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So the 0.9.7 beta is out and is supported officialy. My question is simple and maybe could help others to figure out what is holding pcsx2 back to run at proper speed on their PCs.

If I wanna detect the bottleneck of my system while running pcsx2, how am I supposed to do it?

I think I know how to do it, but I'm not so sure, correct me if I'm wrong. For example:

1- If I run a game with the GS output disabled and the game runs at or above 60 fps all time (for NTSC games), it means my CPU can handle the CPU processed part of pcsx2. But if I run the same game with GS output enabled and fps drops below 60 fps (i.e. 40), then I'm GPU limited.

2-If I run a game with the GS output disabled and the game runs below 60 fps, it indicates I'm CPU limited.

Could someone from the dev team answer this question please? Thanks very much.

Much simpler. Run a game and watch the title bar of GSdx. EE % refers to the PCSX2 emotion engine (the core) and GS to the graphics synthesizer. In general, when the GS % is above 90% it means you are GPU limited. In most other cases you are CPU limited.

Thanks for the quick reply, Bositman. I was aware of the meters on the GSdx's title bar. I just didn't know it was trusty enough because we're on beta stage yet. Now I know. Thanks again

Additionally, in rare cases you may see the UI% read something other than 0-3%. The UI thread typically indicates "window management" overhead, such as Windows Vista/7's Aero and/or DWM features.

All three -- EE, GS, and UI -- are independent threads. However the UI and GS threads are generally mutually-exclusive; meaning that the GS thread must wait for the UI thread to complete its tasks before it can continue its own work rendering the next frame.

If you get slowdowns and neither GS/EE reaches over 90% you set your resolution too high

Thanks for the tips, guys. Simple but pretty helpfull. It's gonna help others to figure out how pcsx2 runs, either fast or slow.

(05-30-2010, 04:59 AM)Shadow Lady Wrote: [ -> ]If you get slowdowns and neither GS/EE reaches over 90% you set your resolution too high

good to know ! but that throws a question... what is more likely to be the cause for the slowdown (except the obious rez 2 high) CPU or GPU ?

Depending on the hardware, I think more often someone's CPU is too slow. Always depends on the game, though.

At low resolutions (native or 2x scaled) it's almost always EE that is the bottleneck, thus CPU.

However in Xenosaga I for example, I notice many, many GS slowdowns, especially in cutscenes. Even with native resolution. It is very graphic intense.