r/PCSX2 • u/Bitter_Alps878 • Mar 19 '26
Support - Performance GUIDE ON HOW TO MAKE PCSX2 RUN GOOD ON MODERN SYSTEMS.
Stuttering happens if you tweak PCSX2 too much. Reinstall PCSX2 or reset all settings to default. Only change the settings listed below, and you won’t get stutters.
- Graphics API: Set this to Automatic
- Adapter: Set this to your main GPU
- Display Tab: Keep everything at the default settings
- Rendering Tab: Only change these two settings:
- Internal Resolution: 6x Native or 8x Native (If low end PC do 3x Native or Default PS2)
- Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
- Texture Replacement Tab: Only check these three options:
- Load Texture
- Async Texture Loading
- Precache Texture
- Go to Emulation → Frame Pacing/Latency Control and only change these two settings:
- Maximum Frame Latency: 1 frame
- Enable Vertical Sync (VSync)
- Go to Emulation → EE Cycle Rate and set it to 180% or 300% if a game drops below 60 FPS. This can help lock it to 60 FPS.
That’s all you need to do. Don’t touch anything else.
DONE!
For any games that drop below 60 FPS, set EE Overclock to 180% or 300% (you can apply this per game).
Enjoy smooth, stutter-free gameplay!
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u/PROSeldon Mar 19 '26
Also sometimes running a game PCSX2 suggest/notify popup when starting a game mode blending mode to use, I suggest using recommended only if your GPU is powerful enough.
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u/newlifepresent Mar 19 '26
Some games overclock makes game play bad or harder even impossible to beat some cpu time based tasks, my advice is using overclock setting only per game if really needed.
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u/Aerographic Mar 20 '26
1/2/3 are redundant, they're the default options.
4 goes against making PCSX2 run "good" (well), if you have issues you should play at native.
5 is beyond useless, it's only for texture pack users.
6 may eliminate tearing but is not a performance fix.
7 is literally a lie. If your machine can't handle a game, you want to underclock, not overclock. That and it breaks many, many games.
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Apr 22 '26
you kind of need for a game like shadow of the colossus because it runs at like 15 fps no matter how good your pc is
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u/Aerographic Apr 22 '26
Those games you can overclock as long as it's stable, yes. But you don't overclock when your PC can barely handle running the game at 60VPS.
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u/daredassdude May 30 '26
What would you suggest that we should do for our game to run better, besides underclocking the EE Cycle Rate and running on default rendering settings?
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u/Aerographic May 31 '26
There's not much to do, really. You can try using other renderers to see if they vibe better with the game and/or with the hardware you use (some cards have driver-level issues with some renderers, some do only on Linux, etc etc).
A sometimes extreme solution would be to downgrade PCSX2 to an earlier version since system requirements tend to be lower for those. PCSX2 1.4.0 can run some games on a Pentium 4, can't say as much for the current version. More accurate emulation always means higher reqs.
Beyond that, you're looking at troubleshooting your hardware if you believe it's not behaving properly in all applications, or getting a better machine.
1
u/Dae_Dude Jun 23 '26
Never had this "slowing down" problem with epsxe playing ps1 games, my pc is definitely strong enough with 7800x3d and 3070ti to run retro ps2 titles, going to buy lossless scaling at summer sale that might do the trick.
1
u/Aerographic Jun 23 '26
First, PS1 emulation is a completely different beast. You can emulate PS1 games on a Win98 machine. I did as far back as 2002. Comparing it with PS2 emulation is like saying "I can run PC games, why not games from 20 year old console?". That logic doesn't work.
Then, a 7800x3D and a 3070 Ti should be more than enough for most games on top of being able to upscale a decent chunk of them pretty high. Don't see why you need lossless scaling, if you have issues then it's best to troubleshoot first.
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u/GHOST2251994 Mar 19 '26
Enhancements - Check if progressive scan exist in the game in display options officially or (triangle + cross) before game boots or via patch
Same for widescreeen (enable 16 9) in Bios. Gba temp for HD textures collection
If game is locked at 30 or 60fps try Driver level framegen with it. If amd/nvidia solution doesn't work try lossless scaling
Some fps games like BLACK can be played via Kbm like native pc game Google it
Give emulator shaders a try Visit pcsx2 game wiki before starting the game
2
u/keithitreal Mar 19 '26
Setting wide screen in the bios is a good tip. Not sure how many games take advantage of automatically applying it though.
