How to Get Games to Run Faster With PCSX2?

The PCSX2 is a free emulator designed for PCs playing PlayStation 2 games. The emulator works by simulating the actual console machine and requires a capable computer to complete this task. There are several advantages with the PCSX2, such as improved graphics, ability to save at any time, cheating and portability. Although the games may currently be playing slow or be completely unplayable, there are some tweaks that can be done to speed up the performance.

Instructions Things You'll Need: Game booster application

1. Upgrade PCSX2 to the latest build and download the newest plug-ins from the official website (see Resources.) All emulators are a work in progress, and it is important to check for any new releases which may improve speed and fix various bugs left in the previous release.
2. Shut down all of the applications that are not needed to run the PCSX2. These are taking up precious resources which could be used by the software. This is done by opening the Task Manager, pressing the "ctrl-alt-del" at the same time and closing out the programs. If you are unsure if the application is needed to run the operating system, then leave it alone or you will cause Windows to freeze.
3. Defragment the computer hard drive by running the defragmenter. This application comes with all Windows computers and can be found by typing "Disk Defragmenter," without the quotes, into the search bar which is located under the "Start Menu." After being used for some time, the disk becomes partitioned and when it saves files they become scattered throughout the drive.
This causes software to run slower since the computer now needs time to find the necessary parts of the program or game.
4. Make sure that you are running both the application and the game from a hard drive within the computer -- and not an external one which is connected by a USB or FireWire cable. The access speeds used by external devices is much slower and it will greatly diminish the performance of PCSX2.
5. Download the free software called "Game Booster" (see Resources), which allows you to do all of the previously mentioned steps with a simple click of a button. The program is quite small, but very powerful in a way that it will shut down the unnecessary programs, free memory, defragment the folders of the game and the emulator, and perform additional small tweaks that can improve performance.