Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - Performance advice

[Scopeh]

Hi Guys,

I just want to start this post by saying that I have followed PCSX 2 for about 4-5 years now. While I have never had a reason to post before, I always check up periodically to see what sort of progress is being made on the Emulator, and I am so impressed with the leaps and bounds the coders have made over the last few releases - BRAVO!

To the matter at hand - Seeing as I recently upgraded to an AMD Bulldozer CPU, and a few extra gigs of RAM - I decided to give PCSX 2 another go after a year or so of waiting for a new build.

I had read somewhere that developments with the emulator now give a larger performance boost to those with multi-core CPU's and it enticed me to try a performance heavy game...

I dusted off my old copy of MGS3ubsistence, and installed PCSX2 0.9.8.. performance was just as I expected - the game was always slow for me in the past and I was averaging between 30 and 40 fps - slow areas were dipping me below 20fps. For me the game was an unplayable experience.

I then found the SVN release r5328 with the latest changes as of today... and this is where strange things start to happen...

This time when I fired up MGS3 - the Frames per second stayed at a flawless 60fps! The starting area which had been so laggy in the past was completely fluid with only minor graphical glitches.

But it didn't last... after maybe 2-3 minutes, gameplay degraded to about 20fps. I thought this was because I had moved into a larger more CPU intense area - however if I saved and then completely rebooted my PC - the game would continue from that point at a high framerate again - then quickly degrade back into slow-mo.

I won't pretend to know how the Emulator operates under the hood (I only understand the basic premise), but I can only compare it to games I have played in the past which suffered from memory leaks.

Im using the Plugin's provided with the r5328 release, but I am unsure what the best configuration is for my setup.

Has anyone else had similar problems with either Subsistence or the original Snake Eater? Has anyone been able to Succesfully run the game start to finish on a manageable framerate? Could a 64 bit OS help?

If so I would really appreciate the advice.

Specs at a glance:

Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit

CPU: AMD FX-6100 (six cores @ 3.3ghz)
RAM: 4GB of Corsair XMS3 DDR3
GPU: PCI-E 2.0 compliant Geforce 8800GT, 1GB onboard ram (ageing I know - but still stands up well on current gen games).

I actually saw a video on youtube where someone was playing MGS 3 through PCSX2 0.9.5 and it was running perfectly(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVc56obmfg8). His posted specs also seem to be quite modest. Yet I cannot achieve anywhere near this kind of quality...

Any help would be greatly appreciated - Thanks in advance.

[Bositman]

Use CPU-Z ( http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html ) and keep it running while you use PCSX2. Check if your core speed stays the same when you get the slowdowns as opposed to when you get 60fps

[Scopeh]

Use CPU-Z ( http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html ) and keep it running while you use PCSX2. Check if your core speed stays the same when you get the slowdowns as opposed to when you get 60fps

I have just tried this and the results have alarmed me...

When the game was running at a full 60fps - my core speed shot up from 1400mhz to between 3000-3900mhz...

When the slowdown kicks in a few minutes later, my Core reduced itself to 1400mhz! Thats what it was running at IDLE! No matter how many times I restart PCSX2 - the Core will never go over 1403mhz until I restart my computer. I REALLY hope this is a software problem as I have only had this rig since MARCH.

What would cause such a thing? I am worried now, as my computer is taking it upon itself to only use half of its potential when I need it to work flat out...

I have all unecessary programs and services stopped, I have used Cacheman 7 to optimise my PC, (I have tried this with cacheman off - and the same result) - I have also used game booster which temporarilly stops uneccessary services while gaming...

Can't find any info on Google at all about this.

[Bositman]

No worries, it's just the cool n quiet (or whatever AMD calls it) Look around for power saving options for your CPU on google and find out which options you need to disable on your BIOS.

[Scopeh]

No worries, it's just the cool n quiet (or whatever AMD calls it) Look around for power saving options for your CPU on google and find out which options you need to disable on your BIOS.

