I have 2 computers to run Dolphin on- a latest model MacBook White, and a 2.10ghz Phenom x3 with 4gb ram, 64-bit windows, and an NVIDIA 210 graphics card. The MacBook seems to run the games better than the big fast PC. Especially Super Mario Galaxy, I seem to only ever get about 15 FPS! Am I being stupid and doing something wrong, or do my computers need some serious upgrading?
Have you applied the best settings, like dual core, directx9 plugin?
er, the latest macbook white runs games better than that desktop rig because it's faster than it in dolphin; macbook 2.4ghz intel core 2 + nvidia 320m > desktop 2.1ghz phenom x3 + nvidia 210.
still, you won't get fullspeed in super mario galaxy with either computer. your best bet would be to upgrade the cpu in the desktop and while you're at it slap in a better gpu than the 210.
I think I've tweaked all of the settings to make the games run the fastest, but games like Super Paper Mario and Super Smash Bros. Melee run perfect, while Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl stink. [I think for SSBB it's the AI, because playing with 4 players is still somewhat playable, but playing with 1 player and 3 cpu's is almost unplayable.] [And by the way, most games run better on Windows in Bootcamp than the newest version of Dolphin I compiled for Mac OS X yesterday. ]
What I'm wondering now is if running nTune and overclocking my CPU and GPU will do anything for Dolphin. Overclocking a little manually gets a few extra FPS, but I'm afraid to do something stupid and go too far, but the Auto nTune tuning won't work unless I sit at my computer for an hour, because I have to select Windows XP from GRUB whenever I start up.
Also, if I were to upgrade the CPU or the GPU, which one would show the most improvement?
Also, I'm noticing a lot of people here have Intel Core 2 Duo boards. I have a Core i5 laptop with an intel integrated [crap] graphics card, and it runs like crap as well, but it's running Windows 7 and I can't change it because the rest of my family uses it, however I can boot from a Linux livecd, but then there's USB speed bottlenecks...
the games will run better in bootcamp because windows dx9 is faster than opengl which you have to use on osx.
also, i don't think overclocking would help too much here, as i doubt that phenom, or your motherboard for that matter, would clock high enough to make a fundamental difference. a cpu upgrade would make the biggest difference in dolphin, whilst a gpu upgrade would enable you to use a higher res and anti-aliasing, but still at a low framerate!
fact: Windows build of Dolphin is consistently faster than any other platform, so don't try to run it on other OS if you have one, usually it's a matter of setting and games.
Why using Boot camp on a macintel in 2010 ?
Would a quad-core processor help if it was the same speed? What matters more in Dolphin, speed or # of cores?
(07-16-2010, 12:36 AM)turingpest Wrote: [ -> ]the games will run better in bootcamp because windows dx9 is faster than opengl which you have to use on osx.
also, i don't think overclocking would help too much here, as i doubt that phenom, or your motherboard for that matter, would clock high enough to make a fundamental difference. a cpu upgrade would make the biggest difference in dolphin, whilst a gpu upgrade would enable you to use a higher res and anti-aliasing, but still at a low framerate!
Thanks for that bit of info, I always thought opengl was better.
I might get an ASUS M3N78-VM new motherboard for my computer. Not only does it have that Turbo hybrid-gpu crap, it will also take a new faster processor, and will have more USB ports for more PS2 controllers with adapters. [I always like the expression on people's faces when I'm playing Melee on my MacBook with a PlayStation 2 controller.]