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For older desktop motherboardsHowever, if there is no 'CPU BSEL Select', proceed with the front-side bus setting with caution. As a chance of safety precaution, do whatever it supporting overclocking by increasing takes to not allow the FSB PCI bus' clock speed. This might or might not apply to many old motherboardsreach above 40 MHz. GenerallyAs anything higher than the 40 MHz mark will have a very high chance of inducing instability and possible data loss, they should be capable of changing their FSB clock speed with a small edit in the BIOSor worse. The issue This is that those that support changing why the FSB clock speed, might not be capable of changing the processor's supplied voltage without doing wire wrap modifications or similar to the socket. Which makes it very difficult front-side bus setting is only recommended for an overclock to be stable. There must also be motherboards that are equipped with a PCI/AGP lock to , since they prevent the FSB from increasing other clock speeds of different components on the motherboardfrom being overclocked. Also, as this removes the chance be aware that your motherboard can only supply a limited amount of killing or destroying other crucial componentscurrent before it hits its limits. You can still overclock without it, but try This is due to the voltage regulator modules not being rated to supply a large amount of current to cross keep the 40 MHz mark on CPU and the rest of the PCI bus. Alsoother components stable, increasing the processor's supplied voltage isn't exactly necessary which is common for certain processors motherboards that are well-known to handle substantial increases in clock speedsnot meant for overclocking. Another factor is The CPU's potential overclock may also be limited by the motherboardpower supply unit, as it depends on its VRMs to so a better power supply voltage. Thus due to this, low-end motherboards unit with lower-grade VRMs won't be as powerful to supply sufficient voltage for the processor better efficiency and wattage rating may be stablerequired.
Some relevant information and more in depth overclocking help added, quite some outdated information has to be removed too.
Generally, emulation mostly runs off the CPU, with . And the GPU allowing for higher resolutions, anti-aliasing, and so on. If your CPU isn't fast enough, you probably won't will most likely be not able to emulate a system at its full speed. At the very least, a Core i5-2500K or a Ryzen 3 1300X or better is recommended for high-end emulation (e.g. [[PlayStation 2|PS2]], [[Wii]]). This page will detail specific information for specific systems, provided that the above is not a viable option. Enabling dynarec options also speed things up.
==CPU==
===Megahertz Myth===
Just because a CPU has a high clock speed (Pentium 4 HT 672 @ 3.8 GHz), doesn't necessarily mean that it is powerful.<ref>http://www.computer-hardware-explained.com/megahertz-myth.html</ref> For example, a Celeron D 365 overclocked to 8 @ 3.6 GHz is light-years less powerful than compared to a Xeon X5698 running at Celeron E1600 @ 2.4.5 GHz. Newer Most newer CPUs tend to fare better, though the particular architecture does matter determining its real-world performance. A common misconception is that a higher CPU clock speed guarantees improved emulation performance, which doesn't always apply. Although clock speed is one of the main factors for good CPU performance, it is not always the determining factor. For example, a Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz CPU will mostly always outperform a Pentium D 940 @ 3.2GHz CPU. Even though the Pentium D is clocked higher, the Core 2 Duo is still faster due to the reduced amount of pipeline stages and a wider execution unit. This improves the instructions-per-clock cycle performance it can output, which means better performance at a lower clock speed.
This comparison only points to AMD's Bulldozer microarchitecture versus Intel's Ivy Bridge microarchitecture, not currently: This is also true of many modern Intel vs AMD CPUs<ref>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AunYlOAfGABxdFQ0UzJyTFAxbzZhYWtGcGwySlRFa1E#gid=1></ref><ref>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AunYlOAfGABxdFQ0UzJyTFAxbzZhYWtGcGwySlRFa1E#gid=0</ref><ref>http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-CPU-Benchmark-designed-for-PCSX2-based-on-FFX-2?page=107</ref><ref>https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-new-dolphin-cpu-benchmark-no-game-required?page=15</ref><ref>https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-new-dolphin-cpu-benchmark-no-game-required?page=15</ref><ref>http://translate.google.com/translate?act=url&depth=1&hl=pl&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.pl&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://pclab.pl//art55934.html</ref>, as the high-end Intel CPUs are more efficient than the high-end AMD CPUs. Main reason for that is because Intel CPUs have higher performing floating-point units,<ref>http://wccftech.com/ultimate-cpu-gpu-floating-point-performance-battle-amd-intel/</ref><ref>http://www.anandtech.com/show/7711/floating-point-peak-performance-of-kaveri-and-other-recent-amd-and-intel-chips</ref> far greater cache/memory bandwidth/lower latency<ref>http://vr-zone.com/articles/ivy-bridge-e-i7-4960x-vs-amd-fx-9590-battle-2013-flagships/54295.html/2</ref><ref>http://www.extremetech.com/computing/159619-5ghz-showdown-overclocked-5ghz-amd-haswell-ivy-bridge/2</ref>.
