PCSX2: Difference between revisions
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Harware requirements are very game-dependant although it must be noted that the bottleneck of this emulator in most cases is the CPU rather than than the GPU (video card): basically, a faster CPU should net you better PCSX2 performance. Some games however can be slowed down because of unoptimized GFX code or even because of weak GPU cards (for example [[Final Fantasy XII]] is said to use your GPU fully). | Harware requirements are very game-dependant although it must be noted that the bottleneck of this emulator in most cases is the CPU rather than than the GPU (video card): basically, a faster CPU should net you better PCSX2 performance. Some games however can be slowed down because of unoptimized GFX code or even because of weak GPU cards (for example [[Final Fantasy XII]] is said to use your GPU fully). | ||
A common misconception is that a higher clock speed | A common misconception is that a higher clock speed guarantees greater emulation performance. While clock speed is one of the main factors for smooth PCSX2 emulation, it is not the determining meter of success. Newer CPUs generally tend to perform better than the old ones using the same frequency. For example, a 2.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core 2 processor will generally outperform a 3.2 GHz dual-core Intel Pentium D processor. Even though the Pentium D is clocked higher, the Core 2 Duo is faster due to the Core microarchitecture of the Core 2 Duo being more efficient than the Netburst of microarchitecture of the Pentium D. | ||
Another important factor determining PCSX2 performance is that Intel Processors almost always perform better than AMD Processors. This is primarily because Intel's are more appropriately designed for running advanced computer softwares, whereas AMD's are more ideal for PC gaming. PCSX2 is definitely the former, since it is designed to run non-PC-formatted games. | |||
For comparison, AMD FX | For comparison, the AMD FX series (currently AMD's most prominent line of processors) will not match the performance of the Intel i7 series. An Intel i7-4770K 3.5 GHz will perform better than an AMD FX-9370 4.4 GHz, even though the FX-9370 has a much higher clock-rate. The main reason for this is because in most AMD Micro-architectures, the number of Floating-Point Units is half the number of total CPU cores. This means that each unit is shared between two cores. If one core is currently using the FPU, the other core sharing it must wait to do the same. It is only free to perform integer operations. PCSX2 makes heavy use of floating-point operations. | ||
It is also important to note that having more than two cores does not increase the emulation performance of PCSX2. This is because PCSX2 currently uses only two cores, so having a greater number of | It is also important to note that having more than two CPU cores does not automatically increase the emulation performance of PCSX2. This is because PCSX2 currently uses only two cores, so having a greater number of cores will not compensate for a lower clock-rate. Emulation can be improved by enabling the MTVU hack in the Speedhacks menu, but not by much. | ||
Below are the minimum and recommended requirements to run PCSX2: | Below are the minimum and recommended requirements to run PCSX2: | ||