) and fastest (AMD FX57 & FX62).

EDIT : I pretty soon realised displaying ALL screenshots of all speeds would flood this review with 72! game screenshots so I decided to only include both the slowest and fastest mode (1.8GHz single core mode and 2.8GHz dual core mode) so you've got at least some screenshots to compare with so that you can judge so I haven't cheated.


Test1 : Final Fantasy X


Opteron 165 single core mode @ 1.8GHz (stock speed) :

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7466/ffx1uh7.th.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx1uh7.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3756/ffx2bf5.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx2bf5.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5835/ffx3og4.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx3og4.jpg) http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1415/ffx4lb6.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx4lb6.jpg)

Opteron 165 dual core mode @ 2.8GHz (~56% overclocked) :

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/5911/ffx1xd4.th.jpg (http://img92.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx1xd4.jpg) http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4826/ffx2mp7.th.jpg (http://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx2mp7.jpg) http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1407/ffx3fu2.th.jpg (http://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx3fu2.jpg) http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/8613/ffx4nu5.th.jpg (http://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx4nu5.jpg)

Results :

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/517/ffxresult1sq7.th.jpg (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffxresult1sq7.jpg) http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/6300/ffxresult2zl5.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffxresult2zl5.jpg) http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6979/ffxresult3zb3.th.jpg (http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffxresult3zb3.jpg) http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/7192/ffxresult4mz7.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffxresult4mz7.jpg)

Based on the screenshots Opteron 165 2.8GHz dual core mode is 22% faster on average than 2.2GHz dual core mode, 33% faster than 2.8GHz single core mode, 53% faster than 1.8GHz dual core mode, 69% faster than 2.2GHz single core mode and 105% faster than 1.8GHz single core mode. In average dual core mode is 35% faster than single core mode.


Test2 : Grandia III


Opteron 165 single core mode @ 1.8GHz (stock speed) :

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4599/g1uv6.th.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g1uv6.jpg) http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2108/g2qk0.th.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g2qk0.jpg) http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4446/g3nl0.th.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g3nl0.jpg) http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/227/g4cw8.th.jpg (http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g4cw8.jpg)

Opteron 165 dual core mode @ 2.8GHz (~56% overclocked) :

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/296/g1ua1.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g1ua1.jpg) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/8992/g2sm2.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g2sm2.jpg) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2742/g3cj4.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g3cj4.jpg) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2720/g4lt1.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g4lt1.jpg)

Results :

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/5171/grandia3result1la4.th.jpg (http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grandia3result1la4.jpg) http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6200/grandia3result2xh4.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grandia3result2xh4.jpg) http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6713/grandia3result3xv5.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grandia3result3xv5.jpg) http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1571/grandia3result4ww5.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grandia3result4ww5.jpg)

Opteron 165 2.8GHz dual core mode is 17% faster than 2.8GHz single core mode, 22% faster than 2.2GHz dual core mode, 44% faster than 2.2GHz single core mode, 48% faster than 1.8GHz dual core mode and 77% faster than 1.8GHz single core mode. Dual core mode is 18% faster than single core mode, so it's quite good also for single core users.


Test3 : Phantom Brave


Opteron 165 single core mode @ 1.8GHz (stock speed) :

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/758/pb1bg3.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb1bg3.jpg) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3991/pb2ok2.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb2ok2.jpg) http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9194/pb3bt1.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb3bt1.jpg) http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1277/pb4mk3.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb4mk3.jpg)

Opteron 165 dual core mode @ 2.8GHz (~56% overclocked) :

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/2549/pb1sw9.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb1sw9.jpg) http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/848/pb2ta8.th.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb2ta8.jpg) http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1336/pb3dp0.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb3dp0.jpg) http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2909/pb4wz6.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb4wz6.jpg)

Results :

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/914/phantombraveresult1oa7.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=phantombraveresult1oa7.jpg) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/6977/phantombraveresult2ub2.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=phantombraveresult2ub2.jpg) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7557/phantombraveresult3ru5.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=phantombraveresult3ru5.jpg) http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9832/phantombraveresult4cq4.th.jpg (http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=phantombraveresult4cq4.jpg)

Opteron 165 2.8GHz dual core mode is 34% faster than 2.2GHz dual core mode, 59% faster than 1.8GHz dual core mode, 76% faster than 2.8GHz single core mode, 130% faster than 2.2GHz single core mode and 175% faster! than 1.8GHz single core mode. Dual core mode is 74% faster than single core mode in average, offering by far the biggest speed increase with dual core mode of all these 3 games.

** EDIT ** Here's an example of that overclocked graphics cards doesn't show any performance gain with lowest quality settings
in ZeroGS v0.95.2, but with AA4x and bilinear filtering enabled a faster graphics card provides a smaller or even no
performance loss at all depending on your CPU speed (the more powerful CPU you have the more powerful GFX card you
will need in order to not get FPS drops with AA4x & BF). Traxxx with a powerful X1900XTX graphics card has already
proved us that he doesn't get any performance loss at all with AA4x and bilinear filtering and since I got better speed with
my overclocked graphic card with max quality settings, it means faster graphics card doesn't gain any speed with lowest
quality settings but can help significantly when playing with max quality settings in ZeroGS v0.95.2.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/9152/ffxgfxstockse1.th.jpg (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffxgfxstockse1.jpg) http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4006/ffxgfxoverclockedqe8.th.jpg (http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffxgfxoverclockedqe8.jpg) http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/1310/ffxaa4xbfmq4.th.jpg (http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffxaa4xbfmq4.jpg) http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4655/ffxaa4xbfgfxoverclockedhz0.th.jpg (http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffxaa4xbfgfxoverclockedhz0.jpg)


Conclusion

Does faster/overclocked CPU help significantly? = YES!

Does dual core CPUs offer a a lot faster speed at same CPU clock speed? = YES!

PCSX2 already scales well performance wise with faster CPU speeds and offers HUGE performance boost with a dual core CPU running in MTGS and Dual Core Mode. Pretty soon there will only be dual core CPUs (or quad cores) available in stores and to very affordable prices so I think it was a smart move by PCSX2 team to include MTGS and Dual Core Mode when they did as it offers very nice FPS rates (PC game manufacturers take should also take note!) and I hope compability will be improved in future so more games can take advantage of it. What suprised me also was how big performance boost it added only by overclocking the single core/dual core CPU, in PC games you see a much lower performance increase with overclocking only the CPU like that which once again shows PCSX2 is VERY CPU dependant as the performance increase was pretty linear or same as the overclocked CPU amount!

