Very slow FPS on AMD Phenom Machine

[Jebeld17@gmail.com]

Just about every game I attempt to play results in extremely slow FPS as soon as a quick-moving, fast-paced scene using the games engine begins - In other words, during game play while things are fast-paced or cutscenes that are created using the game engine.

System Specs...
Windows 10 Pro Insider x64
AMD Phenom II X4 850 at 3.30GHz
8GB DDR3
NVidia George GT 440, Driver v361.91 w/ 96 CUDA Cores.

I know the GPU isn't the greatest, but I'd assume it would be okay to play Wii games even at native Wii resolution...
Any ideas of the culprit? I can post some logs soon if you'd like.

If the issue is hardware capability related, does anyone have any (realistic) ideas I can do to either fix the problem with replacement parts or replace the problem with a new PC?

[leolam]

The biggest issue with your hardware is the CPU. Emulators like Dolphin only use ~2 cores, but AMD CPUs all have weak single-thread performance; so they are a bad choice for Dolphin and you won't get a good experience with them (as you found out).

If you have a weak CPU but a strong GPU, you will get slowdowns even at 1xIR and with no graphical enhancements at all.
If you have a strong CPU but a weak GPU (or no dedicated GPU), you will at least run every game at full speed at 1xIR. A better GPU will allow you to improve the image quality.

You can't improve the performance without upgrading to a modern Intel CPU (so you would also need to change your motherboard).

For more information, refer to the FAQ.

[admin89]

Quote:I know the GPU isn't the greatest, but I'd assume it would be okay to play Wii games even at native Wii resolution...
Any ideas of the culprit? I can post some logs soon if you'd like.

Your GPU is fine for 720p . Your CPU is not fine at all . Phenom II is too old, it's bottom-line CPU in Dolphin Benchmark (below the requirement) .
You're on Windows 10 but your GPU does not support Direct3d12 . So there is nothing you can do to gain more FPS except upgrading CPU
G3258 is the best bang for buck CPU for Dolphin and PCSX2 right now . It can be overclocked to 4.2GHz with just stock cooler and at that speed it's as fast as i7 4770 in Dolphin benchmark . It's a budget CPU (only 70 bucks) yet it's twice as fast as your Phenom clock for clock . If you want a future-proof CPU , you should get i5 skylake (i5 6600k plus Z170 mobo if you need overclocking) otherwise i3 skylake is fine

[Helios]

Get a newer CPU.

[Jebeld17@gmail.com]

Thanks for sharing the Dolphin Benchmark link!
Are there any older Intel chipset that would work better than my Phenom? Just curious. I'm trying to figure out if I should go Intel.

[Helios]

an ivybridge or haswell chip should be fine.

[admin89]

Intel is the only option right now . FX 8350 @ 5.0GHz (suicide OC) is only as fast as i5 2500k @ 4.2GHz or i5 3570k @ 4.1GHz which is slower than i3 4130 @ 3.4GHz
Just to warn you that current AMD CPUs don't do well on single thread performance . In fact , AMD is 3 years behind Intel right now
I used to own AMD A10 6790k @ 5.0GHz which is as fast as FX 8350 @ 5.0GHz btw (same architecture) , it was plenty fast for most games but it couldn't run The Last Story full speed all the time and its power consumption is ridiculous . So I decided to switch over to G3258 , now I can run every single game full speed . I should buy G3258 in the first place.... As it's twice as fast as any AMD CPU

Quote:Are there any older Intel chipset that would work better than my Phenom? Just curious. I'm trying to figure out if I should go Intel.

The same generation as your Phenom II is Intel Core 2 Quad which is pretty cheap atm if you buy used one . However , it's not better but slower because most Core 2 Quad have lower CPU frequency
1st gen / 2nd gen / 3rd gen Intel Core i3,i5,i7 are better but you have to do extreme overclocking to match the performance of an i3 4130 @ 3.4GHz or G3258 stock speed
Here is the full benchmark list combined from official Dolphin Bench and Anandtech Bench

Spoiler: (Show Spoiler)

[Jebeld17@gmail.com]

One other question...
Is there a way I can contribute to the Benchmarks?

[admin89]

You can https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-new-dolphin-cpu-benchmark-no-game-required
But no one want to update it anymore
This is unofficial one :
https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-the-unofficial-dolphin-benchmark-results-updated-jun-30-2015
You have to contact the owner for an update (if the owner is willing to do that of course)