Which CPU for PCSX2 emulator?

i5-xxxM or i7-xxxM series? Which would be the bare minimum it could run on? I've looked everywhere but can't find minimum system requirements. All I find is people's sample desktop setups, which people usually have a dual or quad core and its like 3.0ghz. Hoping someone will say i5-430M will run it well.

 

Dual-core doesn't really help much for PCSX2 emulators, my own tended to run full throttle and not give much in terms of performance. Quad-core and above with as much clock speed as possible is my recommendation.

 

A few comments from the pcsx2 forums from the devs and beta testers regarding Quad Core that were posted a few months into 2009:

Also their list of recommended CPU's for this emulator will give you some more ideas:

I think a higher clocked Dual Core with the option of HT will be better for this one although a Quad mobile i7 that can operate in Dual Core Mode and Turbo Boost will give you more future options in general.

 

Yup the best bet is an i3 then OC it to 4Ghz.

AS previously stated PCSX2 does not use 4 cores.

 

Does not really matter, again if your stuck with a single or dual core application the i7 series uses the turbo boost function to overclock the cpu cores higher.

Id always go for the best cpu, aka the i7 since it can do those dual core and single core tasks just as well (or for the sake of argument almost just as well) as the dedicated dual core cpu's, but if your in a situation to utilize a quad core cpu, the dual core has no chance to keep up.

Last I checked even a PS2 emulator never could push my cpu to 100% anyways.

 

As far as the core i5-430m goes it will run many games at a decent speed some less demanding games even full speed (ie FFX Kingdom Hearts) but the more demanding games such as GOW or Shadow of the Colossus will have problems running at playable speeds.

I would recommend the i7 620m since it overclocks to 3.06ghz in turbo mode when using 2 cores(pcsx2 uses 2 cores) and up to 3.33ghz when using 1 core.Which should be able to play most games at full speed.

 

i7 720QM would be my recommendation, I myself use PCSX2 and I run games at full speed. You can also overclock the 720 QM to 3.2 Ghz if you use 2 cores only.

 

Ah, my question's been answered. Time to save for whichever laptop will have i7-620M, then.

Thanks everybody

 

I have been playing Fight Night Round 3 on the PCSX2 emulator 0.96 and the 0.97 Beta and I am getting frames from 47-60 fps, it is completely playable and sound is also decent. I have been playing it for ages now, even more than my current PC games because it is so much fun.

 

yes i would get a i7 quad..

 

so the i5-430m would clearly not be a good choice for PCSX2? Since it uses 2 cores anyway, would the i7-620M be a good choice?

 

I mentioned this before but edited it out until I had done further testing and was sure. It would be really interesting if some one who had a Dual Core i5 would test this one out.


This is what I don't quite understand. PCSX2 is said not to support Quad Cores but if I disable 2 Cores, the frame rates drop from the 47-60 fps right down to only between 24-30 fps. If I enable 2 physical and 2 logical Cores, the frames are slightly higher but I never get the full speed until I enable all physical Cores. Now this makes me question whether a Dual Core is better for this one or not.

I tested both the public and Beta release and I am playing Fight Night Round 3.

 

I play gran turismo 4 on pcsx2 with an i5 650 desktop processor and i still experience some slowdowns although gran turismo is one of the more challenging games with lots of bugs i also tried SSX tricky which worked ok although i had a little bit of trouble with sound.

id sayy go for a higher clocked dual core because i dont think they use all the core very efficiently

 

I can't believe how many bad advices there are on this thread.

Quad cores doesn't help for pcsx2, at all. Only 2 cores are supported and it's not going to change anytime soon according to the pcsx2 team.

Therefore you need the highest clocks you can get on 2 cores, and that means the best you can get is the i7-620M which should run a lot of games at full speed.

Avoid the i7-720QM, many people on the pcsx2 forum reported bad performances with it. It's just too slow on 2 cores and being anterior it's slower than a dual core Arrandale running at the same clock speed.

According to what I've read you can get decent results with a i5-430M but you won't get full speed in demanding games. If you can overclock it or get anything higher then all the better.

It should run decently on a high end quad (i7-920xm and higher) but won't give you good results at stock speed on anything lower.