Take note, I DON'T recommend any1 just start overclocking and I don't take any response for people damaging their computer because they got interested doing so because of this thread. There's always a chance of risking your hardware's life when overclocking, altough when you know what you're doing and stay within reasonable margins the chance is very minimal. I personally have overclocked for a while and always will as it has become like a hobby for me with any comp I own from now on and have not had any hardware failures and I'm not too worried I will ever see one.

Anyways the intention of this thread was to show you how well PCSX2 scales with more cpu power and how much dual core CPUs does improve the performance in MTGS and Dual Core Mode vs single core at same speed. I wanna congratulate the PCSX2 team once again for doing the awesome work they're doing, they are prolly the most amazing team in the world, keep up the good job!

Special thanks flies out to Mr_Slinky over at XtremeSystems forums for selling his nice clocking Opteron 165 to a very reasonable price and to my big brother for letting me use Microsoft Excel on his computer so I was able to make the nice graphs. :)

EDIT : The graphs are included in the attached file below so you can browse the graphs faster & easier in case ImageShack is slow or the graphs doesn't show up at all (should be 4 for each game).

[DeserTwolF]

thx for this review!

[Eric-1987]

Yeah I constantly have my computer OC'd. Nice results though shows that higher end CPU's do make a highly noticeable difference. What was your RAM running at during the tests btw? And is it water cooling on the CPU?

[DaStinger77]

Very well done!

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Yeah I constantly have my computer OC'd. Nice results though shows that higher end CPU's do make a highly noticeable difference. What was your RAM running at during the tests btw? And is it water cooling on the CPU?

I've tried it out and RAM speed didn't affect me at all but I was running 233MHz with timings 2-2-2-5 most of the time. With these settings pretty much only CPU speed makes differences to the speed. CPU is aircooled with Big Typhoon + AS5 and at 1.45v for 2.8GHz and IHS on the CPU is removed.

What is most interesting is how the speed is increased pretty much linear with overclocked cpu amount. If only this applied to PC games as well. :D

[Balthazard]

WoW nice review.
Atleast I know what kind off speeds I can expect when I buy my Conroe.

Thx for the review.

[Metalmurphy]

Congratiolations on such a nice work |Gand|Alf| ;=)

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Thx every1, it sure took quite a while but it was worth it. I'm still open to requests of different test methods (VM vs non VM build, AA4x + BF vs lowest quality settings etc.) or questions about this review. :)

[naparuba]

Thanks for this review.

[Harakiri]

Amazing, higher CPU speed values increase application performance - you should sent your findings to nature.com - if your results are indeed verified by other experts the possibilties are endless ! Maybe even a guest lecture at the Harvard University.

Good Job !

[naparuba]

Amazing, higher CPU speed values increase application performance - you should sent your findings to nature.com - if your results are indeed verified by other experts the possibilties are endless ! Maybe even a guest lecture at the Harvard University.
Good Job !

oO
.... And when your application is limited by your video card? Or by your I/O? The main information here is that this application is more limited by the CPU and this limitation is linear for the moment. That is really a good job, whatever you can say....:rolleyes:

May I can ask what papers you have wrote before flaming him? But It would not help the issue so ....:beer:


PS: Sorry for my english, I really try....

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Amazing, higher CPU speed values increase application performance - you should sent your findings to nature.com - if your results are indeed verified by other experts the possibilties are endless ! Maybe even a guest lecture at the Harvard University.

Good Job !

It's NOT like I DIDN'T know higher CPU speed would help especially as PCSX2 is that cpu dependant and cpu takes care of almost all instructions, but if you didn't find it useful you can just ignore this thread as many others here prolly find it useful.

(why would people constantly keep reviewing new hardware and compare it to other hardware and people read them if there wasn't a point in it)

Besides I even gave you numbers in percantage form comparing the average speed from all these screenshots, it's nicer to directly see the difference in numbers you know rather than saying a faster cpu sure is gonna give you better speed but how much? Phantom Brave showed a lot bigger FPS increase of dual core mode than single core mode compared to the other games for example where even 1.8GHz dual core mode beat 2.8GHz single core mode, everything's not so crystal clear as it seems.

I know lots of people are switching over to dual core cpus these days as the price has become so low thx to Conroe and at least this can provide indirections of how fast it will run for them for example. :)

[Prafull]

Even though results were pretty much known and expected but still very good work with the review. :thumb:

[davidpoiu]

Yes, it's a nice review.
Congratulations |Gand|Alf|!

[paladin_le]

my cpu is only AMD 64 3200,and GPU is 7900GT,but i cant see the PCSX2 make use of my GPUs POWER ,THATS WHY???
I see the 6600 take the same fps with my 7900GT,i dont want it only depend on the cpus power
:cry: :cry: :cry:

[RPGW1ZaRD]

my cpu is only AMD 64 3200,and GPU is 7900GT,but i cant see the PCSX2 make use of my GPUs POWER ,THATS WHY???
I see the 6600 take the same fps with my 7900GT,i dont want it only depend on the cpus power
:cry: :cry: :cry:

At least you should be able to play with AA4x and bilinear filtering without seeing a drastic loss in performance, I think that's the only advantage with more powerful gfx cards today...

I get like up to 50% speed decrease with AA4x and bilinear filtering on my 6800GT for example.

[Fragmaster]

Dare I ask how you got the opteron overclocked that much without crashing PCSX2? I haven't tried on my opteron computer, but my Athlon 64 3000+ can only be overlcocked to 2.3Ghz from 2.0Ghz before PCSX2 becomes unstable. Also, I know it's not a heat issue, becuse I use 3 fans + liquid cooling whenever I overclock it that much.

[paladin_le]

i only wish pcsx2 will take more power from GPU in the future
:lol: :lol: :lol:

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Dare I ask how you got the opteron overclocked that much without crashing PCSX2? I haven't tried on my opteron computer, but my Athlon 64 3000+ can only be overlcocked to 2.3Ghz from 2.0Ghz before PCSX2 becomes unstable. Also, I know it's not a heat issue, becuse I use 3 fans + liquid cooling whenever I overclock it that much.

