by cmw » 2006-1-28 @ 11:40
I've encountered extremely starnge Win 3.1 Behaviour.
I have CVS dated the 26. 1. running with the Graphics Performance Boost patch. So I've installed Win 3.1 and the SB16 drivers.
Now for dynamic, it basically works (fast), but no keyboard, but as you stated not to set the core to dynamic, this seems ok.
But there is something weird going on. If I set the CPU to simple/normal/full, and the cycles to sth around 7000 (so my CPU usage is ~80-90%; i can type in stuff in notepad without any problems.
Setting the value higher (so my CPU is at 100% will notepad cause to show extreme delay).
So far, this makes sense.
However, I installed Winplay 3 (it's a 16bit mp3player), and if I listen to an mp3, my actual cpu usage will drop by about 30-40%. So at a cycle, where the notepad delay was EXTREME it is still a bit delayed, but MUCH FASTER then before!
On the contrary, if i set the cpu cycles to a value, where notepad used to work fine, the mp3 playback will stuttering around (and notepad will be in a sate of not-respondance, but assuming that the emulated cpu is not capable to decode the mp3 fast enough anymore, this would make sense).
However, how can it be that the actual cpu usage drops, when the emulated cpu should have plenty of work to do with mp3 decoding?
Edit:
I also installed the xing mpeg Player. It's wicked. When I run an mpeg, the cpu load again will drop by extreme 60%. The playback will be slow, but since I've got free ressources now, I can increase cpu cycles up to 40.000! (then my cpu is still at around 90%), the video playback smoothly (though looks crappy because of 256colours).
However, if i turn mpeg off the system will be insanse slow and cpu usage at 100% all the time (If i try to play an mp3 then, it will stuter as hell, i have to crease the cycles back to lik 14000 until mp3 plays smoothly.
This really is a bit odd and may be key to some very nifty speed tweaks.
Afaik, at least video playback works by bypassing the OS and directly send stuff to the cpu or sth..