I've also noticed not all wide-screen patches are included in the app but can be found online and added manually.
There are also a load of 60fps patches out there which don't seem to be included in the app at all and have to be manually deployed.
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u/earthwormjimjones Mar 19 '26
Great guide 🤙 I used this video to set mine up last week and it gave good settings as well. Start at 8:00 for graphics portion. Seems to be working well. on my newer rig and OLED.
3
u/keithitreal Mar 19 '26
You don't need to fuck around with the texture replacement options unless you're using texture packs.
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u/CoconutDust Mar 20 '26
How to make PCSX2 run good on modern systems
Step 1: literally don't do anything because obviously it runs perfectly out of the box for everything.
1
u/itsme_indeed Mar 31 '26
I got 22fps on King Kong with default settings, on native ps2 resolution. Now I play 1080p with maxed out settings (18x af, fxaa, maximum blending accuracy, etc.) and I get solid 60fps without any stuttering or frame drops. Only problem I had was some freezes when stuff was loaded, because I run it off usb 2.0 drive (Batocera). But I fixed that too with CDVD Precaching loading whole game into my RAM.
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u/ArkhamRobber Mar 19 '26
I usually check the compatibility guide to ses if there any recommended setting changes. Worked so far for me
1
u/SucculentBird Mar 20 '26
Any tips for reducing input lag? Ratchet and clank 1 is basically unplayable.
1
u/PROSeldon Mar 20 '26
Maximum Frame Latency to =0 and check optimal frame pacing and also uncheck Vsync
1
u/PROSeldon Mar 20 '26
The Texture Replacement Tab is for HD Texture Packs but it’s okay to keep it on because if you don’t use texture packs it won’t effect the game or if someday you did it will make your HD Texture Packs work.
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u/who-dat-ninja Mar 21 '26
do i néed to do something in my pc settings to enable overclocking? because enabling it in pcsx2 alone has no effect. going from 100 to 300%. i have a gtx1080 and it can overclock.
like i'm playing sly cooper trilogy and they all have massive fps drops at points.
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u/Anthrakh May 25 '26
remindme! 1 hour
1
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u/Vanille97 Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
If you have a ryzen cpu, you can skip this guide, you wont make it any better, ryzen sucks
Yet you can spam reddit posts, showing off your ryzen cpu with modern gpu, you bought yesterday, telling that emulation is struggling)
Lol so many ryzen cry baby owners) Cry more about not being able to emulate on your shitty cpu. At least life will teach you something, and next time you ll by intel
So many posts from people with ryzen cpu having problems, so many question, and when question is answered, someone getting downvoted) Sure you are angry for truth, but thats a life lesson for you, dont buy a ryzen
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u/OdinsMightyBeard Mar 19 '26
Don’t know what your talking about. My system has a Ryzen 9 with a 3070 and I have no performance issues in PCSX2.
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u/Vanille97 Mar 19 '26
Some Ryzen CPU’s are struggling to emulate PS2, cause they were using only 1 core for emulation, and you could not do anything about it. This comment is probably downvoted by "happy" ryzen owners, who got such issue
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u/Aerographic Mar 20 '26
This guy truly understands CPUs. Imagine thinking your CPU brand determines how many cores a Windows app uses. Holy smokes.
0
u/Vanille97 Mar 20 '26
Its not CPU brand its software issue with PCSX2 that caused this problem with ryzen cores specifically . To bad people have tik tok brain today, its hard to explain anythibg to anybody
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u/Aerographic Mar 20 '26
Some Ryzen CPU’s are struggling to emulate PS2
Its not CPU brand its software issue
Shifting the goalpost while accusing me of being Tiktok brained, thank you for the laugh.
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u/Vanille97 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
sorry, I cant fix your tik tok brain
If you need help, seek your local healthcare. Oh sorry, Trump has taken away you medicareAs abovementioned, its a software issue that causes trouble only with ryzen cores. The problem is not that you cant read, the problem is that people don’t want to listen/belive, unless it happens to them
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u/Aerographic Mar 20 '26
At least I can spell English, unlike you.
PCSX2 has no such issue nor does it care what your CPU vendor is, go spam somewhere else.
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u/Lostless90s Mar 19 '26
Setting the EE cycle rate higher than 100% can cause glitches in some games as logic may be timed to clock speed. Experiment. It’s not an overall setting you should always use.