It varies much from sample to sample, in fact the stepping code at which time it was manufactured matters most I'm afraid. My Opteron 165 is a CCBWE 0550 UPMW and has both good samples that do 2.9GHz+ and some bad ones that tops out 2.7GHz or slightly below no matter cooling. Best Opteron 165 stepping for aircooling I know is CCBBE 0610 DPMW that runs up to 2.70 - 2.8GHz on stock volts in average and maxes at ~3GHz with 1.48 - 1.52v. You need to raise vcore sooner or later, I'm able to run up to ~2.65GHz or so with stock vcore 1.35v but requires 1.45v at 2.8GHz. You're right about that PCSX2 is very stressful for the CPU especially for dual core cpus with MTGS and DC mode enabled (could be considered as a CPU stresstest even :D), temps go almost as high, maybe 1 - 2C lower than stress tests on both motherboard and cpu for me.

Anyways let's stay on topic, if you got hardware/overclocking questions we could rather discuss it in PM. ;)

[ShendoXT]

Nice review you made |Gand|Alf|.

[ssj4breakthru]

Gj mate . Very good in showing how mhz does matter . Anyhow , in some of the benches I can see that even 2.8Ghz @single core is not fast enough to match stock dual core (1.8ghz) , espescially in Phantom Brave SS1 . Indeed , as everyone hope, hopefully the emu will take more advantage of single core and the GPU

[Shin_Gouki]

any Core Duo Tests to compare?
wbr Shin Gouki

[RPGW1ZaRD]

any Core Duo Tests to compare?
wbr Shin Gouki

Sure if you send me one. :p

At least I'm gonna stay with this Opteron 165 at least for a year, but if I have the chance, I'd gladly test it out.

As for Conroe speeds in pc game speed it seems 300 - 350MHz clock for clock advantage for Conroe according to some benchmarks but no idea how it compares in PCSX2 as I haven't seen any tests really but I guess it's pretty equal results there. :p

If that's true then ~2.5GHz Conroe or E6600 and up should provide at least similiar speeds as my Opteron 165 @ 2.8GHz. But then I've seen lots of people already that overclocked their Conroe samples to 3.5GHz+ and I can only imagine what kinda speeds that would give. FFX would prolly run like 70 - 200 fps. :lol:

[Mystiq]

i only wish pcsx2 will take more power from GPU in the future
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Unlikely in the near future, unless somehow they can magically turn all the PS2 GPU calls directly into PC hardware calls. :(

[JKKDARK]

Great job, |Gand|Alf| ;)

[mugener]

Unlikely in the near future, unless somehow they can magically turn all the PS2 GPU calls directly into PC hardware calls. :(

Please tell me one thing:

Does piexl shader matter on pcsx2???

My card doesn't supoort ps at all, so I can only use gxsd9, but my cpu is 2.80ghz.

Can I get good speed even without ps??? :dance:

.

[refraction]

I concur with the above, excellent review!

It certainly highlights the importance of processing power in emulation!

It would have been cool if you could have some other systems in there, single core (like you said) and maybe some Intel comparisons to show the differences, but i cant expect you to be rich enough to build them all :D

Maybe if somebody else could do the same comparison shots on say, conroe, P4, and single core AMD then pass them on? Obviously id expect folk to have the same sort of spec ;p

[ulwan25]

the review was great! to bad me CPU don't have dual core.

[k3N]

Yeah i saw a guy with a an overclocked e6300 running tekken 4 at 25 fps ingame.

[refraction]

Yeah i saw a guy with a an overclocked e6300 running tekken 4 at 25 fps ingame.

yeh so did the rest of the forum (http://forums.ngemu.com/995954-post271.html)
;)

[RealOne]

Since that is the FPS obtained using GSdx9, the probability of getting full speed with ZeroGS is quite high, isnt it?

[RPGW1ZaRD]

yeh so did the rest of the forum (http://forums.ngemu.com/995954-post271.html)
;)

Never tried out Tekken 4, I don't own it myself but I know some friend that does, perhaps I could try it out on this system as well with both GSdx9 as he used and ZeroGS.

I agree it would be nice with a P4, Pentium D and Conroe included in the test for example, too bad I don't have any friends either where I could put up some good tests, some have crappy P3 and most of them have AMD systems. lol

[Qwin]

nice review hmmm i wonder if AMD X2 would be a great difrents with opterons

[El_Diablos]

Yeah, somebody plz post the FPS results on AMD X2 ?

[refraction]

Yeah, somebody plz post the FPS results on AMD X2 ?

this is NOT a request thread, he did this off his own back, he doesnt have to do anything for you. The opteron 165 should be a close enough guideline for you.

Meh i knew that would start sooner or later..

Never tried out Tekken 4, I don't have own it myself with both GSdx9 like he used and ZeroGS but I know some friend that does, perhaps I could try it out on this system as well.

I agree it would be nice with a P4, Pentium D and Conroe included in the test for example, too bad I don't have any friends either where I could put up some good tests, some have crappy P3 and most of them have AMD systems. lol


Maybe you should add P3 results, just to validate your point that if your CPU does suck ass, you arent going to go very quick ;p

[RPGW1ZaRD]

nice review hmmm i wonder if AMD X2 would be a great difrents with opterons

Yeah, somebody plz post the FPS results on AMD X2 ?

I can confirm that Opteron dual core performs exactly the same as AMD64 X2 CPUs; X2 4400+ 2.2GHz and 4800+ 2.4GHz at same clock speeds it's been tested many times but they are slightly faster than X2 3800+, X2 4200+ and X2 4600+ at same clock speed since these only have 2x512KB l2 cache instead of 2x1024KB, but they all support the same features. That's why I wrote Opteron 165 @ 2.2GHz should reflect Opteron 175 OR X2 4400+ performance as they both are 2.2GHz and have 2x1MB l2 cache and share same architecture. In other words it would be useless to compare a AMD64 X2 cpu as it would perform exactly same. This is also one reason why I choosed 2.2GHz instead of 2.3GHz for example.

Opterons overclocks better in general is why I choosed Opteron so I would be able to run at AMD64 FX62 2.8GHz speed. :D
ve taken all shots with AA4x instead.

Maybe you should add P3 results, just to validate your point that if your CPU does suck ass, you arent going to go very quick ;p

LOL, yea maybe I should but I wouldn't even have the patience to take all those screenies with such slow speed. ;)

I think the difference is rather huge between 1.8GHz single core and 2.8GHz dual core already...

EDIT: just found out that I'm able to run with either Bilinear filtering or AA4x only with a very minor performance loss, just not both combined at least in FFX... oO

Might add VM vs non VM build shots too.

