Read first: Will PCSX2 run fast on my computer?

[wheninrome]

What settings are you using to play football games. I have a laptop with I7 8550u processor, 16gb ram and integrated Intel hd 620 graphics but my Madden nfl 2k3 is super laggy

he's playing pal so I assume his "football' means "soccer" in the U.S.  anyway your cpu should be fine but the iGPU is weak. use pcsx2 1.5 and play only in native resolution in hardware mode or just use software mode with a couple extra threads. it may be faster

[Nystic92]

For a laptop the easiest way to roughly figure out if one you like will work is to find the CPU it has and search for it on
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

For demanding titles you really want over 2,000 for the rest we generally recomend 1,600 or so.  This will tell you what your CPU is capable of assuming it can run it's best.  If the manufacturer does not have good cooling or power delivery then even a great CPU will have issues.  There is no great rule or test for this besides research (using google) on what other owners of said product say about how it performs, or if your lucky a reputable site might have done stress testing for you (popular models only usually).

If you can get a discrete GPU then that is better.  If that GPU is an Nvidia then it will have even more compatibility with the OpenGL backend (which is the best current backend for PCSX2 with the least issues... besides software).

If you are goi2ng to say price is not an issue then I will list stupid things
Asus GX800vh it has a full desktop GPU (GTX 1080sli) and CPU ( overclocked 7820hk), water cooled, 18" screen.  It is also huge heavy and over $6,000 US.  If you give me a budget and a wishlist of what you need, what you want, and what would be nice but not important then I can recomend some more sane choices.  Though the Asus would rn PCSX2 very very well.

Ok fair point, I guess I was a bit vague.

Again, I am really not clued up at all - I guess i'll have to do more research before asking what to buy. I have been told if I get an i5 processor with a decent graphics card it should run fine - but this is from someone who also isn't very clued up.

[Nystic92]

Such as the Acer Nitro 5?

[JohnnyAce]

Hoping you guys can help

Short story is, my laptop's died & I want another one capable of running PCSX2

I've had my eye on one for a while which is top end of my budget hoping the Summer sales would knock a few quid off & now I've spotted one for £200 less

Here are the specs of them both:

Intel Core i7-7700HQ Quad Core (2.8GHz, 6MB Cache, Intel Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz) 2010 STR
16GB (DDR4 2400MHz)
Dedicated (NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5 Dedicated Memory)


Intel Core i5-8300H Quad-Core (2.3GHz, 8MB Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Up To 4.0GHz) 2328 STR
16GB (DDR4 2666MHz)
Dedicated (NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050Ti with 4GB GDDR5 Dedicated Memory)

Both have a 2000 plus STR, so that's a good thing, right? Everything else I'm not so sure on. Is one a whole load better than the other?  The laptop with the i5-8300H is the cheaper one

Oh, forgot to add the games I have, the Rockstar series (GTAs, Manhunt etc), the Smackdown series, the Pro Evo soccer series. Basically, I don't have any of the mega demanding games

[StriFe]

Wait wasn't overall the requirement besides having atleast 2k STP that it must be a Quad Core @ 3.0 ghz atleast? Now I'm not entirely sure if this is still the case, but this was always the bare minimum

[JohnnyAce]

Wait wasn't overall the requirement besides having atleast 2k STP that it must be a Quad Core @ 3.0 ghz atleast? Now I'm not entirely sure if this is still the case, but this was always the bare minimum

I thought the Turbo boost would cover that, but I'm not a guy in the know

Even the £4,500 gaming laptops have 2.60 ghz boosted to 4.30 ghz

ETA: Looking at the first page, it says this:

Recommended Processors:


Intel Core 2 Duo / Core i3 @ 3.2Ghz or faster
Intel Core i5 / i7 @ 2.66Ghz or faster
AMD Phenom II / Athlon II (X2, X3 or X4) @ 3.4Ghz or faster

[StriFe]

The turbo boost that's stated most of the time is the function where it only works on one core. Also keep in mind that laptop cpu's are still slower then their desktop variants, sure they work with most games, but overall laptop cpu's are weaker

[scythefwd]

STrife, while yes, that was the guidance at one time (the 3.0 ghz).. that was back in the core 2 duo days.. STR of 1600 plus is recommended, 1800+ will play most games.

Both of those processors will outrun my i7-3770. Both of those video cards will outperform my gtx 750 ti. At least in short bursts.. either of those laptops will do fine.. what is going to hurt Johnny's performance is thermal throttling. Laptops have crap cooling most of the time, and any extended gaming session will cause them to throttle. Though even with that, those laptops might do OK .. Those STP scores are with turbo boost though.. and realistically they're gonna be at about 1900-2k (or less) before boots and / or throttling.

As to 4 core, when hardware rendering.. pcsx2 uses 3 threads at most. A hyperthreaded dual core will acutally do well enough.. A true 4 core will perform slightly better.. maybe.

[JohnnyAce]

STrife, while yes, that was the guidance at one time (the 3.0 ghz).. that was back in the core 2 duo days.. STR of 1600 plus is recommended, 1800+ will play most games.

Both of those processors will outrun my i7-3770.  Both of those video cards will outperform my gtx 750 ti.  At least in short bursts.. either of those laptops will do fine.. what is going to hurt Johnny's performance is thermal throttling.  Laptops have crap cooling most of the time, and any extended gaming session will cause them to throttle.  Though even with that, those laptops might do OK .. Those STP scores are with turbo boost though.. and realistically they're gonna be at about 1900-2k (or less) before boots and / or throttling.

As to 4 core, when hardware rendering.. pcsx2 uses 3 threads at most.  A hyperthreaded dual core will acutally do well enough.. A true 4 core will perform slightly better.. maybe.

Thank you Sythe! Most helpful & informative

I'll link up both laptops, the FX504 does seem to have the better cooling system, but again my experience is limited on this

FX504

FX503

Obviously, when both talk about "intense gaming sessions" they're not talking about emulating a PS2

I'm pretty tempted to pull the trigger on the FX504 today with the bank holiday & being laptop less isn't great. I plan on using it on a cooling deck, if that helps anything

[TkSilver]

It does seem that with the fx504ge Asus has put either a power limit or severe temp limits which effect CPU performance. Usually in gaming this would generally be fine since most native computer games require only moderate CPU performance... this will probably have issues with emulation which is heavily CPU dependent.

To be fair I have see lots of these same performance and limits issues popping up around the i5 8300h line of laptops coming out. I don't know if this is a chip issue or if it is that manufacturers just have not tamed this chip yet. In theory it ahould out perform older processors but I have seen people reporting just the opposite on a lot of lines.

Currently I would recomend a 6th gen or 7th gen with an hq processor like a 6700hq or 7700hq or the i5 variants over the 8th gen ones. Or to wait until a laptop comes out without the power limits and throttling issues that have seemed to be too common on the 8th gen lines so far.