Bottleneck analysis

[vaustein]

PCSX2 is an incredible emulator. It's become a hobby of mine to download, build in VS2008, and run the latest SVN releases. I'd like help understanding how to adjust my gaming rig for better performance. Here are my system specs followed by PCSX2 configuration and FPS while playing Silent Hill 2, the first PS2 game I ever bought.

Hardware:
-XFX nForce 680i LT SLI mobo
-Intel Core Duo 2 E8400 3.0GHz (Socket 775)
-Corsair Dominator 2x2GB DDR2 1066 (PC8500)
-2x XFX GeForce 9800 GT (2x SLI configuration)
-Auzentech X-Fi Prelude (set to "Game" mode)
-Windows 7 RC w/ latest nForce, GeForce, and Creative drivers

PCSX2 Config:
-r1296 from SVN; VS2008 project set to "Win32: Release SSE4"
-Graphics: GSdx MSVC 15.00, SSE41 0.1.15. Defaults except for: Rendered = D3D 10 Hardware & Native Res = enabled
- Sound: SPU2-X 1.1.0. Defaults except for Interpolation = Nearest
- CPU: Defaults except for: microVU0 and microVU1 enabled
- Speedhacks: None, I never use these.

Silent Hill 2 performance:
- In-game, enclosed/foggy areas: ~58-60 FPS
- In-game, open areas (e.g. observation deck): ~42-48 FPS
- Prerendered cutscenes (e.g. James looking in the mirror): ~32-38 FPS. Noticeable slowdown; spoken dialog synced w/ video and therefore slows down as well.

What is the best candidate for a hardware upgrade? CPU? Memory? If I were to overclock - I don't right now - which component(s) to OC?

Thanks!

[rama]

You already have the hardware you need. What's left to do is a nice overclock of the cpu.
Hmm, I do have this game myself, and the intro scene with James looking in the mirror runs a lot faster than 38fps here..

Edit:
Ah, I get it. You mean the fmv
Well, we have a bug left in the cd-rom emulation that causes fmv in this game to play kinda slow.
Overclocking your cpu would bring this fmv to play fast enough. (62fps here, same cpu but at 4.2Ghz)

[kabooz]

overclock you cpu to 3.4 Ghz then it should be faster ^^ you'll need a fitting cooling for that
and normally one 9800GT should be enough for most games (don't know if sli actually works on pcsx2)

if you want to play almost every game Fullspeed try overclocking to 4Ghz xD

if the gfx plugin uses much CPU power(the % value in the window title) try a older plugin or an alternative XD

EDIT: rama you have a cpu that makes me cry ... 8400 @ 4Ghz.... mine is like... 2,2 ghz XD

[vaustein]

Thanks! Yeah, I don't understand the slowdown during movies, either. Maybe that's an artifact of the particular SVN checkpoint I grabbed. I'll try the latest and report back.

[rama]

kabooz:
Yep, currently the e8400 is the cpu for pcsx2. Especially if you have the e0 revision, which overclocks nicer.
This could change though, we're getting closer to threading the emu more

vaustein:
As I said, it's a bug in the cd-rom emulation. Some kinda problem causes low framerates still when streaming data in cd mode.

[Sythedragon]

Corsair Domm's? Have you got the Corsair 4 RAM module cooler?
Make sure your timings are 5-5-5-15, and also make sure your RAM multiplier is 5.33 as most motherboard will have them at 4x, meaning it'll be 400MHZ x 2 = 800MHZ, you should be at 5.33 = 533 MHZ, x 2 = 1066 (Like me). Make sure you've got the RAM running at the correct voltage.

Once you've done this, raise the FSB of your CPU, this inturn will raise your RAM's FSB, increasing the RAM clock speed, as well as the CPU's clockspeed, you do this in the BIOS, make sure you alter voltages are required and use prime 95 with large FFT's for stability testing, or at a push Intel burn test.

kabooz:
Yep, currently the e8400 is the cpu for pcsx2. Especially if you have the e0 revision, which overclocks nicer.
This could change though, we're getting closer to threading the emu more

vaustein:
As I said, it's a bug in the cd-rom emulation. Some kinda problem causes low framerates still when streaming data in cd mode.

I've got a question for you..

I know at present, the E8600 is the best CPU for emulation, however, if you're able to recode the emulator to use 4 cores in the short term future, how well would the Phenom II cope with it? Better or worse than a Q6600 for example?, or is that something unknown as of yet?

[vaustein]

@Sythedragon. Good tips! I'm not able to set the RAM timings to 5.3 like you said, because I'm not sure which memory setting this refers to in the XFX bios. Also, the BIOS memory settings are forced to integers.

I now have what appears to be a stable overclock: FSB @ 1800 and CPU @ 4050. I don't dare go any higher. Except for FMV (rama already explained the bug), perf is now 58-60 in all areas, averaging 59. Excellent!

I'm really looking forward to x64 support - hint, hint. And thanks again!

[rama]

X64 support won't happen. It'd be slower and less compatible for pcsx2.
About the Phenom question: I've no idea

[Sythedragon]

X64 support won't happen. It'd be slower and less compatible for pcsx2.
About the Phenom question: I've no idea

Meh, I can wait out to see how it works.

[Saiki]

and normally one 9800GT should be enough for most games (don't know if sli actually works on pcsx2)

SLI does not work for PCSX2. and um.. 8600 willwork fine for native, you only ned a better card for high rez