Optimizing Performance

[ctg867]

For some reason or another, I can run just about any GameCube game in 2x Native at about 25FPS+. As long as I don't put every other setting on max, it pretty much stays that way. At least for a while. Eventually the game hits sub 10FPS and slows down drastically.

I've tried putting every setting (I can understand) on their "lowest" levels (including the internal resolution) that would yield the best performance. Same problem. Game runs at 25-30FPS, then drops to sub 10FPS about 5 minutes in and just chugs. Massive amounts of lag.

Any ideas why? I'm using the stable 3.0 release. Specs are below. At the very least, what settings could I change from their defaults to increase the framerate and decrease the slowdown, even if the graphical quality isn't as great. I don't understand all of this stuff, so I don't know all of what I should and shouldn't change.

My rig is decent for a mid range laptop from a year or two ago. I figure the slowdown is from the difficulty of the emulation, not from from the hardware being substandard. It's not exactly an Atom rig with an integrated GPU or something.

[admin89]

Ofcourse Frame rate will drop , the Radeon 540v is too weak for 1x resolution . Your rig is not decent !
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-540v.36461.0.html
Any GPU below Nvidia GT 520M is hopeless , memory bandwidth must be higher than 12gb/s to keep up with 1x resolution
http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread.php?tid=18414

[ExtremeDude2]

Also check your temps.

[ctg867]

(02-20-2012, 09:41 AM)admin89 Wrote: Ofcourse Frame rate will drop , the Radeon 540v is too weak for 1x resolution . Your rig is not decent !
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-540v.36461.0.html
Any GPU below Nvidia GT 520M is hopeless , memory bandwidth must be higher than 12gb/s to keep up with 1x resolution
http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread.php?tid=18414

No offense, but I just told you that every game I've tried is able to run a 2x native res at 25FPS+ for about 5-10 minutes. THEN it craps out. The issue is NOT my hardware, it's the settings of the emulation. It is by no means a high end (or even mid range) GPU, but I can run Portal 2 (for example) in 720p with medium/low settings and keep 30FPS+ the entire time. The GPU is good enough. I've done PS2 and Xbox 1 emulation before. This definitely isn't impossible on my system.

So please, instead of telling me something that isn't true, could you please ANSWER my actual questions? If you can't think of a specific reason for the delayed slow down and lag, what OTHER settings could I change to help it run faster? Thank you very much.

(02-20-2012, 10:00 AM)ExtremeDude2 Wrote: Also check your temps.

What do you mean "check my temps"? Could you elaborate on what exactly that is?

[Starscream]

(02-20-2012, 11:02 AM)ctg867 Wrote: The issue is NOT my hardware, it's the settings of the emulation.

No! Settings don't magically change themselves after some minutes, what probably does happen after some minutes is that your laptop CPU gets too hot and slows everything down, that's why you lose speed.

[admin89]

Please look at notebookcheck.com again , it's even lower than Intel HD 3000 which is barely enough for 1x

High-end GPU : can do 1080p (3x) or even 4x , 54Gb/s+ memory bandwidth . Ex : Nvidia GT 555M or AMD 7690M (Class 1 on notebookcheck)
Mid-end GPU : can do 720p (2x) or even 2.5x , 24Gb/s+ ......, Ex : Nvidia GT 525M or AMD 5650M (Class 2)
Low-end GPU : can do 480 (1x) or even 1.5x , 12Gb/s+ ......, Ex : Nvidia Gt 520M or AMD 6470M (Class 3)

As if most benchmark was wrong and only you were right
Another issue is "overheating" because dolphin produce a lot of heat on the CPU unlike PC games
Please...Please...Don't compare emulation with pc gaming . Even if you could run Skyrim full speed , it doesn't mean anything to dolphin

[ctg867]

(02-20-2012, 11:22 AM)Starscream Wrote: No! Settings don't magically change themselves after some minutes, what probably does happen after some minutes is that your laptop CPU gets too hot and slows everything down, that's why you lose speed.

While I'm new to GameCube emulation, I'm not at all new to PC gaming and I know PC hardware. A CPU doesn't go from a perfectly acceptable, cool state capable of running a specific game at higher than HD resolutions at 25-30FPS and then immediately, not gradually, but immediately drop to 5FPS somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes in and slow the game speed down to a fifth of what it should be.

