Low FPS In Game - Armored Core 3

[Blyss Sarania]

Try the EE cycle rate hack at 2 and make sure you are using MTVU.

Also 1600 nice, what clock speed did you get?

[QuantumPenguin]

Try the EE cycle rate hack at 2 and make sure you are using MTVU.

Also 1600 nice, what clock speed did you get?

Will, do! 

I ended up with ~3.33 GHz. I used that diagnostic tool you suggested.

I may have been a little premature with my statement that it isn't working. It has actually massively improved - the game is playable.

It's a little patchy in places, for example (not knowing how familiar with Armored Core 3 you are) when in the Armored Core "Garage" and you can see your current setup, the frame rate takes a substantial hit. Also any airborne units seem to negatively affect the FPS.

One final odd observation. Whenever a system pop-up appears from the tool-tray (near the clock in Windows 7) that substantially drops the FPS as does having a right-click menu open - closing or clearing these seems to improve things. I have had two freezes so far, no blue screens but the system has locked up such that a reboot is needed - possibly my shoddy overclocking ability!?

Thanks again for your help,

QP

[Blyss Sarania]

Will, do! 

I ended up with ~3.33 GHz. I used that diagnostic tool you suggested.

I may have been a little premature with my statement that it isn't working. It has actually massively improved - the game is playable.

It's a little patchy in places, for example (not knowing how familiar with Armored Core 3 you are) when in the Armored Core "Garage" and you can see your current setup, the frame rate takes a substantial hit. Also any airborne units seem to negatively affect the FPS.

One final odd observation. Whenever a system pop-up appears from the tool-tray (near the clock in Windows 7) that substantially drops the FPS as does having a right-click menu open - closing or clearing these seems to improve things. I have had two freezes so far, no blue screens but the system has locked up such that a reboot is needed - possibly my shoddy overclocking ability!?

Thanks again for your help,

QP

Did you test your OC stability with something like Prime95? You need to. Just because it boots isn't good enough - too high clock speed/not enough voltage can cause the CPU to make errors which will result in freezes and stuff. Prime95 does large prime number factorization and compares against known good results in stress test mode. It will reveal any instability pretty quickly. Also watch your temps while running it, make sure it doesn't get too hot. If you aren't stable then you either need to lower the clock speed or increase the voltage til you are.

Anyway the 1600 I said is enough for many games in PCSX2, but some super demanding ones can need 1800 or even more than 2000. Some special cases can even have slowdowns with 2400. So yeah. But 1600 is a good sweet spot as it's the spot that many games become playable speeds.

[QuantumPenguin]

Did you test your OC stability with something like Prime95? You need to. Just because it boots isn't good enough - too high clock speed/not enough voltage can cause the CPU to make errors which will result in freezes and stuff. Prime95 does large prime number factorization and compares against known good results in stress test mode. It will reveal any instability pretty quickly. Also watch your temps while running it, make sure it doesn't get too hot. If you aren't stable then you either need to lower the clock speed or increase the voltage til you are.

Anyway the 1600 I said is enough for many games in PCSX2, but some super demanding ones can need 1800 or even more than 2000. Some special cases can even have slowdowns with 2400. So yeah. But 1600 is a good sweet spot as it's the spot that many games become playable speeds.

Thanks for the advice, I'll download Prime95 and see what it comes out with. Monitoring the temperatures was something I was actually doing reasonably properly I use "Core Temp" and "Speed Fan" to monitor temperatures and control the fans. I also installed OCCT which confirmed - I generally aim for everything to be below 70 degrees C while idle, as an absolute limit.

Starting to wonder about just buying a second-hand PS2! Emulation is a lot harder than it seems on face value. Anyway I will check out my stability and see what happens with the setting changes you suggested.

Cheers!

QP

[Nobbs66]

70C at idle? I don't let my CPU get above 80C during stress tests

[Blyss Sarania]

Thanks for the advice, I'll download Prime95 and see what it comes out with. Monitoring the temperatures was something I was actually doing reasonably properly I use "Core Temp" and "Speed Fan" to monitor temperatures and control the fans. I also installed OCCT which confirmed - I generally aim for everything to be below 70 degrees C while idle, as an absolute limit.

Starting to wonder about just buying a second-hand PS2! Emulation is a lot harder than it seems on face value. Anyway I will check out my stability and see what happens with the setting changes you suggested.

Cheers!

QP

70C idle is pretty hot. What are you getting under load?

Yeah PS2 emulation is very brutal. It's just the nature of the beast. However if you can get a nice stable overclock around the 1600 STP area it will benefit you in more than just PCSX2. It will be a nice boost for that old CPU.

[QuantumPenguin]

70C idle is pretty hot. What are you getting under load?

Yeah PS2 emulation is very brutal. It's just the nature of the beast. However if you can get a nice stable overclock around the 1600 STP area it will benefit you in more than just PCSX2. It will be a nice boost for that old CPU.

When I say 70 degrees C idle, that's my limit before I panic! At the moment I'm around 61 degrees C while using PCX2 some times 65  degrees C. So I am happy with the temperatures. 

I have noticed already a decent performance improvement, I do a lot of simulation work for my job and they are finishing a lot quicker than they previously had, so thanks!! :

I think you are right about stability though, I've had a couple of lockups since overclocking so perhaps not as stable as I thought!! Will see what Prime95 has to say. The lockups only occur during gameplay on PCSX2 not during standard PC use which is interesting.

Anyway I will do the things you suggested and see what happens and report back!

Thanks as always!! 

QP

[Blyss Sarania]

I think you are right about stability though, I've had a couple of lockups since overclocking so perhaps not as stable as I thought!! Will see what Prime95 has to say. The lockups only occur during gameplay on PCSX2 not during standard PC use which is interesting.

Load increases heat. Heat decreases stability. The heavier the program you run the more likely any instability will show. PCSX2 is pretty heavy. However Prime95 will literally max your system, that's why it's good for stress testing. It also outright will tell you that you have a problem in it's log so it's quite clear and easy to use.

Keep in mind also if you are not stable, then those simulations you run for work could be WRONG. Literally. Not being stable means the CPU is creating errors, and not all of them will crash you but they might just manifest in wrong results. If you can pass a stress test like Prime95 it will be fine, but that's another reason it's important.

[QuantumPenguin]

Load increases heat. Heat decreases stability. The heavier the program you run the more likely any instability will show. PCSX2 is pretty heavy. However Prime95 will literally max your system, that's why it's good for stress testing. It also outright will tell you that you have a problem in it's log so it's quite clear and easy to use.

Keep in mind also if you are not stable, then those simulations you run for work could be WRONG. Literally. Not being stable means the CPU is creating errors, and not all of them will crash you but they might just manifest in wrong results. If you can pass a stress test like Prime95 it will be fine, but that's another reason it's important.

Ahhh! I had no idea that it actually affected the accuracy - I naively thought that it would affect the speed and stability only! Thanks for the education!! I'm pretty savvy on programming and things like that but when it comes to hardware and computer architectures I must confess my knowledge is very basic! 

Thanks again - You've been very helpful!

QP