Seemingly random performance issues

[SLC]

Hi again, starting to feel like such a nag now, so I want to stress that I really like WinUAE and appreciate all the good effort put in it, though during learning how to handle this I do run across some issues I can't really understand.

So, with (what I believe) is a completely basic A500 configuration (config file attached), I get quite different results every time I run WinUAE. Playing something like Giana Sisters works flawless, and max CPU usage rarely goes beyond 20-30%. I can then restart WinUAE and use the EXACT same config, but this time it peaks at 100% relatively quickly and emulation starts slowing down and sound break up. If I restart WinUAE once more, it may or may not go back to running smoothly.

Any idea as to what may cause this random behavior? Exact same config every time, no changes. I'd be happy to provide any information or do any other tests to rule out or pinpoint a problem. Apart from this I've now been able to set it up perfectly for my own use so hope this is just down to me being silly having checked one wrong option etc.

[Retro-Nerd]

This is actually a combination of an A1200 config (AGA, 2MB Chipram, 8Fastram) and an A500 config (68000 CPU).

Go to the quickstart tab and select the Amiga 500 config with 512KB slowram (most common). Pull the compatibility slider most left. Then tick the "start in quickstart mode" box and start the emulator (saving the config before).

[Foebane]

Is your A500 configuration based on the Quickstart configuration for the A500 model? Quickstart configs are like presets for specified Amiga models, and should work most accurately for those models. Just select the model, the configuration for that model and click on "Set configuration".

[SLC]

OK, I guess it wasn't a completely basic setup. I will try using the quickstart config, but it still does not quite explain to me why sometimes it works flawlessly, constantly low CPU usage, then other times, exact same config, it spikes almost immediately and never drops below 50%. Was there anything in that config which would suggest this behavior? Will try the quickstart config to see if it happens also using that.

[Toni Wilen]

I don't support too weird configs but this sounds more like some power saving feature being too aggressive.

[SLC]

I had the same thing happen with the quick start config of an A500. I don't think there are any power saving functions left on after I discovered speed stepping messing up my sound, and I rechecked now to see if there was any other relevant settings, but couldn't find any. I'm also using the "High Performance" profile in Windows 10 now.

What I noticed, though, is that when it works as it should, toggling warp mode on and off may sometimes permanently mess it up until next re-run of WinUAE that behaves as expected.

I am generally rumored for having quite bad karma when it comes to hardware, so maybe this is again what bites my ass! But knowing that it also happens with the quickstart A500 setup, could that possibly help locating the problem? What is the expected usage on an i7 6700K running that config?

[SLC]

Just a small update.. too early to conclude with anything yet, but I do not seem to get these problems when using DirectX9 ... so maybe something is bugging with the DirectX11 support, or even DirectX11 itself? I am doing more tests with this though, just to confirm the issue is not happening with DirectX9. Will as usual update my findings.

[mark_k]

Try different buffering settings (none, double, triple) too, one may give better results than others when using D3D11.

[Sinphaltimus]

Also - in regards to power saving. (This is not winUAE related at all - just general windows) If know about this, please skip - I'm going to bring up CPU parking. CPU parking is when a core or more are powered down when not needed. It's automatically controlled by your system, I don't know if the bios can be adjusted for such things. But it's the powering up and down of these cores that can also degrade performance at critical times. For me personally, I've resolved the issue with a utility called park control by bitsum. I basically have it set to NEVER park any cores ever. I've experienced "jittery performance" at times when doing video/audio editing, 3D renders and gaming. Pretty much anything that could cause a momentary or sustained spike in CPU utilization.

I also use Process Lasso by the same company - Park control comes with it. Been using these utilities for many years and really like them - Just my two cents.

[SLC]

Originally Posted by Sinphaltimus

Also - in regards to power saving. (This is not winUAE related at all - just general windows) If know about this, please skip - I'm going to bring up CPU parking. CPU parking is when a core or more are powered down when not needed. It's automatically controlled by your system, I don't know if the bios can be adjusted for such things. But it's the powering up and down of these cores that can also degrade performance at critical times. For me personally, I've resolved the issue with a utility called park control by bitsum. I basically have it set to NEVER park any cores ever. I've experienced "jittery performance" at times when doing video/audio editing, 3D renders and gaming. Pretty much anything that could cause a momentary or sustained spike in CPU utilization.

