GSdx: Difference between revisions
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→Hardware requirements: AMD support for AVX2
(Revised Hardware Renderers - added OpenGL, removed obsolete DirectX 10 references. Revised texture filtering documentation to reflect new GUI. Additional information will be consolidated later) |
(→Hardware requirements: AMD support for AVX2) |
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The minimum hardware requirements are a graphics card with pixel shader 3.0 (ATi Radeon 9500 series and later and the NVIDIA GeForce FX series) and SSE2 CPU. Most PCSX2 emulated games are not hungry for GPU power but are dependent on the CPU. However, certain scenes in some games can be slowed down significantly if your graphics card is weak. Care must also be taken when running PCSX2 on laptops. Some of them are not designed to work on constant 100% load and can suffer damage from overheating. Investing on a decent laptop cooler is a good idea.<br /> | The minimum hardware requirements are a graphics card with pixel shader 3.0 (ATi Radeon 9500 series and later and the NVIDIA GeForce FX series) and SSE2 CPU. Most PCSX2 emulated games are not hungry for GPU power but are dependent on the CPU. However, certain scenes in some games can be slowed down significantly if your graphics card is weak. Care must also be taken when running PCSX2 on laptops. Some of them are not designed to work on constant 100% load and can suffer damage from overheating. Investing on a decent laptop cooler is a good idea.<br /> | ||
Don't forget to update your DirectX ([http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=35 Web installer], [http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8109 Runtime package]) specifically if your PCSX2 does not want to work demanding to update DirectX or complaining about some missing dlls.<br/> | Don't forget to update your DirectX ([http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=35 Web installer], [http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8109 Runtime package]) specifically if your PCSX2 does not want to work demanding to update DirectX or complaining about some missing dlls.<br/> | ||
You will also need to update your system with Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio | You will also need to update your system with Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2015. If you are using Windows XP, you MUST use Visual Studio 2013!<br /> | ||
In most cases you'll have several DLLs for each GSdx version. '''SSE2''', '''SSSE3''', '''SSE4''', '''AVX''' and '''AVX2'''. Which one to choose depends on your CPU installed. | In most cases you'll have several DLLs for each GSdx version. '''SSE2''', '''SSSE3''', '''SSE4''', '''AVX''' and '''AVX2'''. Which one to choose depends on your CPU installed. | ||
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* '''SSE4''' -- is Intel 2006 CPU extension consists of two subsets 4.1 and 4.2. GSdx only uses 4.1 set so you'll need Intel CPU with codename [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_2#Penryn Penryn] or newer (E7xxx and higher for Code 2 Duos and Q9xxx and higher for quads). AMD Bulldozer and later support SSE4. '''Warning''': If you will try to use SSE4 optimized dll on unsupported CPU you will encounter a crash whenever the code reaches SSE4 optimized part (it may not happen for some time but it will occur eventually). | * '''SSE4''' -- is Intel 2006 CPU extension consists of two subsets 4.1 and 4.2. GSdx only uses 4.1 set so you'll need Intel CPU with codename [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_2#Penryn Penryn] or newer (E7xxx and higher for Code 2 Duos and Q9xxx and higher for quads). AMD Bulldozer and later support SSE4. '''Warning''': If you will try to use SSE4 optimized dll on unsupported CPU you will encounter a crash whenever the code reaches SSE4 optimized part (it may not happen for some time but it will occur eventually). | ||
* '''AVX''' -- is an Intel and AMD CPU extension. Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs and the AMD Bulldozer CPUs support this extension. | * '''AVX''' -- is an Intel and AMD CPU extension. Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs and the AMD Bulldozer CPUs support this extension. | ||
* '''AVX2''' -- is | * '''AVX2''' -- is an extension supported by Intel Haswell series CPUs and newer, and AMD Excavator and Zen (Ryzen) CPUs. | ||
The difference between these versions is not immediately apparent to the user. You won't see large FPS gains when switching from SSE2 to SSE4 but there are some parts in games that do benefit from these optimizations. The AVX versions only provide speed ups for the software renderer of GSdx. | The difference between these versions is not immediately apparent to the user. You won't see large FPS gains when switching from SSE2 to SSE4 but there are some parts in games that do benefit from these optimizations. The AVX versions only provide speed ups for the software renderer of GSdx. | ||
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**Note that if you simply wish to capture audio (e.g. you like a particular level's music) and you don't want to mess with the plugin or emulator - or you simply prefer a more general solution - you can use [http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Audacity] to record while the emulator is running - simply configure it to accept audio input from "stereo mix". By the way, if you are running Windows and do not see "stereo mix" in the list of available sources please google for several available solutions (it is a known issue with certain soundcard/motherboard models). Or you could try [http://www.abyssmedia.com/isound7/ this] instead. | **Note that if you simply wish to capture audio (e.g. you like a particular level's music) and you don't want to mess with the plugin or emulator - or you simply prefer a more general solution - you can use [http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Audacity] to record while the emulator is running - simply configure it to accept audio input from "stereo mix". By the way, if you are running Windows and do not see "stereo mix" in the list of available sources please google for several available solutions (it is a known issue with certain soundcard/motherboard models). Or you could try [http://www.abyssmedia.com/isound7/ this] instead. | ||
* '''INSERT''' -- toggles | * '''INSERT''' -- toggles mipmapping | ||
* '''HOME''' -- toggles FX shader on/off | * '''HOME''' -- toggles FX shader on/off | ||