Read first: Will PCSX2 run fast on my computer?

[Qwertydude]

As far as I understand, the CPU is the most important factor in game performance. How important is the GPU?

I have a i5-2500k OC'd to 4.1GHz and I'd like to try out PCSX2, do I need a really powerful video card to play games decently? Can I get away with a GT430, or do I need something more powerful like a GTS450 or a GTX460?

[Codemeister1990]

If you check the first post in this thread, the recommended CPU list has i5/i7 2.66GHz+, you have a 1.6GHz so that's not "greatly surpass all of the requirements".

What game are you trying to run?

Well I have a large library of games, good thing I wrote in a notepad file which games I've tried run slow (33ish fps)

Enter the Matrix (Freezes)
Fight Night Round 3 (Slow)
Final Fantasy X-2 (Slow)
Front Mission 4 (Freezes)
GoldenEye Rogue Agent (Slow)
Gran Turismo 3 (Slow)
Gran Turismo 4 (Slow)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Slow)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Slow)
Madden 2004 (Slow)
Madden 06 (Slow)
Twisted Metal: Black (Slow)

[HollowNinja]

Okay, I recently bought a laptop (yeah, I know, bear with me). I'm not going to buy a desktop, and the desktop I have now is an old Athlon 64 2.0 GHz with Radeon Xpress 200 Graphics. I don't think it will run PCSX2.

The laptop is an HP dv7t. It has an Intel Core i5-560M (2.66 GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.2 GHz, 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650, 4GB of RAM, and that's probably all that's relevant.

Will it be able to run most games I want at least as well as my PS2? Here are the games I want to play:

Final Fantasy X International (My PS2 doesn't like this game for some reason, it takes forever to load)
FFXII International (To reverse camera direction)
Dragon Quest VIII
Odin Sphere (because the US version has bad lag and the PAL version removed speech bubbles. I'll be using my US version to play)
Growlanser Generations (My PS2 won't run CDs at all)
Tales of the Abyss
Soul Nomad and the World Eaters (I suspect there will be no problems here)

All the games are US versions, except for the Final Fantasy games. I legally bought and own all of them, of course.

Being a laptop, I won't overclock. What kind of performance can I expect?

Also, how does stuff like progressive scan and widescreen work? Will PCSX2 support them? I suspect the worst I'd have to do for widescreen would be to set the emulator to fill the screen, but how about progressive scan?

[Rezard]

@ bboyfarii:
A processor's cache has next to no affect with PCSX2, especially if already excessive for the purpose (like any relevant CPU). And "excellent" is a bit of an overstatement for the mobile HD 5670. It's pretty good, though.

Qwertydude:
A GeForce GT 430 will handle most games at native resolution, and should be able to pull some increased resolution with some games.

Codemeister1990:
Your i7-720QM will run 1.6Ghz at base. When on 2 cores (i.e. with PCSX2), it will actually run about 2.4Ghz. Now don't get too excited, that 2.66Ghz for i5/i7 on the first page is in reference to the base clock without Turbo Boost, but it still should be enough to make a fair share of games playable to some degree at least. Unfortunately, most of the games you've listed (that I'm familiar with) are some of the most demanding games to emulate.

To get the most out of what you have, use the latest beta of PCSX2, set GSdx to native, and enable Speedhacks. With that, be prepared to go in and out of the game, trying different EE Cyclerate and VU Cycle Stealing settings and viewing their effects on that particular games' performance. If you do these things, you should see something near the best your system can do for that game. Usually, overclocking is the only other thing that could have any significant improvements in FPS. I hope this helps.

@ HollowNinja:
It will do pretty good. Most of those games should play pretty well. You probably will still need at least some Speedhacks, and native resolution will sometimes make a difference in FPS (probably with DQ8). Overall, one of the better choices of mobile hardware.

EDIT: You can stretch it to full screen, and you can even set the internal resolution to that of your screen (this takes more GPU power). If the game supports progressive scan, you can simply enable it in the game's options, and away you go.

[HollowNinja]

So DQVIII is going to be the most intensive one out of all of them to emulate? Or does it just have game-specific issues with the emulator?

[Rezard]

Dragon Quest 8 is a game that's more GPU intensive than most, so you're less likely to exceed native resolution with it than others. As far as being the most intensive; I can't necessarily say if the international versions are much different (in performance) than the US one's, but I'd say it's between DQ8 and FF12. 2D games should be a piece of cake.

[HollowNinja]

I see, so the hardest ones are going to be DQ8 and FFXII. My GPU seems to be pretty good (at least mid-range to upper) from the benchmarks that I've looked at, but I guess I'll just have to test it and see. Worst comes to worst, I'll just have to go back to regular old PS2.

Thanks!

[Dangerousd777]

As far as I understand, the CPU is the most important factor in game performance. How important is the GPU?

I have a i5-2500k OC'd to 4.1GHz and I'd like to try out PCSX2, do I need a really powerful video card to play games decently? Can I get away with a GT430, or do I need something more powerful like a GTS450 or a GTX460?

No, even a 6600 GT would work.

[Saiki]

a 8600 GT works well for most games, especially when you have DX10 access (vista, win 7) but it runs dx9 fast as well (it's my stupid low-end CPU that's the main problem.)

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Dragon Quest 8 is a game that's more GPU intensive than most, so you're less likely to exceed native resolution with it than others. As far as being the most intensive; I can't necessarily say if the international versions are much different (in performance) than the US one's, but I'd say it's between DQ8 and FF12. 2D games should be a piece of cake.

any game that is codded is just added to with international versions. As far as performance it shouldn't change at all. the core of the game is still the same thing.

[Shadow Lady]

As far as I understand, the CPU is the most important factor in game performance. How important is the GPU?

GPU is important if you plan of using higher resolutions than the native of the game, my 9600gt lets me use up to 6x native resolution in some games but it's restricted to native or 2x native for others (I usualy use 3x tho). Other than that some games require a strong GPU regardless of resolution anyway.

GT 430 will be restricted to use native resolution in a lot of games, GTS 250/450 would be much better yet not so costly (a GT 450 even better if available instead of that 430 ).