 

From what I know, the emulator is clock cycle dependent once you're on a dual core. The faster clock speed the CPU is running the better. It's just the way the emulation works. On alot of youtube videos showing off PCSX2, the video creator will mention that their CPU is overclocked, usually to the 3.0 GHz+ range.

 

Unless some magical patch hits the PCSX2 SVN that enables better scaling and usage on CPUs with more cores that 2 it will depend heavily on pure CPU clock speed.
Just think how great it would run if it could use all 4 cores + the 4 HT ones at nearly 100% efficiency.

 

Well those "many" people must have really stupid settings to run slow, or they just don't know how to use the i7-720QM. I run games at full speed with the 0.9.7 Beta, no problems so far.

 

Do a youtube search for PCSX2 i7 620m and you will see many clips of games emulated with that CPU. However, the speed of all of those games depends on how well you configure it as well of course.

 

I believe you use speed hacks or games that do not require a strong cpu.

 

can someone tell me more about this emulator? Where do u get the games for it? Do u have to buy them or what? Thanks.. and sorry for thread hijack..

 

Yes well legally you should already have the games, before you go ahead and emulate them.

 

As I told you, they probably don't know how to fully utilize the i7-720QM, as it can be overclocked to a stable 3.2 GHz, therefore making it run fast on PCSX2 and can also be used for future applications that will benefit from quad cores.

 

I was under the impression only the 920qm could be overclocked?

 

I think he means turboboost... Even if he doesn´t, the general maxim is still valid: everything is overclockable!

 

It can be overclocked but that depends on ones laptop(asus...) with most laptops it wont be overclockable.

 

PCSX2 is a PS2 Emulator, It runs about 78% of most games.

It requires a 'decent' computer to run most of the time at full speed, With the specs in my signature, i got KH1,2 to run fully with no problems.

..:: PCSX2 Forums ::..

The forum states for support you need to buy the game, just if you want to download them if you want., Just don't tell them where you got it from. I suppose.

 

Dude, you hijacked my thread for this?

Anyways, so any i7 would work then? Dual or Quad core, right? What framerate should I be looking for on a game like Killzone or NBA2k10 or Marvel vs. Capcom2?

 

The problem with getting a mobile i7 Quad is the unreliable Turbo Boost. Since the PS2 emulator favours higher clock rate over number of Cores, if the Turbo Boost stayed around 1.7 - 2.0 Ghz then you lose the increased performance potential compared to a higher clocked Dual Core where the base clock rate is already higher anyway.

Regarding Marvel vs Capcom, I would expect high frame rates but I don't get why you wouldn't just use a dedicated CPS emulator to play it at 60+ fps as opposed to the PS2.

As another example of performance on my CPU, I was playing Metal Gear Solid 3 earlier and in game was hitting about 60 fps. I still think the mobile i7-620M would be your best choice but don't neglect the power of the GPU, that is still important, especially since DX10 is so much faster and more stable than DX9.

Edit: With Marvel vs. Capcom 2 PS2, I get a steady 60 fps with no slow downs and perfect sound. It doesn't even feel like it has been emulated!

 

Haha only reason I mentioned MvC2 was cuz I couldnt think of any games lolz. Anyhoo, you're right about CPS. Would the i-series UM on the m11x work? Or are they wayyyy weaker?

I'd also like to know if any of the i5-series would work since they're dual core and have 2+ clock speed anyway. If anyone has an i5-430M or above, please advise.

Thanks.

 

Nope I don't mean turbo boost, I mean overclocking it in general.

The Method I use would be this:

Disable the other 2 cores. When they are disabled, the CPU Die will become extremely cool allowing the overclock of the other 2 cores, which the i7-720QM reach about 3-3.2 GHz. Once you overclock it, it does not fluctuate with turbo boost thus having a stable and strong Dual core performance on quad cores, give you a choice to use dual core or quads for future applications.

 

That's interesting, thanks for your explanation. I know you can overclock your CPU with setfsb on the G73 but I wonder if there is currently a way to do the same on other laptops from Alienware & Clevo...

 

I don't know about other manufacturers but the rule of thumb in overclocking CPUs is keeping the temps down, try browsing the Alienware and Clevo subforums here, you might find what your'e looking for.

 

The Clevo models are not over clock friendly at all and the standard setfsb software method used to overclock the older Core2Duo does not work on the i7 unless a different method has been found that I don't know about.

