How much faster is Windows 7 compared to Ubuntu 10.10

artantaaa · 01-20-2011, 07:46 PM #1

I'm currently running Dolphin in Ubuntu 10.10 on a core2duo E8400 3.0 GHz/ Nvidia 8400. It runs Gamecube and some of the less demanding Wii games at full speed, but many are slow. I was wondering how much of an improvement I would see if I were to run Windows 7 on a spare drive I have. Would there be a significant difference? If I would only gain a few fps, it wouldn't be worth the trouble to me, so I'd like to hear the opinions of those who have used both.

**admin89** · 01-20-2011, 10:55 PM #2

Windows 7 can use Direct3D9 plugin and OpenGL plugin
Linus/MacOS only use OpenGL plugin
Direct3D9 plugin faster than OpenGL plugin
--> Windows 7 64bit is far better than Linus/MacOS

P.S : Your Nvidia 8400 is slow ,recommend res : 640x480 ,try older rev 6000-6500
http://www.dolphin-emu.org/performance.html

artantaaa · 01-21-2011, 11:32 AM #3

Thanks for the reply. I have read several times in these forums that the D3D9 plugin runs faster than openGL, but I'd like to know what the difference might be in fps. I know it would be difficult to get an exact number because there are so many variables, but I am trying to decide whether it would be worth the effort to obtain and configure a copy of windows 7 just to run dolphin. Could I see a gain of more than 10 fps?

I know my graphics card isn't that great. I have efb scale set to fractional, and resolution set to 720x450.

**NaturalViolence** · 01-21-2011, 02:36 PM #4

Quote:but I am trying to decide whether it would be worth the effort to obtain and configure a copy of windows 7 just to run dolphin. Could I see a gain of more than 10 fps?

Not sure about performance but simply being able to use all of the plugins and backends alone would make it worth it.

artantaaa · (This post was last modified: 01-21-2011, 04:47 PM by artantaaa.)

Backends? Do you mean audio backends, or some other settings that aren't in the Linux version? I'm using ASLA for audio now and haven't had any problems. My other options are OpenAL, AOSound, Pulse, and none. Does the windows version have more options?

DirectX is the only other plugin available in the windows version isn't it? I've tried running the 32 bit windows version in wine and that seemed to be the only difference, but I didn't spend too much time playing with the settings because I never got any games to run at a decent speed.

**NaturalViolence** · 01-22-2011, 02:42 AM #6

Quote:Does the windows version have more options?

Dsound and Xaudio2.

Quote:DirectX is the only other plugin available in the windows version isn't it?

d3d9 and d3d11 video plugins yes.

siferion · 01-22-2011, 11:50 AM #7

For video: OpenGL is usually 10x faster on Linux than it is on Windows when there are no driver issues. Direct3D9 usually isn't much faster than an equivalent OpenGL implementation, and tends to take a lot more work the most performance out of.

For sound: XAudio2 is really nice, DSound a bit slower, OpenAL rarely sounds any different but on all of my machines is much faster.

**NaturalViolence** · 01-22-2011, 12:11 PM #8

OpenAL has always and continues to sound horrible on my machine. Can't quite explain it, it's almost like the audio has microstuttering. Dsound and Xaudio2 both sound fine though.

artantaaa · 01-22-2011, 02:26 PM #9

(01-22-2011, 11:50 AM)siferion Wrote: For video: OpenGL is usually 10x faster on Linux than it is on Windows when there are no driver issues. Direct3D9 usually isn't much faster than an equivalent OpenGL implementation, and tends to take a lot more work the most performance out of.

For sound: XAudio2 is really nice, DSound a bit slower, OpenAL rarely sounds any different but on all of my machines is much faster.

Well, it's nice to hear that I'm not missing out on too much speed by not using windows. I still might try it at some point though to fix issues like the invisible blue coins in NSMB. Checking EFB to ram fixes it in openGL, but cuts my fps in half. Does D3D9 display them correctly?

Thanks for the OpenAL recommendation. I noticed a definite increase in speed.

(01-22-2011, 12:11 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: OpenAL has always and continues to sound horrible on my machine. Can't quite explain it, it's almost like the audio has microstuttering. Dsound and Xaudio2 both sound fine though.

If you hadn't mentioned the stuttering, I wouldn't have noticed it. It's like the flickering of fluorescent lights that some people complain about. It's probably why it's faster though.

**NaturalViolence** · 01-22-2011, 03:17 PM **#10**

Quote:Does D3D9 display them correctly?

If you're using efb to ram yes. EFB to texture won't display them on ANY video plugin.

Quote:Thanks for the OpenAL recommendation. I noticed a definite increase in speed.

WHAT!?! I don't see how changing the backend could have any impact on performance at all. They should all yield the same performance since they're just backends.