Game Slowing Down

[bmwboi]

Hello all,

Just recently, I have been trying to play Final Fantasy X, and for the life of me, I just cannot get it to run at 50-60 FPS. I mean, when the game starts, it will play at 60FPS as it goes through the beginning credits, but once it shows the beginning videos, it drops to 30-40FPS dramatically. I haven't tried any other games, but I will soon...

Here are my specs:
AMD Phenom Quad-Core Processor at 2.5GHz (stock)
4GB of RAM
ATI Radeon HD 4200
Windows 7 64-bit

Version of PCSX2:
0.9.8

Settings are all default

Games are being ran by ISO

Any help is appreciated!

[jesalvein]

In order to help you further with your problem, please make sure the following are all provided.

• Your hardware specs - CPU, Graphics Card, Memory, Operating System.
  
• The version of PCSX2 you are using.
  
• Any non default settings you are using.
  
• What games you are trying to play and if you are playing them from ISO or DVD.
  

Thank You.

[Bositman]

That graphics card is very weak, configure GSdx and tick 'native' there. Also enable all speed hacks labeled as 'recommended'

[bmwboi]

That graphics card is very weak, configure GSdx and tick 'native' there. Also enable all speed hacks labeled as 'recommended'

Yeah.... I was beginning to wonder if it was my graphics card. Hopefully my processor is up to par though. But what you said did the trick! Thanks!

Quick question though: Which graphics card do you recommend that would be relatively cheap? (~$50 or less)

[tuanming]

Quick question though: Which graphics card do you recommend that would be relatively cheap? (~$50 or less)

Try $100 - 150 if you want to see "real" or "major" improvement.

[bmwboi]

Try $100 - 150 if you want to see "real" or "major" improvement.

1. Anything is better than the onboard graphics card I have haha
2. I'm not a really huge gamer. I don't play Starcraft, the Old Republic, ***** MW3 (yes, *****) or any of those games demanding high graphics. I have my Xbox360 and PS3 for that. So I'm sure there is a graphics card that's better than my onboard graphics card that's relatively cheap haha

[gamerX1990]

1. Your Phenom, has got to get some more speed, at least 3GHz will give something, at least 3.4GHz assuming your board is NOT OEM and is overclockable.. sorry Phenoms just don't have the clock for clock power at that speed (neither does Intel at that speed) for current PS2 emulation. If thats a Phenom I my laptop @ 2.4GHz has more power than your desktop.

2. For a good affordable videocard look for the HD 5670, where I am its $80 or less. That will run light years around that onboard graphics.

[Rezard]

... I'm sure there is a graphics card that's better than my onboard graphics card that's relatively cheap haha

Yes there is.

I recent helped someone pick out a cheap GPU on Newegg.
It was a GT 240 GDDR5 for under $50 (recertified).
Very nice for the price.

[bmwboi]

1. Your Phenom, has got to get some more speed, at least 3GHz will give something, at least 3.4GHz assuming your board is NOT OEM and is overclockable.. sorry Phenoms just don't have the clock for clock power at that speed (neither does Intel at that speed) for current PS2 emulation. If thats a Phenom I my laptop @ 2.4GHz has more power than your desktop.

2. For a good affordable videocard look for the HD 5670, where I am its $80 or less. That will run light years around that onboard graphics.

I was actually thinking about overclocking, but at the moment, it runs at 48-50 degrees celcius, and while emulating a PS2 game, runs at roughly 53-55. So if I wanted to overclock, I'd have to get a better cooling system in, that's for sure. And it is the Phenom I, unfortunately... but when I was building this computer, I was on a budget. Found out that the motherboard had the onboard HD4200 graphics for roughly $80 (with rebate) and bought it. My system does play WoW decently (and other games as well) but I didn't think that the PS2 emulator would require so much.

I was also thinking about an HD5670 before I saw this post and was looking at an MSI Radeon HD5670 with 1GB DDR3 that's 128-bit. And it's $60 with MRB, and I don't going $10 over what I'm willing to pay. Would that be a better choice than the one Rezard recommended? If there's anything I'm kind of noob at, it's definitely the difference between graphics cards

[Rezard]

The GT 240 is undoubtably more powerful with it's GDDR5 data rate (roughly twice the bandwidth).
(There are also GDDR5 variations of the HD 5670.)