Your processor is "terrible".
Emulate a slower processor if you want to use pcem with that CPU.

Also https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/phpBB3/

What are I meaning whit that?

Make sure Voodoo 3's render threads count is not set above 2. Change windows' power plan to "High Performance". If it still doesn't help, then it probably means your i7 is not powerful enough to emulate a PII 333; choose a slower PII. If still slow, try a Pentium 1.

It must be noted that certain games have performance issues with v17, regardless of the chosen emulated CPU.

eddman wrote on 2023-08-17, 12:09:

Make sure Voodoo 3's render threads count is not set above 2. Change windows' power plan to "High Performance". If it still doesn't help, then it probably means your i7 is not powerful enough to emulate a PII 333; choose a slower PII. If still slow, try a Pentium 1.

It must be noted that certain games have performance issues with v17, regardless of the chosen emulated CPU.

I think the same. On an AMD Athlon 64 X2 from 2006 I was able to emulate an 486DX-50 with WinBIOS machine setting at full speed.

On an Mac Pro with Xeon processors, I was able to emulate a Pentium Overdrive 63 with WinBIOS machine setting already (at full speed).

A Pentium 133 MHz was possible, too, with some performance drops.

On an i7, depending on its single core performance, a fast Pentium MMX (166 or higher) or a Pentium Pro might be possible, even! 😃

The Pentium Pro is worth a try insofar, because it had a close relationship with the Pentium II architecture.

PS: Here's a tip. Older OSes like DOS or Windows 3.1x and Windows 9x do use idle loops.
That causes VMs to run at 100% CPU sage, even if nothing is happening.
Same problem exists for more advanced emulators, in theory.

To fix that problem, there are utilities that can be used.

- DOSIDLE, for DOS. Uses APM BIOS or the HLT command to let the CPU sleep.
The HLT instruction is available since late 486 processors.

- WQGHLT, for Windows 3.x; it is a CPU load reduction tool that's implemented as a VXD.
It will run on ring-0 and needs Windows running in 386 Ehnanced Mode.

- Raine/AmnHLT 1.0, for Windows 9x.

Technically, these systems should have powersaving featues on their own (POWER.EXE on DOS, APM support in Windows 3.1x setup etc), but they rarely work for whatever reasons. 🤷‍♂️

eddman wrote on 2023-08-17, 12:09:

Make sure Voodoo 3's render threads count is not set above 2. Change windows' power plan to "High Performance". If it still doesn't help, then it probably means your i7 is not powerful enough to emulate a PII 333; choose a slower PII. If still slow, try a Pentium 1.

It must be noted that certain games have performance issues with v17, regardless of the chosen emulated CPU.

bro wth i need a nasa pc or what? i dont see how emulating can be that heavy

FIN_K89i wrote on 2023-08-17, 17:30:

bro wth i need a nasa pc or what? i dont see how emulating can be that heavy

With PCem? Yes, you do. It requires powerful single-threaded performance.

FIN_K89i wrote on 2023-08-17, 17:30:

bro wth i need a nasa pc or what? i dont see how emulating can be that heavy

Bruv, I know that was a joke, but NASA's fastest supercomputer cores are sub-3 GHz Cascade lake (Skylake-class) and Zen 2 based, so they'll run PCem even slower than your i7.

Proper low-level emulation of such increasingly complex processors is quite demanding.

FIN_K89i wrote on 2023-08-17, 17:30:

eddman wrote on 2023-08-17, 12:09:

Make sure Voodoo 3's render threads count is not set above 2. Change windows' power plan to "High Performance". If it still doesn't help, then it probably means your i7 is not powerful enough to emulate a PII 333; choose a slower PII. If still slow, try a Pentium 1.

It must be noted that certain games have performance issues with v17, regardless of the chosen emulated CPU.

bro wth i need a nasa pc or what? i dont see how emulating can be that heavy

Feel free to build a better PC emulator yourself

feda wrote on 2023-08-17, 17:41:

FIN_K89i wrote on 2023-08-17, 17:30:

bro wth i need a nasa pc or what? i dont see how emulating can be that heavy

With PCem? Yes, you do. It requires powerful single-threaded performance.

Bro you know if there are more light emulators like PCem because my i7 i think that is cuite powerfull like standard games run ok the only less performance pice of my pc is the GPU but for the games that I play is enough

Bro, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8AP4qDBfqo

You need to try virtualization programs such as virtualbox or vmware if the game you are trying to play which you haven't named cannot run natively on your host os.

