Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

This is a fairly peculiar issue, that persists no matter the rendering API used, nor the ubershader setting selected.

During play, the game will frequently halt for an instant. It's not a dropped frame or a slowdown, but a proper halt where the game freezes for less than half a second.

Screenshot of my settings: https://i.imgur.com/x1bgKxo.png

I found the source of the problem. I had my ISO stored on a USB 3.0 HDD, and moving it to an SSD solved the problem entirely.

Good find. Not that this needed a reply, but yes, power management (which is likely what was occurring with your external HDD) can sap performance. While you're at it, you might also check the power settings for your OS to see if they throttle CPU or GPU performance.