Overclocking Benefits

[LordDavias]

I'm currently running PCSX2 on an ATI Radeon 4870 xXx version (it's basically factory OC'd to 775mhz) and a Phenom II X3 720 BE which I've overclocked to 3.4ghz.

Below you can see an image of my resource usage while playing Gran Turismo 4.

[Image: coreusage.jpg]

In my case while running PCSX2 my CPU is the thing that's capping out, while my GPU is taking it easy (and I can overclock that thing even further without any problems).

I have a couple questions if someone would be so kind as to humor me. Firstly, it's possible I could get a stable overclock on my cpu of 3.5ghz without going over the warranty voltage limit of 1.425v for a X3 720 BE. I have good cooling so I could quite feasibly do a warranty breaking 3.7ghz overclock also. Would either of these overclocks have a significant effect on the performance of PCSX2?

Secondly, if you look at the core usage on the cpu in task manager, the first core is doing all the work. Would I get more joy out of a 64 bit OS (I have but dislike Vista for legitimate personal usage reasons, I know some people like it and I'm sure you have your reasons) or is this just inherent to the software? (That's not meant as a critique, PCSX2 ftw)

Thanks for any help.

[KrazyTrumpeter05]

An overclock of up to 300mhz won't provide all that much of a FPS increase, a couple frames at most.

Switching to Vista might help a bit with thread management, but it is inherently in the design of the program. Core 0 will always bear the heaviest load (unless you change processor affinity manually). I highly recommend switching to Vista at least for the emulator because of DirectX 10 alone as it is typically faster, and Gabest is no longer really working on the DX9 version of his GSDX plugin.

[refraction]

I would suggest updating your GSDX and trying the new "Allow 8bit textures" option, providing you are currently using hardware mode.

Can you post your GSDX settings? Sorting these out will be more benificial to you than overclocking.

[LordDavias]

I would suggest updating your GSDX and trying the new "Allow 8bit textures" option, providing you are currently using hardware mode.

Can you post your GSDX settings? Sorting these out will be more benificial to you than overclocking.

My GSDX setting are as follows:-

Direct X 9 Hardware mode

Interlacing Bob tff (a recommended forum fix in GT4 for screen shaking. In general I have interlacing switched off for most other games)

Using Native internal res atm

Only box I have ticked atm is Alpha correction, though I'm just gonna try 8 bit textures. I've read lot of conflicting opinion on the board regarding this option so I've just been experimenting with it in some games not really noticing much difference (haven't tried on GT4 yet tho).