(will it work) AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz

[Caparroz]

I game at 1920x1080 on max settings with XMen Wolverine, Brother in Arms Hells Highway, GRID, PURE, Bioshock, Batman Dark Knight demo, GTA IV and Crysis Warhead (at 1280x720, enthusiast).

I get over 30FPS in all without AF, AA enabled. The Phenom II X3 is the best processor you can get for the money, it even beats the X4 in some benchmarks. Highly recommended!!

Screens/benchs/videos or it never happened. If it's true I'll trade my [email protected] and 4870x2 for your PII [email protected] and 9800gt in a heartbeat...

[zero29]

this discussion is getting off-topic, even if he is able to run these games at the mentioned settings, it doesn't mean anything for his pcsx2 performance. and using SotC as your benchmark is also a very delicate choice, as the game's own frameskip mechanism makes the fps values shown by pcsx2 very unreliable, especially if you use speed hacks, which almost everyone has to for this game.

[Granville]

I assumed by 60fps, he meant that the game literally runs as it did on the ps2. Or is it not so?

First of all, I am 100% aware that PC games are not ANYTHING like emulation. Just because I could get 35fps or more on Crysis at highest settings (which I probably could with the proposed system), doesn't mean I'd get the same sort of speed out of pcsx2. On my proposed rig, i'm not worried about mainstream PC games, I already know they'd work great on it. I'm now just seeing what I could do with emulation.

So does this mean that the Phenom II X3 720 isn't any good for what I need? That would be a bummer. I guess I should mention that I've talked to people who have uploaded youtube videos of PCSX2 with some full speed on X3 systems. A couple were just the first Phenom series. Some person got Ratchet and Clank Size Matters running FASTER than full speed on an AMD 8650 X3 2.3 GHZ overcklocked to 2.7 GHZ. The same person got Tekken 4 working full speed, as well as Super Paper Mario full speed in Dolphin. My CPU is actually a bit better, even at stock speed. AND it's the Phenom II series. I do know that many Gamecube games and even Wii games can run fullspeed on my exact system at least. But now, i'm trying to see about pcsx2.

(And I do realize that ever game is totally difference. A game like Kingdom Hearts would probably work on my proposed rig with no hassle. But a game like God of War might run slower, although i'm not sure how well God of War works nowadays on the latest versions.)

BTW, I'm also considering 3 GPU's now-
1- Geforce 9800 GT (~$100)
2- Radeon HD 4850 (~$119)
3- Geforce 9800 GTX+ (~$129)

All 3 of these have similar performance, but the Radeon and GTX+ are more in the same higher league. HOWEVER, I have heard that PCSX2 is more CPU dependent and I might not need anything higher than a 9800GT.

[rex1825]

...as you said alone, PCSX2 is more CPU dependent, but it will use only two cores, couse it's so optimised, so you won't get any +from extra cores, well at least it's said so, BTW one of the most demanding games is so far Gran Turismo 4, by my opinion, ...there doesn't work frame skip, nor you can double it fps by getting rendered every second frame, it uses pure CPU power... & on my Phenom II 955BE @ stock speeds, it goes 100% (60fps) when alone, & around 80-100% when racing other's, btw, my old CPU was Athlon 64 6400+ X2 BE @ stock speed (bouth CPU's have 3.2GHz stock speeds) & frames were divided by 2, so when solo on track, it went 40-60% when racing others it went 20-50% of full speed, that is 60fps! So take you conclusion by your self, I'm not sure that this is a BE CPU, that is Phenom II 810 hasn't unlocked multiplyer so you won't get easy oc... Better look for Kuma, that is Athlon 7750 x" or 7850 X2, couse they are BE's, or if you have money, spend it on one Intel E8x00 & your problems are gone...
But it's much less pain if you just roll PS2 DVD's in your PS2 xD

Cheers...

[Granville]

I would be getting a black edition CPU at least. The AMD Phenom II X3 720 is a BE. And it runs at 2.8ghz stock speed, easily overclocked to 3.4 with no hassle. Being able to overclock easily is a nice feature, especially since I assume 600mhz might give a really nice speed boost.

So, just the fact that the CPU is the new Phenom II series as opposed to just a normal Athlon 64 is enough to get more speed out of something, even at the same clock speeds... Nice to know that. I'm under the impression that the Phenom II is the fastest AMD series thus far.

And I did realize that pcsx2 only uses 2 cores. I decided to opt for a cheaper but faster x3 than a more expensive x4. The x3 is clocked at higher speeds per core. The x4 has more potential in mainstream software, but not emulation. If I had the choice between a 2.8ghz X3, and a 2.6ghz X4, i'm likely to get better speeds out of the X3 in regards to pcsx2. And it is cooler and overclocks better.

[rex1825]

...believe me m8, you do not need 4 cores except if you're doing some serious busines, graphics, 3D animations etc. 3 cores is far enough for everything, ...& BTW, when you run PCSX2 on that X3 CPU, just set affinity in Windows Task Manager for PCSX2 to core1 & core2, so first core (core0) will stay for Windows & it's needs, so it won't bother you PS2 emulation... & as I mentioned before, Athlon X2 vs Phenom II X2 is like 50+% more speed for Phenom II at same speed, ...& new AMD CPU's can be clocked stable til 3.7-3.8GHz...

Cheers...

[Granville]

Thanks for the information. Although I did ask about setting the affinity to the other two cores over on Emuforums and they said it did nothing. But I assume that this forum would know better since it's the official source.

I've pretty much decided 100% to get the Phenom II X3 720. What I need to decide now is the GPU, which I have narrowed down to 3 choices, which I posted above. Since you said it is more CPU based, i'll likely either get the 9800 GT or Radeon 4850. My choice of graphics cards at this point, would likely be more for games like Crysis than emulators. And in regards to Crysis, 30-50FPS is pretty much my opinion of totally playable and even pretty smooth. I've had to deal with far worse on my old current clunker.

[rex1825]

...well Crysis is little off topic, but you should consider nVidia graphic card for this, allthou its better to get newer card like 4850 then old 9800 GT, maybe 9800GTX or GTX+...

...& don't expect too much from Crysis, it's just a show off, nothing else, original FarCry fas mother of FPS games xD

Cheers...

[giovannigio]

I game at 1920x1080 on max settings with XMen Wolverine, Brother in Arms Hells Highway, GRID, PURE, Bioshock, Batman Dark Knight demo, GTA IV and Crysis Warhead (at 1280x720, enthusiast).

I get over 30FPS in all without AF, AA enabled. The Phenom II X3 is the best processor you can get for the money, it even beats the X4 in some benchmarks. Highly recommended!!

Sorry but... facepalm. omg.

I simply rate the phenom 2 as wonderful coupled with a Geforce 280 graphic card i can reach sppedups up to 10x compared with an Athlon 64 with 2.6 GHZ Clock and a Geforge 880, all under linux fedora core 10.

Used under xp and autocat it makes wonders you take 5 minutes to export a City here in Swizerland throuch the interlis interface,

I personally hate vista beause it has the same name as a wonderful fractal program for the amiga.

I cannot afford to pay 50$ for aprotected game wich does not run in emulation.

I started programming on the spectrum in 82, i have worked on SUN,MAC,DEC;AMIGA and i enjoed programming on the DEC VAX.

SAdly i can work only 2 hours a day
you can visit my homepage at joe.paco-net.ch

[Granville]

I don't think they are facepalming you for your hardware choices. They are doing it because playing a game made specifically for the PC is completely different from an emulator trying to mimic a console.

Either that, or I missed something.