Ok lets talk about my laptop for a wile. I like to believe i have a pretty beefy laptop
the quad core i5, the 6gb ram, and most importantly my 2GB ATI 7670M dedicated video card switchable graphics (also have a 2gb intel 3000 HD)
but sense the time i got this laptop i have not been able to play my wii or gc games in full speed.
now i know full speed is a lot to ask for from a emulator that is still not finished but i see a lot of people running it well
now i know a lot about computers, im very "tec savvy" as i work in computer repair. But this dolphin emulator never seizes to baffle me.
what kind of specs do you need dolphin 8gb of video card!?
I can play a lot requirement hungry pc games with high-ultra graphics at 99-100% speed
like black ops 1 and 2, MW3/ sonic generations, gta 4, bioshock infinite all in good speed.
and i know you cant compare pc games to emulators, 2 different things i know but i can at least use this as a back bored of power.
on a good day i can run sometimes super smash bros brawl at 90% of so speed on some stages.
in the end i can only narrow it down to two things
1. the laptops power output is to low (Its a ultrabook) or
2. misconfigured settings
and i have tried all kinds of settings combos
as a last resort i will try to partition my HDD and try running dolphin in Linux or OSX as i hear that dolphin runs better there.
any thought?
Your CPU is very slow for Dolphin. Your stock clocks are at 1.6GHz, and even with Turbo Boosting, you only hit 2.3GHz. Dolphin is not a PC game; you said you know you can't compare them and the reasons are pretty clear. Modern PC games rely heavily on the GPU, whereas emulators like Dolphin rely heavily on the CPU. For Dolphin, the GPU determines how high you can raise your Internal Resolution and Anti-Aliasing without creating a GPU bottleneck. If your CPU is the bottleneck, however, it won't matter how fast your GPU is.
So your GPU is good, but your CPU is below what Dolphin requires. It's nothing to do with misconfigured settings. The Envy you have isn't made for CPU-intensive programs like Dolphin; it's an ultrabook after all. That's really the end of it though; Dolphin won't be very enjoyable without better hardware.
Dolphin doesn't rely on the gpu for the bulk of it's processing like games do. It relies on the cpu. You're literally emulating a wii cpu, gpu, and dsp in your laptop and it is converting to code into x86 code. That is alot more demanding than CoD Black ops. I looked up your laptop based on your post and I'm only finding models with sandy/ivy bridge i5s clocked at 1.7 ghz. Your cpu is simply too slow. It's not the fact that the emulator isn't finished, it's just that you need a much better computer. The only laptops that can run dolphin fluently, as in even demanding games full speed, cost 1500-3000 dollars. Besides that, you're much better off building a pc for dolphin. Every member here can help you with parts. Also, Dolphin generally runs best on windows IIRC.
Edit: Took too long, Ninja'd.
ok so its a matter of Ghz then ok. but also when playing dolphin my processor on avg is at 72% usage only occasionally touching 100%
(08-22-2014, 04:19 PM)garrlker Wrote: [ -> ]Dolphin doesn't rely on the gpu for the bulk of it's processing like games do. It relies on the cpu. You're literally emulating a wii cpu, gpu, and dsp in your laptop and it is converting to code into x86 code. That is alot more demanding than CoD Black ops. I looked up your laptop based on your post and I'm only finding models with sandy/ivy bridge i5s clocked at 1.7 ghz. Your cpu is simply too slow. It's not the fact that the emulator isn't finished, it's just that you need a much better computer. The only laptops that can run dolphin fluently, as in even demanding games full speed, cost 1500-3000 dollars. Besides that, you're much better off building a pc for dolphin. Every member here can help you with parts. Also, Dolphin generally runs best on windows IIRC.
Edit: Took too long, Ninja'd.
Im going to say your cpu isnt so much a bottle neck as the amd gpu... THe amd laptops with those cards are more Graphics processing units then actual video cards.. Most of them are not that good... AMD side... Anyways First off i would check to make sure its actually using the amd video render instead of the intel hd 3000 some programs may not actually pick up switchable graphics you might have to add dolphin to your amd control panel and set it to run on that graphics chipset (it happens on Nvidia optimus as well.)
The idea you need a 3000 dollar pc to me feels like someone is just trying to put out a generic your pc just sucks to much to play it... I have ran dolphin on 2 macbook pro's one on a pure intel hd 5100 the second one on a intel hd 5200 and gt 750 both ran flawless i5 version and i7.. Second have ran it on a Desktop with a intel core 2 quad extreme 3.2 ghz runs flawless. (in the context of what games work properly.) But you are right in the sense that dolphin is more cpu bound then gpu bound.
(08-22-2014, 04:31 PM)RaverX3X Wrote: [ -> ] (08-22-2014, 04:19 PM)garrlker Wrote: [ -> ]Dolphin doesn't rely on the gpu for the bulk of it's processing like games do. It relies on the cpu. You're literally emulating a wii cpu, gpu, and dsp in your laptop and it is converting to code into x86 code. That is alot more demanding than CoD Black ops. I looked up your laptop based on your post and I'm only finding models with sandy/ivy bridge i5s clocked at 1.7 ghz. Your cpu is simply too slow. It's not the fact that the emulator isn't finished, it's just that you need a much better computer. The only laptops that can run dolphin fluently, as in even demanding games full speed, cost 1500-3000 dollars. Besides that, you're much better off building a pc for dolphin. Every member here can help you with parts. Also, Dolphin generally runs best on windows IIRC.
