Gamecube won't run at full speed?

10-31-2012, 04:14 PM #1

Acer Aspire with an i7 processor and the intel HD 3000 graphics card.
When I start up any of the gamecube games they work great running at or around 60 FPS. The problem is when I start to actually do something like start a race, or in super smash bros. start a fight, it slows down significantly to about half (30-40 FPS). The thing is when I look at my processor it's only running at around 25%. What could be holding back the speed other than my processor and how can i fix it?

***Shonumi*** · (This post was last modified: 10-31-2012, 04:20 PM by Shonumi.)

What games are you trying to play? What are your Dolphin settings? The Intel HD 3000 is not recommended for Dolphin, since the GPU will bottleneck a lot of games at resolutions higher than native 1x. Even at that resolution, it will struggle on some games.

***MayImilae*** · 10-31-2012, 04:29 PM #3

Quote:intel HD 3000

Seemed fitting, after Sandy Tongue

. So yea, intel graphics suck. You'll have to reduce the internal resolution.

10-31-2012, 04:59 PM #4

(10-31-2012, 04:29 PM)MaJoR Wrote:
Quote:intel HD 3000

Seemed fitting, after Sandy . So yea, intel graphics suck. You'll have to reduce the internal resolution.

Is there any way i can change out the card or replace it? I'm not 100% sure how to do that haha. For now though.. how do i lower the resolution in dolphin or should i just do it in my pc settings?

(10-31-2012, 04:20 PM)Shonumi Wrote: What games are you trying to play? What are your Dolphin settings? The Intel HD 3000 is not recommended for Dolphin, since the GPU will bottleneck a lot of games at resolutions higher than native 1x. Even at that resolution, it will struggle on some games.

Trying to play super smash bros., mario kart double dash and mario party 7 stuff like that. Looking into getting a lot more when i have time

**admin89** · 10-31-2012, 05:24 PM #5

It's inside your CPU and it's not a "card"
Just cut your CPU and take it out lol

***Shonumi*** · 10-31-2012, 05:27 PM #6

Like admin89 said, you can't remove it, it's integrated with the CPU (it's an IGP). If you were on a desktop, you could just add a dedicated card. Most laptops won't let you do that, so you're probably stuck with the HD 3000.

To lower your internal resolution, click the Graphics button in Dolphin and go to the Enhancements tab. You'll see what you need to set there. Turn off any AA as well. If you still get speed issues, use the official 3.0 release (3.0 without any additional numbers, it's about 1 year and 4 months old). If you still get low speeds and you're using the lowest settings (look at the stickied Settings for Best Speed thread in this forum) then there's probably nothing you can do. Try 3.0 and lowering your settings first though.

Figurate · 11-02-2012, 04:48 AM #7

from experience with similar setup

toshiba satellite laptop
i7-2670qm processor (http://ark.intel.com/products/53469)
integrated hd 3000

most of the games i have played have been manageable. I've put a lot of time into wind waker and overall that ran pretty well (except the fortress of course)

twilight princess (gc) actually was decent as well except for the obvious hyrule field slowdown

double dash does not run very well, not smash

I do however have to compensate video quality for performance. I more often than not am actually able to turn up the resolution some in a few games surprisingly. Any games that require LLE are pretty slow, even after locking threads and using 3 cores.

basically, it gets the job done but is not the best experience.

On a side note, I know for a fact my computer only has one exhaust fan so i'm assuming that's why it fluctuates between 2.8-3.0 ghz back to like 800 MHz with turbo boost when playing dolphin.

**DefenderX** · 11-03-2012, 01:00 AM #8

Everyone should know that the Intel HD Graphics iGPU sucks @ gaming. It's not our problem if you buy a notebook with a crappy iGPU Tongue

11-05-2013, 12:56 PM #9

(11-03-2012, 01:00 AM)DefenderX Wrote: Everyone should know that the Intel HD Graphics iGPU sucks @ gaming. It's not our problem if you buy a notebook with a crappy iGPU

Actually, It is possible to use an external GPU with a laptop... That is if you have an ExpressCard Port. Link to tutorial for those interested:

http://www.techradar.com/au/news/computing-components/graphics-cards/how-to-make-an-external-laptop-graphics-adaptor-915616