Old laptop...should I even bother with Dolphin?

[octiceps]

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.2 GHz
8GB DDR2-667
Nvidia GeForce 8700M GT 512MB GDDR3 (DX10, 120 GFLOPS, 25.6 GB/s)
17'' 1680x1050 (will be connected 1366x768 TV)

[Xeno Aura]

You might be able to pull off some very basic games, but I'm pretty sure you won't be able to run a full game like Mario Sunshine or even SSB sadly.

Someone with more experience on laptop CPU's may have more info for you.

[octiceps]

(12-14-2014, 08:28 PM)Xeno Aura Wrote: You might be able to pull off some very basic games, but I'm pretty sure you won't be able to run a full game like Mario Sunshine or even SSB sadly.

Someone with more exvperience on laptop CPU's may have more info for you.

Thanks for the response. The T7300 is basically equivalent to an E4500, albeit with 2MB more L2 cache. The E4500 gets 26:55 in the Dolphin POV-Ray benchmark according to this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkEUvobPn_DcdEo2aEhhdUpnU01tYUtNM3ZVX2d6SkE&usp=sharing

So I assume it would be completely unplayable. What is the cutoff point for playability based on benchmark score? Below 15:00?

[admin89]

It will overheat as soon as you get in the game
Most multimedia laptop with discrete GPU can't handle the heat that is caused by Dolphin
Only gaming laptop with dual fan or multi-media laptop with fast integrated GPU can do that

[octiceps]

(12-15-2014, 03:50 AM)admin89 Wrote: It will overheat as soon as you get in the game
Most multimedia laptop with discrete GPU can't handle the heat that is caused by Dolphin
Only gaming laptop with dual fan or multi-media laptop with fast integrated GPU can do that

Hmmm are you sure about this? The laptop in question is an older professional workstation with a Quadro GPU that I soft modded into a GeForce. Workstations are built to a much higher standard than any gaming or multimedia notebook, which is why it has survived this long. Anyway, I don't think cooling is a concern. I've repasted and undervolted both CPU and GPU. It doesn't even break 80C while running both Prime95 and FurMark simultaneously. I highly doubt Dolphin is more demanding than that.

Anyway, to get back on topic, I'm wondering about performance, not cooling.

[KHg8m3r]

The reason cooling was brought up because if the CPU and GPU share a heat sink, then when one gets too hot the other will throttle also.
Older workstations with quadro's shared the same heat sink if I recall correctly.
Dolphin stresses the CpU and GPU at the same time, so if the cooling isn't absolutely perfect then they will throttle down the speeds and you will see further slowdowns.

Going off the fact that it is similar to the E4500 and gets a 26:55 in Dolphin POVRay, you probably won't be able to play anything anyways, since an actual Wii sits at about 17:00. Unless you find the most lightweight games to play, get a new computer.

[octiceps]

(12-15-2014, 06:10 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: The reason cooling was brought up because if the CPU and GPU share a heat sink, then when one gets too hot the other will throttle also.
Older workstations with quadro's shared the same heat sink if I recall correctly.
Dolphin stresses the CpU and GPU at the same time, so if the cooling isn't absolutely perfect then they will throttle down the speeds and you will see further slowdowns.

I see. The CPU and GPU do indeed share the same fan, but they have their own separate heatsinks and heatpipes running to it, not like a lot of single fan notebooks nowadays where the heatpipes are shared/connected. I don't believe overheating is a concern as, like I said, I can run both Prime95 and FurMark at the same time to simulate the most extreme, unrealistic combined CPU & GPU workload without overheating or throttling.

(12-15-2014, 06:10 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: Going off the fact that it is similar to the E4500 and gets a 26:55 in Dolphin POVRay, you probably won't be able to play anything anyways, since an actual Wii sits at about 17:00. Unless you find the most lightweight games to play, get a new computer.

Thanks. This is exactly the information I was looking for. I guess I will stick to N64 emulation. ^_^

[mbc07]

Whoa, whoa, that's not true. I still have access to an E4500 and there are some games playable on it (in fact, I was the guy who shared the E4500 report that's in POVRay benchmark).

Using r6515 at that time, I successfully played Zelda Wind Waker, Zelda Four Swords Adventures, Luigi's Mansion, Bomberman Generation, Bomberman Jetters, Super Smash Bros Melee, Super Smash Bros Brawl, WarioWare Smooth Moves, Wii Sports, Wii Play, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Crash Nitro Kart, most Just Dance games and even Super Mario Sunshine at playable speeds (75-100%) when I used that machine as my main computer. In fact, if you use the latest development version, the performance in these games maybe even better given the CPU improvements made by Fiora & other devs.

So, if T7300 really is basically equivalent to an E4500, the games I listed definitely are playable, assuming you don't experience overheat issues since it's a laptop...

[octiceps]

(12-15-2014, 09:13 AM)Jhonn Wrote: Whoa, whoa, that's not true. I still have access to an E4500 and there are some games playable on it (in fact, I was the guy who shared the E4500 report that's in POVRay benchmark).

Using r6515 at that time, I successfully played Zelda Wind Waker, Zelda Four Swords Adventures, Luigi's Mansion, Bomberman Generation, Bomberman Jetters, Super Smash Bros Melee, Super Smash Bros Brawl, WarioWare Smooth Moves, Wii Sports, Wii Play, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Crash Nitro Kart, most Just Dance games and even Super Mario Sunshine at playable speeds (75-100%) when I used that machine as my main computer. In fact, if you use the latest development version, the performance in these games maybe even better given the CPU improvements made by Fiora & other devs.

So, if T7300 really is basically equivalent to an E4500, the games I listed definitely are playable, assuming you don't experience overheat issues since it's a laptop...

Awesome, thanks for sharing your experience! What resolution were you able to run these games at?

[mbc07]

When I started using dolphin, all I had was the Core 2 Duo E4500 and the crappy Intel GMA 945 IGP, so, 1x was the absolute maximum. At that time, running at even lower resolutions that were available in Dolphin (0.75x, 0.5x, etc) helped a little, generally in Super Mario Sunshine and Zelda Wind Waker. After some time the build improved a little, switching from the GMA945 to a GeForce GT440 while maintaining the same processor and it got better, running most of the games I cited at 2x. The GT440 probably could run the games at higher IRs, but I think the weak CPU limited the GPU further. I still have this computer around here but I don't use it anymore since I switched to my current laptop...