[refraction]

yea thatd be good.

also some AA comparisons would be cool (maybe go over the bars so you have lines for each AA speed, rather than seperate ones) or just do 1 test.

for example, FFX has little to no impact on the different AA settings, but if you try Grandia 3, you get about a 50% performance hit between off and AAx4

[emwearz]

"for example, FFX has little to no impact on the different AA settings, but if you try Grandia 3, you get about a 50% performance hit between off and AAx4"

MY speed can drop from 1/3 to a 1/2 if I enable AAx4 in FFX.

[RPGW1ZaRD]

yea thatd be good.

also some AA comparisons would be cool (maybe go over the bars so you have lines for each AA speed, rather than seperate ones) or just do 1 test.

for example, FFX has little to no impact on the different AA settings, but if you try Grandia 3, you get about a 50% performance hit between off and AAx4

yea and the prob is where and how many shots to take as it varies so much between areas. I just tried Grandia 3 and in one place I got even 18 fps increase (78 vs 60) with VM build while in another it added only ~2 fps increase.

And yea it does vary so much from game to game if AA and BF slows down or not, Grandia 3 does suffer so much more with AA and BF. But I love how sleek it looks during battles with max quality settings during spell animations. :wub:

Better than on a real ps2...

Won't promise anything that I will add things to this review, but if I do I'd prolly add max quality settings performance for at least 2.8GHz speed to the graphs and possibly some VM vs non VM build screenshots. I think my bro saved the MS Excel work but not sure, takes time to add all those 72 fps rates to the work sheet and create the graphs as well so wouldn't wanna do it again... :rolleyes:

[Smooth Criminal]

wellfirst of all congrats for ur overwhelming research
and tahnk for review
but i know i am dumb asking this my computer has an amd athlon 64 3000+ proccesor and 512 mb ram with an nvidiageforce 440 card will pcxs2 games run at acceptable speeds on my system i (think proabably not but just i wanna know)...

[Articbre]

Well thats odd, with my P4 2.8 and my x800XT in FFX and Grandia 3 I recieve almost no difference in FPS when using AAx4. I usually see anywhere between 25-60 fps with both.

[Eric-1987]

lol Idtwo did you mean to say that your P4 is better then AMD's 64 and X2 and opteron line?

[aszucs]

i was sure that overclocking is linear with the speed [heard that pcsx2 very cpu dependant]
but i thought dual core means a little more.. [some said that almost x2... maybe that 19% is because of your gpu limitations? it can be checked with AA/BF]
And AA, BF slow down only if your [and my too:)] graphic card is not strong enought compared to the CPU.
I think we should make test from the same save point, where there are no optional polygons.. [random walking peoples:)]
so we could compare our resoults..
When i will be home i will try to make a little test in my P4C.

[GreenImp]

I like it your post man... It's like a Tom's Hardware reiview with eumlators instead of doom 3 & quake 4 as the benchmarks. =P Man this is making me really itch to upgrade my PC. >.<

[Eric-1987]

Well your PC is severly out of date so yeah I would be itching to upgrade it also

[suxxx]

Wow that's a one big good post. So diffrent from all the "omg my game won't work" crap that's flooding the forum. Good job |Gand|Alf| :thumb:

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Wow that's a one big good post. So diffrent from all the "omg my game won't work" crap that's flooding the forum. Good job |Gand|Alf| :thumb:

Well I just felt I had to contribute some way to this amazingly progressing project. :thumb:

I'm interested in programming myself (other than computer hardware & overclocking :p) and but these coding skills are way above my knowledge but I'm gonna start studying programming in university and hopefully understand more in the future.

[Coolsvilleman]

Finally. This should be stickied for all the people asking what kindof computer they need to run games at full speed.

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Finally. This should be stickied for all the people asking what kindof computer they need to run games at full speed.

Nah it wouldn't be fair as no Intel parts are included (I really wish I could include that as well) and it's not like all games run at full speed even with an AMD FX62 cpu. These games run pretty well but there's still many games with lots of polygons that run a bit slower.

In these 3 games however the speed is more than enough to enjoy fully even speedwise (in case the small bugs gets sorted in FFX for example). I get 45 - 172 fps in FFX, average ~80 fps. Grandia 3 runs 30 - 100 fps or so (~60 fps average), and Phantom Brave runs like 50 - 120 (~80 average) fps.

[Mystiq]

Please tell me one thing:

Does piexl shader matter on pcsx2???

My card doesn't supoort ps at all, so I can only use gxsd9, but my cpu is 2.80ghz.

Can I get good speed even without ps??? :dance:

.

The makers of PCSX2 and the video plugins can answer this better, but there are effects possible in computer graphics that are not possible with pixel shaders. Theoretically these effects can just be left out, but you would be left with a half-assed image and it may or may not look right. I don't believe a higher version of pixel shaders increases speed very much, unless these shaders are very complicated; it may just look better.

[RPGW1ZaRD]

I saw some FFX screenies by Luptatorul in the screenshot section with a Conroe E6300 overclocked to 2.8GHz (that's a 970MHz overclock, not too bad :p) so I think I'll try and compare my cpu to it and I can already tell it's faster than mine, I'd prolly need around 3.1 - 3.2GHz on this cpu to get same speed. lol

[refraction]

Finally. This should be stickied for all the people asking what kindof computer they need to run games at full speed.

I agree BUT!!

i think we need more cpu comparisons there, rather than the same CPU set to different speeds. remember the overclocked opteron will have more memory bandwidth than say a standard 2.8Ghz dual opteron, so altho it shows overclocked performance, the variety isnt very great.

Id just like to stress i much appreciate the effort |Gand|Alf| has put in, if we can get it more comprehensive, then i may consider making it a sticky :):D

[techjunkie]

im not sure how the opterons compare to the X2s but would my 3800 (2.0) OCed to 2.8 GHz yield similar results?

EDIT: i have a 7600 GT KO and i get drastic frame rate drop in Kingdom Hearts with even AA 2x why is that?

[RPGW1ZaRD]

I agree BUT!!

i think we need more cpu comparisons there, rather than the same CPU set to different speeds. remember the overclocked opteron will have more memory bandwidth than say a standard 2.8Ghz dual opteron, so altho it shows overclocked performance, the variety isnt very great.

