Is this what I should expect?

[Mrmikey73]

Ok cool ill try mine. Just a quick note I can only run direct x 9 because of video card and also I am using xp64 (don't laugh to hard) but again this is the most compatible for running emulators in an arcade because of reolution issues on windows 7.

[rama]

Mrmikey73:
The number of extra threads to run is there for you to tweak GSdx software rendering.
With software rendering it doesn't matter if you run the DX9 or the DX11 backend.
Just try to find a setting that is fast enogh for your games.
It should be between 2 and maybe 5 extra threads.

[Mrmikey73]

Ok I tried god of war 2 on my i7 with a asus maximum extreme z motherboard. I used 6 threads in software mode. The game starts fine with 60fps until its actually time to fight then I drop to between 45 and 55 fps. I then changed frame skip to 2 and draw to 3 with not much difference. The previews play great but not the game play. Is this just a hard game? Should my i7 be able to play this at full speed in software mode? Please give me some ideas maybe I'm missing some settings so if there's anything I can check or change I'd appreciate the ideas? Thanks

[Mrmikey73]

Nothing else left to try? I'd really like to be able to play god of war 2 in software mode.

[jesalvein]

try reducing to 3 threads instead of 6

[Saiki]

Use MTVU speedhack as well. and yes, I was serious. i7 has 8 threads, so 6 to play with outside of what PCSX2 needs to use to run

[rama]

I tried it on my i5 3570 @ 4.2Ghz and couldn't get over 55FPS in the first heavy 3d scene.
The only thing that helped was setting VU cycle steal to 1. This will cause slight lag but I got 63FPS then.

[refraction]

Yeh the game is just too heavy for software mode, think you're gonna be a bit stuck unless you can get yourself a nicer graphics card (even a midrange one is fine). Hardware mode on an i7 920 @ 3.4Ghz with MTVU can run the game at a constant 60-80fps no problems.