• Login
  • Register
  • Dolphin Forums
  • Home
  • FAQ
  • Download
  • Wiki
  • Code


Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums › Dolphin Emulator Discussion and Support › Development Discussion v
« Previous 1 ... 46 47 48 49 50 ... 116 Next »

Development Thread
 Important query about "lock threads to cores" performance!
View New Posts | View Today's Posts

Pages (4): 1 2 3 4 Next »
Thread Rating:
  • 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Thread Modes
Green Notice (Development Thread) Important query about "lock threads to cores" performance!
01-15-2013, 01:08 PM (This post was last modified: 01-15-2013, 01:12 PM by Starscream.)
#1
Billiard26 Offline
Developer
**********
Developers (Some Administrators and Super Moderators)
Posts: 2,661
Threads: 8
Joined: Feb 2010
Bug 
For those of you who claim the "Lock Threads to Cores" option provides a significant performance increase:

I assume you have a CPU with "Turbo Boost Technology"?

Would you please verify that the two configurations provide the same performance gains:
(please use Dolphin 3.5 or something BEFORE revision 30d4259bba78 ("removal" of LTTC) for both tests)

Config 1:
"Lock Threads to Cores" : ON

Config 2:
"Lock Threads to Cores" : OFF
Manually set dolphin's process affinity (via task manager or other) to a minimal amount of cores. (try 1,2,3,4 etc (tell me what you used))

Please tell me about the performance differences.

Your responses will greatly affect the ultimate fate of Dolphin!
Find
Reply
01-16-2013, 01:01 AM
#2
ExtremeDude2 Offline
Gotta post fast
*******
Posts: 9,306
Threads: 273
Joined: Dec 2010
afaik it mostly affects laptop users
Check out my videos (dead)
[Image: sig-22354.png]
Website Find
Reply
01-16-2013, 04:04 AM
#3
Capzor
Unregistered
 
Hi Billiard, I did some quick testing. I realised I screwed up and didn't actually set dolphin to use the Nvidia GPU. I'll probably run these tests in a more reliable way tomorrow to get you some more useful results with screenshots and so forth.

Laptop specs:
i7 2630qm 4core, Hyperthreading, 2ghz default clock speed
GPU: INTEL HD3000 Integrated on CPU
6 Gbytes 1333mhz RAM
Windows 7

Dolphin 3.5 release windows x64, default settings. I changed only Lock threads to cores, and set the framelimit to OFF.


FPS tested with fraps, average fps over 90 seconds
Standing still at the start of the first level of NSMBW

1 core, lock off, average fps 21 - Weird stuff happened (the fps was very low, until i moved the mouse cursor, then it increased considerably as the second virtual thread on physical core 1 kicked in at that point...)
1 core, lock on, average fps 8 - Weird stuff happened, see above. probably useless result here
2 core, lock off, average fps 91
2 core, lock on, average fps 90
3 core, lock off, average fps 103
3 core, lock on, average fps 100
4 core, lock off, average fps 107
4 core, lock on, average fps 101

I tested it also with a different method:
Of course as the CPU has hyperthreading, windows shows it as having 8 virtual cores. In this second run of tests, I simply enabled only one virtual thread per physical core.
For example, for the 2core test, i set affinity to thread zero and thread two.
I did not test single core performance here.

2 core, lock off, average fps 73
2 core, lock on, average fps 78
3 core, lock off, average fps 108
3 core, lock on, average fps 103
4 core, lock off, average fps 106
4 core, lock on, average fps 109

Hope it helps

Notes: Forcing Dolphin to use less cores does actually help with Turboboost to use a higher clock speed, as I was monitoring this. However it seems that allowing Dolphin to access more than 2 physical cores increases performance, to the point that the increased Turboboost clock speed does not even come close to offsetting the performance loss from less available cores. Generally locking threads to cores seemed to decrease performance.

Please keep in mind this is a VERY simple test using just one place in one game.
Reply
01-16-2013, 04:51 AM (This post was last modified: 01-16-2013, 05:17 AM by admin89.)
#4
admin89 Offline
Overclocker™ ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ
*******
Posts: 6,889
Threads: 127
Joined: Nov 2009
Quote:significant performance increase
only with 1st gen i7 Quad Core mobile ...
less effective on latest i7 mobile
I assume i5 mobile doesn't gain any speed boost since all of them are dual core CPU (Some i7 mobile CPU are Dual Core too)
Not mention Turbo Boost 2.0 is much better than Turbo Boost 1.0
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833-3.html
For example :
i7 720QM @ 1.6GHz Turbo Boost :
_2.8GHz 1 core
_2.4GHz 2 cores (gain 700MHz)
_1.7GHz 3 or 4 cores

i7 2630QM @ 2.0GHz Turbo Boost :
_2.9GHz 1 core
_2.8GHz 2 cores (only gain 200MHz)
_2.6GHz 3 or 4 cores

i7 3610QM @ 2.3GHz :
_3.3GHz 1 core
_3.2GHz 2 cores (100MHz doesn't make any difference)
_3.1GHz 3 or 4 cores

