Random dolphin emulator slow down on Gaming Laptop

[DameonLG]

So I've got an Asus Republic of Gamers laptop.

8 gigs of ram, i7 mobile at 2.00 GHz, 64 bit OS with Windows 7.

I've had the Dolphin since version 3.0 and it ran fantastically. Always at 90% minimum for most games, decided to try it again recently out of nostalgia and it worked as good as I remembered for a couple of days. Still using 3.0.

Then I suddenly had a drop down, a significant drop down, like down to 30%. The audio keeps up fine, but the video for some reason lags unbearably. I've gone through the speed up tutorials, tried 3 different versions of Dolphin (ranging from 3.0 32 bit with compatibility to the current Dolphin-win-x64-v3.5-367) and I've now got three seperate install versions of Dolphin all running the same lag as soon as anything 3D pops up on my screen. Menus and such are fine, loading screens zip by, but as soon as anything with a polycount comes on screen?

Dead in the water.

Again, it's super odd because I know my laptop is great for gaming (I can run Mass Effect 3 at full specs with no slow down) and everything worked perfectly yesterday. The -only- thing I can think of is that I installed 3D Ripper to capture some models for a machinima project I'm working on.

[Shonumi]

(02-08-2013, 03:41 PM)DameonLG Wrote: 8 gigs of ram, i7 mobile at 2.00 GHz, 64 bit OS with Windows 7.

Even with Turbo Boost, you CPU is a bit on the weak side for Dolphin. See the FAQ regarding this subject.

(02-08-2013, 03:41 PM)DameonLG Wrote: Then I suddenly had a drop down, a significant drop down, like down to 30%. The audio keeps up fine, but the video for some reason lags unbearably. I've gone through the speed up tutorials, tried 3 different versions of Dolphin (ranging from 3.0 32 bit with compatibility to the current Dolphin-win-x64-v3.5-367) and I've now got three seperate install versions of Dolphin all running the same lag as soon as anything 3D pops up on my screen. Menus and such are fine, loading screens zip by, but as soon as anything with a polycount comes on screen?

A few questions. Are you playing games you've never tried before until just now? Likewise, are you playing in new levels/areas? You might not have known how demanding Dolphin can be for specific games or in certain spots of certain games. Furthermore, which games are you playing? They're not all equal when it comes to what's required hardware-wise to run them. Have you changed anything pertinent in your OS, drivers, or day-to-day software? Lastly, how are your temps? It's possible that something may be defective with your hardware or cooling.

(02-08-2013, 03:41 PM)DameonLG Wrote: Again, it's super odd because I know my laptop is great for gaming (I can run Mass Effect 3 at full specs with no slow down) and everything worked perfectly yesterday. The -only- thing I can think of is that I installed 3D Ripper to capture some models for a machinima project I'm working on.

Dolphin relies heavily on the CPU for performance, though some games naturally demand a good GPU as well. Modern PC games rely heavily on the GPU for performance, and even mid-level CPUs have little consequence on HD gaming. In short, PC games and emulators like Dolphin simply aren't comparable programs, even if you are just playing "games".

[admin89]

Quote:i7 mobile at 2.00

Around 2.6-2.8Ghz (turbo boost) , not 2.0GHz
If your CPU truly run Dolphin at 2.0GHz , most games will not be playable at all

Quote:I can run Mass Effect 3 at full specs with no slow down

Completely unrelated to Dolphin . Dolphin is a dual core app
PC gaming -> GPU performance
Emulation -> CPU performance

i5 3570k @ 4.2GHz is recommended for Dolphin

[DameonLG]

(02-08-2013, 03:58 PM)Shonumi Wrote: Even with Turbo Boost, you CPU is a bit on the weak side for Dolphin. See the FAQ regarding this subject.


A few questions. Are you playing games you've never tried before until just now? Likewise, are you playing in new levels/areas? You might not have known how demanding Dolphin can be for specific games or in certain spots of certain games. Furthermore, which games are you playing? They're not all equal when it comes to what's required hardware-wise to run them. Have you changed anything pertinent in your OS, drivers, or day-to-day software? Lastly, how are your temps? It's possible that something may be defective with your hardware or cooling.


Dolphin relies heavily on the CPU for performance, though some games naturally demand a good GPU as well. Modern PC games rely heavily on the GPU for performance, and even mid-level CPUs have little consequence on HD gaming. In short, PC games and emulators like Dolphin simply aren't comparable programs, even if you are just playing "games".

Well maybe I read my specs wrong, I just gave the run down from my system tab. Here's the spec page from Asus' website.

http://www.asus.com/ROG/G74SX/#specifications

I'm playing Command Mission, it's an RPG on the Gamecube. I played the first two chapters without any noticeable slowdown, which included a few explosive cut scenes. It actually wasn't until I recently installed and used the 3D Ripper software (which required me to actually boot up the old 32 bit Dolphin through it's own interface) that I started to, for some reason, see slow down across all the emulators.

I haven't really changed anything important to my OS, I've just been running a few 3D modelling softwares, trying them out for college, installing and uninstalling them (which may contribute to my temperature I'd wager). The only real change to running the emulators that I can think of are, as mentioned above, running it through 3D ripper (only one version). Also, I'm rarely running more than 5% of my total CPU.

I have been running my laptop all day (and I do primarily use dual monitors when I'm at home) so I might be running hot. My stats according to speedfan are below.

GPU: 56 C
HD0: 39 C
HD1: 35 C
Temp1: 58 C
Cores 0 to 3: 54 - 61 C

[Starscream]

Your problem is that you think you have a "gaming laptop". While that may be true (still a stretch) because you have a decent GPU, that doesn't really apply unless you're playing a "PC game". Emulators are something different altogether.

[DameonLG]

So then why did this problem only start recently? I've been able to play at 90%+ before about 5 hours ago.

I actually played this exact same game a couple days ago for about 5 hours straight with no slow down.

---

Oh hey, that's weird. It suddenly fixed itself. (possibly due to my running a few clean up programs and turning off the special driver I use to play with my PS3 controller) and is now running at 100% again. Woo!

[yodenny]

(02-08-2013, 04:45 PM)DameonLG Wrote: So then why did this problem only start recently? I've been able to play at 90%+ before about 5 hours ago.

I actually played this exact same game a couple days ago for about 5 hours straight with no slow down.

---

Oh hey, that's weird. It suddenly fixed itself. (possibly due to my running a few clean up programs and turning off the special driver I use to play with my PS3 controller) and is now running at 100% again. Woo!

maybe its your laptop has gotten hot and it cool down
I wouldnt be surprised at all this is comman with laptops

[DameonLG]

(02-08-2013, 04:43 PM)Starscream Wrote: Your problem is that you think you have a "gaming laptop". While that may be true (still a stretch) because you have a decent GPU, that doesn't really apply unless you're playing a "PC game". Emulators are something different altogether.

That might be it, but my laptop's got pretty powerful cooling fans and a full rear vent, so it rarely gets warm unless I'm running it full tilt with rendering for a few hours.

[AnyOldName3]

Has no one noticed he's running some kind of 3D ripper in the background? I reckon that will have some performance hit.

[yodenny]

(02-09-2013, 04:23 AM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: Has no one noticed he's running some kind of 3D ripper in the background? I reckon that will have some performance hit.

gameboosterrrrr!!