Optimisation tips for older PC.

[George Spiggott]

Hi

I'm currently running Dolphin 5.0 to run Wii games in x1.5 resolution as my AMD A8 3870 with on-board graphics isn't up to the job of running games at higher specs. I plan to buy a GTX 560 ti (or similar) graphics card soon but I'd be interested in picking up any tips to optimise performance either with the GTX 560 or on the hardware I already have.

As an example Mario Kart Wii runs at a healthy 60fps an almost all of the tracks. The game mostly slows down in some of the menus (sometimes as low as 15fps. Is there a way to run the music asynchronously (like Retroarch does) because the music slowdown is probably the more noticeable than the frame rate drop?

Secondly (and I realise I may be asking in completely the wrong place) I have been trying to get the Retorarch version of Dolphin to match the performance of the standalone version. Typically I get 30fps in most GameCube games at even native resolution. Standalone Dolphin will often give me 40-60fps in 2x or 3x resolution in like for like comparisons. I'd appreciate any tips you can give.

[DJBarry004]

Use latest dev build, leaving alone the defaults. You can´t really do much more. AMD´s APUs simply suck (Ryzen APUs are way better, and even then they´re at the same level of 4th gen Intel CPUs Dolphin-wise).

[JosJuice]

Is there a way to run the music asynchronously (like Retroarch does) because the music slowdown is probably the more noticeable than the frame rate drop?

You can't uncouple the audio speed from the emulation speed, no. Retroarch can't do that either when running Dolphin. But what you can do is to enable audio streching, which will get rid of the audio stuttering but not the slower audio speed.

Secondly (and I realise I may be asking in completely the wrong place)  I have been trying to get the Retorarch version of Dolphin to match the performance of the standalone version. Typically I get 30fps in most GameCube games at even native resolution. Standalone Dolphin will often give me 40-60fps in 2x or 3x resolution in like for like comparisons. I'd appreciate any tips you can give.

Sorry, we can't really help much with that version of Dolphin.

[Helios]

We don't contribute or have anything to do with the RA version of Dolphin, so we couldn't give you accurate help even if we wanted to.

[George Spiggott]

Thanks.

Is there any noticeable benefit to running Dolphin on Linux rather than Windows on the same hardware?

[JosJuice]

Is there any noticeable benefit to running Dolphin on Linux rather than Windows on the same hardware?

There shouldn't be any major benefits, unless you want to emulate the GameCube broadband adapter.

[Helios]

or have BT passthrough not suck.

[George Spiggott]

Will the graphics card I'm looking at have a noticeable effect on frame rate or resolutions I can use?

[DJBarry004]

After the CPU is sorted out, then yes. It will limit how high you can set the IR.

[TKSilver]

Keep in mind that you can set the resolution higher then your monitor, but in reality you should not generally do that. If you can max your monitor's resolution (3x 1080p, 4x 1440p, 6x for 4k) then you should do that and if you still have some extra performance in your graphics card then just add some MSAA or SSAA to suit your taste.