Quote:Notes: Forcing Dolphin to use less cores does actually help with Turboboost to use a higher clock speed, as I was monitoring this. However it seems that allowing Dolphin to access more than 2 physical cores increases performance, to the point that the increased Turboboost clock speed does not even come close to offsetting the performance loss from less available cores. Generally locking threads to cores seemed to decrease performance.
You're correct . You will lose performance if you disable 2 cores . Even though Dolphin is a dual core app , you still have speed boost with a Quad Core since you leave 2 cores for background processing
Edit : I found that topic on PCSX2 forum
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-i7-720qm-Moderate-speed-up-any-i7-mobile-quad-core
Laptop: (Show Spoiler)
Clevo W230SS : 3200x1800 IPS | i7 4700MQ @ 3.6GHz (Intel XTU + Triple fan mod) | GTX 860M GDDR5 | 128GB Toshiba CFD SSD | 16GB DDR3L 1600MHz
Aspire 715 43G : 1080p 144Hz |  R5 5625U @ 4.3GHz | Nvidia RTX 3050 4GB | 500GB WD SSD  | 16GB DDR4 3200MHz 
Mini PC :: (Show Spoiler)
G3258 @ 4.6GHz | ELSA GTX 750 | Asrock Z87E ITX | 600W SFX 80+ Gold Silverstone + SG06-LITE | Corsair Vengeance 8GB 2000MHz | Scythe Kozuti + Ao Kaze | 45TB 2.5" Ex HDD (in total) , Zelda Gold Wiimote , LE Wii Classic Controller , Gold LE PS3 DualShock , BlackWidow Chroma ,
Now Playing : Xenoblade Definitive Edition on Yuzu - Switch Emu 

 
Find
Reply
01-18-2013, 09:59 AM (This post was last modified: 01-18-2013, 09:59 AM by Billiard26.)
#5
Billiard26 Offline
Developer
**********
Developers (Some Administrators and Super Moderators)
Posts: 2,661
Threads: 8
Joined: Feb 2010
If no one provides data showing LTTC improving performance over manually setting process affinity (or setting no affinity) LTTC is likely to be removed!
Find
Reply
01-18-2013, 11:07 AM
#6
ExtremeDude2 Offline
Gotta post fast
*******
Posts: 9,306
Threads: 273
Joined: Dec 2010
What about fixing (more like helping I guess) random crashes?
Check out my videos (dead)
[Image: sig-22354.png]
Website Find
Reply
01-18-2013, 12:35 PM (This post was last modified: 01-18-2013, 12:37 PM by NaturalViolence.)
#7
NaturalViolence Offline
It's not that I hate people, I just hate stupid people
*******
Posts: 9,013
Threads: 24
Joined: Oct 2009
ExtremeDude2 Wrote:What about fixing (more like helping I guess) random crashes?

Unlikely. I haven't seen any issues attributing that to this option.

Just my 2 cents:
I find it to be a useful option for checking how much load each thread is using and making sure that dolphin is following the correct behavior and don't really understand why anyone would want to remove it considering how few lines of code are attributed to it. It hasn't posed any serious maintenance issues. But you're the dev so I'm sure you have your reasons.
"Normally if given a choice between doing something and nothing, I’d choose to do nothing. But I would do something if it helps someone else do nothing. I’d work all night if it meant nothing got done."  
-Ron Swanson

"I shall be a good politician, even if it kills me. Or if it kills anyone else for that matter. "
-Mark Antony
Website Find
Reply
01-18-2013, 01:12 PM
#8
ExtremeDude2 Offline
Gotta post fast
*******
Posts: 9,306
Threads: 273
Joined: Dec 2010
Well alot of people say it helps DKC Returns, I never tried running without the option so I wouldn't know XD
Check out my videos (dead)
[Image: sig-22354.png]
Website Find
Reply
01-18-2013, 01:39 PM
#9
Starscream Away
Above and Beyond
*******
Posts: 4,052
Threads: 213
Joined: Jun 2009
The problem is that a lot of people have been saying a lot of things, but no one has provided any valid data to back up their claims. I'm sure a lot of people are not going to be happy if the option gets removed, but yet no one who has posted so far has any first-hand experience with this option.
Asus Laptop: K53TA
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-Bit - SP1
CPU: AMD Llano A6-3400M, Quad-Core, 1.4GHz-2.6GHz (Overclocked)
GPU: AMD Radeon HD6650M, 1GB GDDR3 (Catalyst 13.1)
RAM: Samsung 4GB DDR3-1333










Find
Reply
01-18-2013, 02:00 PM
#10
Kolano Offline
Wiki Admin
*******
Content Creators (Moderators)
Posts: 1,718
Threads: 1,100
Joined: Mar 2010
(01-18-2013, 01:12 PM)ExtremeDude2 Wrote: Well alot of people say it helps DKC Returns, I never tried running without the option so I wouldn't know XD
The DKC Returns case is discussed in Issue 3576. http://code.google.com/p/dolphin-emu/issues/detail?id=3576
Per the discussion there it's unclear Lock to Threads really helped with the issue, as it did not resolve problems for some users. I can't find any discussion on the wiki indicating "Lock threads to cores" provides anything but a small performance enhancement.
Website Find
Reply
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
Pages (4): 1 2 3 4 Next »


  • View a Printable Version
  • Subscribe to this thread
Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)



Powered By MyBB | Theme by Fragma

Linear Mode
Threaded Mode