Thanks so much - I will let you know if I am successful

Edit:

I just went into the BIOS and found it, disabled it and CPU-Z is showing instant results. I have always used AMD and had no idea that Cool'n'Quiet could have such an adverse effect on performance! Thanks, the help you provided was top notich Bositman - +Rep

[Scopeh]

Thanks so much - I will let you know if I am successful

Edit:

I just went into the BIOS and found it, disabled it and CPU-Z is showing instant results. I have always used AMD and had no idea that Cool'n'Quiet could have such an adverse effect on performance! Thanks, the help you provided was top notich Bositman - +Rep

Ok err...

There was a massive performance boost at the start after disabling cool'n'quiet...

After 5 minutes however the clock speed has dropped back to 1400mhz

Ok after looking at my tempretures - Gamebooster is telling me my CPU is operating at 225degrees C (491 degrees F!) - Surely such temperatures are not accurate readings?



My CPU should be a pile of molten slag right now.... No wonder its down clocking to 1.4ghz and not clocking back up!

I don't believe these temp readings are right at all - notice how the Gfx and HDD are at about 50-60 but the ***** CPU is apparently hot enough to cook a turkey?

Even Gamebooster is telling me the same thing....

Is it possible, that my Mobo is not reading the temperature correctly and therefore downclocking the CPU?

My system has been idle now for 20 mins and it is still telling me my CPU is hotter than the average oven! it is not possible! 95c should be enough to blow the chip completely

[Squall Leonhart]

No worries, it's just the cool n quiet (or whatever AMD calls it) Look around for power saving options for your CPU on google and find out which options you need to disable on your BIOS.

nah, cool and quiet is just the low usage clockrate throttle method

this is pure throttling, could be getting too how at 3900mhz

---

Ok err...

There was a massive performance boost at the start after disabling cool'n'quiet...

After 5 minutes however the clock speed has dropped back to 1400mhz

Ok after looking at my tempretures - Gamebooster is telling me my CPU is operating at 225degrees C (491 degrees F!) - Surely such temperatures are not accurate readings?



My CPU should be a pile of molten slag right now.... No wonder its down clocking to 1.4ghz and not clocking back up!

I don't believe these temp readings are right at all - notice how the Gfx and HDD are at about 50-60 but the ***** CPU is apparently hot enough to cook a turkey?

Even Gamebooster is telling me the same thing....

Is it possible, that my Mobo is not reading the temperature correctly and therefore downclocking the CPU?

My system has been idle now for 20 mins and it is still telling me my CPU is hotter than the average oven! it is not possible! 95c should be enough to blow the chip completely

what are you using to measure temperatures during game play. You might be locking up the SMBUS or I2C busses and freezing the temperature sensor up.

[Scopeh]

I am using Gamebooster 3, but also CPUID Hardware monitor and they are giving the same reading.

During play - the temperature slowly creeps up to between 65-70 then suddenly changes directly to 255 degrees Celsius.

At this point the CPU instantly throttles, even if I have 'C'n'Q' and all related technologies disabled in the BIOS.

The CPU is getting warm - there is an exhaust of warm air at the back of the computer but its not 255c degrees warm, airflow throughout the Tower is fine and the graphics card and HDD are staying cool. Half an hour after the stress had stopped the temperature reading is still at 255, If i hit reset and enter the bios however it tells me the CPU is at around 50c - You don't go from 255c to 50c in less than 30 seconds... Is there any possibility that this could be Software related?

If not, I am having serious doubts about the motherboards ability to measure CPU temperature. I bought the MB, ram and CPU as part of a package deal from a reputable retailer and should still be under a return to base warranty - so I will give them a call in the morning.

[synce]

I don't really keep up with amd but I know their cpu's can't take the heat like intel... Usually they have like 60-70C tj maxx, which is highest safe operating temp. Maybe that's why the reading goes crazy. In any case you need better cooling

[Bositman]

Check if there is any bios update for your motherboard model. Also check your temps using coretemp also: http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/