Unprovoked yet predictable FPS drops

[Anvanaar]

Hello.

First of all, a quick basic rundown of my specs before anyone blows a stack about me being another idiot coming here asking for help completely unprepared.

My PC
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (6x 3.3 GHz)
GPU: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 570
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
(Runs nearly every PC game absolutely fine at max settings, even while recording it with FRAPS)

PCSX2 plugins
GS: GSdx 5875 (MSVC 18.00, SSE2) 0.1.16 [gsdx32-sse2-r5875]
PAD: LilyPad svn (r5822) 0.11.0 [lilypad-r5875]
SPU2: SPU2-X r5830 2.0.0 [spu2-x-r5875]
CDVD: Linuz Iso CDVD 0.9.0 [cdvdiso-r5875]
(USB, FW, DEV9: Only ones available)

PCSX2 configuration (Meaning the one I've tried last)
BIOS: USA v02.20(10/02/2006)
Emulation Settings: Preset 1 (No changes made to the preset)
GSdx: Direct3D11 (Hardware), auto interlacing, native resolution, no extra options
SPU2-X: XAudio 2, no synchronizing, stereo, nearest, disable effects processing


THE ISSUE

I take Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 as an example since it's the best one. Let's say I start a battle. Smooth 60 FPS, everything's fine, PC not really screaming at ehe top of its lungs either.
But already know what will happen - so I put my controller aside (meaning I am actually doing absolutely nothing that could provoke what follows) and then I watch for ten to twenty seconds... and within that timespan the game will start giving off sudden, usually two to four seconds long FPS drops by around 20 to 25 FPS, and after each one it rockets up to above where it was before, then drops below where it was before; the period of time in which there is no FPS drop also gets shorter and stays that short.

To make this easy to understand, here's a usual situation (remember, the controller lies on the table)
- Stable, lag-free 60 FPS without problems for 15 seconds after battle start.
- Drops to 40 FPS for 3 seconds.
- Rockets up to almost 70 FPS for a brief moment.
- Stable, lag-free 55 FPS without problems for 5 seconds.
- Rinse and repeat until the "stable FPS phase" is 30, then this cycle still goes on with drops to 15 or 20, but it will end up at 30 again in the end.

Interesting to note
- That's what I mean in the title: It is unprovoked and just out of nowhere, but I can count on it to happen every single time in almost the exact same way.
- My PC can take the PCSX2 and DBZ:BT3 pretty well seeing as how I can even up the resolution (tried 4x native) and still get the exact same behaviour.

And that's about all the info I can think of right now, the logical question being: What the hell, why does it do that?

If anything's missing, say it and I'll add it.


Greets,
Anvanaar

[Saiki]

humor this: I have settings for low-end CPUs in my sig. do these settings still generate the same predictable FPS drop?

[Anvanaar]

I don't see how that's supposed to work since it's for an older PCSX2 version and instantly gives me errors about missing plugins.
So I guess my answer is "I don't know!".
(I also don't know why that would be relevant since my CPU isn't low end.)

Oh, one more thing: Other emulators for relatively new systems and the respective games, like the Dolphin and Wii games, run much better than PCSX2 on my PC.


Greets,
Anvanaar

[refraction]

If your PC slows down after a set period of time, it would suggest your CPU is overheating and slowing itself down to try and compensate. I suggest getting a tool like Coretemp and watching your temperatures to see how high they go.

I "think" AMD's start throttling at 65c, but i couldn't tell for sure, coretemp will tell you the exact number (called the TjMax).

[jesalvein]

Your CPU isnt a low end one, but running pc games and emulating games are a completely different matter. you could be surprised.

Anyways, to add to the above suggestions, did you try disabling amd cool n' quiet ?

[Saiki]

1: I don't see how that's supposed to work since it's for an older PCSX2 version and instantly gives me errors about missing plugins.
So I guess my answer is "I don't know!".

2: (I also don't know why that would be relevant since my CPU isn't low end.)

1: the settings have not changed much at all, as far as missing plugins, you have to use the newest ones with the GUI selector

2: I thought that point would be obvious. It causes low-end CPUs to perform well, and a high-end CPU would perform much better

[Personablue5]

I think it is heat related issue..monitor the CPU temp during the drops..

[tsunami2311]

Dont compare games for PC for game played threw a emulator on PC. you will get laughed at for doing so.

I would check your CPU temps somthing is throttling

[Anvanaar]

Okay, here's a Core Temp reading while the emulator is running and I am doing the standing still thing in battle.




Greets,
Anvanaar

[tsunami2311]

heat issue your are throttling