I also use Process Lasso by the same company - Park control comes with it. Been using these utilities for many years and really like them - Just my two cents.

I checked this out, and it seems High Performance profile deactivates this feature. No cores parked according to a 3rd party program meant to handle this, so that's one more ruled out.

[White]

@Sinphaltimus
Hi, these days I was working with Process Lasso and sysinternals,
I would like to ask if the program really works.
I use it to optimize windows and to lower the various processes, this work will take time.
I saw that you talked about it well.
So is it reliable?
I would like to have your opinion on these programs or on similar programs

Thank you!

[SLC]

OK, having been running all sorts of configurations and stuff in WinUAE now and as long as I use Direct3D9 these performance issues never occur. Also, a bit interesting observation.. when using Direct3D11 and these issues happens, task manager shows a nearly idle CPU while the CPU meter in WinUAE itself shows 100%. Now, I know that task manager isn't a precise measurement, but you'd think it show some signs of activity if the usage was in line with what WinUAE says it is?

When using Direct3D9 the two are much more similar to each other. Whether or not this is helpful, I do not know, I just report what I observe. For now I will be using Direct3D9 since that works, but could possibly be worth looking into Direct3D11 if others have similar issues perhaps.

Also, the graphical glitch I posted about earlier also seems to be very random, regardless of config. But I've only yet seen it in this particular demo (Rise / MC/TRSI). At least I hope this input is useful in any way and not just a rant I'll be happy to provide more detailed info or test things if wanted.

[Sinphaltimus]

Originally Posted by White

@Sinphaltimus
Hi, these days I was working with Process Lasso and sysinternals,
I would like to ask if the program really works.
I use it to optimize windows and to lower the various processes, this work will take time.
I saw that you talked about it well.
So is it reliable?
I would like to have your opinion on these programs or on similar programs

Thank you!

I PM'ed you to keep this topic on track...

[White]

Thanks!

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by SLC

OK, having been running all sorts of configurations and stuff in WinUAE now and as long as I use Direct3D9 these performance issues never occur. Also, a bit interesting observation.. when using Direct3D11 and these issues happens, task manager shows a nearly idle CPU while the CPU meter in WinUAE itself shows 100%. Now, I know that task manager isn't a precise measurement, but you'd think it show some signs of activity if the usage was in line with what WinUAE says it is?

>100% means something prevented WinUAE to not have enough CPU time to emulate current field fast enough.

Cause may not be CPU power but something causing WinUAE to pause, for example D3D9/11 field Present() call waiting for something, for example vsync when vsync was not requested.

Does problem disappear temporarily if you press END+Pause to enable "warp mode" and then disable it?

Did you try all buffering modes? (no, double, triple)

[SLC]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

>100% means something prevented WinUAE to not have enough CPU time to emulate current field fast enough.

Cause may not be CPU power but something causing WinUAE to pause, for example D3D9/11 field Present() call waiting for something, for example vsync when vsync was not requested.

Does problem disappear temporarily if you press END+Pause to enable "warp mode" and then disable it?

Did you try all buffering modes? (no, double, triple)

Hard to say, as when I enter warp mode and exit it again, the CPU counter drops to 00% for a very brief time, but quickly rises again, too quickly to really notice if it resolved anything for the first few seconds. I did try all buffering modes and it behaved the same.

[Toni Wilen]

Does http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae.7z work any different in no buffer vs double buffer mode? (Trying something random..)

[SLC]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Does http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae.7z work any different in no buffer vs double buffer mode? (Trying something random..)

Sorry for late response, but I wanted to do some real thorough testing to see that I have somewhat consequent results. I can't really tell if there's any difference between this and the release due to the randomness of the issue, but one thing I noticed now that I didn't the first time is that no buffer and no vsync seems to work all the time for both fullscreen and full-window for both versions.

But since I am the only one who have been complaining about this, I'm starting to wonder if it might be my system that somehow is to blame. Still odd that it works with D3D9, though.