Low to Mid tier PC 2D RPG Performance Report

[(^_^)_V_(^_^)]

[/font][font=Arial]This post is intended to give a clear view to the users who owns a lower mid tier PC that wanted to play (niche) 2D RPG games that tends to run smoothly on Mid-tier PC - WHAT performance they can expect. I sincerely hope that this post can or able to help anybody who in need.

Testbed - Mid Tier -
for the testbed, i've pick a conventional daily use PC that will cost around 600 USD or less.

The essential specs:

Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E7400 2.8GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-ES3Q
RAM: Visipro 2GB DDR2-800
Videocard: Gigabyte GA-NV95TD3-512I

Which translated into

2.8GHz Multicore Cpu
2GB PC-6400 RAM
512MB Directx 9.0c/10 Compliant GPU

The Test:

1. Artonelico: Melody of Elemia
2. Artonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica
3. Mana khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis
4. Stella Deus
5. Soul Nomad

The Plugins:

Latest GSDX plugin to date
other plugins self-configure.

Reason: The reason GSDX is choosen is
1. Support for Intel's SSE, especially S-SSE3 and SSE4.
2. Decent emulation speed compared to Zero's plugin.

The Confirgurations:

CPU:

- Remember to turn on the MTGS if you used HT or dual cored PC.
- Use the 1.5x Cycle Speed
- Use the denormals are zero
- Use the general speed hacks

Graphics:

- Remember to use the NATIVE resolution
- Enable v-sync
- Enable interlacing with bob 1/2 FPS blur
- Use the Hardware rendering mode
Audio

- For WinXP user, use the Directsound option

Test Day 1
Artonelico: Melody of Elemia

Graphical issues:

Numerous misplaced background on menu and gameplay
Dark outline on player's spirites

Reports:

Test Duration nearing 14400 Seconds consisted of:

- 5789 seconds of battle
- 4569 seconds of dungeon exploration
- 4022 seconds of character conversations and narations

FPS:

- Finest FPS: 60 FPS (Stable on map exploration and character conversations)
- Worst FPS: 17 FPS (Occurred at ELMA-DS skill animation and some random encounter enemies attack animations)
- Average FPS (Margin Error 5%)
52,86 FPS to 48,45 FPS

First Test conclusion:
Artonelico: Melody of elemia is able to played near-smoothly with lower mid tier PC altough the FPS drop on some battle animation made the battle a little slower compared to the PS2 counterpart. At the end, it was playable nicely with decent FPS too.