Id just like to stress i much appreciate the effort |Gand|Alf| has put in, if we can get it more comprehensive, then i may consider making it a sticky :):D

Oh you're still worrying about memory bandwidth? Well let me tell you this, at least my DFI (=best brand for overclockers currently) motherboard has something called RAM dividers, meaning I don't have to run the RAM at same speed as the HTT/FSB as the CPU speed (why would I otherwise be able to run the cpu at 2.8GHz anyways since my ram only is good to go up to ~255MHz and I run the CPU at 9x311 ;)). The ram I run at divider 150 or 3:4 of the HTT speed meaning 233MHz. Anyways to prove the RAM speeds barely affect PCSX2 AT ALL, well to me it shows no loss unless I go to speeds like below stock ram speeds like 150MHz, here's 2 screenies below attached that I took some mins ago when RAM was set to 200MHz instead of 233MHz used in the 2.8GHz runs.

Now compare the 1st screen attached below that is 2.8GHz with RAM set to 200MHz to this one (http://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffx2mp7.jpg) which has CPU at 2.8GHz and RAM at 233MHz

The 2nd screen attached below that also has 2.8GHz with RAM set to 200MHz to this one (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=g3cj4.jpg) with CPU at 2.8GHz and RAM at 233MHz.

Seems like I missed the highest fps rate in that 2nd screenie for the review as I was even able to snap a higher fps rate this time with 33MHz SLOWER RAM speed. It was jumping between 78.8 but also went to 85.6 FPS for some millisecs. ;)

I wouldn't even have made this review if RAM speeds had affected the results you know. So I think it's safe to say the results of the different speeds reflect the stock speeds of the meantioned CPUs. :rolleyes:

At least according to my findings both RAM and Graphic card speed affects the PCSX2 FPS rate nada, nothing. So the results actually are based only on the CPU speed, why would the results be pretty much linear otherwise then if also RAM speed affected it? That would make those bars have an even bigger and bigger gap from 1.8GHz to 2.2GHz to 2.8GHz. But they are linear results as it should be with a CPU dependant software. (take note it should have been 2.3GHz and not 2.2GHz in order to make it perfect linear, 1800 + 500 = 2300 + 500 = 2800 rather than 1800 + 400 = 2200 + 600 = 2800MHz).

[refraction]

ram speed will make a difference, but id rather go for accurate tests. they can be considered unfair is one is getting a non-stock advantage over another

[RPGW1ZaRD]

ram speed will make a difference, but id rather go for accurate tests. they can be considered unfair is one is getting a non-stock advantage over another

But what if I run the RAM at same speed tru the whole test? lol

I can run the RAM at 200MHz for all those speeds if I want. But I decided not to do that this time as it never affected the fps rate at least with the CURRENT version. ;)

If you don't believe me I'll just take new screenies of all those places at all the different speeds with ram set to 200MHz and it will still show the same results. (not even differ 0.1 fps unless a program or something ran in the background is slowing me down) :)

Oh well I might do it anyways so no1 can say the test is unfair even if PCSX2 currently doesn't seem to be affected by ram speed. Then it would be even more accurate in case I missed some highest fps rate numbers that showed up in an certain area.

But for now I'm off to bed. ;)

[aszucs]

Some test result with P4C 2.4@3.0ghz 6600gt(agp, not overclolcked)
512mb ddr ram synced with CPU and FFX (SLUS_203.12)
Tried to test at save points where the scene doesn't change a lot,
so if others test from the same points then we could compare our results...
(memcard, and my pc, and pcsx2 settings attached)

i just put a save state at load menu to be able to load much easyer :)
and waited a few second after loading, and chechked the fps for 10-20 sec for min/max numbers...
FPS results:
save normal AAx2 AAx4 AAx4+BF
menu: 51.1-51.3 51.1-51.3 51.1-51.3
1: 19.3-21.3 18.3-21.3 11.6-19.0
2: 36.5-39.4 35.2-39.4 23.x-39.x
3: 17.1-19.0 16.0-18.3 11.1-15.1 6.4-11.7
5: 19.7-22.3 18.3-21.3 11.x-17.1
7: 16.5-17.7 16.5-17.7 16.0-17.1 12.8-15.1
12: 42.7-44.6 40.9-44.6 39.3-42.7
13: 26.9-30.2 25.6-28.5 24.3-28.5
I think from cpu point of view only the first column is important,
but i tested with AA too, this way we know wich results are gpu limited,
and wich are cpu [+ram+.. :)] limited...
so looks like savepoint 7 is the best (from these 8) to test the cpu...

[Luptatorul]

offtopic
Oh you're still worrying about memory bandwidth? Well let me tell you this, at least my DFI (=best brand for overclockers currently)
Unfortunately that's no the case for Intel Core2duo cpus , because on the only DFI board 975X Infinity available for now and tested with Conroe , overclocking is much lower then on my asus p5wdh, and my board sucks, only 425 fsb max stable on current cpu ,waiting for better mobos or bioses for them .

PS:the greatest boards for occ on AMD sk939 platform by far ,if you don't get compatibility issues with the memory, i've had an dfi lanparty sli-d with athlon 64 3700+ @3025 mhz

ontopic

so it is settled
choose some games to be tested :
post configuration on the emu and also cpuz maybe ;
we should see what the requirements of the emu are for now by testing this selected games on different PC's and comparing them , ofcourse pcsx2 would get faster and better as it evolves, but anyway we can get a big picture for now of what it needs

[RPGW1ZaRD]

aszucs> nice little test there, AA4x and BF shows similiar performance loss for me too.

Luptatorul> yea I was only talking about S939 boards but DFI will release new SLI & crossfire lanparty boards September - Oktober for both AMD and Intel which prolly also are quite nice but for many ppl the release date is too late. :lol:

I think I'll redo these screenshots once more where I run the RAM speed all the time at 200MHz. But I don't expect much changes.

EDIT: this time around I even try to snap screenshots with EXACT same polygon count and I will also include AA4x + BF shots for the fastest speed 2.8GHz dual core mode. RAM speed is at 200MHz for all games and all cpu speeds. More exact comparisions than this, can't be done.

[Traxxx]

Here what I get ;) Numbers are truncated not rounded ;) I´m using the
avg of min/max, fps spikes that only appeared 1 or 2 time during test dropped.


Nothing FSAAx2 Everything on
menu: 151-160 151-160 151-160
1: 43-46 43-46 42-46
2: 63-68 63-68 63-66
3: 37-40 37-40 37-40
5: 45-49 45-49 45-49
7: 36-39 36-39 36-39
12: 76-82 75-82 75-81
13: 54-60 54-60 54-59

Made with PCSX2 TLB
System:
Athlon X2 4800+, 4 GB Dual Channel DDR @ 333Mhz, X1900XTX,
Catalyst 6.7, Windows 2000

I´ll test it with Athlon FX60 later ;)

[Bobbi]

VERY nice review for sure, I read every part of it. Would it be okay with you if we added this review to the article section of NGEmu, as I'm sure many people would be interrested in reading it?