Edit: Took too long, Ninja'd.
Im going to say your cpu isnt so much a bottle neck as the amd gpu... THe amd laptops with those cards are more Graphics processing units then actual video cards.. Most of them are not that good... AMD side... Anyways First off i would check to make sure its actually using the amd video render instead of the intel hd 3000 some programs may not actually pick up switchable graphics you might have to add dolphin to your amd control panel and set it to run on that graphics chipset (it happens on Nvidia optimus as well.)
The idea you need a 3000 dollar pc to me feels like someone is just trying to put out a generic your pc just sucks to much to play it... I have ran dolphin on 2 macbook pro's one on a pure intel hd 5100 the second one on a intel hd 5200 and gt 750 both ran flawless i5 version and i7.. Second have ran it on a Desktop with a intel core 2 quad extreme 3.2 ghz runs flawless. (in the context of what games work properly.) But you are right in the sense that dolphin is more cpu bound then gpu bound.
with all that being said looks like dolphin is picky about its chipsets. and i did set dolphin in amd catalyst to high performance.
my laptop is dualbooted with OSX mountain lion and windows 8.1, windows 8.1 being my primary. maybe ill try running dolphin in OSX and then ill try Ubuntu perhaps.
(08-22-2014, 04:31 PM)RaverX3X Wrote: [ -> ]Im going to say your cpu isnt so much a bottle neck as the amd gpu...
Not really. It doesn't take much for Dolphin to run at 1x IR or 2x IR in terms of GPU power. The Intel HD4000 can do that easily, and the 7670M is an objectively faster GPU than that. Unless the OP has some fairly high settings, the GPU won't be the bottleneck.
A Sandy Bridge CPU running anywhere from 1.6GHz to 2.3GHz is just flat-out slow for Dolphin, and that's going to be an issue for all but the lightest games.
(08-22-2014, 04:46 PM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ] (08-22-2014, 04:31 PM)RaverX3X Wrote: [ -> ]Im going to say your cpu isnt so much a bottle neck as the amd gpu...
Not really. It doesn't take much for Dolphin to run at 1x IR or 2x IR in terms of GPU power. The Intel HD4000 can do that easily, and the 7670M is an objectively faster GPU than that. Unless the OP has some fairly high settings, the GPU won't be the bottleneck.
A Sandy Bridge CPU running anywhere from 1.6GHz to 2.3GHz is just flat-out slow for Dolphin, and that's going to be an issue for all but the lightest games.
im looking on ebay now and a 3Ghz processor laptop doesn't look too friendly to my wallet lol
from 800-1500$
is a 3Ghz really necessary?
(08-22-2014, 04:46 PM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ] (08-22-2014, 04:31 PM)RaverX3X Wrote: [ -> ]Im going to say your cpu isnt so much a bottle neck as the amd gpu...
Not really. It doesn't take much for Dolphin to run at 1x IR or 2x IR in terms of GPU power. The Intel HD4000 can do that easily, and the 7670M is an objectively faster GPU than that. Unless the OP has some fairly high settings, the GPU won't be the bottleneck.
A Sandy Bridge CPU running anywhere from 1.6GHz to 2.3GHz is just flat-out slow for Dolphin, and that's going to be an issue for all but the lightest games.
Sigh..... i have a intel quad core 2 extreme that would beg to differ that but whatever... Not going to argue with you just the fact those Onboard amd gpu's while they look good on paper are mostly shit in real world ... His issue might not be so much the CPU as that on board gpu...
if you really want i could pull out a macbook air that runs anywhere from 1.6 ghz to 2.5 ghz with a intel hd 5000 and still can run dolphin fine including super mario galaxy. Point is just dont be so quick to dismiss bad preformace to oh u need to upgrade.. @ op look to see if theres newer drivers or the ability to remove restrictions from ULV in bios.
Sorry if i sound shitty at you not my intention just i have read so many posts where people chock shit up to just get new hardware... When in fact it could very well be something rather simple to fix.
(08-22-2014, 04:51 PM)RaverX3X Wrote: [ -> ] (08-22-2014, 04:46 PM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ] (08-22-2014, 04:31 PM)RaverX3X Wrote: [ -> ]Im going to say your cpu isnt so much a bottle neck as the amd gpu...
Not really. It doesn't take much for Dolphin to run at 1x IR or 2x IR in terms of GPU power. The Intel HD4000 can do that easily, and the 7670M is an objectively faster GPU than that. Unless the OP has some fairly high settings, the GPU won't be the bottleneck.
A Sandy Bridge CPU running anywhere from 1.6GHz to 2.3GHz is just flat-out slow for Dolphin, and that's going to be an issue for all but the lightest games.
Sigh..... i have a intel quad core 2 extreme that would beg to differ that but whatever... Not going to argue with you just the fact those Onboard amd gpu's while they look good on paper are mostly shit in real world ... His issue might not be so much the CPU as that on board gpu...
if you really want i could pull out a macbook air that runs anywhere from 1.6 ghz to 2.5 ghz with a intel hd 5000 and still can run dolphin fine including super mario galaxy. Point is just dont be so quick to dismiss bad preformace to oh u need to upgrade.. @ op look to see if theres newer drivers or the ability to remove restrictions from ULV in bios.
Sorry if i sound shitty at you not my intention just i have read so many posts where people chock shit up to just get new hardware... When in fact it could very well be something rather simple to fix.
nope Hp's insyde bios is very basic and has zero advanced options.