===AMD vs. Intel===
As of Ryzen(Summit Ridge), AMD CPUs have a very similar single-threaded performance when compared to Intel CPUs, which makes though still not exactly close to an equivalent Intel CPU of the same era. However, both options a choices are good choice for emulation. Any AMD pre-Ryzen CPUs or Intel pre-Sandy Bridge CPUs will give varied results, depending on the emulator's requirements.
===Desktop vs. Laptop===
Laptop CPUs are typically much weaker than their desktop variants due to being clocked lower, for battery conservation and heat management reasons. They may also have fewer cores than desktop CPUs with similar naming schemes, which may confuse you. Therefore, it is suggested to research on a mobile CPU's performance before purchasing one. An example of a very similar naming scheme, but not exactly true to its performance, has a name laptop that might match a desktop comes with the said CPU's name. A good comparison is the Core i7-6700HQ versus the Core i7-6700, notice the obvious speed differences?
===More Cores and Threads===
Emulators generally only utilize 2 cores, or with hacks, sometimes 3 or 4 cores. Thus, owning a 6 or an 8-core CPU, or one equipped with Hyper-Threading/Simultaneous-MultiThreading, won't benefit you anymore than having a similar quad-core CPU.<br><br>Although, certain exceptions such as newer system emulators such as (e.g: RPCS3 ) can utilize more cores by emulating the system's thread scheduler, which allows it to use as many cores as a game makes threads. Still, the general recommendation is to go for a higher-clocked 2/4/6-core CPU, as most emulators currently can not fully utilize 6 cores or more. Examples include the Core i3-7350K, Core i7-7740X, and the Core i7-8086K.
===Overclocking===
Not every CPU all CPUs can be overclocked, nor does every and the motherboard/'s BIOS support itmust be additionally capable of supporting overclocking. An advantage of The CPUs in particular that can be overclocked are the usually the Intel K series is ones that they are unlocked labeled: OverDrive, FX, Extreme Edition, Black Edition, K, and can easily be overclockedX. Also, certain engineering or qualification sample CPUs that AMD or Intel has manufacturered may also be overclockable, since they were used for testing purposes and were not meant for sale. If you are not sure what kind of a CPU you have, check if it has these overclocking labels. For Intel CPUs, their overclocking labels are OverDrive, Extreme Edition, K, and X. And for AMD CPUs, their overclocking labels are FX, Black Edition, and X. Although special processors such as their the Pentium 20th Anniversary G3258 are overclockable; you must be running the CPU are sold unlocked for on a cheaper price than K-series chipsmotherboard that supports overclocking. The motherboards that tend to support overclocking features, and while they may lack features like hyperthreadingcomes with a chipset that also supports overclocking, they're capable enough especially which is required for those who would like the CPU to overclock on a budgetbe overclockable. Keep in mind that budget However, this only applies to the newer motherboards, not the older motherboards eas they tend to vary from being overclockable to not overclockable.gFor Intel, the overclockable chipsets' name starts with an X or a Z. certain Haswell The other chipsets that were not mentioned, are not overclockable (B, C, H , and B-series boards from ECS and ASUS only have options for setting Q). For AMD, the processoroverclockable chipsets's multiplier and name starts with an X or a B. The other chipsets that were not mentioned, are not voltagesoverclockable (A). Also For older desktop motherboards with older chipsets, Intel may block there might be overclocking available in the form of a front-side bus setting. Use that setting with caution however, as the front-side bus clock speed gets raised, so does the rest of the other components on nonthe motherboard (which causes instability, data loss, etc). Unless the motherboard has a PCI/AGP lock, it is advised not to use the front-Z series boards in future microcode/BIOS updatesside bus setting to overclock the CPU. So if it In further depth, there is safer setting that canbe used to overclock without suffering from instability. Called the 't play a game currently then you canCPU BSEL Select' or similar, it was intended to manually select the proper front-side bus clock speed of the CPU. Though, in many casesby this, it allows us to exploit that feature and use it to overclock while staying within the factory specifications of the motherboard. This does not affect the rest of the other components on the motherboard, as the front-side bus is not overclocked and is only following the rated speeds it until can achieve. Therefore, it is playablesafer than the dangerous front-side bus setting. Laptop CPUs often cannot Also, be overclocked aware that once the CPU has hit a certain clock speed, it can no longer overclock due to BIOS limitationsvoltage issues. Extreme or incorrectlyThe reasoning behind this is because of how higher clock speeds require more voltage, and these non-done overclocking can cause instability and hardware damage. If overclockable motherboards have a high chance of not having the ability to modify the input voltage to the emulator starts having problems try again without overclockingCPU.
For certain laptop CPUs, some of them can be overclocked. A good way to acknowledge that you have an overclockable CPU is to check if it has an "Extreme" label on its name for Intel processors, or a "Black Edition" label on its name for AMD processors. As most laptops don't allow overclocking through the BIOS, third-party applications such as ThrottleStop must be used to overclock these processors instead. However, if your laptop does not have enough thermal headroom for overclocking, it is suggested that you don't overclock. Otherwise, you risk a chance of purposely throttling the CPU's speed and getting slower results instead. This is due to the built-in temperature protection that exists in most laptop CPUs, which generally does not allow itself to exceed 100 degrees celsius.