[RPGW1ZaRD]

When running RAM at 200MHz I found only 2 screenshots where the FPS was different with ~2 FPS, and I don't think it's enough in order for me to update this review cuz of that, just a lot of work. I'll mind the ram speed next time I'd do a comparision like this tho in case the emulator really starts to benefit more by different ram speeds. I still might add the BF and AA4x speed comparisions but I dunno how important these are atm, since the speedloss varies A LOT from none depending on gfx card.

When hardware enthusiasts review new CPUs PCSX2 should really be the major program to test the performance of CPUs as the results doesn't get affected by RAM or GFX card almost anything at all but still show a glimpse of gaming performance. :p

It would be pretty easy to estimate how many MHz faster an Intel Conroe cpu is compared to an AMD X2 cpu clock for clock with PCSX2 using same method I did in this test for example. :p

[refraction]

sorry i dont expect you to redo the tests youve already done, they give a perfect account on what overclocking can do for emulation, which is also a very good thing to test and show its benifits :)

[Silenus]

Nice review.

[dutchMasta]

Hi, GREAT review, just wanted to say.
This is a minor request, I hopefully will be contributing to this thread or make one of my own with conroe e6600 results, once I get my new cooler (tuniq tower 120). Could you see how much GPU makes a difference, like, stock settings and overclocked settings? I know it's REALLY cpu dependant, but just want to see how much work the gpu does. And also, the difference between 4xAA+BilinFiltering and nothing, at each stock+OC settings.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to overclock, and I'm not the richest, so I don't think I'll be pushing my CPU to the edge, but hopefully, there's this really nice person who may help me overclock it, and I'll see what speeds I can get, but I don't think I'll touch it afterwards, like go back and forth between overclock and stock settings, sort of thing.

THANKS!

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Hi, GREAT review, just wanted to say.
This is a minor request, I hopefully will be contributing to this thread or make one of my own with conroe e6600 results, once I get my new cooler (tuniq tower 120). Could you see how much GPU makes a difference, like, stock settings and overclocked settings? I know it's REALLY cpu dependant, but just want to see how much work the gpu does. And also, the difference between 4xAA+BilinFiltering and nothing, at each stock+OC settings.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to overclock, and I'm not the richest, so I don't think I'll be pushing my CPU to the edge, but hopefully, there's this really nice person who may help me overclock it, and I'll see what speeds I can get, but I don't think I'll touch it afterwards, like go back and forth between overclock and stock settings, sort of thing.

THANKS!

Check the 1st page again just before conclusion, added some pics with lowest quality settings with gfx card at stock speed and overclocked and also aa4x and bilinear filtering with both overclocked and stock. Hope that answers your question.

I will try Grandia 3 as well as that game gets more affected by AA4x and BF.

[CrispySilicon]

CPU power makes a huge difference... I just upgraded to a new E6600 core 2 duo and I'm getting about two to three times the frame rates I had with my old AMD 4800 X2

edit: Just like to add that Suikoden IV is actually semi-playable now, whee! :D

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
2GB DDR1 3200
256mb eVGA 7800gs

[Wortany]

Nice review, and also nice to know that you don't need an expensive GFX for performance on normal setting. But I must add 1 thing. |Gand|Alf|, with the last test you only tested 1 place. I have tested some with AA myself and I noticed that not every place in FFX gets slowed down with AAx4. Like when standing outside the crusaders log I have maximum 2fps loss at AAx4 (pic 1, 2, strangely enough they have the same fps so no loss), but when standing at the entrance of besaid temple (at the door with those fires) I see a drastical loss in fps (pic 3, 4).
I hope you can tell the difference between them so that you see I'm not making this up. (I took a snapshot instead of screenshot)

[Traxxx]

If you send me the saves of the second screens I can test it ;)

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Nice review, and also nice to know that you don't need an expensive GFX for performance on normal setting. But I must add 1 thing. |Gand|Alf|, with the last test you only tested 1 place. I have tested some with AA myself and I noticed that not every place in FFX gets slowed down with AAx4. Like when standing outside the crusaders log I have maximum 2fps loss at AAx4 (pic 1, 2, strangely enough they have the same fps so no loss), but when standing at the entrance of besaid temple (at the door with those fires) I see a drastical loss in fps (pic 3, 4).
I hope you can tell the difference between them so that you see I'm not making this up. (I took a snapshot instead of screenshot)

That's weird... you got a 6600GT and still get no performance loss in those 2 1st pics, I had like 128 vs 68 fps lol. I guess my gfx card must be too weak to follow at such high fps rates, now when I think about it that makes perfect sense, I have like equal FX62 performing CPU paired with an old 6800GT (awaiting good DX10 cards to hit the market ;)). I'm pretty sure if I lowered cpu speed to stock 1.8GHz and run in single core mode I might not even see any fps drops with AA4x and BF but then again the fps rate is constantly much lower too :D). PCSX2 sounds like a good test that shows that if you're GPU or CPU limited ;). Not that it matters so much to me since I'm able to play with a nice 45 - 172 fps rate with lowest quality all the way to where it freezes in the FMV in besaid temple the 1st time. ;)

For AMD dual core with Windows XP SP2 users I'd really recommend following amd driver installation guide to make sure you're getting optimal performance: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=81429

But in case I enable only either bilinear filtering or AA4x the performance drops very minorly, like from let's say 120 to 110 fps. Which Nvidia driver version are you using?

In that spot I get results like this, very drastic performance loss (110 - 115 -> 38 - 45).

So that's it. The graphics card doesn't improve FPS rates at all in lowest quality settings in ZeroGS v0.95.2 but when you enable AA4x and BF the fps loss is huge or none depending on game and area and how fast your CPU is compared to your graphics card (in case the graphics card can't keep up with the CPU speed thus the graphic card will be the limiting factor and you will of course see a lower FPS rate). Overclocking the graphic card also helps to reduce the FPS loss with maximum quality settings.

Shows that finally gfx card gets at least some work to do (only improving image quality in this case), so it's not only CPU.

