Dolphin became slow after some days of use. What could it be?

[AwesomeMarioFan]

(12-29-2012, 06:45 AM)kuro kitsune Wrote:

(12-29-2012, 05:52 AM)AwesomeMarioFan Wrote: Hmm.., make sure you are in high performance battery mode, and plugged into a wall
outlet. (If you have a laptop.)
Also, try re downloading a fresh copy of Dolphin.
I would also check you're settings.
Note: I know my Dolphin was lagging bad, and it was because
I forgot to change EFB copies from RAM back to texture in the hacks
tab of the graphics configuration.

Post some screenshots of your configuration too, maybe there's an
option lagging it.

Thank you for the help too AwesomeMarioFan!
Yes I'm in High Performance mode and plugged in the outlet...
I also downloaded the latest Dolphin version (3.5-r107) and it still the same...

Here are the pics of my configs (I'll post only the links cause are too many images):
General Config: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2t0ZAfNY-Ks/UN4ABQrEATI/AAAAAAAAAh4/ZwySA7Nb7zs/s800/Config0.png
Audio: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ycqprs9Gct0/UN4ABp8FV6I/AAAAAAAAAh8/4siAQaKMmhQ/s800/Config1.png
Gamecube: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tZdg4oHqQig/UN4AB4ZVlRI/AAAAAAAAAiA/lJcUsGL6BNI/s800/Config2.png
(I only own GC games but here is the Wii page as well) Wii: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--njn-A-Rmcw/UN4AOBGIi8I/AAAAAAAAAiQ/x8DXm5bgQYY/s800/Config3.png
(If needed) Paths: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-06QYIzk3sKQ/UN4BvS3t6zI/AAAAAAAAAjM/x-E0-zkQdFo/s800/Config4.png

Interface configurations is useless here so I'll jump it... now the Graphics:

Graphics General: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x7Y7nykRTWw/UN4AO-NO16I/AAAAAAAAAig/RD-eWH-bqKU/s800/Graphics1.png
Enhacements: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mC8fFHP25sI/UN4AbUEdg2I/AAAAAAAAAio/D9MWHq5aELg/s800/Graphics2.png
Hacks: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-brenDE0c8dI/UN4AeqajEFI/AAAAAAAAAi4/Pz8hYAQOHR4/s800/Graphics3.png
Advanced (Everything is disabled): https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-oAzQ314mpVs/UN4Acdi0ebI/AAAAAAAAAiw/eZVC0vsxKgo/s800/Graphics4.png


I'm really running out of ideas... the problem seems between my Notebook and the emulators!!!! And not a performance thing...

Try switching Direct3D11 to Direct3D9, that causes massive performance increase for me. (General Tab)
Edit: All other settings look good.

[kuro kitsune]

Already tried with Direct3D9... and it's the same, 50%~ 15FPS...
And I could play with a moderate resolution in the beggining, the problem doesn't seems to be in the emulator settings...

I'll try using Windows 7... that's really sad 'cause I didn't want to lose my "Free" Win8 hahahaha... but I don't see other thing that could be the source of this problem...

I'm thinking in buy a cooling pad too... do you think it's a good idea?!? Or will not do any difference???

[admin89]

Try :
_Using Task Manager - Details - Right-click Dolphin.exe - Set Priority = High
Or
_Same as above - Set Affinity - Select 2 cores (You will lose 10% speed if you disable 2 cores but with 2 cores active , your CPU should turbo boost higher)
Or
_Download & use ThottleStop - Set Multipler = Maximum number (For Example : 32 x 99.7 = 3190.4 ~ 3.2GHz ) - Clock modulation & Chipset Mod Clock = 100% then click "Save" (Do not close throttlestop when using Dolphin) .

Note : Do not use all method at the same time , try each of them

[kuro kitsune]

I had already tried the "Task Manager - Priority = High" method... no improvements...
The "Set Affinity" way was new to me and using 2 Cores did a more violent slow down! (FPS dropped to 10!)

But, finally, with Throttle Stop on, I got some good results... with multiplier at 32 and 100% of clock modulation and chipset mod clock the emulator worked at 100% (to be more precise everything in the Notebook worked at 100% hahaha)... I could even put again the settings at 2x Resolution, Direct3D11 and other improvements...
But, obviously, the temperature became higher too...
Pic (with Realtemp in the back):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bUBTqyphGYA/UN55oBxQkdI/AAAAAAAAAjg/w-vNY7eFYmY/s800/ThrottleStop%2520test.png
With Throttle Stop CPU worked at 3,0~ 3,4GHz...

And now, even without the Throttle Stop running, the emulator is back to normal... the CPU is running at constant 2,0GHz in the worst case... this is very bizarre!!!!! õ.o
Is like it was blocked by something and now the "path is free"...

Very, very thanks admin89 and AwesomeMarioFan too!!

I'll keep trying to see what happened at first place and if I discover I'll put here... and admin89, Im seeing in your sign that you too use Windows 8, and just to make sure, didn't you suffered any problem with the emulator after an Windows Update???

Thanks again... I hope it remain as it is right now... even after some days!

[admin89]

I disable Windows Update completely since i have only 40GB SSD as boot drive
Windows Update make windows boot slower and may cause some problems as well

[NaturalViolence]

And leaves you vulnerable to OS bugs and security flaws among other things.....

[kuro kitsune]

Hmm, you're using your laptop just for gaming, admin89??
Well, I use mine for many things and so Windows Update "can" bring some advantages...

And to my sad and fury the CPU again dropped to 1,2~ 1,4GHz after I turned off the laptop...
Using Throttle Stop I got the same results as before... CPU obtained some serious improvements in Clock Speed and remained at a good rate even with Throttle Stop off. But I don't want to use a software to do what my CPU are meant to do by itself!!!


Did anyone have idea what this could be??
It doesn't seems the SpeedStep technology, because SpeedStep would be automatically disabled when the laptop needs more "power"... and putting everything at max in Control Panel (to maximize CPU Performance) didn't give any results...

Could this be a BIOS problem?!

[DefenderX]

Maybe.

what temps do u get? Check them with CoreTemp.

[kuro kitsune]

(12-30-2012, 06:39 PM)DefenderX Wrote: Maybe.

what temps do u get? Check them with CoreTemp.

Thanks for the reply!

Temperature is not the problem... I already did some tests with RealTemp...

I formated my HDD... now with Windows 7 Ultimate x64 the CPU is running as expected... at least until now!
I couldn't figure out if the problem was in the Windows 8 OS or in one of the other Partitions in the HDD (like System and Recovery)

Well, I hope, this time, it remain like is now...

Thank for the help, everyone... I think my problem was solved!