What are the REAL requirements for PCSXE?

[shuriken 88]

I've never been able to run any PS2 games smoothly whatsoever (not even close to playable) in even the most graphically basic games. The framerate is so bad you could be fooled into the thinking you're actually looking at a slideshow of screenshots for the game your trying to play. Even the most indepth, per-game plugin tweaking can only give me at BEST something like 20 or less FPS (and thats pretty rare), even on games as graphically simple as old 2D fighters like Cap Vs SNK 2 (only the backgrounds are actually 3D geometry).

My specs are:-

-XP32 SP3 Pro
-4Gb DDR3 RAM
-3.0 Ghz Dual core
-Asus GTX 650 Ti Boost with 2gb of V-Ram

On the Wiki, this setup is pretty much on par with not the minimum, but the RECOMMENDED hardware and actually exceeds in certain areas. I have 3 more gigs of RAM than necessary, a GFX card about twice as powerful as the recommended one, and what looks like a good enough CPU (only 200 Hz difference between my dual cure and their intel Core-2 Duo)

This setup runs the latest PC games usually at max settings with next to no lag. Now I understand the process of actually emulating another console is what takes up a lot of the juice, but come on, what kind of powerhouse megolomaniac showoff PC do you need just to play a PS2 game from nearly 15 years ago? I mean granted, I didn't build my PC to play PS2 games, but to find out that nearly £500 worth of PC H/W STILL isn't enough to run PS2 games is pretty crazy.


Is it likely there'll ever be a time when you can run PS2 games using a PC that altogether cost less than £500, because thats about how much money has gone into my current setup. I probably should just buy another used PS2 that'll die within 7 weeks like the others, but thats besides the point LOL (you cheap b*stard, get outta here haha). Anyway, jokes and ranting aside, I'd LOVE to know how to get playing my old PS2 faves again, but I dont want to have to spend £30 on another "more than half-way to hell" PS2 (my original only lasted about 2-3 years and I treated it so kindly, so lovingly).

Cheers!

[SOLDIERSeeD]

Mind telling us what CPU model you have? A "3.0 GHz dual core" is a bit vague...
That aside, it is rather strange that you seem to have speed issues on 2D games also, they should be pretty light-weight. And the reason your PC can run the latest PC games fluently while it struggles at 15 year old PS2 titles is that emulation requires a beefy CPU, while PC games are more dependent on your graphics card. As your 650 GTX Ti is a very good one, your CPU is probably holding you back (especially if you happene to own an AMD chip).

[Zaladane]

When you're running the game what are the EE and GS percentages along the top?

And there's a big difference between dual core and core2duo btw. With your specs it should be playable and could just be a matter of finding the correct settings but I suspect your cpu is where the bottleneck is. Typically something like an i3 or above processor is ideal.

I know you touched on the whole emulation vs running pc games and you did touch upon it a bit but keep in mind even though the hardware for the PS2 is incredibly outdated the emulator for one is still not perfect (they're getting there though) and for two it has to emulate a whole bunch of aspects of the system everything from gpu,cpu,sound and heck even controllers so it adds up.

One of the things you can do is first of all an OS upgrade might be in order. Also kill any unneeded processes in the task manager - make sure there's no background programs like an internet browser or antivirus etc.

Another thing you can do is to lower all the sound settings to the most basic possible and only increase if they turn out stuttered and horrible.

Enable speed hacks basically you can check all the boxes except enable fast dvd. Even though the MTVU one states right there it's for 3 plus cores check it anyway I've noticed a speed up in some games regardless.

You can move the EE slider to 2 and the VU to one. You can increase and decrease as needed but the higher you go the more unstable the game gets.

Unfortunately never tried that specific game so don't know the best settings for it. But you can always try native resolution and switching d3d renderers as well. Stay away from software mode as even though it can work better for some it (usually those with integrated graphics for laptops) would probably be slower for you given your cpu.

These are some basic things to try anyway.

[shuriken 88]

Sorry I should've clarified that, its an 'Intel Pentium D dual core' as part of an Asrock Mobo. I cant remember if I bought the CPU separate or if it came with the board, I'm thinking it came with it though... For some reason I just noticed device manager says the other core is running at 2.99Ghz which never occurred to me before, dont know how long its been like that.