When you talk about overclocking your i7-720QM, is this something you have done on your Asus G73? Does the Asus G73 have overclocking in the Bios or a button?

Some use eleet tools to overclock their unlocked mobile i7 extreme on their Clevo as far as I know. I don't know anything about that software but I know talk of it has been banned on the Kobalt forum so it does make me curious.

I find Turbo Boost annoying because their is really no substitute for us doing it for ourselves. Apparently my clock rates only operate at 2.0 Ghz when I am emulating the PS2 and disabling 2 Cores only makes it slower.

 

The slowdown is due that now you have only 2 cores for the emulation + everything else, instead of 2 cores for emulation only and 2 cores for everything else.

 

Setfsb does work with i7 as long as you download the "donation" version. You have to donate to get it to work

 

Oh, that's great, I noticed the shareware donation version but had no idea that overclocking was now working on the mobile i7. This should be made very clear because I am sure many more would donate for that feature. If it will work on my version, then I will also donate.

When you mentioned disabling 2 Cores, were you referring to Core affinity for the specific application or game you were running at the time?

 

Aren't the ASUS G51, G60 and G73 the only ones SetFSB has support for?
It would be interesting to see someone try to overclock the G51 model with the Core i5-430M; then we could have a fair comparison.

 

The creator of Setfsb has confirmed with me that there is no support for overclocking the W860CU. I also monitored my CPU with CPUID while playing Fight Night Round 3 and notice that Turbo Boost is never consistent, never reliable or remotely useful in this situation.

Edit:

I think the problem was something wrong in my power settings regarding minimum processor state. After changing that, performance has improved a lot.



However, some one who tried the mobile i7-620M with the emulator said


http://tinyurl.com/35exowm

 

Hmmm.. when playing games on PCSX2, my CPU is always turbo boosted to 2.8ghz and stayed there constantly from what I see on the intel turboboost monitor gadget.

 

I beginning to think something is not right then. What Bios do you have and is there an option in yours that allows you to disable Turbo Boost?

I am sure I remember seeing that but it is not there anymore. Maybe something went wrong with a Bios update that has effected my Turbo Boost or disabled it!

 

No option to disable turbo boost.
BIOS Version: CALPELLACRB.86C.0000.X.0000000000
BIOS Release Date: 03/04/2010

My bios is reflashed by Sager after my RMA to a style-note bios.

 

So in conclusion, all the i7's should be fine. Just want to know now if the lower i5-430m will work... I'm even willing to step up to 520m or 540m if need be.

Please advise. Thanks ya'll

 

What power profile are you using? Where it says minimum Processor Performance state on AC plug, what percentage does it say?

 

On battery: 100%
Plugged in: 100%

 

it's more than enough
i use 430m myself.

every game i tested went beyond 60 fps without limiter.
played with 800x600/1024*768 3d internal res, not that it matter since enhanced display is gpu bound *use gsdx dx10/11 hardware

 

Word?? What games are you playing, and what notebook do you own?

Thanks

 

Forgive my ignorance,
Could you please tell me how to disable the 2 cores of the core i7-720QM? (I am using Asus N61-JQ lap).

Also does the setfsb work for Asus N61 lap? Is there a way to disable the cores on the fly?

 

Turbo Boost is definitely working in other areas, I just ran a benchmark using Prime 95 and my CPU hit a constant 2.8 Ghz Turbo Boost although CPUID shows different results to the Turbo Boost Intel Desktop Gadget sometimes. At least I know it is working. Have you played Fight Night Round 3 on the PCsX2 emulator?

If you did, what fps and Turbo Boost rates were you getting?

 

Nope, played other games like FFX, Tales of Abyss, Persona 3 etc, all 60FPS with limit, though sometimes in heavy rendering scenes drops to 40-50FPS. CPU turboboost at 2.8ghz all the time.

 

I played FFX and was also getting 60 fps, also with the drops to 40-50 fps in heavy rendering so I guess all is ok. I also have good results with the Dolphin emulator, everyone should also try this one out. Zelda Windwaker with full sound and really good speed!

I have noticed that Amazon.co.uk sells many second hand PS2 and other Console games, some of them only cost a few pounds.