[dutchMasta]

Thanks |Gand|Alf|, my suspicions were true. My 6600GT took a pretty big performance hit when activating 4xAA and bilinear filtering, and I saw other people with worse CPU's saying they don't get performance hits (or not as big), and looking at their graphics cards, it looked like the general trend was:
Better graphics cards = better 4xAA and bilinear filtering handling
Better CPU = better FPS on regular settings
I didn't want to jump to conclusions though, and I saw this thread, and your tests so thought I might as well ask, since it seemed a good test to include. I mean after all, PCSX2 is v CPU dependant, everyone says, but the graphics card has to do SOME work at least, nice to have a rough idea to how they affect performances. Thanks again!!

[Traxxx]

For AMD dual core users I'd really recommend following amd driver installation guide to make sure you're getting optimal performance

You should have mentioned that it´s only for WinXP users, I wondered
how installing Cool´n Quiet would bring performance ;)

[refraction]

You should have mentioned that it´s only for WinXP users, I wondered
how installing Cool´n Quiet would bring performance ;)

most probably none at all, plus if you overclock, that will ruin any chance you have of a stable system

[RPGW1ZaRD]

You should have mentioned that it´s only for WinXP users, I wondered
how installing Cool´n Quiet would bring performance ;)

You can install the AMD dual core drivers and still have Cool n' Quiet disabled in BIOS you know. ;) There seems to be other things involved in the driver too not only cool n quiet.

Without the AMD dual core driver I get slightly choppy performance in some PC games, with all those 3 drivers installed it gives the best smoothest performance as the person that made the guide also tells. And yes it applies for Windows XP SP2 only but that's what provides best performance for dual core users too currently.

[Eric-1987]

I noticed going from a stock of 2GHz to my new stable 2500MHz has made about an 10+ FPS increase. Now in KH1 I dont get lower then 41 FPS besides in cutscenes which is awesome!

[Traxxx]

And yes it applies for Windows XP SP2 only but that's what provides best performance for dual core users too currently.

If you mean because of VM version you are perhaps right but not with
normal games ;)


You can install the AMD dual core drivers and still have Cool n' Quiet disabled in BIOS you know. There seems to be other things involved in the driver too not only cool n quiet.

If you mean the timing fix perhaps but not the "driver" as it´s not a real driver, my CPU driver is the ACPI-Multiprocessor-PC driver from MS
(containing hal.dll, kernel32.dll and so on ;) ) so it´s more an WinXP fix ;)

[RPGW1ZaRD]

If you mean because of VM version you are perhaps right but not with
normal games ;)

Just curious, what are you using in case not Windows XP SP2? I've only tried SP1 vs SP2 and with singlecore I had better performance with my slipstreamed SP1 version but with dual core SP2 seems better, but yea VM build adds a noticable difference to speed in PCSX2 as well.

[zragnarok]

I recently upgraded my 1.83ghz Core Solo (Yonah) to a 1.66ghz Core Duo (Yonah) and got a consistent ~10fps boost across the board even with the lower clockspeed. Dual Core helps ALOT. I plan on upgrading to the Core 2 - T7200 (Merom/Conroe). On average the Conroe is about 20% faster than the Yonah at the same clock speed so I am expecting healthy gains

[Traxxx]

Just curious, what are you using in case not Windows XP SP2?

Because Win2k is more stable when your system has huge amount of RAM,
a lot of apps installed and should work 24/7 with a lot of server services running ;)

Tried WinXP 64 bit Pro but as most games didn´t start because copy protection didn´t recognize the OS I´ll keep with Win2k until I build my
next system (as Vista is not downwards compatible and I like playing old
games like FF7/FF8 and even playing DOS games like Simon The Sorcerer ;)
so only next system will get OS upgrade)
Sure FarCry looked great on WinXP 64bit and most 32bit apps gained 3%-10%
performance but I don´t like an OS that does not allow me to do anything
(besides TVCard drivers for WinXP 64bit is a pain in the &%(§/)

And on my other systems WinXP is no option too because I use them
to compose music and there exist no XP drivers for my Yamaha XG ;)

On the FX60 system I have WinXP installed because ATI does claim Catalyst
could do Crossfire on Win2k systems (like they said TVOut would work again *angry*) but it´s not possible as the CF tab simply is missing under Win2k.

[MASTERXZ]

yeah! thanks for the info

[Traxxx]

Just to get back to topic someone mentioned it would be nice to create a
database so I would like to help but I think there should be said which
games (as fps vary from game to game a lot) and someone should upload
his/her memcard so anyone tests the same.
Perhaps then logging via fraps or similar the fps to a file for a range like
1 minute.

Here some other test from me ;)


Menu 80-109
All off 2x 4x FSAA+Filtering
1: 25-27 25-27 25-27
2: 39-45 39-44 36-44
3: 21-25 21-25 20-22
5: 26-30 25-30 20-23
7: 19-25 20-24 20-23
12: 49-53 48-51 47-51
13: 33-36 33-35 31-35

Made with PCSX2 TLB
System:
Athlon 64 3400+ NewCastle (Socket 754, 0.13µm, no SSE3), 1.55V 512kB L2, 2410 MHz
1 GB DDR @ 2x 133.9MHz, Single Channel
Powercolor Radeon X850XT PE
OS: Windows 2000 Professional SP4

Added graph, comparing Min FPS (with 4xFSAA + Filtering) of my
Athlon 64 3400+ vs Athlon X2 4800+ (1 time with MTGS + DC, 1 time
without).
Will add compare with Athlon 64 3800+ and Athlon FX60 soon ;)

The Clock vs FPS is interpolated, I checked 3 different clock speeds and
calculated the AVG FPS of all save points and all FPS/Clock ratios ;)

[Eric-1987]

I got my CPU stable at 2650MHz now and PCSX2 is blazing. I rarely get lower then 40 FPS in FFX and that is very rare when I do. At 2000MHz I would be lower all the time. I'm glad my opty 170 has a good stepping.

[Traxxx]

Just wanted to test if it makes any difference installing the Dual Core Hotfix for
WinXP and guess what ;) it brought -100% performance as Windows crashed
every time at logon X) So it will take some time until I have some new benches X)

[jusTiC3]

Just wanted to test if it makes any difference installing the Dual Core Hotfix for
WinXP and guess what ;) it brought -100% performance as Windows crashed
every time at logon X) So it will take some time until I have some new benches X)

i've the same problem - win xp crash at random times - it's definitve a problem with this dual core fix from amd...