Just right now I've been trying to run Shadow of the Collosus (maybe the worst game to try due to its awesomeness?), and its just... Its bad lol. Around 15 fps (which is a LOT better than it was when I tried this a couple years ago). I'll stick in Tenchu 3 because its a lot less "grand" than SotC but I love it all the same. Just to be able to play Tenchu 3, ZOE, Ico again etc would be great! Thanks for the info tips!

Thanks guys I'll check into all of this and get back to you once I have!

I take its better to run the games as disc images rather than using actual DVD's? If so, the only ISO I have is Colossus, the rest are all physical discs.

Cheers

[Zorlon]

System Requirements
Minimum (most games will be unplayable slow)

Windows/Linux OS
CPU: Any that supports SSE2 (Pentium 4 and up, Athlon64 and up)
GPU: Any that supports Pixel Shader model 2.0, except Nvidia FX series (broken SM2.0, too slow anyway)
512MB RAM (note Vista needs at least 2GB to run reliably)
Recommended

Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit) with the latest DirectX
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.2 GHz or better OR i3/i5/i7 @ 2,8 GHz or better OR AMD Phenom II @ 3,2 GHz or better
GPU: 8800gt or better (for Direct3D10 support)
RAM: 1GB on Linux/Windows XP, 2GB or more on Vista / Windows 7
Warning: Because of the nature of emulation, even if you meet the recommended requirements there will be games that will NOT run at full speed, due to emulation bugs or other limitations.

[Zaladane]

Sorry I should've clarified that, its an 'Intel Pentium D dual core' as part of an Asrock Mobo. I cant remember if I bought the CPU separate or if it came with the board, I'm thinking it came with it though... For some reason I just noticed device manager says the other core is running at 2.99Ghz which never occurred to me before, dont know how long its been like that.

Just right now I've been trying to run Shadow of the Collosus (maybe the worst game to try due to its awesomeness?), and its just... Its bad lol. Around 15 fps (which is a LOT better than it was when I tried this a couple years ago). I'll stick in Tenchu 3 because its a lot less "grand" than SotC but I love it all the same. Just to be able to play Tenchu 3, ZOE, Ico again etc would be great! Thanks for the info tips!

Thanks guys I'll check into all of this and get back to you once I have!

I take its better to run the games as disc images rather than using actual DVD's? If so, the only ISO I have is Colossus, the rest are all physical discs.

Cheers

Pentium D was one of the first dual cores IIRC so yeah I'm pretty sure that's where the bottleneck is. And unfortunately yes SoC is one of the most demanding games you could possibly try..

Yes run ISO off the HDD it's much faster.

[shuriken 88]

Okay so I just checked SotC and I'm getting rough averages of: (EE=60-70, GS=50 , VU=80+), consistent FPS of about 20 again. It looks faster than when I last tried though, which means I must've been getting way LESS than 20fps before now LOL.

On Tenchu 3 which is a disc, I'm actually getting close to "almost acceptable" performance! Im getting around 30FPS on average so sometimes it fluctuates up n down from very slow 20ish (character select screen) to actual gameplay at a slow 30ish, which is a bit ironic & backwards. The audio seems to be trying to slow itself down to match the framerate though and thats what takes it out of that "almost playable" realm and into unplayable IMO. Also the screen is shaking up & down like crazy. It almost looks like its simulating old dodgy TV effects or something. Its moving up and down by around 1mm at an extremely fast rate. I'm guessing this is caused by running physical discs because it doesn't happen in SotC, then again, its the only ISO I have so I could be wrong.

It literally is just teetering on the edge of being bearable. I'm hoping I wont have to spend any more dosh on sqeezing out that extra bit of power to get a steady FPS.

If I overclocked my CPU by say 300Hz, would it likely be worth it? Or would it be more of a risk to my PC's life-span than a fix to the actual problem? I'm not bothered about losing warranties on the board anymore, but I wouldn't want to accidentally shorten its life by a year (I've already had it nearly 3 years, which is a LONG lifespan for PC hardware in my personal experience). If not, I guess I'll have to look into getting a new CPU (hopefully I can just swap in a new chip rather than splashing on a whole new mobo).

First I think I'll try ripping Tenchu to an image, or just getting it from here if you have the PAL version, whichevers fastest.

Thanks