PCSX2 runs slow on my high-end computer

[Rydian]

For the record, Core 2 Quad Q8400 here with an HD 5770, and the majority of Kingdom Hearts II ran fluidly. Only a couple seconds or two of scenes with composite renders (1,000 heartless battle comes to mind) had slowdown at the long camera angles.

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

now I am curious how my Core 2 Duo T8300 Laptop would fair with PCSX2 with its 8600GS 512MB Dedicated GPU and 4GB DDR2 ram

 

[Coconuts 500]

You need to disable Hyper Threading, as PCSX2 takes a huge performance hit from that.

Hyper Threading is almost entirely unneccessary unless you're doing video rendering, and such. It has no benefit for gaming, and - again - PCSX2 doesn't like it for some reason.

Also, your processor is very likely throttling heavily (downclocking itself) due to overheating. You need to sort that out. Your cooler is probably mounted incorrectly (too much thermal paste, perhaps) or clogged with dirt.

Download Aida64 (free trial here, and run the System stability test. It'll show you if your processor is throttling or not. It'll also show you how the temp increases when it's under load.

 

[Rydian]

You need to disable Hyper Threading, as PCSX2 takes a huge performance hit from that.

Hyper Threading is almost entirely unneccessary unless you're doing video rendering, and such. It has no benefit for gaming, and - again - PCSX2 doesn't like it for some reason.

Also, your processor is very likely throttling heavily (downclocking itself) due to overheating. You need to sort that out. Your cooler is probably mounted incorrectly (too much thermal paste, perhaps) or clogged with dirt.

Could PCSX2 be splitting both main threads in such a way that they're being assigned to the same physical core?

 

[Delta517]

You need to disable Hyper Threading, as PCSX2 takes a huge performance hit from that.

Hyper Threading is almost entirely unneccessary unless you're doing video rendering, and such. It has no benefit for gaming, and - again - PCSX2 doesn't like it for some reason.

Also, your processor is very likely throttling heavily (downclocking itself) due to overheating. You need to sort that out. Your cooler is probably mounted incorrectly (too much thermal paste, perhaps) or clogged with dirt.

Download Aida64 (free trial here, and run the System stability test. It'll show you if your processor is throttling or not. It'll also show you how the temp increases when it's under load.

Okay, thanks, I'll try that I cleaned my CPU Fan today and it was A LOT of dirt in there, but it wasnt so much help since its still on 72C when idle However all the thermal paste is used up, but I'm going to get some later today and apply it then

 

[Delta517]

Okay, so I think we found the problem But as I said, removing the dirt didn't help that much, but do you guys think that applying thermal paste will help alot? I know thats its very, very important ( Im not stupid ) or do you guys think that its the CPU fan? I couldn't find anything wrong with it when I was cleaning it and its also on 100% Fan Speed in the BIOS settings

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I just downloaded CoreTemp and found out my CPU Temps were from 90-99C on all the four cores I don't know what average CPU temps should be, but isn't this extremely high?

This is definitely your problem. The CPU is getting too hot and underclocking, so you aren't getting the max performance out of it. You can verify this by checking with CPU-Z while you're running PCSX2.

My previous Core 2 Duo, GeForce 8600GT and 2GB RAM desktop had no problems running PCSX2 so there's nothing wrong with your specs.

The reason for your high temps could be bad CPU fan, bad case fan, bad air flow in case, bad BIOS settings, bad thermal paste... the list goes on. Definitely check the BIOS settings, thermal paste and air flow first as they could have a big impact and don't require replacing any components. Make sure internal wiring is out of the way, that all the fans are hooked up properly and show up in the BIOS (they only show up in the BIOS if they're connected directly to the motherboard), and that you haven't tampered with any fan/CPU related settings.
Too much thermal paste is as bad as too little, you should have a thin, evenly distributed layer that covers the entire CPU.

Okay, so I think we found the problem But as I said, removing the dirt didn't help that much, but do you guys think that applying thermal paste will help alot? I know thats its very, very important ( Im not stupid ) or do you guys think that its the CPU fan? I couldn't find anything wrong with it when I was cleaning it and its also on 100% Fan Speed in the BIOS settings

That could definitely help a lot, but it's not the only possible cause. Read what I said above for some other causes.

 

[Delta517]

This is definitely your problem. The CPU is getting too hot and underclocking, so you aren't getting the max performance out of it. You can verify this by checking with CPU-Z while you're running PCSX2.

