Dolphin CPU hierarchy [UNOFFICIAL]

[DatKid20]

(07-31-2013, 04:46 PM)mmace Wrote: I've been unable to use Dolphin on my AMD Athlon II X64 (connected to the TV, only getting 8-10fps) so I tried it on my i7 (not overclocked) as it's in the top processors on this thread, however I'm getting speeds of around 10-12fps, no matter what settings I change.
I have a crappy Radeon 3450, but it's not mentioned that a good CPU needs to have a good GPU too, I would have thought my CPU would have handled it all, is that not the case?

Luckily, a colleague has a GeForce 8800 GT laying around at home doing nothing which he's going to give me so I'm going to see if that improves things.

Upgrade that gpu. I don't know if it can even handle 1x internal resolution.

[mmace]

(07-31-2013, 05:02 PM)DatKid20 Wrote:

(07-31-2013, 04:46 PM)mmace Wrote: I've been unable to use Dolphin on my AMD Athlon II X64 (connected to the TV, only getting 8-10fps) so I tried it on my i7 (not overclocked) as it's in the top processors on this thread, however I'm getting speeds of around 10-12fps, no matter what settings I change.
I have a crappy Radeon 3450, but it's not mentioned that a good CPU needs to have a good GPU too, I would have thought my CPU would have handled it all, is that not the case?

Luckily, a colleague has a GeForce 8800 GT laying around at home doing nothing which he's going to give me so I'm going to see if that improves things.

Upgrade that gpu. I don't know if it can even handle 1x internal resolution.

I will be getting a GeForce 8800 GT this week, but the 1st post says an i7 should be OK, nothing about GPU's (everyone on different forums keeps saying emulators are all about the CPU and nothing to do with GPU)

[Shonumi]

(07-31-2013, 05:05 PM)mmace Wrote: I will be getting a GeForce 8800 GT this week, but the 1st post says an i7 should be OK, nothing about GPU's (everyone on different forums keeps saying emulators are all about the CPU and nothing to do with GPU)

Well, it depends on which specific model i7 you have (2600K? 920?) and which games you want to play. If you get an older generation i7 with a low-clock speed, and you try to play a demanding game, you might not be pleased with your results. It depends on a lot more factors than the CPU merely falling under the i7 brand (which covers a lot of CPUs btw).

For Dolphin, the GPU is chiefly responsible for determining what level you can raise the internal resolution and anti-aliasing without creating a GPU bottleneck. For the 8800 GT, it should be able to do 3x IR ( which is somewhat > 1080p) according to NaturalViolence's other thread about GPUs.

In a lot of emulators, the GPU isn't going to be taxed nearly as much as the CPU will. 2D emulators have to generate the final frame data in software, even before having something like OpenGL do the drawing (which doesn't use that much of the GPU anyway). The GPU requirements for emulating 3D systems (N64, PS1, Dreamcast) are very low, at least in my experience, and any semi-recent GPU barely blinks when it comes to them. Dolphin, however, is a different beast (and so is PCSX2, I assume) and it requires decent GPUs for high-resolution gameplay.

[mmace]

I have the 920, got it 4 years ago. Would a 940 be worth getting (mines 2.6ghz, the 940 is just under 3ghz), that's the best my motherboard will take (along with the 8800 GT)
I'm wanting to play Lego Batman, Mario kart, Wii sports, carnival games, the Disney Cars games GameCube or Wii, not bothered which) etc

[linker357]

I'd say if you're already planning on upgrading, don't get a low upgrade or something that won't really make a difference. I'd advice you to get a new motherboard and a good processor (i5 3570k-i5 4670k are the best for Dolphin) not only because you might want to play more demanding games in the future, but because newer revisions gradually put more load on your CPU and if its not good enough you will be getting fps drops every other Dolphin revision.

[mmace]

I don't have the money for a big upgrade though, I can just about stretch to the 940 but if it won't be worth it then I won't

[garrlker]

Can you overclock on your mobo? According to the zelda benchmark your cpu at 3.8-4.0ghz beats a 2500k at stock. If you can't afford something new that could be your best bet.

[mmace]

Not with the Dell motherboard, but maybe a new motherboard could be a cheap way to upgrade?

[DatKid20]

(08-01-2013, 07:13 AM)mmace Wrote: Not with the Dell motherboard, but maybe a new motherboard could be a cheap way to upgrade?

Yeah. A new mobo would be a cheap upgrade that would up you performance by a lot!

[admin89]

Agree , just buy Gigabyte P55 UD3R mobo (Or EVGA P55 ) , Cooler Master 212 Evo and Arctic MX-4 to overclock i7 920 @ 3.8GHz or higher
Edit : Oops , i7 920 uses socket 1366 , not 1156 . So either Gigabyte x58 UD3R (Gigabyte x58 UD5 is better for overclocking) or EVGA X58 is fine