Budget upgrade

[hamall]

Hey guys I currently have my mom set up with Dolphin on a low end comp I put together a while back and would like to upgrade it so she could get some better looking graphics and performance while playing. Having a hard time pulling 30 fps on rune frontier on every low possible setting. She doesn't really mind.. but I feel like she should at least be getting a rock solid 30 fps with no slow downs.. Here are the current specs

MSI LGA1155/Intel H61/DDR3/A&GbE/MicroATX H61M-P31
Intel G540 CPU 2.50 GHZ 2M CACHE
EVGA GeForce 8400 GS
Antec Basiq BP350 350
Corsair XMS3 8GB

I'm thinking if I upgrade the graphic card to a GTX 1050 or maybe 1050 TI, she should be set.
but what about that CPU? will that be the bottleneck? should I upgrade that instead?

what about upgrading the cpu to 3570K and keeping the 8400GS?
or will both have to be upgraded to truly gain some performance?

Thanks guys

[admin89]

8400GS doesn't meet the minimum graphic requirement to run Dolphin, not even fast enough for the lowest settings (480p).
GTX 1050 is overkill for 1080p already , I don't think you will see any difference with GTX 1050ti unless you use very high anti-aliasing
i5 3570k is an unlocked CPU that is made for overclocking while your current mobo does not support overclocking , it should be paired with a Z77 mobo , not a H61 mobo .
I think you should upgrade your graphic card first then upgrade you mobo and CPU
i3 6100 is dirt cheap , it's only $120 and you can find a good mobo for it like the MSI H110 Pro ($56)
i3 6100 is even faster than i7 3770k in Dolphin Benchmark , i5 3570k doesn't stand a chance even when overclock
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/551?vs=1682

[hamall]

Thank you for the info.

I know you said to upgrade gfx then cpu/mb but do you think just the graphic card upgrade will be enough or is that cpu also very weak and wont see much improvement without proper cpu/mb upgrade?

[admin89]

By upgrading the graphic card , you will be able to use the new Directx12 or Vulkan which is faster than what you're using right now but it won't change the fact that your CPU is slow for Dolphin . You may find some light-weight games playable though
https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/#which-cpu-should-i-use

[hamall]

Ok thank you very much for all your help man!