Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Im just wondering how does the FX8350 performance in gc/wii emulation?

I know that amd cpus have less IPC performance, and thus lower emulation
performance then intel cpus, but could an fx8350 still run games at
full speed?

Im building a computer very soon and am going to be getting

AMD FX8350
dark night II + 2x corsair SP120 push/pull
asus sabertooth FX990
8GB 1866 9-10-9-27 memory
Nvidia GTX760
corsair 500r and replace all the case fans
corsair HX750

(and im not building it FOR emulation, otherwise i would have gotten an intel cpu. im just wondering what it would get)


And since i have a good motherboard, cpu cooler, case cooling, and psu, im going to get the cpu to 5.0ghz.

Ill also be using windows 8, which automatically has the hotfixes for
amd fx cpus (core unparking and having windows read it as a
4core/8thread cpu, rather then 8 cores which gives better performance),
aswell as just better performance in general.

Also has one tried disabling 1-2 modules to get higher OC aswell? im sure you can probably get a few more megahertz OC with only like 2 modules active.


Ill also probably be upgrading to the steamroller cpus when they come
out (maybe give this one to my bro or something), which they are going
to have MUCH MUCH better IPC performance aswell.


Just wondering if anyone has experience with the 8350 and/or an OC 8350 dolphin? And someone who is either using win8 or win7 with the hotfixes applied?
and maybe possibly disabling modules to get higher then 5.0ghz?
(there is only 1 WW benchmark done at stock speed 4.0ghz, and its hard to tell all the unknown variables, such as background processes, if hotfixes are applied, etc)

If no one knows, then i will help provide some input on the performance of this cpu in dolphin. I even already ripped my wii games (never did before since i dont think my laptop could handle them. not to mention i still have to buy a bluetooth dongle and a usb sensor thing, tho i guess i can just use the one from my wii and have power on the wii and use that, but thats kind of annoying XD)

EDIT: and for anyone interested
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2645594
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2646060
(since i posted same thing on pcsx2 forum and someone inquired about it)

(07-08-2013, 07:22 AM)jbone1337 Wrote: [ -> ]I know that amd cpus have less IPC performance, and thus lower emulation
performance then intel cpus

You know what to expect.

But it will depend on which games you plan to play

jbone1337 Wrote:but could an fx8350 still run games at
full speed?

Depends on the game.

jbone1337 Wrote:Also has one tried disabling 1-2 modules to get higher OC aswell? im sure you can probably get a few more megahertz OC with only like 2 modules active.

I doubt this would be a good idea. The modules automatically reduces their clock rates and voltages down to almost nothing when they're not in use and even gate the clock signal from even reaching most of the core. As a result they sip almost no power. Disabling a module in the UEFI won't completely kill power to it. It will just prevent the chipset/OS from seeing it. Which will cause it to permanently remain in a low power state.

The tiny reduction in power consumption won't be worth it.

jbone1337 Wrote:which they are going
to have MUCH MUCH better IPC performance aswell.

We can only hope. We won't know for sure until they come out though. AMD lied about the IPC of phenom and bulldozer so I'm not so confident in them anymore. Wait till it's out and reviewed before making your decision.

(07-08-2013, 07:37 AM)LordVador Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-08-2013, 07:22 AM)jbone1337 Wrote: [ -> ]I know that amd cpus have less IPC performance, and thus lower emulation
performance then intel cpus

You know what to expect.
But it will depend on which games you plan to play

ya i dont fully expect to get full speed in all areas. and i was hoping to play like
skyward sword and xenoblade and last story with higher IR/AA.
Im sure when steamroller cpus come out, they should be able to play wii games decently when OCed. So im not too overly worried right now about it.

BUT i was just curious if anyone has actually really tried using the FX8350 OCed, and/or possibly disabling modules (since dolphin wont use them anyway) to get an even higher OC.
Judging from the WW benchmark the 8350 didnt perform too well at 4.0ghz, but having it at 5.0-5.2ghz or possibly higher, is what i wanted to know. Also making sure that the system used has the above hotfix installed.

So by the end of this month, i will probably post up some results to this build in the windwaker thread, aswell as maybe make a different post showing skyward sword or somerthing. (what is the most demanding wii game btw? and in that game, what is the most demanding area?)

Quote:We can only hope. We won't know for sure until they come out though. AMD lied about the IPC of phenom and bulldozer so I'm not so confident in them anymore. Wait till it's out and reviewed before making your decision.

hmm true, but it cant be worse then then cpus out now, so if the fx8350 when oc can perform decently, then it should of course play alot better.
But what they claimed is, that with steamroller, their primary focus on the cpus was going to be increasing the IPC so.

Zelda WW is a pretty "light" game. It will work just fine with your system.
Zelda SS and Xenoblade are much more demanding

(07-08-2013, 07:59 AM)LordVador Wrote: [ -> ]Zelda WW is a pretty "light" game. It will work just fine with your system.
Zelda SS and Xenoblade are much more demanding

i meant wind waker for https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?resi...tZv6Pc_h84
to benchmark relative cpu performance in dolphin emulation. As if i can get say 85 fps or so on the first save of that test, it may be possible to play skyward sword which is playable on cpus at that range.

And i knew SS was demanding, i wasnt sure about other.
And do you happen to know what the msot demanding games to emulate are? jsut so i can benchmark them aswell when i get it.

jbone1337 Wrote:ya i dont fully expect to get full speed in all areas. and i was hoping to play like
skyward sword and xenoblade and last story with higher IR/AA.
Im sure when steamroller cpus come out, they should be able to play wii games decently when OCed. So im not too overly worried right now about it.

If I had to guess:
Skyward sword: Fullspeed, but barely
Xenoblade: Fullspeed, but barely
The last story: Not fullspeed

jbone1337 Wrote:BUT i was just curious if anyone has actually really tried using the FX8350 OCed, and/or possibly disabling modules (since dolphin wont use them anyway) to get an even higher OC.

People have likely tried it. Nobody has posted the results.

jbone1337 Wrote:Judging from the WW benchmark the 8350 didnt perform too well at 4.0ghz, but having it at 5.0-5.2ghz or possibly higher, is what i wanted to know.

It did ok. Not great but ok.

jbone1337 Wrote:Also making sure that the system used has the above hotfix installed.

I can promise you the hotfix is barely going to improve things. Expect a few percent more.

jbone1337 Wrote:(what is the most demanding wii game btw? and in that game, what is the most demanding area?)

Depends on the settings. There are some games that require interpreter mode to run.

SMG, SMG2, and the last story are all very demanding even in JIT mode.

jbone1337 Wrote:hmm true, but it cant be worse then then cpus out now, so if the fx8350 when oc can perform decently, then it should of course play alot better.
But what they claimed is, that with steamroller, their primary focus on the cpus was going to be increasing the IPC so.

Not just that. They claimed a 30% increase in IPC. I will be floored if they pull it off.

jbone1337 Wrote:Im sure when steamroller cpus come out

Late fall of this year.

(07-08-2013, 08:20 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: [ -> ]I can promise you the hotfix is barely going to improve things. Expect a few percent more.

its like 5% or so. i know its not a huge improvement, but every little bit counts >.0
it could make the difference between 95-97% and 100% speed lol

Instead of disabling two modules you should disable one core per each module. That will help your overclock AND increase performance.

That will help overclocking even less. Just make sure the scheduler is up to date and leave all of the cores on.