Hardware My brand new computer has unusually low performance for its cpu? :(

[GoldenSun3DS]

I ran the Dolphin benchmark test and I got 15 minutes 42 seconds, but the exact same cpu (i3-4130, integrated GPU, 8GB 1600MHZ DDR3 RAM) on the benchmark compilation has it listed as 9 minutes and 24 seconds.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AunYlOAfGABxdFQ0UzJyTFAxbzZhYWtGcGwySlRFa1E#gid=0

The things I've installed are:
Steam
Teamviewer (remote desktop program to use my laptop as the monitor)
Firefox
AVG
Dolphin

I had Steam downloading games in the background, could that have affected my performance?
Or was the remote desktop program just eating up a lot of my CPU power?
Or is my computer partially defective?

Mcafee was preinstalled but I disabled it from the startup processes (that hasn't taken effect though because I haven't restarted the pc yet).

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

Just took a quick screenshot of the system resources while Dolphin was running (without FPS limit active) :
http://i.imgur.com/bpVCGsj.png

The remote desktop program was using 74% as much CPU power as Dolphin itself was - looks like that's the problem.

Anybody know of any (free) less intensive remote desktop programs I can use? I tried the Windows one that's built into Windows 8 but it would never connect.
I don't have a monitor yet and my laptop's HDMI port is output-only so I need to use remote desktop unless it's possible to output the computer's video through a USB cable.

 

[endoverend]

Keep in mind the spreadsheet tested the performance on Linux. Maybe dual-booting a linux system and testing Dolphin there would help you find the problem.

But the remote desktop app will take a lot of CPU, it's just the nature of that kind of app. Try running the benchmark without the remote desktop running, and start it up after the benchmark is finished to see the results. Also, try following this step.

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

Keep in mind the spreadsheet tested the performance on Linux. Maybe dual-booting a linux system and testing Dolphin there would help you find the problem.

But the remote desktop app will take a lot of CPU, it's just the nature of that kind of app. Try running the benchmark without the remote desktop running, and start it up after the benchmark is finished to see the results. Also, try following this step.

I'll try running the benchmark tomorrow with it connected to my TV instead of running the remote desktop.
I searched all over the place, but I couldn't find a "hardware acceleration" setting to modify that that link mentioned.

Does Dolphin run better on Linux?

 

[endoverend]

See if this helps.
As far as I know there is no real benefit to Linux for Dolphin but I was just pointing out that the benchmark was run on a different OS.

 

[Fishaman P]

Disabling McAfee isn't the same as uninstalling it.
And you're certainly not going to get good performance if (without rebooting) McAfee and AVG are running at the same time.
Finally, of course TeamViewer isn't going to be light on performance. You need an actual computer setup if you're going to be pushing low-end hardware with Dolphin.

 

[jefffisher]

there is absolutely no way you're going to get that running anywhere near decently with teamviewer or anything like it running, get a real monitor dude.

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

Would it be possible to connect the video output via the laptop's USB port since it doesn't have an HDMI in?
Like an HDMI (desktop) to USB (laptop) adaptor.

 

[Sicklyboy]

Possible, yes, worth it, no.

You'd need an HDMI capture card like the elgato game capture HD, for example. And they're not cheap. I'm sure there are slightly cheaper alternatives but it's going to be way more than just plunking down $15 for an adapter or cable.

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

I ran a new benchmark without the remote desktop (connected directly to TV at 1366x768) and it got 13 minutes 15 seconds.

Here's a screenshot of the performance monitor:

Spoiler

Keep in mind this is after the benchmark was finished and after I launched the remote desktop program.

 

[Gameplayer9198]

Honestly, Maybe the Linux distro they used was somewhat small? Maybe they slimmed down one to the minimum requirements after weeks on end to perfect it to run games? can't really do much with that info to go by.

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

Hmm, would it be possible to install Linux without uninstalling Windows?
I might try running it in Linux.

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

Could it be that my lack of a dedicated GPU is hindering a performance this much?

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

I think it has to be because of Linux, unless they were messing with the benchmark program's settings to make it seem to have better results.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AunYlOAfGABxdFQ0UzJyTFAxbzZhYWtGcGwySlRFa1E#gid=0

Intel​

Haswell​

i3-4130​

Stock​

3,400​

3,400​

54.00 W​

Linux​

0:09:24​

Intel​

Ivy Bridge​

i5-3570k​

Stock​

3,800​

3,800​

77.00 W​

Windows 7​

0:10:57​

The i5-3570K is superior to the i3-4130 in terms of single thread performance, plus the i5-3570K was overclocked to 3.8GHz in the test. Yet it got worse Dolphin benchmark.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=828&cmp[]=2015

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-3570K-vs-Intel-Core-i3-4130


So, if this is indeed the case, I'll just install Linux on my desktop and run Linux whenever I want to use Dolphin.

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT I disabled Hyperthreading and now I got 9 minutes 50 seconds on the benchmark!

EDIT:
Dolphin is also now using around 70-75% of the CPU rather than the around 40% CPU usage that it had before.

Looks like Hyperthreading was my problem, it seems to run way better now

 

[vassildador]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT I disabled Hyperthreading and now I got 9 minutes 50 seconds on the benchmark!

EDIT:
Dolphin is also now using around 70-75% of the CPU rather than the around 40% CPU usage that it had before.

Looks like Hyperthreading was my problem, it seems to run way better now

Makes sense, hyperthreading makes your CPU get warmer, which can result in throttling which will slow everything down stock coolers are (in my experience) also inadequate for using your processor intensively.