Hi all, I am new to this forum. First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who put work in PCSX2, since it's a job well done so far.
I'm simply astounded that there is (really) only 1 PS2 emulator, but it's so good regardless! The story for PSX was different, development is still going on in that branch and it has produced so many fine programs in parallel development processes. I'm guessing it might have something to do with the difference in complexity of the 2 problems.
Ok, getting to the point, I am having the exact same problem as the author of this thread. I will give a more detailed description, though.
================
The problem: at ANY given moment (including browsing 2D menus) in ANY given game, the frame rate is X FPS. After a given amount of time, it will be approximately 2 * X FPS, IE the speed will be doubled. After a short while, the frame-rate will return to it's original value of X FPS.
For example, right now, I am viewing the Options menu in GT4. Most of the time, the frame-rate is ~100 FPS. After 20 seconds, however, it will increase to ~230 FPS and remain like that for 10 seconds before reverting back to ~100 FPS.
In the menus, clearly that can't be a problem, simply limiting the frame-rate will stabilize it at 50 FPS (PAL). However, one can imagine that at lower FPS, this will start to cause trouble. For example, when I start a race, the frame rate will be ~10 FPS most of the time, and twice per minute it will increase to ~25 FPS. This is extremely annoying in racing games. Back when I finished FFX, it didn't impact the game-play that much, but playing GT4 is a different story.
Now, before I hear accusations like "Onboard" etc... I will give my specs and my testing environments.
----------------
CPU: AMD Phenom 9950BE [Quad-core] @ 3100 MHz (I've tried 1600 MHz, NO difference; Cool&Quiet DISABLED)
Mem: 2 x 2 GB OCZ DDR2 @ 1066 MHz
GPU: GF 8800GTS 640 MB @ 1026 MHz; Core @ 621 MHz (In Linux, stock clocks speeds apply, NO difference)
HD: WD Raptor 70 GB @ 10000 RPM
MoBo: ASUS M3A78-EH
----------------
Note that with this rig, I can play Crysis at a stable 60 FPS with 1280x1024, 4x AA and medium details.
Testing environments (result is ALWAYS the same):
[Setup 1]:
* Windows XP Pro x86 +SP3; Windows, drivers & DX up-to-date. Nothing running in the background, not even AV.
* PCSX2 version 0.9.4; v0.9.6; r1888 beta. Tried any given configuration of speed hacks and advanced options, even graphical options, and more than one graphics plugin. Also tried disabling MTGS. I EVEN changed the affinity of the PCSX2 process in Task Manager to use only 2 cores. No effect
whatsoever.
[Setup 2]:
* Ubuntu 9.04 x86_64; OGL, NV driver and everything up-to-date (Ubuntu team's date, that is). Nothing running in the background besides some standard daemons.
* PCSX2 version 0.9.6; r1736 beta. About the configuration, same as under Windows, tried virtually everything to no avail.
[Setup 3]:
* Windows XP Pro x86, same as under [Setup 1], except I'm running AV and it's running inside a VMware virtual machine, which I launched from both Windows and Ubuntu.
* PCSX2 version 0.9.6. Tried a few different setups.
While Setup 3 gives me the greatest effect, it's only a negative one, which about halves the frame-rate.
I don't know if this can be considered a [decent] bug report, but I did my best.
Hope someone can help...
Regards,
Busta