Question regarding Dolphin 4,0 emulation and PC Req

[Lateralus]

Hey all, I am just wondering if someone could tell me what specs i would need to run games smoothly on dolphin. I have tried Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door which is a gamecube game, but it runs a little slow sometimes, from 90-100% i would say. Is it possible to get it all 100%? The game uses the traditional Nintendo action commands (Time the A button when attacking an enemy to double damage etc) and they are really hard to hit when the emulator changes running speed all the time. My system specs are Intel Core# i5 Quad Processor i5-750 2,66gHz 8mb - Sapphire Radeon HD 5830 1GB - 4GB RAM. I feel like i just need a little more power to run it smooth enough, any tips? I have already set the options for best performance (i think).. Thanks!

[ulaoulao]

Hey all, I am just wondering if someone could tell me what specs i would need to run games smoothly on dolphin.

There is a bit to understand here I'll do my best to explain it.

Dolphin version, Its hard for most to understand this but the higher version of dolphin the more CPU speed you will need. Dolphin does a lot of things and the newer versions do more. So 2.x is your best bet for core duo/AMD 3 gig. version 3.x is good for i5/i3 3 GHZ and AMD 4 + GHZ. 4.x pretty much needs ivy or sandy bridge. Not many AMDs will make it count unless its heavily over clocked.

For %100

To get 100% on 4.x you will need a heswell chip Over clocked and you must run LLE sound on 3rd core. Some game still will not run perfect but that is because of emulation not speed. Your video card will not matter nor will anymore then 2G ram.

So if you want that i5 to run near %100 you need to start off with 3.x or maybe even 2.x if 3 is still to slow. Make sure you lock sound to core ( 3.x only ). And see if using LLE sound helps. It was very demanding in 3.x. Dolphin 4 is just way too demanding for that chip, so your only going to run in the high 80/ low 90s percentile.

[Lateralus]

How do i lock sound to core? Downloaded 3.x Dolphin but it went down to 60-70%, weird. I think I have all settings right too...

[ulaoulao]

You have some setting messed up, 3.x should be faster. The default settings may not be the best.

The core lock is on the sound set up page. Post some screen shots of either 3.0 or 4.0 and ill see if I spot anything.

also test with a very common game, because some games emulate better on the newer versions. A great bench is SMG.

[Lateralus]

Can't post URLs nor Images because I am a forum newbie.. gg system.

[ulaoulao]

If you have the urls just leave off http part and I can fix that for you.

[Lateralus]

[ulaoulao]

Ok the dsp on thread is the name for to core. dx9 is not always the best, and I think its dropped in 4.0. Always test out openGL and see if that helps. Lower that resolution for now. In the end it may be fine but not for testing. Going to need to see the hacks page also. Edit your post and just add the new link.

Lest go back to 4.0 because I think we can get you near 99 or 100 here.

[Lateralus]

^Edited with new links

[ulaoulao]

Ok do not use dx9, open GL or 12. Will be much faster. Still need that check on "thread". This language is hard for me but I'm making through. Do not use that audio back end, that will slow you down. use dx. You didn post screen res section but keep it at 1x and the minimum res you can stand. If you doo all of this right you will get %100, if not at 100 repost all screen shots.