Overclocking and PCSX2

[eonxl]

My specs:
Asus P7P55D-E motherboard
Intel Quad-Core i5 750 2.6 Ghz (overclocked to 3.8 Ghz)
Memory: 8 GB DDR3 1333
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 470
PCSX2 version: 1.1.0.0 r5800
**************

Without overclocking my system, I wouldn't be able run anything with PCSX2. I suspect a lot of other people have to do the same thing, so I have a couple of questions about the best way to overclock in order to get the best performance out of PCSX2, and since I am thinking about doing some upgrading, I'm hoping to get some insight into where to spend my money.

Here are my questions:

When overclocking: is it better to overclock BLCK speed or CPU Ratio? So, for example, I can bump my blck speed up to 206 if I drop my CPU ratio to 18. Or I can drop my blck speed to 185 and bump my CPU ratio up to a max of 21. Both offer the same overall Ghz, but does it make any difference to PCSX2?

And since memory speed is effected by BLCK speed: How much does memory speed impact PCSX2 performance? My RAM is on the low end at 1333 Mhz. I can overclock it up to 1380 without error, depending on my BLCK speed. Is my RAM a bottleneck for PCSX2? Would upgrading to 1600 or 2400 Mhz be worthwhile? Does pushing my RAM speed when overclocking benefit me or is it a waste of effort?

Also, I have the ability to set the number of cores, and if I set the number of cores to 2 rather than 4 I have the option of increasing my CPU ratio up to 24 (normally it's only 21). Since PCSX2 is primary dual-core, would it be better to overclock my system using only dual-core rather than quad-core? Also, core #3 is a temperature bottleneck when I overclock my system. It always runs hotter than the others and errors out first. By overclocking using two cores only, I think I can get a higher stable overclock than I can with quad-core. Would that be a better way to overclock when considering PCSX2?

Finally, what part exactly does my GPU play? Would upgrading my graphic's card improve PCSX2 performance? What parts of PCSX2 are impacted by your graphic's card? Would overclocking my GPU benefit me at all? (Actually, my graphics card can't be overclocked much, but I'm curious....)

Are there any other considerations when overclocking for PCSX2? Does how you overclock depend on the particular game or is it game-independent? How have other people approached overclocking in order to get the best performance out of PCSX2?

Thanks in advance --eric

[Donovan24]

My specs:
Asus P7P55D-E motherboard
Intel Quad-Core i5 750 2.6 Ghz (overclocked to 3.8 Ghz)
Memory: 8 GB DDR3 1333
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 470
PCSX2 version: 1.1.0.0 r5800
**************

Without overclocking my system, I wouldn't be able run anything with PCSX2. I suspect a lot of other people have to do the same thing, so I have a couple of questions about the best way to overclock in order to get the best performance out of PCSX2, and since I am thinking about doing some upgrading, I'm hoping to get some insight into where to spend my money.

Here are my questions:

When overclocking: is it better to overclock BLCK speed or CPU Ratio? So, for example, I can bump my blck speed up to 206 if I drop my CPU ratio to 18. Or I can drop my blck speed to 185 and bump my CPU ratio up to a max of 21. Both offer the same overall Ghz, but does it make any difference to PCSX2?

And since memory speed is effected by BLCK speed: How much does memory speed impact PCSX2 performance? My RAM is on the low end at 1333 Mhz. I can overclock it up to 1380 without error, depending on my BLCK speed. Is my RAM a bottleneck for PCSX2? Would upgrading to 1600 or 2400 Mhz be worthwhile? Does pushing my RAM speed when overclocking benefit me or is it a waste of effort?

Also, I have the ability to set the number of cores, and if I set the number of cores to 2 rather than 4 I have the option of increasing my CPU ratio up to 24 (normally it's only 21). Since PCSX2 is primary dual-core, would it be better to overclock my system using only dual-core rather than quad-core? Also, core #3 is a temperature bottleneck when I overclock my system. It always runs hotter than the others and errors out first. By overclocking using two cores only, I think I can get a higher stable overclock than I can with quad-core. Would that be a better way to overclock when considering PCSX2?