DosFreak wrote on 2023-08-18, 14:36:

Bro, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8AP4qDBfqo

You need to try virtualization programs such as virtualbox or vmware if the game you are trying to play which you haven't named cannot run natively on your host os.

Ye but virtualbox doesn't emulate CPU GPU end everything

FIN_K89i wrote on 2023-08-18, 14:52:

DosFreak wrote on 2023-08-18, 14:36:

Bro, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8AP4qDBfqo

You need to try virtualization programs such as virtualbox or vmware if the game you are trying to play which you haven't named cannot run natively on your host os.

Ye but virtualbox doesn't emulate CPU GPU end everything

You answered yourself why emulation is heavy

FIN_K89i wrote on 2023-08-18, 14:21:

feda wrote on 2023-08-17, 17:41:

FIN_K89i wrote on 2023-08-17, 17:30:

bro wth i need a nasa pc or what? i dont see how emulating can be that heavy

With PCem? Yes, you do. It requires powerful single-threaded performance.

Bro you know if there are more light emulators like PCem because my i7 i think that is cuite powerfull like standard games run ok the only less performance pice of my pc is the GPU but for the games that I play is enough

Lol bro, your weak little laptop CPU is 3x-4x slower than desktop processors and just barely faster than my 10 year old quad core 3570k. Forget about it.

This thread reminds me of Matt Riddle 🤣

feda wrote on 2023-08-18, 16:39:

FIN_K89i wrote on 2023-08-18, 14:21:

feda wrote on 2023-08-17, 17:41:

With PCem? Yes, you do. It requires powerful single-threaded performance.

Bro you know if there are more light emulators like PCem because my i7 i think that is cuite powerfull like standard games run ok the only less performance pice of my pc is the GPU but for the games that I play is enough

Lol bro, your weak little laptop CPU is 3x-4x slower than desktop processors and just barely faster than my 10 year old quad core 3570k. Forget about it.

Bruh I would buy a desktop but here in Sicily power is Reliable like a 1983 panda one day works the next who knows

Maybe cool it a bit with the "bro" and "bruh".

feda wrote on 2023-08-18, 16:39:

Lol bro, your weak little laptop CPU is 3x-4x slower than desktop processors and just barely faster than my 10 year old quad core 3570k. Forget about it.

That model actually has a good performance overall; considerably higher than a 3570k.

The problem is that those PCem settings are too high for it. It is also possible that the laptop doesn't have a very good cooler and thermal throttles.

The wrong windows power plan could also have a major effect, specially with U class Intel CPUs, but the OP never responded to that.

eddman wrote on 2023-08-18, 17:15:

That model actually has a good performance overall;

Not according to benchmarks it doesn't.

feda wrote on 2023-08-18, 17:50:

Not according to benchmarks it doesn't.

Compared to what which exact models? Obviously it cannot get close to modern desktop i5-i9 or Ryzen, but compared to other contemporary quad core processors it's quite alright. It's faster than my Ryzen 2600 per core, and probably still is with workloads up to 4 threads. It's much faster than a 3570k.

PCem uses 4 threads when voodoo 3 is set to 2 render threads, so you don't need more than 4 cores anyway. That i7's per core performance is ok, just not high enough for top Pentium 2 emulation.

I just don't get why a P2 is even needed. A pinball game should run fine with a P1, unless it's an XP era game which in that case it'd be better to run it directly on the computer with a wrapper like dgvoodoo.

eddman wrote:

I just don't get why a P2 is even needed. A pinball game should run fine with a P1, unless it's an XP era game which in that case it'd be better to run it directly on the computer with a wrapper like dgvoodoo.

^This.

Personally, I started with ancient/lower-end PCs most of the time (but without saving on RAM expansion)..

From what I can tell, a Pentium MMX 166 is good enough for many things, including Windows XP (SP0/SP1).
I ran emulators on such a physical PC back in ~2000-2004, even.

Windows 98SE is even less demanding.
A Pentium 90 or similar will work without pain.
So you could use a 486 machine setting instead with a Pentium Overdrive, even. The "POD83" is fine.

Anyway, these are just my two cents.
I'm a bit disconnected with the current tech.
So let's just think of the saying "less is sometimes more".