Koga001 Wrote:How much of a performance gain would I be getting if I go with the i7-4770K instead of the i5-4670K? I do know that it isn't much for regular gaming, 3 - 4 FPS at most, since according to what I've read games don't benefit from Hyperthreading, and there's also the $100 difference to take into consideration. I wouldn't mind paying if it's really going to give me that edge over the i5.
Dolphin doesn't take advantage of Hyper-Threading. It's only useful if you have a lot of background processes going on, but even then, four cores on the i5 would be sufficient for that. Just go for the i5-4670K. Unless you do other tasks that need Hyper-Threading (like frequent video encoding), the i5-4670K is going to be what you want.
Koga001 Wrote:Then, there's the video card. The R9 280X and the GTX770 are pretty even when it comes to performance with regular games, and the R9 280X is $40 cheaper than the GTX, but for some reason I like to lean towards Nvidia. But, how will these 2 play with Dolphin? And, would the extra 1Gb of VRAM give me any performance boost on the R9 over the GTX? I've read that higher VRAM is only good for gaming with multiple screens or at really high resolutions, but I don't plan on going over 1080p.
If you want to future-proof yourself with AMD's Mantle API (technically, Nvidia could implement the API as well, but no one knows if that will happen) you could go with the R9 280X. If not, both GPUs will be ridiculously good in Dolphin. The GPU determines how high you can raise your Internal Resolution and Anti-Aliasing without creating a GPU bottleneck. Both GPUs will laugh at 1080p; that's not even going to stress them in Dolphin. You'll need to crank up the settings to pretty intensive levels to start slowing them down.
Koga001 Wrote:Mario Galaxy, NSMB, Zelda (especially Skyward Sword) and so on. Let's say I'm planning on playing the most graphic intensive games that there are.
Dolphin is very reliant on the CPU for most of its performance (unlike many modern PC games), but since the 4670K can overclock, reaching 4.0 GHz should be enough for most games, and 4.2 GHz should cover just about everything else. SMG1 and SMG2 are CPU intensive games, since you need to use LLE audio for proper sound, but again, the 4670K will tear through it. NSMB Wii is a very lightweight game, as in it doesn't take much to run it (think mid-range laptop). It won't be a problem at all. Skyward Sword is slightly more demanding than most games on average, but it's nowhere near the level of SMG1 & 2 with LLE audio; you'll be able to handle that as well, easily.
Koga001 Wrote:Extra question, that I'm sure it doesn't belong here, but just in case anyone can answer it: I plan on buying a WiiMote Plus to play games that require it, such as Skyward Sword. Now, do I need the sensor bar for it? I've seen there's a USB one on Amazon for ~$13, but do I really need? I'm also aware of the candle trick to replace the Sensor Bar, but do I really need either of them?
Yes, you need something to act as a sensor bar. This game uses the sensor bar in conjunction with the WiiMotion+ control scheme; both are necessary in order to play this game properly. There is an unofficial emulated WiiMotion+ build that lets you use a keyboard or joystick to play WiiMotion+ games, but trying to beat this game with anything but a WiiMotion+ is often an unenjoyable exercise is frustration.