Audio D-Sync and Lag on 60fps.

[Yue Fei]

Hello all, i'm new to this forum and in need of assistance. My problem is that the performance of all my games don't seem to correlate to what I should be getting in-regards to the hardware that i'm running pcsx2 with. The aforementioned games are; "Final Fantasy XII" and "Star Ocean: Till the End of Time."

For while it looks like i'm getting a constant reading of 60fps, there are still persistent issues with my audio and the smoothness of my in-game speed. These problems arise upon initial boot with either game. Cut-scenes and in-game scenarios have a 5-10 sec interval before the audio and frame-rate issues appear, making the games difficult to play. Re-booting pcsx2 will eliminate most of the anomalies, however, this's only a temporary solution at best, because while areas I've visited, or cut-scenes I've watched in the previous session of booting pcsx2 may not have these problems. Newly entered areas, or new cut-scenes will have these problems again in playing through the game(s).

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Here are the specifications of my computing unit:

Computer type:
Laptop

System Manufacturer/Model Number:
Sager NP9377 (P377SM-A)

OS:
Windows 10 64-bit Home Premium

CPU:
Intel® Core ™ i74810MQ CPU @ 2.80ghz, 2801 mhz, 4 Cores(s), 8 Logical Processors/w Turbo Boost to 3.8ghz

Motherboard:
MXM Sager

Memory:
Dual-Channel DDR3 2x8 1600mhz Generic Memory

Graphics Card(s):
Nvidia Geforce GTX 980m SLI gddr5 2x8gb

Sound Card:
Realtek-Onboard w/Sound Blaster X-Fi3 configurator

Monitor(s) Displays:
x1 17 inch display

Screen Resolution:
1920-1080p

Hard Drives:
x3 SATA III 7300rpm 1 terrabyte HDD(s)

PSU:
350w

Case:
Stock

Cooling:
Triple Internal Fans w/ Targus Chill Hub pad

The screenshots of my settings will be posted as attachments.

[refraction]

Can you download and try the latest development release and see if the issue still occurs?

I recommend extracting it to a new folder and putting your memcards and bios in there to make sure it doesn't get contaminated with old settings and plugins.

[Yue Fei]

Can you download and try the latest development release and see if the issue still occurs?

I recommend extracting it to a new folder and putting your memcards and bios in there to make sure it doesn't get contaminated with old settings and plugins.

Thank you for responding in such a quick fashion. I assume what you mean by "development release" is that of the GitHub builds? If so, all I need to do is download the newest version, correct?

[refraction]

That's correct

[Yue Fei]

That's correct

That's great, hopefully this will remedy any issues I've had so far with pcsx2. Again, thank you for the help friend. 

[willkuer]

This sounds more like an overheating issue. Can you please monitor temperature by coretemp or speedfan and cpu/gpu clock rates using cpu-z/gpu-z before and during slowdowns?

What are ee/gs values before and during slowdowns?

[refraction]

This sounds more like an overheating issue. Can you please monitor temperature by coretemp or speedfan and cpu/gpu clock rates using cpu-z/gpu-z before and during slowdowns?

What are ee/gs values before and during slowdowns?

You're right, I took too much faith in the thread title

[Yue Fei]

This sounds more like an overheating issue. Can you please monitor temperature by coretemp or speedfan and cpu/gpu clock rates using cpu-z/gpu-z before and during slowdowns?

What are ee/gs values before and during slowdowns?

Here are my results:

PCSX2 v1.2.1
In-Game (Normal)
FPS 60                                                   
EE/ 55-68%
GS/ 6-20%                                             

In-Game (Audio D-Sync and Slowdown)     
FPS 60-58     
EE/ 57-47%
GS/ 18-7%

Cut-scenes (Normal)
FPS 60
EE/ 60-72%
GS/ 6-18%

Cut-scenes (Audio D-Sync and Slowdown)
FPS 60-59
EE/ 72-61%
GS/ 10-4%

I shall provide screenshots of the monitor readings and defer to your knowledge about the information provided.
I'am unfamiliar with the use and understanding of such things, please be patient with my inquiries and ignorance of the topic.

I will upload each screenshot in order and situation.

1: System is idle. The emulator has not been booted.
2: Loaded into game from save-point, moved for a few steps, screen is minimized.
3. Went through several new cut-scenes and locations, all having slowdown with audio and in-game smoothness, screen is minimized.

I hope my findings have proven adequate.

P.S I've also neglected to mention that PCSX2 is installed on another hard drive other than my main one. Specifically my (E) drive. Also CPU-Z's core speed fluctuates from 2.7 to 3.5, 3.6. The tested game is "Star Ocean: Till the End of Time." Please excuse my mistakes.

[refraction]

In that case it might just be a case of setting your windows power plan to "high performance", that might solve your issue. But make sure your laptop is well ventilated while using the emulator.

[Yue Fei]

At the risk of sounding foolish, may I know what you mean by "well ventilated?"