PCSX2 doesn't use my resources while lagging...

[laa]

Hello everyone!

Now, the PCSX2 is running at a fine speed most of the time. The problem is the lag that comes at some points. I've tested the system only with Kingdom hearts, and the peak of lag in my short testing period, was at Traverse town, the place where you first see a heartless. The lag came whenever I looked towards the other end of the area. Now, the funny thing is; it's only using about 20% CPU and ram (I mean even my firefox uses more RAM... Due to bad habits of having 20+ tabs... No questions please. And no, shutting down the tabs doesn't help). Why? Why when my PC has more to... 'offer'... does it only take so little? I've tried to run it as an admin, I've tried to higher it's priority through task-manager, I've tried to use the speed-up guides (which helped, reduced the lowest FPS from 15 to 30, or the more common low so far; 20 to 40), but nothing seemed to have finally erased my problems. Frame skipping somewhat did it, but I really hope there is some less sacrificial way to do it.

Specs: (almost copy-pasted from a little sticker, btw)
Windows 7
Intel core i-7-720QM processor
1.6GHZ, 6MB L3 cache
ATI mobility Radeon HD 5650 up to 2783 MB HyperMemory
4 GB DDR3 Memory
500 GB HDD

So yeah, what seems to be the problem, if anyone can help?

[Zorlon]

CPU speed is a factor as is Graphics card

If a CPU can't handle the info quick enough it will lag

Graphics card lag isn't unusual either

Niether are shown as a % used in the resources of task manager

The bigest factor is that it is an emu, very much still in development, there may be some more stable beta versions though, the last stable release is not always the best version to go far, this is also game dependant so even an older version may make that game run smoother

Meganova may have beter info for you as I just don't emulate PS2 not just because I own a softmodded PS2 but also because I don't have a computer that could handle emulating the PS2

[laa]

Okay, so it might be the graphics card? It seems quite possible, as it is a laptop I'm using. (My one and only computer; needed one to bring to my educational institute, so yeah...)

I've heard some about this beta thing thing. If I can just find it, I might give it a shot...

EDIT: It says % right next to the number though.
In the bottom of my task manager, there is: Processes running, cpu usage, physical memory. The two last ones are in %.

[Zorlon]

Okay, so it might be the graphics card? It seems quite possible, as it is a laptop I'm using. (My one and only computer; needed one to bring to my educational institute, so yeah...)

I've heard some about this beta thing thing. If I can just find it, I might give it a shot...

EDIT: It says % right next to the number though.
In the bottom of my task manager, there is: Processes running, cpu usage, physical memory. The two last ones are in %.

You could be right about the CPU usage I think this does partially show speed reading data so if the cpu couldn't hanndle too much the usage would spike

Atleast you have a good Mobile Graphics chip set, my old laptop was a G-Force that wasn't bad but this one I have now is sucky intel oh well does me for what I use it for (I don't do too much gaming on me laptop

[laa]

Yea, it works quite well. I can play most of the computer games I want to; I'm often pressing the limits of the graphics card, but yeah. It works so far.

EDIT: Tried to ignore the lag. Now I'm seeing everything in slow-motion+headache. o.o
It might be worse than I first anticipated... Maybe I should try PS1 instead... I've got some games on my memory-lane there as well at any rate.

[meganova]

Oh, i7? Try using the Turbo Boost, I'm sure it can clocked up to 2.6GHz or so,
then press TAB again once while playing, and enable Speedhacks(with intense setup , it'll work, but not much )
However, the overall performance still limited by your mobile chipset(and your CPU).

Plus, KH is one of the demanding games for PCSX2.

[laa]

Turbo-boost? I guess that deserves a google!

I'll get up the intense settings, crossing my fingers, hoping for the best.

The TAB is the switch between ordinary frame-limit and doubble frame-limit, right? What can I use that for?

EDIT: It seems the turbo-boost is automatically activated; I can't find any way to configure it manually. :/

Anyone know how to manually activate turbo-boost? It's really bad at figuring out by itself when I need it and when I don't. I mean; it's only using part of it's capabilities when playing KH, but it used about 0.8 ghz boost when I opened a website. :/

[meganova]

You can enabled it through msconfig, by changing the processor value.
Read this for more info.

nope, TAB is used to enable the Turbo on PCSX2, while Shift+F4 to enable frame skipping when playing.

[laa]

I tried to do so, but it made my computer run very slowly, and suddenly, even the slow programs used CPU; so it backfired greatly.

[meganova]

Restore your settings back to default.

It seems the Turbo was enabled automatically after you press the TAB button.

[laa]

I already did, and my computer started running normally again.

The i7 activates itself, but I want to figure out how to manually do it; It might be impossible, but yeah. :/
Maybe a little over-clocking would do instead?

[meganova]

Yeah, perhaps that may do, but try these settings first,
- Change the Power Plan to 'High Performance'
- Set the GSdx to Native, then enable Speedhacks
- Run your game with fast boot
- then change the EE Cyclerate and VU Stealing accordingly as you go in and out of the game, and hope the Turbo will kick in.

Oh, try changing the Preset value as well.

[laa]

I stumbled upon something that solved my problem so far; still using speedhacks, and I'm going to slowly take 'em off to see how far I can go.

The solution was so far (I'm going to sound stupid), to change the GSdx from 9 (hardware) version to the 10 (hardware)/(software) version. xO

[skullpoker]

REABYBOOST is great for crappy lappys. And it's Back2School time at Wal-mart, you can get a 8GB Flash Drive for $12.88 where I am.

[meganova]

ReadyBoost won't do anything on PCSX2, it only give small increase of speed on the windows, but doesn't give any benefits on the overall PCSX2 performance.
Also, his/her laptop is not that crappy, it can perform as well as any 2.5 laptop out there, the only problem is to ensure the Turbo Boost is always turned on.