CPU Question!

[Raiser]

Hey all,

So I'm wondering, since I've read that PCSX2 doesn't really rely on multiple cores (yet), how much of an improvement would I see if I went from a 2.80GHz Core2Duo to a roughly 3.00GHz i7?

Obviously, this upgrade is for gaming in general and not just emulation, but I'm curious on how much better I would be?

Thanks!

[rama]

In CPU limited games you'll see around 20% more FPS from the new architecture and the higher clock speed.

[Raiser]

In CPU limited games you'll see around 20% more FPS from the new architecture and the higher clock speed.

Ah, thank you very much.

Just curious, how come PCSX2 is not able to use multiple cores yet?
..As dual cores seem to slowly phasing out.

[synce]

There will definitely be an increase because it's an i7 for crying out loud lol but even at 3.00GHz it won't be enough for some games. I wasn't able to get a solid 60fps in MGS2 until I OC'd to 4.0GHz

[Raiser]

There will definitely be an increase because it's an i7 for crying out loud lol but even at 3.00GHz it won't be enough for some games. I wasn't able to get a solid 60fps in MGS2 until I OC'd to 4.0GHz

Oh yeah, I know but I was just wondering how much. It still won't be enough for the Xenosaga series, will it?

I get pretty good FPS right now (with my 2.80GHz duo core) for some games.

[GamerGeek]

Ah, thank you very much.

Just curious, how come PCSX2 is not able to use multiple cores yet?
..As dual cores seem to slowly phasing out.

Im no expert at these things but I understand multithreading in general is much less effective on games. I read an article a couple of months ago talking about just this subject and they found that many games did not increase performance going from 2 to 3 cores and very few going from 3 to 4 cores.

The devs have also stated that going for more cores will offer very little performance increase for a huge amount of work.

Oh yeah, I know but I was just wondering how much. It still won't be enough for the Xenosaga series, will it?

I get pretty good FPS right now (with my 2.80GHz duo core) for some games.

My brother finished at least one of the xenosaga games, I can remember which one or if it was more than one. Hes running a e6600(I think) clocked to 3.0ghz.

PS: Ill see if I can find that article.

Edit: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/20...mes-need/1

[synce]

I only played the beginning of Episode 1 way back to see if it works on PCSX2 and don't recall there being any slowdown, that's all I can say sorry! You can also try googling something like "site:forums.pcsx2.net xenosaga +i7" and see if useful info turns up

Edit: I can't spell

[rama]

3.0Ghz will be quite fine for most of the time in Xenosaga games.
Add a mild overclock (these chips can take it ) and you'll be fine.

You may want to team the CPU up with a nice VGA card though, one with 1GB of memory preferably.
XS3 will thank you for it. (512MB cards do struggle a lot with this game.)

[SamSoNight]

Xenosaga? These games are my hobbyhorse with PCSX2 I played them all with the below setup and the Beta r3113:

Xenosaga 1: Seems to have problems with PCSX2. At many, many points the GS% goes batsh*t insane and it stutters like mad. From what I heard it is an issue with the game's architecture and DirectX, sending too many draw commands to the GPU, hopelessly overloading it. Not even native Res does reduce the stuttering in these situations. Especially the non-prerendered cutscenes and all battles involing Mechas are affected. CPU-wise, it went pretty well for me. Just enable the recommended Speedhacks, no problems are caused by them.

Xenosaga 2: Actually pretty carefree: Except for some heavy scenes with Mecha, the FPS are good. Enable 8-Bit Textures in GSDX for better FPS and a more fluent game. My GS and EE percentage were almost always pretty low. There are only 2 issues I encountered: First, the game gets darker at some points with DX10 enabled, but it is not that annoying. Secondly, I had problems with the discswap and had to use a SVN build to get around it, the new Beta 3178 might have fixed that.

Xenosaga 3: The best of the series A bit more demanding than 2, but still pretty nice in PCSX2. Has the same problem with the darkness in DX10. Also has garbage in some FMVs. To remove the garbage, enable the Hacks in the GSDX.ini, tick "Offset Hack" and set Skipdraw to 4 in the options. Only stuttering occured for me during heavy E.S (Mecha) battles when you activate the Anima of your ES, the effect causes slowdown, but not that critical.


Anyhow, a Core i7 should work like a charm with Xenosaga. The GPU is of more concern to all three games. Though the first one will always stutter at some points, I assume.

You may want to team the CPU up with a nice VGA card though, one with 1GB of memory preferably.
XS3 will thank you for it. (512MB cards do struggle a lot with this game.)

Nah, I did not have major framerate problems in XS3 with my 512MB 8800GT

[Raiser]

I still have a 512MB card (ATI HD4830) with my 2.80GHz core2duo and Xenosaga 3 does lag quite a bit especially in the menus and battle actions (much better with the latter, but still noticeable lag). Is GPU really a big deal? Should I be getting a new graphics card instead of keeping the above mentioned one?

Thanks very much for the replies, guys!

I should have my new setup within the next few weeks and will let you all know if I need any help / how everything works! (: