Optimisation tips for older PC.

**mbc07** · 06-13-2019, 11:16 AM **#11**

(06-12-2019, 04:54 AM)George Spiggott Wrote: 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.

It doesn't make sense to buy a Fermi GPU nowadays. They're super old and doesn't even receive driver updates anymore (the last update was released in March 2018). If you're low on budget, consider a GT 1030 or a GTX 1050 instead...

**Helios** · (This post was last modified: 06-13-2019, 01:40 PM by Helios.)

If you're on a budget, AMD GPUs provide significantly more value.

The GT 1030 is only useful as a hardware video decoder.

EDIT: lmao apparently a GTX 560 is pretty much as fast as a GT 1030

George Spiggott · 06-15-2019, 02:50 AM **#13**

Given that the GT1030 goes for about £60+ and the GTX 560 I'm after is £25 I think I'll go with the 560.

**Helios** · (This post was last modified: 06-15-2019, 11:14 AM by Helios.)

thats fine, but your emulators are still going to run terribly regardless of whether you use the 1030 or the 560.

George Spiggott · 06-16-2019, 08:14 AM **#15**

I'm not expecting perfect emulation, that will probably need a CPU update, but a if I get a noticeable/significant boost I'll be happy.

**mbc07** · (This post was last modified: 06-16-2019, 11:19 AM by mbc07.)

You probably won't. Increasing the IR puts more load on the CPU as well, not just on the GPU. By getting the GTX 560 (which is a terrible idea as it's an ancient card that doesn't even get driver updates anymore) you'll have some GPU power to spare but will be CPU limited then. I expect you to hit 2x IR before experiencing performance drops with that APU (and that will heavily vary depending of the game)...

George Spiggott · 06-16-2019, 11:50 AM **#17**

I have the card now and have been playing a few games. Mario Kart Wii is my go to game for testing there things because a drop in frame rate is so noticeable when you play. It used to run at no more than 1.5xIR with no anti-aliasing. I'd get a solid 60fps out of it on the tracks with some heave slowdown on the menus. I can now run it at 3xIR with MSAA anti-aliasing at 4x or 8x if I can stand to lose the odd frame here and there.

I'm really happy so far with the performance Dolphin gives on such old hardware. I see now which slow downs are due to CPU performance and that's probably something I'll come back and upgrade at some point. It's a much bigger job than this one was so probably not soon.

Sorer · 06-16-2019, 09:10 PM **#18**

(06-12-2019, 09:07 AM)JosJuice Wrote: There shouldn't be any major benefits, unless you want to emulate the GameCube broadband adapter.

I actually found Dolphin very beneficial on my Ubuntu OS then the Windows one.
Maybe its related to the AMD drivers on Linux i know they are better there.

**DJBarry004** · 06-17-2019, 12:53 AM **#19**

(06-16-2019, 11:50 AM)George Spiggott Wrote: I have the card now and have been playing a few games. Mario Kart Wii is my go to game for testing there things because a drop in frame rate is so noticeable when you play. It used to run at no more than 1.5xIR with no anti-aliasing. I'd get a solid 60fps out of it on the tracks with some heave slowdown on the menus. I can now run it at 3xIR with MSAA anti-aliasing at 4x or 8x if I can stand to lose the odd frame here and there.

I'm really happy so far with the performance Dolphin gives on such old hardware. I see now which slow downs are due to CPU performance and that's probably something I'll come back and upgrade at some point. It's a much bigger job than this one was so probably not soon.

I think it would have made sense to just upgrade the CPU instead and deal with the integrated GPU it includes, while saving money to buy an actual GPU.

TurboK · 06-21-2019, 07:10 AM **#20**

(06-13-2019, 12:54 PM)Helios Wrote: If you're on a budget, AMD GPUs provide significantly more value.

The GT 1030 is only useful as a hardware video decoder.

EDIT: lmao apparently a GTX 560 is pretty much as fast as a GT 1030

I have a GT 1030 nowadays, and while it is a low-end GPU, I think it manages surprisingly well. Sure, with AAA games you need to use lower settings and so on.
But with Dolphin it pulls of 2x IR without any trouble. And the most important thing (at least on my setup): It only needs a handful of watts (max 30W) to do it all. Since my HTPC uses a "mini-PSU" with 150 W output, this is literally the only GPU (with it's small form factor and low power) that can be used.

It's not a real gaming beast, but besides the price tag, it has other advantages that might be handy at some situations / setups. Smile