In summary, go with Intel if you want more speed
AMD CPUs are geared towards value performance not high performance, at least when it comes to emulation.
(03-18-2015, 04:09 AM)Nfaug Wrote: [ -> ]ive been reading and it seems with my other processor sitting, i can take that all the way up to 4.4 GHZ OC. that would be much better than what im currently uses id suspect, but id love to hear your opinion.
But can you keep it cool at that OC ? Also you will no doubt need to adjust the voltages which is something you said you did not want to do.
You have to be realistic with the rig you have, and reduce graphics settings if necessary.
(03-18-2015, 01:52 AM)Nfaug Wrote: [ -> ]So i just oc'd my CPU in hopes of getting at least a little bit more "oomph" out of it, i increased it from 3.00 GHZ to 3.4 GHZ, i COULD go up to 3.8 GHZ, but i know nothing about messing with voltage settings and id rather not risk frying something. Will this increase i got now allow me to play games better on dolphin?
Check out that
Unofficial Dolphin Benchmark thread. The first post includes results (total benchmark times) for various CPUs, including AMD Phenom II and Athlon II CPUs.
Just run that benchmark at stock and overclocked (@ 3.5 GHz) speeds and post your results there.
It would be interesting to see how your PhII 940 (with DDR2 RAM?) compares to the PhII 955 with DDR3 RAM.
You can see the crappy Athlon II X2 (dual-core) listed there as well. When overclocked to an impressive 4.1 GHz (without increasing the voltage), this puppy beats the crap out of that Phenom II Quad.
(03-18-2015, 07:33 AM)NKF98 Wrote: [ -> ]The Phenom is a bad choice (for Dolphin).
Not really. You'll be surprised by the performance of this 'old-school' CPU if you use the latest dev build with
SSE2 vertex loader falback or the latest unstable build of
Ishiiruka with those optimizations merged.
(03-18-2015, 07:33 AM)NKF98 Wrote: [ -> ]The Phenom is on the same playing field as the Core 2 Duo. Go Intel.
It performs closer to a first-gen Core iX than to the mediocre Core 2 Duo.
You just need three things to unleash the true performance of this CPU:
-
DDR3 RAM
with tight timings. AMD's K10h CPU architecture just loves RAM with tight timings.
- At least
3.5 GHz clockspeed (that's the magic number) The Phenom II is more efficient at higher clockspeeds.
- A decent GPU that performs well with the (low-overhead)
Direct3D backend: a Radeon R7 265 or better [you would normally pair an AMD CPU with an AMD GPU]
@ Nfaug: Use the latest dev/master build (4.0-5915 or newer):
https://dolphin-emu.org/download/
It's a whole lot faster on older AMD CPUs (up to 50%).
or even better - the latest unstable version of Ishiiruka:
https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-ishiiruka-dolphin-custom-version
(includes the latest performance improvements and more)
Overclock to 3.5 GHz without increasing the voltage and then run a CPU stress test application (e.g. Prime95) for 6 hours to check if your OC is stable and if your cooler / case / CPU can handle the increased heat output.
Even though the overclocked Athlon II (Dual-Core) scores better than the Phenom II Quad in that CPU benchmark, the performance in Dolphin is about the same.
It's because of the core count advantage (4 cores vs. 2).
The Phenom II is (still) a good CPU. Not "very good" or "great", just "good". Still better than those disappointing FX "Bulldozers" and "Pledrivers".
Just don't expect to run the most demanding titles at full speed (it's fine for the light and medium ones, but with the latest dev. build, even some of the more demanding ones run close to full speed).
Also you can forget about using LLE audio. Even the 'LLE recompiler' setting is too much for that CPU.
If you want to use LLE audio, an Intel CPU is your only choice. But LLE audio won't be necessary once the Z-HLE branch and the old AX-HLE patch are merged to master (so you'll have to be patient and wait...).
(03-18-2015, 11:10 AM)Zooke Wrote: [ -> ]He has to be realistic with the rig he has, and reduce graphics settings if necessary.
The latest master build (4.0-5915) and Ishiiruka v310 are so fast (huge speed boost for older AMD CPUs), that he can run all the 'medium' and even some of the 'more demanding' titles at full speed (or near full-speed) with that CPU (when overclocked to 3.5 GHz).
i can only seem to get it set to 3.4 GHZ on auto settings, otherwise it seems to fail to boot up. and my ram is set to 1066 GHZ. not sure if thats what was meant by tight timings. so i dont think ill be able to run the games i want untill i get a new laptop or better computer in general.
(03-27-2015, 09:40 AM)Nfaug Wrote: [ -> ]i can only seem to get it set to 3.4 GHZ on auto settings, otherwise it seems to fail to boot up. and my ram is set to 1066 GHZ. not sure if thats what was meant by tight timings.
3.4 GHz is fine. Just use this build:
https://dl.dolphin-emu.org/prs/pr-2149-dolphin-latest-x64.7z for better performance.
1066 MHz = RAM speed
Timings = RAM latencies (there are primary, secondary and tertiary timings). PhII CPUs just love DDR3 RAM @ 1333 MHz with fast
secondary timings.
(03-27-2015, 11:13 AM)kirbypuff Wrote: [ -> ] (03-27-2015, 09:40 AM)Nfaug Wrote: [ -> ]i can only seem to get it set to 3.4 GHZ on auto settings, otherwise it seems to fail to boot up. and my ram is set to 1066 GHZ. not sure if thats what was meant by tight timings.
3.4 GHz is fine. Just use this build: https://dl.dolphin-emu.org/prs/pr-2149-dolphin-latest-x64.7z for better performance.
1066 MHz = RAM speed
Timings = RAM latencies (there are primary, secondary and tertiary timings). PhII CPUs just love DDR3 RAM @ 1333 MHz with fast secondary timings.
whats that build from, dosent seem to be an official one.
That's from our Github page, its a pull request build.