What is more demanding, Dolphin or PCSX2?

noah · 10-12-2012, 07:48 AM #1

Basically what needs extra power. And what is more important? Graphics or Processor? Like would i5 with intel graphics run worse or better than i3 with nVIDEA/AMD A8 with Radeon? And only answer if you KNOW what your saying, no biased AMDers (you know who you are)

**Axxer** · (This post was last modified: 10-12-2012, 08:01 AM by Axxer.)

Here are the requirements for Dolphin (though it depends on a ton of factors like game, settings, and drivers):
- dedicated graphics card (no Intel 4000s). They may run some games full speed with 1x IR, but other games will suffer
- CPU generally needs to be a fast sandy bridge or ivy bridge. The current Phenom/Bulldozer AMD CPUs will fail you miserably
- # of cores doesn't matter much because Dolphin can only use a maximum of 3 (if LLE Audio on Thread is used). There is no speed boost from a processor with more than 3 cores vs. the same processor with only 3 cores

Here are the requirements of PCSX2 as I understand them (I'm not extremely familiar with it but I know enough about how the PS2 and PCSX2 work to make this stipulation):
- dedicated graphics card is probably required still
- CPU needs to be a decently fast (AMD Bulldozers probably won't work well, but they have an advantage if you look at the next point)
- # of cores matters. PCSX2 can use I think even 8 cores if you have it. This will provide a very large speed up in certain situations, though it won't matter if the single threaded performance still sucks (like Bulldozer)

I think your best bet to run both is to get my CPU (in sig) and overclock. All Dolphin games will run full speed and I believe all PCSX2 games will run full speed (or at least at the best speed you are likely to get).

Post exactly what you are looking at so we can help you out further.

**Starscream** · 10-12-2012, 08:10 AM #3

CPU is most important, but you also need a decent GPU. You can have the best CPU out there, but without a good GPU, your CPU is going to get bottlenecked and is not going to run the game as fast as it should. When you get into the "which is better" or the "either/or" scenario and you try to find out if it's better to have a fast processor or a fast GPU, you're always missing the opposite hardware component than the other scenario and you won't get good results that way. You need both.

In my experience, the GC and Wii have harder to emulate games than the PS2 does.

noah · 10-12-2012, 08:53 AM #4

(10-12-2012, 08:10 AM)Starscream Wrote: CPU is most important, but you also need a decent GPU. You can have the best CPU out there, but without a good GPU, your CPU is going to get bottlenecked and is not going to run the game as fast as it should. When you get into the "which is better" or the "either/or" scenario and you try to find out if it's better to have a fast processor or a fast GPU, you're always missing the opposite hardware component than the other scenario and you won't get good results that way. You need both.

In my experience, the GC and Wii have harder to emulate games than the PS2 does.

So would i5 ivy bridge for laptops and 6gb of ram and nVIDEA $200 graphics card be fine for both?

**Axxer** · 10-12-2012, 09:44 AM #5

Model numbers are needed to help you further.

**admin89** · (This post was last modified: 10-12-2012, 09:45 AM by admin89.)

Plug your graphic card (desktop) to your laptop ? Tongue

The word "graphic card" is used for desktop GPU since laptop GPU is soldered on the motherboard , you can't replace them . Only high-end gaming laptops use "graphic card" , those laptop usually cost more than 1200$

**Axxer** · 10-12-2012, 09:48 AM #7

(10-12-2012, 09:45 AM)admin89 Wrote: Plug your graphic card (desktop) to your laptop ?
The word "graphic card" is used for desktop GPU since laptop GPU is soldered on the motherboard , you can't replace them . Only high-end gaming laptops use "graphic card" , those laptop usually cost more than 1200$

I think he's planning on putting a laptop CPU in a desktop, which seems pretty stupid. That's why I want model numbers.

**NaturalViolence** · (This post was last modified: 10-12-2012, 01:38 PM by NaturalViolence.)

Quote:- # of cores matters. PCSX2 can use I think even 8 cores if you have it. This will provide a very large speed up in certain situations, though it won't matter if the single threaded performance still sucks (like Bulldozer)

PCSX2 can have up to 4 or 5 major threads if I recall, but definitely not 8. Anything above a dual core cpu is unnecessary for dolphin, although it may help slightly. Anything about a quad core cpu is unnecessary for PCSX2, although it may help slightly.

Both emulators require high end hardware to run some games well. But PCSX2 is generally less demanding than dolphin.

Happy now SS? I still don't know wtf was wrong with my image.

**Axxer** · 10-12-2012, 01:40 PM #9

I just remembered reading that the PS2 had a ton of weird weaker task-focused processors which could each be on their own thread. I don't recall the exact amount of them, but 4 or 5 sounds good. Maybe it was the PS3 that that many.

**NaturalViolence** · (This post was last modified: 10-12-2012, 01:47 PM by NaturalViolence.)

EE CPU
VPU0
VPU1
Graphics Synthesizer (GS or GSX)
SPU0
SPU1

The SPUs are emulated using HLE though, which is obviously not multithreaded. The SPU thread should therefore be very light.

Quote:Maybe it was the PS3 that that many.

Perhaps. The PS3 uses the cell broadband engine as its cpu, which has a PPE and 7 SPEs (one reserved for the OS). The PPE uses SMT to simulatenously process 2 threads.