My previous Core 2 Duo, GeForce 8600GT and 2GB RAM desktop had no problems running PCSX2 so there's nothing wrong with your specs.

The reason for your high temps could be bad CPU fan, bad case fan, bad air flow in case, bad BIOS settings, bad thermal paste... the list goes on. Definitely check the BIOS settings, thermal paste and air flow first as they could have a big impact and don't require replacing any components. Make sure internal wiring is out of the way, that all the fans are hooked up properly and show up in the BIOS (they only show up in the BIOS if they're connected directly to the motherboard), and that you haven't tampered with any fan/CPU related settings.
Too much thermal paste is as bad as too little, you should have a thin, evenly distributed layer that covers the entire CPU.


That could definitely help a lot, but it's not the only possible cause. Read what I said above for some other causes.

Okay, thanks for all the help!

This is a little embarrissing for me too say, but I failed on putting the CPU Fan on properly, but I got a lot better results now on AIDA64

Spoiler

Okay, but when I tried PCSX2 I barely get around 4-5fps now :S Whats going on?? o_0

EDIT: Actually my whole PC is running slow now :S No clue to whats is wrong

 

[iron_man99]

Not to get off topic here but my preferred thermal paste is artic silver. My CPU almost never overheats

 

[iron_man99]

It should properly be mounted. If you have a stock fan it should click when you set it properly

 

[Delta517]

It should properly be mounted. If you have a stock fan it should click when you set it properly

It is now :/ The PC can detect the processor and everything, but the PC is running so slow now! I have no clue what it can be

 

[iron_man99]

Do you have a crap ton of processes starting up when you start your os?

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Okay, thanks for all the help!

This is a little embarrissing for me too say, but I failed on putting the CPU Fan on properly, but I got a lot better results now on AIDA64

Spoiler

Okay, but when I tried PCSX2 I barely get around 4-5fps now :S Whats going on?? o_0

EDIT: Actually my whole PC is running slow now :S No clue to whats is wrong

Well seems like you might have messed up something during the cleaning. Did you move the heat sink in the process? Are you sure everything is fitted tightly? Did any part of the fan get broken accidentally?

Also if you aren't sure about whether its placed correctly or not you can post a picture of your pc open & see if someone can help.

 

[iron_man99]

Also did you clean off your fan and heat sink and apply a new drop of thermal paste?

 

[Delta517]

Also did you clean off your fan and heat sink and apply a new drop of thermal paste?

I did everything except adding thermal paste :/ I'm going to get some thermal paste later today, but I don't understand why my pc is running so incredibly much slower now, than before I cleaned it? Since the PC can recognize the CPU it must mean that its properly inserted, right? :/

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Okay, thanks for all the help!

This is a little embarrissing for me too say, but I failed on putting the CPU Fan on properly, but I got a lot better results now on AIDA64

Spoiler

Okay, but when I tried PCSX2 I barely get around 4-5fps now :S Whats going on?? o_0

EDIT: Actually my whole PC is running slow now :S No clue to whats is wrong

Those results don't look better to me. It seems now it throttles down at 25% CPU usage instead of 100%, meaning it gets hot way quicker.

I did everything except adding thermal paste :/ I'm going to get some thermal paste later today, but I don't understand why my pc is running so incredibly much slower now, than before I cleaned it? Since the PC can recognize the CPU it must mean that its properly inserted, right? :/

It doesn't mean the fan is inserted though. Make sure the fan connector is all the way in and the fan spins up when you start the PC.
If you removed the heatsink in order to clean it better, that might be the issue too. I don't think it's a good idea to reseat the heatsink without applying new thermal paste, don't quote me on that though.
And definitely don't remove thermal paste without adding new thermal paste, but I assume you didn't do this

 

[iron_man99]

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

 

[iron_man99]

Clean the paste off with some isopropyl alcohol and then apply a small dab and spread it around the chip. Not too much though.if you have to apply more just a smidge more.

 

[Delta517]

So I removed both the processor and CPU Fan/heatsink and reinserted both of them and my system seems back to normal...for now atleast I'll think I'm going to wait to try PCSX2 until later today when I get some thermal paste and have messed some more with the settings Thanks for all the help so far

 

[ShadowSora13]

Actually all u guys have hyper threading on ht on emulation is bad cause the emulators atm are coded to run at 4 cores that means your cpu uses 2 cores instead of 4 cause ht splits the actual core into 2 "logical" cores...so pcsx2 uses your 4"logical" cores to run the emulator.Disable ht and post results again