Finally, what part exactly does my GPU play? Would upgrading my graphic's card improve PCSX2 performance? What parts of PCSX2 are impacted by your graphic's card? Would overclocking my GPU benefit me at all? (Actually, my graphics card can't be overclocked much, but I'm curious....)

Are there any other considerations when overclocking for PCSX2? Does how you overclock depend on the particular game or is it game-independent? How have other people approached overclocking in order to get the best performance out of PCSX2?

Thanks in advance --eric

Never overclock with BLCK. Always rather use the multipliers. BLCK changes the clockspeed of many other components and can cause system instability and even damage permanently. Dual core Vs. Quad core depends on the game you are tryna play. There is a speedhack call MTVU which makes PCSX2 use three cores instead of two which can bring massive speedup in compatible games. The GPU helps with upscaling the games to make them really look nice, but PCSX2 is much more demanding on the CPU so you will only really get a speedup with a better GPU if you are not limited by CPU. Your graphics card is more than good enough though. Have you considered installing a better CPU cooler?

[willkuer]

I don't know what you try to play but I would think that 3.8 GHz is sufficient for the most games. And then you always can add some speedhacks.

As I know Ram-Clock/Speed is not that important for emulation using pcsx2 and 1333 is not the lowest of all RAM-speeds. Keep in mind that 1380 is less than 4% more than 1333 but you dramatically reduce system stability and lifetime. So probably don't change that value.

Game-dependent overclocking is probably not reasonable unless you feel temperature problems. If the game runs you into throttling you overclocked too much. You normally overclock cpu-dependent. And there is literally for every cpu at least one guide to push it into nirvana.

To the cores: as already meantioned pcsx2 can use three cores in HW mode using the MTVU hack that is sometimes a speed-improvement and sometimes making problems. There is a list for games that suffer using MTVU. But even if you play a game where you use only two cores keep in mind that you have background processes. To have one additional core for windows/anti-vir is the main reason for having a quad-core.

[eonxl]

Thanks for the replies. I'm using a liquid cooler for my cpu. It's an all-in-one kind of thing but works really well. When running PCSX2 I never hit more than 70 degrees and usually stay in the 65~ range.

I hadn't thought about the addition cores being used for background processes. Good point.

[DaMan]

Never overclock with BLCK. Always rather use the multipliers. BLCK changes the clockspeed of many other components and can cause system instability and even damage permanently.

This is LGA1156 so BCLK OC'ing is kosher. Unlike þe olde FSB the DMI bus doesn't need more bandwidth so you gain nothing by dropping multi and go higher.

[refraction]

This is LGA1156 so BCLK OC'ing is kosher. Unlike þe olde FSB the DMI bus doesn't need more bandwidth so you gain nothing by dropping multi and go higher.

agreed, there's nothing wrong with BCLK overclocking pre sandybridge. I have the i7 920 @ 3.8Ghz and it's lovely!

BCLK is always > Multiplier overclocking as you are increasing bus throughput instead of just the final clock rate, so aside from your cpu being able to process commands quicker, you can move data around faster too.

[Donovan24]

agreed, there's nothing wrong with BCLK overclocking pre sandybridge. I have the i7 920 @ 3.8Ghz and it's lovely!

BCLK is always > Multiplier overclocking as you are increasing bus throughput instead of just the final clock rate, so aside from your cpu being able to process commands quicker, you can move data around faster too.

Ahh my mistake. Thanks for the info.

[eonxl]

Good to know. I have done extensive testing to find my maximum BLCK speed and max safe voltages to achieve it. So lately I've been messing around different options: High block/lower CPU ratio; or basing block speed on maxing out memory speed; or dropping the memory speed but being able to up the block higher. I downloaded a free performance bench-marking software, and I'm going to run it and save the profiles and then compare them to see if there are any significant differences, but I was curious to know if there was anything to consider for PCSX2 in particular....