When I play the game windowed, I can check the Turbo Boost and CPU percentage with my desktop gadgets, and while they run high, it's not maxed out. If I close out the emulator and restart it, it works perfectly fine again, and then 5-10 minutes later it shuts off. CPUs do not cool that quickly.

So while I respect the fact that you're an admin on these boards, and you think that you're trying to help me and give me helpful advice, you're wrong. If you'd actually be willing to help me by troubleshooting what actually could be wrong with the emulator, or telling me what settings I could change to help the game run without that problem, I would appreciate it. If not, please stop wasting your and my time. Thank you.

(02-20-2012, 11:49 AM)admin89 Wrote: As if most benchmark was wrong and only you were right

G3D Benchmarks for Recommended 1x Resolution:
-6600 GT: 246
-7600 GS: 235
-8500 GT: 236
-9400 GT: 273
-G210: 213
-X1600 Pro: 267
-2600 Pro: 218
-HD 3470: 175
-HD 5450: 256

Radeon HD 540v: 313

Yes. If only "most" benchmarks were wrong and I was right. Because clearly that is the case. /s

Please, if anyone else is going to respond on this thread, can you please make sure your comments are actually useful (or correct)? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

EDIT: For the record admin89, the link that YOU sent me is where I'm getting the list of recommend 1x res GPUs. And if you look at the OTHER link you sent me, the one about my GPU, you'll see that the 540v is a repurposed HD 4550 with higher memory clocks. The SAME GPU which is specifically mentioned in the list of recommend 1x GPUs. A GPU with 11.2GB/s-12.8GB/s memory bandwidth.

[Starscream]

(02-20-2012, 03:19 PM)ctg867 Wrote:

(02-20-2012, 11:22 AM)Starscream Wrote: No! Settings don't magically change themselves after some minutes, what probably does happen after some minutes is that your laptop CPU gets too hot and slows everything down, that's why you lose speed.

While I'm new to GameCube emulation, I'm not at all new to PC gaming and I know PC hardware. A CPU doesn't go from a perfectly acceptable, cool state capable of running a specific game at higher than HD resolutions at 25-30FPS and then immediately, not gradually, but immediately drop to 5FPS somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes in and slow the game speed down to a fifth of what it should be.

When I play the game windowed, I can check the Turbo Boost and CPU percentage with my desktop gadgets, and while they run high, it's not maxed out. If I close out the emulator and restart it, it works perfectly fine again, and then 5-10 minutes later it shuts off. CPUs do not cool that quickly.

So while I respect the fact that you're an admin on these boards, and you think that you're trying to help me and give me helpful advice, you're wrong. If you'd actually be willing to help me by troubleshooting what actually could be wrong with the emulator, or telling me what settings I could change to help the game run without that problem, I would appreciate it. If not, please stop wasting your and my time. Thank you.

(02-20-2012, 11:49 AM)admin89 Wrote: As if most benchmark was wrong and only you were right

G3D Benchmarks for Recommended 1x Resolution:
-6600 GT: 246
-7600 GS: 235
-8500 GT: 236
-9400 GT: 273
-G210: 213
-X1600 Pro: 267
-2600 Pro: 218
-HD 3470: 175
-HD 5450: 256

Radeon HD 540v: 313

Yes. If only "most" benchmarks were wrong and I was right. Because clearly that is the case. /s

Please, if anyone else is going to respond on this thread, can you please make sure your comments are actually useful (or correct)? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

EDIT: For the record admin89, the link that YOU sent me is where I'm getting the list of recommend 1x res GPUs. And if you look at the OTHER link you sent me, the one about my GPU, you'll see that the 540v is a repurposed HD 4550 with higher memory clocks. The SAME GPU which is specifically mentioned in the list of recommend 1x GPUs. A GPU with 11.2GB/s-12.8GB/s memory bandwidth.

ctg867: You've created a thread asking for help here. The entire time you've been receiving help, you've been telling others that they are wrong and you are right and you've been telling us all about how much you know about this or that. Seeing how you seem to already know all the answers, I'll just close this thread and you can be on your way. I'm sure any further discussion will be pointless and no answer will be good enough for you. Unfortunately, even on the off-chance we were all wrong, you basically telling everyone "thanks for nothing, now piss off" isn't going to win you any awards here. One might even be curious to know why a person who claims to knows so much would create a thread asking for help in the first place? I guess we'll never know.