[FFX] Yet another slow motion problem

[pixlar]

my default power option is High Performance, so no worky there either.

Oh well, thanks for all the help Saiki. Meanwhile I'll be searching for more on i7 on the forums

[Saiki]

sorry I couldn't help ya, maybe check the sticky about pc specs, there have been some i* tips listed there (I ignored a majority of them, because I don't have a i-core)

[smartstrike]

try turn clamp settings to none in the "Emulation Settings"

[Fezzer]

Disable HyperThreading as Pcsx2 does not benefit from it at all as it only uses theoretically 3 cores and practically 2, set affinity to just cores 0+1 and disable the use of Core 2+3 for any other apps which could be using them, as their inactivity is required for the turbo boost for the 2 cores being used in Pcsx2.

I'm adamant you can get 100% speed without native as i can easily on C2D 1.8Ghz and you can maintain a higher clock rate and you have the Nehalem architecture so theres definitely a way

[pixlar]

odd. i did a restart of my computer today and now everything is running at 90-110% speed. I have occasional speedups of audio, but its nothing gamebreaking. I've also completely turned off all speedhacks. And core affinity is still set to all 8 cores.

I have no idea what is going on XD, but ill appreciate any tips for optimizing for sporadic speeds. Thanks for all the help so far, ill be sure to fiddle with core affinity if the slowdown pops up again.

[Rezard]

If I was on an i7-720QM and had a sudden dramatic loss of speed, the first thing I'd do is check my actually clock rate when it's happening. With the way Turbo Boost is supposed to work (and potentially not), you may be looking at the difference between 1.6Ghz and 2.4Ghz. And with the way it's an "on again, off again" problem, I'd say it sounds like the TB is what's being sporadic. Setting core affinity is the only way I know of that can/should help.

One thing's for sure, unless you're being a complete idiot about it, no amount of high-res should be affecting your speed on a GTS 360M. I can exceed 1024x1024 no problem on my GT 230M with FFX.

BTW - Do you monitor your temps?

[pixlar]

Nope, i used to when I gamed more, but i took a break from running graphics intensive stuff and so I uninstalled my core temperature monitor program. Yeah i limited to 1024 initially after pulling out most of my hair trying to solve the slow motion problem.

Booted up the computer later today, and FFX has slowed to a crawl again. I haven't changed any settings. I've been fiddling around with core affinity without any results. Correct me if im wrong, but i go into task manager -> Process -> right click affinity -> uncheck all except core 0 and 1 ? and then uncheck core 2 and 3 for other processes (like firefox)

? is that correct? Doing that has resulted in even slower response, so maybe I am doing something wrong? By the way, how do i check fps and clock rate? any suggested programs? I probably need to get some accurate numbers in here to better gage the problem.


Being a complete noob about multi-core CPU stuff, ill hesitate a few theories:
- Maybe its an issue of "parked" cores not kicking in?
- maybe it thinks the speed it is running at with all 8 cores is the right speed, and when i limit it to 2 cores after firing pcsx2 up, it just does that without juicing up the remaining 2 cores?

[Fezzer]

It can also be that there is a processes in the background(Task manager is good for showing you) which are using the other cores/threads even if a process just uses the odd 1% of an another core that seems to disactivate the turbo on the heavily used ones.

So that's why I'm just suggesting disabling hyper-threading temporarily then select every process and set just core 0+ 1 then the same for pcsx2 then you KNOW the other cores/threads are not in use at all and if TB is still not active then there is a problem.

Also just as a side fps boost disabling windows aero and putting classic/basic on seems to have a 3-4 fps gain.

[pixlar]

how do i disable hyper-threading? is it an option in bios? if so my bios must be locked because i cant set clockspeed or anything of that sort.

Also, if its any help, i noticed that the game slows down during gameplay (including sound), but everything in the menu is fine. If i enable speedhack, then the gameplay speeds up more, the sound becomes more or less normal, but when i go to the menu the cursor moves like five times from just one press of the button.

[pixlar]

AHH! i found the answer in this thread: http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Core-i7-n...LOW?page=7

my laptop has Power4Gear Hybrid for power management. For some reason under High Performance the "Maximum Processor State" wasnt at 100%, but it was for "Entertainment".

The one time things were running smoothly, i must have been in "Entertainment" mode. Moving the bar all the way up to 100% has solved my problem, without the need to limit cores.

Thanks a lot everyone! I learned a lot about CPU architecture and emulation doing research in other threads. Thanks for all the pointers and tips that eventually lead me to the right place