Please help. Lag issues with GC and Wii emulation

[chowder007]

Hey guys. I am having lag issues when running Wii games and to a lesser extent GC games. I have pretty much solved lag issues with GC by using the frame skipping option set to 2. Some are much worse then others. For example Kirby Yarn works fine for the most part. However, trying to run Mario Galaxy tonight and the lag was close to unbearable. The thing is, nothing seems to be maxed out system wise so I cant really figure out whats causing the lag. Ive already followed the guides to setup Dolphin properly for best performance.

I am on the newest version of Dolphin 4.0-2227, Windows 7 64bit. 6 GB ram, and a dual core 3.2ghz CPU.
If someone could help me get everything running smoothly I would appreciate it. Also, the following settings are with Dolphin running with Frame Skipping set to 2.
Please look here for detailed system info and cheers in advance for any help - http://i.imgur.com/gWxb6yN.png

[admin89]

3.2GHz dual core Clarkdale (1st gen Nehalem) is too slow for Mario Galaxy and your onboard graphic chip doesn't meet the minimum requirement for Dolphin
Mario Galaxy is demanding game
You will need an entirely new PC if you want to run that game at playable speed

[chowder007]

(07-24-2014, 03:53 PM)admin89 Wrote: 3.2GHz dual core Clarkdale (1st gen Nehalem) is too slow for Mario Galaxy and your onboard graphic chip doesn't meet the minimum requirement for Dolphin
Mario Galaxy is demanding game
You will need an entirely new PC if you want to run that game at playable speed

Im confused though. If you look at the screen cap I have posted the CPU is only at 54%?

[admin89]

Your CPU has Hyper-threading feature (HT)
With HT : 2 cores 4 threads
Without HT : 2 cores 2 threads
A normal dual core CPU has only 2 cores 2 threads . HT make your CPU look like a half-ass quad core and Dolphin is a dual core application . That's why you see only about 50% power of your CPU is used
In most PC games , HT is useless . Some PC games support it though . Most of the time it is useful for video encoding process

[chowder007]

(07-24-2014, 04:02 PM)admin89 Wrote: Your CPU has Hyper-threading feature (HT)
With HT : 2 cores 4 threads
Without HT : 2 cores 2 threads
A normal dual core CPU has only 2 cores 2 threads . HT make your CPU look like a half-ass quad core and Dolphin is a dual core application . That's why you see only about 50% power of your CPU is used
In most PC games , HT is useless . Some PC games support it though . Most of the time it is useful for video encoding process

Thanks for the information.

So my first question then is what do I need to OC my CPU to for steady game playback. Secondly, is it safe at the clock?

[admin89]

1st gen non-k Nehalem can do BCLK OC but BCLK OC will overclock both mobo and ram . If you fail , the entire system will die immediately
If you're successful , the entire system will die slowly
You will need an aftermarket cooler such as CM 212 Evo to overclock . Lower Vcore = Lower heat = Safer OC (only applied to CPU)
Keep Vcore under 1.35V if you don't want to risk your CPU
But low Vcore doesn't mean your mobo and ram are safe
Safe OC is preferred to "k" CPU such as i5 4670k , i7 4790k and the unlocked Pentium Anniversary G3258....
I have to go to work now .

[chowder007]

Thanks for the explanation. So is there nothing I can do to make this game play properly short of getting a new PC?

Secondly, if I were looking at getting a new PC, Would a 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4790 Processor, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 720 1GB DDR3 GPU be enough to run these? Please dont suggest I build my own as its just not an option right now. I have to purchase through Dell as I can finance the purchase. We are in the market for a new PC anyway but want to make sure I am getting something that will handle this.


Also, thanks for all the help thus far. You have been awesome.

[KHg8m3r]

What sort of budget are you looking at? Because the gt 720 is worse than the HD 4600 built into the Haswell CPUs

I'm pretty sure that you can finance through Newegg.
Like $450 will get you a Haswell i3-4330 (stronger than i5-3570K @ 4.4Ghz) and a GTX 750/750 Ti
$700-800 will get you an overclock-able i5-4690K and and GTX 750Ti/760, which would be the best option

OR

You can look into just replacing your motherboard/CPU/GPU and keeping the case/RAM/HDD/DVD drive/case/and maybe power supply. That would be a lot cheaper, like only $300 or so

edit: fixed CPU info. Thanks DJBarry, I always do that

[DJBarry004]

@KHg8m3r: It´s 3570K.