Dolphin uses single core at high speed instead of multiple cores

[Oemenia]

As the topic says, Dolphin chooses to instead boost a single core to high speeds rather than use dual cores. This is worse in many ways as it causes my CPU to heat up causing throttling (and so stutters) and singlecore is just generally slower.

If I limit my CPU speed to 2.2 ghz its more likely to use the second core but even then its only occasionally. Its only at about 1.6ghz that the second core is used consistently but off course the framerate suffers due to the low speed.

What can I do?

[Anti-Ultimate]

Dolphin has no control over how your computer chooses to turbo boost the cores. If your CPU is overheating that's really not Dolphin's problem.

[admin89]

There is no way Dolphin could use only one core unless you disable dual core mode in Dolphin configuration . In fact , Dolphin can use more than two cores , especially when you use DX12 (multi-threading) . You need Windows 10 x64 to use DX12 back end though
DX12 is 50-60% faster than DX11
Btw multi-media laptop can not handle Dolphin .
Repasting your laptop will lower the heat .

[mimimi]

It does happen that about 1 cpu core is used total, even with dual core mode enabled. Whenever the cpu or the gpu thread waits for the other, it idles.

Your OS(windows) is responsible for spreading the work over your available cores, so the heat production is evenly distributed.

If your cpu throttles down under full load on one core, there's either some cooling problem, or it's badly designed. What's the purpose of a 3.1 Ghz turbo, if it doesn't actually work when you need 3.1 Ghz? If it's an older laptop, maybe it's worth checking the thermal paste and possibly replacing it. But that's something for advanced users only though.

[tuanming]

Picture or it didn't happen.

Apply better thermal paste to the CPU heatsink if you want to reduce the temperature problem. Your laptop probably have shitty or dried up thermal paste.

[MayImilae]

Oemenia Wrote:Dolphin chooses to instead boost a single core to high speeds rather than use dual cores.

In Dual Core mode, Dolphin has two cores that it uses primarily with a CPU thread (emulating the Wii's CPU) and a GPU thread (used to process things to send to your video card, sync with the CPU thread, etc). Dolphin will use a single CPU core for each thread of Dual Core mode, and how much each core uses depends on how demanding each thread is at the time. If only one core is maxed out, that means that either the CPU thread or the GPU thread (probably the CPU thread) is being bottlenecked by your CPU.

The situation you described is very normal! You most likely are just playing a game that relies heavily on the CPU thread while not being demanding on the GPU thread. Raise the internal resolution and the GPU thread will go up a bunch, I'm sure!

[Oemenia]

(04-12-2016, 02:25 AM)MaJoR Wrote: In Dual Core mode, Dolphin has two cores that it uses primarily with a CPU thread (emulating the Wii's CPU) and a GPU thread (used to process things to send to your video card, sync with the CPU thread, etc). Dolphin will use a single CPU core for each thread of Dual Core mode, and how much each core uses depends on how demanding each thread is at the time. If only one core is maxed out, that means that either the CPU thread or the GPU thread (probably the CPU thread) is being bottlenecked by your CPU.

The situation you described is very normal! You most likely are just playing a game that relies heavily on the CPU thread while not being demanding on the GPU thread. Raise the internal resolution and the GPU thread will go up a bunch, I'm sure!

Thanks I'll give what you said a shot. I always thought that my GPU was more of a bottleneck these days.

Most importantly I've noticed LESS stuttering when I cap the speed of my CPU. This is also the case with PC games as I have more consistency but more core are used more regularly.