[Traxxx]

I wish that would be my only problem ;) Problem #2 is Setup freezes when
both gfx cards are build in and if I connect slave card after setup WinXP
simply reboots directly *grmls* (did I mention this is the 1st time reinstalling
WinXP and activation tells me my key has been too often used X))

[Jean-Christophe]

i only wish pcsx2 will take more power from GPU in the future
:lol: :lol: :lol:


It's impossible since your PC graphic cards isnt meant to be use on the PS2 operating system. Even in the original console, the cpu is really more important than the GPU...

[CrispySilicon]

I wish that would be my only problem ;) Problem #2 is Setup freezes when
both gfx cards are build in and if I connect slave card after setup WinXP
simply reboots directly *grmls* (did I mention this is the 1st time reinstalling
WinXP and activation tells me my key has been too often used X))

Reactivate via the phone and they will give you an authorization code... I upgrade my hardware like every other month so I'm quite firmiliar with the process :D

[Traxxx]

Reactivate via the phone and they will give you an authorization code... I upgrade my hardware like every other month so I'm quite firmiliar with the process

I will do so (since I´m forced too) but guess what ;) Setup is still running
(did now take ~8h) and is just at installing network components, I guess
it will take some hours more (and no I have not the slightest why it´s running
so slow when both gfx cards are installed ^^)

[RPGW1ZaRD]

I will do so (since I´m forced too) but guess what ;) Setup is still running
(did now take ~8h) and is just at installing network components, I guess
it will take some hours more (and no I have not the slightest why it´s running
so slow when both gfx cards are installed ^^)

OMG, 8hrs that's sure quite a lot excessive time. I mean for me it takes maybe 30mins to do the windows setup and about 30 mins to install everyhing I usually need. :)

[Jhnboyman]

thanks for the review!
must have been lots of hard work!

thanks!

[Smooth Criminal]

hello frds i am considering overclocking my proccesor,my graphics card can u tell me where i can get a gud gide to overclock 4 free and also important softwares for monitoring system temperatures(tell other than mbm5),cooling softwares etc and important things needed to do an overclock

[mitchpoodisko]

what hardware do you have?
speedfan is a good monitoring program

and check out http://overclockers.com/

[Traxxx]

HA! Found the guilty one ;)
AMDs DUAL CORE OPTIMIZER has caused the blue screens.
It´s because I have DaemonTools installed, so users with Alcohol or
Daemon Tools will get this problem as the AMD thing is not compatible
with the SPTD-driver.
If you are getting bluescreens after installing this patch and can´t delete
it via Software simply delete the .exe file in your Autostart folder and
remove the /usemptimer thing in your boot.ini.
Too bad I found this out after reinstalling X)

[Eric-1987]

Nope I got alcohol and daemon tools installed and the dual core optimizer and my computer works fine

[RPGW1ZaRD]

yup, I've got daemon tools and dual core optimizer installed, no problems here either.

[techjunkie]

i have the Dual Core Optimizer and the Dual Core Hotfix. My comp works great. oh and i have Daemon Tools installed.

[Traxxx]

If you think I just made this up, see sticky threads at
daemon-tools
forum (http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/t13262-bsod-on-amd-x2-dual-core-processor-systems.html) or
visit alcohol forums or AMD´s forums :P On some systems it works on others not (besides that
AMD tool can have a lot of issues with other things like hibernation).
On my Athlon X2 4800+ system it works (even OCing with using
Cool n Quiet works flawless) with DT + Alc, on my FX60 Crossfire
System it forces bluescreens.
And don´t say "nope" if I tell you that deleting the AMD exe file from
Autostart folder stops the bluescreens on my pc as I doubt you
can proof that it´s not so :P

I justed wanted to help people if they experience them same problem before they
do reinstall everything ;)

[Fire]

good work

[]{nIgh7]{rawl3r]

Awsome review. Love the fact of playstation 2 is at playable speeds now. I have one question though. I am, however, not using a dual core cpu setup. I am running an Asus K8N-DL server/worksation MB with two single-core AMD Opteron 246 2.0 GHz processors at stock speed. I know little about cpu architecture like |Gand|Alf|, but i am familliar with its workings and easily understand much. In theory my dual single-core-cpu system runs about same or similar to a single dual-core-cpu system at same speeds. I was wondering about your thoughts on this and if PCSX2 will treat my system the same as a dual core system seing how i literally do have 2 cores working together, just on different sockets. I have yet to actually try PCSX2 emulator on my system for i have no Playstation 2 games to try. But soon i will borrow my friend's game and give it a go.

[RPGW1ZaRD]

Not sure how well it would work, I don't think there's any other way than to try it out to be sure.

Since you brought this review up once again I just wanna say I wish I was using a program like fraps to collect the fps rates as it's much more accurate than the built in fps meter. :rolleyes:

Some places the ZeroGS meter is displaying exactly same values or close tho but sometimes it doesn't quite.

[Traxxx]

Some places the ZeroGS meter is displaying exactly same values or close tho but sometimes it doesn't quite.

And if I turn on Show FPS by ATI Tray Tools I get again other FPS than
Fraps because it depends on polling time X) But yes for logging it the internal
fps is no big help.


In theory my dual single-core-cpu system runs about same or similar to a single dual-core-cpu system at same speeds.

The difference is that you´ll get a bit higher latency when both CPUs
exchange data but everthing else should work the same ;)


on this and if PCSX2 will treat my system the same as a dual core system seing how i literally do have 2 cores working together

Thread handling and affinity are done by scheduler which is part of your OS and
not PCSX2 ;) PCSX2 only requests things and the OS has to manage how to
do this ;)

[]{nIgh7]{rawl3r]

thanks Traxxx... you really clarified a lot

[andrew733]

will this emulater work any good with my specs

i have:ASRock motherboard P4i65G/HT-Tech/Universal overheating protection/united overclocking technology/mmx/sse/sse2/sse3/intel celeron D processer 2.53ghz/512 DDR 166mhz ram/Geforce FX 5500 256mb 3d card/windows xp pro sp2/ 2x 40gb hard drives.

let me no please im running it but FPS is like 2fps - 3fps thanks in advance

[JKKDARK]

will this emulater work any good with my specs

i have:ASRock motherboard P4i65G/HT-Tech/Universal overheating protection/united overclocking technology/mmx/sse/sse2/sse3/intel celeron D processer 2.53ghz/512 DDR 166mhz ram/Geforce FX 5500 256mb 3d card/windows xp pro sp2/ 2x 40gb hard drives.

let me no please im running it but FPS is like 2fps - 3fps thanks in advance

Yes it will work, And please don't revive old threads ;)

[andrew733]

sorry for reviving just one more thing how i get good speed on the emulater