Ultimate WinUAE PC
Hi Toni,
If I wanted to build or purchase ultimate WinUAE machine what should I be aiming for? I am looking for lag-less beam race, zero buffers, glitch free, perfect sound etc. What is your PC spec for example? Thanks! |
Any CPU since almost 10 years or so are fast enough (Intel only, AMD only since Ryzen). CPU should have big L2 cache and fast RAM. Emulators really want as much as possible memory bandwidth.
Sound: On board sound (at least high end realteks, if you can call any realtek "high end"..) usually works but I still prefer "real" sound cards. GPU: low latency vsync depends on side-effect so there is no guarantee it works. At least NVidia and AMD seems to work. I wouldn't trust any Intel GPUs.. Monitor: G-Sync or FreeSync (and compatible GPU, note that NVidia does support FreeSync via DP "G-Sync compatible") monitor is a must. Smooth scrolling even in windowed mode, in both PAL and NTSC (or any refresh rate that monitor supports), instant 100% glitch-free PAL/NTSC mode switches. Variable refresh rate range should be at least 40Hz to 120Hz. (Some crappy FreeSync models don't even support 50Hz!) My current setup: Ryzen 3900X (Updated when 3900X was released, got one almost on release day). 2x16G 3733 RAM. ASUS ROG STRIX X470-F Gaming. SB AE-5. 1080TI (waiting for 3080TI to be released..). Samsung LC49RG90 (Replacing previous more "normal" size G-Sync ultra-wide monitor) It is more targeted to gaming (and lots of cores to improve compilation speeds, VMs etc) than emulation.. For example Amiga emulation does not need fast GPU unless you want to use very complex shader filters. |
I just setup WinUAE on an old alienware laptop that has an i7 940 and it absolutely flies, so I think even a modest setup is fine. I've setup os3.9 with UAE GFX @1080p and Whdload, etc.
It's basically a super fast RTG Amiga! |
I think big cache, high IPC CPU with FAST low latency RAM would be ultimate setup for WinUAE.
My next upgrade in a few years will be Ryzen unless Intel catches up, doubt it. |
Thanks for the replies. It's confusing to understand what will actually make a tangible difference vs my current set-up. I have been playing around with WASAPI audio again and seem to have improved it (i.e. stable lower latency) by aligning the sample rates with audio settings, but it still glitches now and again - and some software refuses to play ball with minimal buffer. Perhaps a sound card would help?
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There is very high chance it is not directly sound related. If something causes emulator to not have continuous CPU power available, sound will glitch, especially if sound buffer is very small.
Confirm using basic windowed or fullscreen mode + non-fastest possible CPU mode A500 or A1200 config. |
I have tested now and I cannot get WASAPI audio to be totally glitch free on my PC. I need to use DirectSound to remove pops/crackle. This is especially noticeable when I press F12 to access WinUAE settings and return to the game (Zool is the one I have been testing). A500 config - fullscreen but Lagless Vsync 4 slice.
Would logs help? |
Yes. You didn't list any hardware specs either.
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for winuae or any emulator the best option is the fastest cpu in single core speed
at the moment the fastest in the market is the core i9 9900ks /5 ghz it reach more than 1400 points in geekbench 5 (single core) |
I think you missed this is about A500 config. Having the fastest single core CPU isn't going to help (and buying that kind of CPU just for something like less than 5% better real world results isn't very productive. Better get faster RAM)
Also it is really important to start from the very basic config and slowly enable more and more features until the problem happen. Immediately jumping to lagless vsync isn't going to help (which can have all kinds of side-effects that won't have anything to do with sound or CPU speed) |
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Now that's interesting. Could consider that when the time to change monitor will come. I've benn struggling sometimes to find the right configuration to have smooth scrolling and, for now, i ended up with these settings: http://legabarbari.altervista.org/img/atr.jpg API: directdraw: it doesn't have a good image quality but it's the best i could do for scrolling, and even that, it's not perfect (i'm using all terrain racing to test, and in the first stage if i look at the canyons they still have some small jammings). i have a real A1200 with a 1084s to compare and the difference is remarcable. @Toni Wilen: there is something more i can do? i'm using a 1060 graphic card to a tv/monitor in hdmi. thanks. |
1 Attachment(s)
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Intel i5 Skylake 6500 16Gb RAM NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 Onboard sound (realtek) |
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winuelog.txt and config required. Quote:
Do you have anything like USB headphones or something like that you can use to compare sound? Also test with something very simple, for example some simple slideshow with music. Less random variables. |
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config is: Gigabyte GA-B75M-HD3 rev 1,0 Intel I7-3770 2 x 4Gb Kingston HyperX Gigabyte 1060 3Gb Samsung T23C350 tv/monitor here is my winuaelog.txt: Code:
WinUAE 4.3.0 (2019.12.19) 64-bit (10.0.18362 [1]) 64-bit 9.6.3A09 8 17:55 0 if there is something that can improve scrolling in games (i imagine an A1200 + 1084 is still a better solution). for workbench applications i have another configuration with rtg support and that's fine. thank you. ps: the filters are only for cosmetic purposes right? |
Wrong log. Check last line of winuaebootlog.txt. (Tick misc panel logging option to enable it)
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this one...
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I did say DirectDraw is unsupported :)
Try using D3D mode, then select native resolution (non-native ones may not work as you expect, unless you used display driver control panel to create them), then use filter options to scale it to fullscreen. Trying to match Amiga internal resolution to PC monitor resolution is bad idea with modern displays. Monitor internal scaling usually sucks. Start also with as basic as possible setup = A500 config. Quick setup: - D3D11 (or D3D9) - Fullscreen. Select your display native resolution, 50Hz. - Set filter panel scaling multipliers to get fullscreen image (you don't need to care if it isn't perfect fit, it isn't perfect in real world either, set aspect also to automatic, you probably don't have 4:3 display..) If scrolling etc.. looks ok, enable lagless vsync and check again. |
Thanks.
I'm going to try soon, maybe i will compare WinUAE and the A1200 on the same screen. |
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Get a monitor that supports 50Hz = almost any with HDMI connection or any (non crappy) gaming monitor with gsync or freesync.
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