Slow FPS/lag in several games

[inukotsu17]

Hello, I just want to start by saying this is a great emulator and I've had no problems with several games which reminds me of the ones I played in the past. 

Now, for the sad news; several games I've found have had issues to where they are unplayable no matter what I try to fix the speed issue to make them even enjoyable at this point and I was hoping if there are any vets out here that can provide some assistance or guidance.

Now, my desktop specs~
CPU: AMD FX 8350 Eight Core Processor
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 3 GB
Memory: 8 GB (Issue with other slots, otherwise I'd have 16)
Operating System: Windows 10

Version of PCSX: 1.4.0

Non-Default Settings: I just reset them when I can't figure out how to manually fix it, so whatever it recommended at start up 

The games I'm trying to work are the following; Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, Armored Core 3, Champions: Return to Arms, and the Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner series(Digital, Nocturne, etc.)

I understand I may have to tweak them for each game to make them work and I'm willing to do that but I just need to see how to fix the sped because it will say the FPS is 58-60 and speed is 100% but it will lag like no tomorrow on some of these still.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance for even reading this!

[CK1]

Upgrade to the latest dev build here for a moderate speed boost; but be warned that your CPU is rather weak in the STP (single thread rating) department which may be an indicator as to why it suffers on games like the ones you mentioned above.

https://buildbot.orphis.net/pcsx2/

[pandubz]

Your CPU is slightly under the minimum recommended STR for PCSX2. You will be able to run some lightweight games, but anything that demanded a fair to significant amount of power from the PS2 won't run so well.

That said, if things say they are running full speed but in actuality are slowing down, that is a symptom of VU Cycle Stealing. In most cases, it is recommended to leave this setting at level 0.

[inukotsu17]

Thank you for the recommendations and suggestions for me; I will start with updating to the newest build (the actual website for the latest stable build still has it listed as the 1.4.0 one instead) and I was looking across some newer CPU's an concerning the thread count would the AMD Ryzen 3 2200 be a step up from what I have now? Running on a budget for that one at the time being.

[TkSilver]

1. The last stable version is 2 years old. Just use one of the developmemt builds. 1.5 is current.

2 A ryzen 2200 is quite a nice step up in perfromance and well above the minimum recomended, but at stock it is still below the recomended performance for demanding titles. So more games will run faster just not all games and some parts of games might also have slowdowns. The Pentium G4600 would be around the same kind of a step up from a stock 2200 as the 2200 is from the 8350 and would just be at the recomended level for demanding titles. Also about $20 cheeper.

[scythefwd]

The 2200.. thats running a STP in roughly 1800 range.. that should handle a lot of titles quite well..

[pandubz]

The 2200.. thats running a STP in roughly 1800 range.. that should handle a lot of  titles quite well..

Formerly having a 1800 STR CPU, it will, but big hitters like the Ratchet and Clank series and, depending on what course you play, GT4, will still have problems.