Why does Dolphin run faster on WinXP than on Win64

themanuel · 11-17-2013, 08:01 AM #1

I'm dual booting my PC on both OS's. The exact same x86 version of Dolphin runs 15-20% slower on Windows 7 than it does on Windows XP.

At first I noticed that on Windows 7 I would not get any screen tear with v-sync turned off so I figured maybe the Aero theme was forcing v-sync even though I had it turned off in the emu. I switched to the Basic theme and sure enough, there was lots of screen tear but the game speed did not improve at all.

I normally run the x64 version of Dolphin on Win7 which is a bit slower than the x86 version on Windows XP but if I find why Windows XP can run the x86 version faster, then maybe I can improve the speed of the x64 version as well.

**KHg8m3r** · 11-17-2013, 03:25 PM #2

Please give us a list of your specs, which revision of dolphin you're using, and what settings you have turned on for each OS

themanuel · 11-17-2013, 03:40 PM #3

(11-17-2013, 03:25 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: Please give us a list of your specs, which revision of dolphin you're using, and what settings you have turned on for each OS

PC:
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300
FSB: 333 (o/c), Core Speed: 3.0GHz, L2 Cache: 2MB
nVidia GTS 250
2GB DDR2 667MHz

Dolphin r7550
Default settings except:
D3D9 Renderer
1024x764 Display Res, 1x Native Res
4x Anti-Alisaing (makes no difference at "None")

The OpenGL Renderer yields similar performance as D3D9 but in Windows 7, takes as much of a hit as D3D9 does.

Thanks.

**pauldacheez** · 11-17-2013, 04:01 PM #4

This isn't entirely relevant, but worth mentioning nonetheless (because you were definitely thinking about it): the 64-bit build of Dolphin doesn't run on 64-bit Windows XP; this is a known issue that the developers don't want to waste time fixing because XP x64 is so goddamn esoteric and people shouldn't really be using it. (XP support in general is already on its way out, it's an outright annoyance these days.)

themanuel · 11-17-2013, 04:34 PM #5

(11-17-2013, 04:01 PM)pauldacheez Wrote: This isn't entirely relevant, but worth mentioning nonetheless (because you were definitely thinking about it): the 64-bit build of Dolphin doesn't run on 64-bit Windows XP; this is a known issue that the developers don't want to waste time fixing because XP x64 is so goddamn esoteric and people shouldn't really be using it. (XP support in general is already on its way out, it's an outright annoyance these days.)

XP x64 is definitely not an option for me. I'm migrating from Win XP x86 to Win 7 x64 an realized I lost some performance on Dolphin.

**pauldacheez** · 11-17-2013, 04:46 PM #6

Have you been testing the same build of Dolphin on both? 4.0.1's not nearly as fast (and broken) as r7550, 64-bit or not.

themanuel · 11-18-2013, 12:35 AM #7

(11-17-2013, 04:46 PM)pauldacheez Wrote: Have you been testing the same build of Dolphin on both? 4.0.1's not nearly as fast (and broken) as r7550, 64-bit or not.

Yes. I've been testing r7550 x86 on both OS's. I normally use the x64 version but I'm doing the tests with x86 so that I can compare XP to Win7. The x64 version of the same Dolphin revision in Win7 is somewhat slower than its x86 version in WinXP. By comparing the x86 versions, I'm finding that I'm "leaving frames on the table" switching over to Win7 and if I can identify the reason, maybe I can make the x64 version run faster, which would help since it doesn't run games quite full speed.

**RachelB** · 11-18-2013, 03:34 AM #8

(11-17-2013, 04:01 PM)pauldacheez Wrote: This isn't entirely relevant, but worth mentioning nonetheless (because you were definitely thinking about it): the 64-bit build of Dolphin doesn't run on 64-bit Windows XP; this is a known issue that the developers don't want to waste time fixing because XP x64 is so goddamn esoteric and people shouldn't really be using it. (XP support in general is already on its way out, it's an outright annoyance these days.)

It has nothing to do with the time it would take. We know exactly how to make it work on xp x64. See issue 4300.

**KHg8m3r** · 11-18-2013, 04:08 AM #9

Old versions are not officially supported by the forums, because issues that are present in old builds have been fixed. Can you test both OS's on the latest dev build of 4.0 x86? That will give a true idea of how well the two systems measure up.
Also, did you make sure that everything is up to date in windows 7? Check drivers, windows updates, directx web updater, and the latest updates to visual c++.

Even with your overclocking, that CPU is really weak in per-core performance. How long have you had it, and would it possible for you to get a higher Core 2 Duo/Quad CPU? You really need more strength

**DJBarry004** · 11-18-2013, 04:10 AM **#10**

Actually, a dual-core CPU would be enough for Dolphin
(as long as it has high clock).