(05-04-2012, 12:33 PM)Imperious Wrote: I've been getting okay performance with my 7850, that is, excluding the part where Dolphin randomly crashes talking about some big graphical error while my graphics card does a momentary restart. I haven't the slightest what could be causing it. Doesn't seem to be limited to one game, as it's happened with several games.
1. Dolphin works and performs best on a modern OS (Windows 7 64bit or Windows Vista Service Pack 2 64-bit). Avoid legacy/unsupported operating systems such as Windows XP or Linux distros with crappy drivers.
2. Make sure you're using the latest drivers for your graphics card (download GPU-Z from www.techpowerup.com and post a screenshot).
Uninstall the old drivers using AMD's uninstaller (Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Catalyst Install Manager -> select 'Express Uninstall all AMD software'), restart the PC , install the latest official driver (Catalyst 12.4 WHQL) from http://support.amd.com (http://game.amd.com) and do another restart.
3. Grab the latest version (GIT build) of Dolphin from the Dolphin download page (currently at rev. 601) and extract it to a New Folder on your hard drive.
Use the the default / recommended settings. Do not copy / import configs from older versions of Dolphin. Enabling settings such as 'DSP LLE on thread' or 'JITIL experimental recompiler' can introduce instability / crashes.
4. Extracting OpenGL .DLL files from old drivers (Catalyst 12.1 or older) to the Dolphin folder (or any other folder on your hard drive) is not recommended. WIth a HD7000 series card you're guaranteed to experience issues such as warped/broken graphics or a very noticeable drop in performance that sticks until you restart your PC.
Old OGL DLLs work only with with older (HD2000 ~ HD6000 series) AMD/ATI cards.
5. If you're using Windows 7 or Vista, disable compositing (Aero Glass). Aero causes problems when running in windowed mode with VSync=ON, adds input lag, reduces the performance a bit and is known to cause GPU resets/BSODs with certain ATI GPU+driver+OS combinations.