Building a Dolpin 5.0 capable PC - Confusion about my CPU and GPU options

[13thstruggle]

NintendoManiac64 recommended for me to post here. I apologize for my formatting ahead of time.


I'm in the process of building a PC to run Dolphin. Its primary function is for emulation and pretty much nothing else but some video streaming. I plan to play games at 1080p 60fps with some effects applied such as Anti Aliasing. I want to mention that I already have a "beast" computer and am building this as a home theatre "all in one" system.


Originally the CPU I had picked out was the Pentium G4560 since it's such a great processor for the price; matching the performance of an i3. I figured this would be good enough for Dolphin.

The GPU I had picked out was the GT 710. My reasoning for this was because I read that Dolphin didn't need an impressive GPU for games; it just needed one, of course something decent (decent by budget GPU standards).

Both of these decisions were also based on YouTube videos I watched where similar specs, and in some case worse, handled Dolphin just fine; Wii and Gamecube games.


However, after some discussion, I have been informed that the GT 710 would not be enough and that an overclocked G3258 would actually be better than the G4560 despite being older.

What I am looking for is some advice and discussion as to what I should really be looking at. NintendoManiac64 recommended the overclocked G3258 and a GT 1030, describing that it would be a much better combination. I'm very used to looking at the specs needed for traditional, modern gaming, but for emulation I am very much lost.

How is it that a G3258 would be better? Does Dolphin really require a more impressive GPU than I first thought?

I appreciate any and all help I get, I'm very aware of how awesome this community is and hope I can come to a conclusion

EDIT: As NintendoManiac64 pointed out, and as I failed to mention, I chose 4GB of RAM while they recommended 8. They also stated that the G4560 would only be slower if it happened to not want to overclock over 4.0ghz. NintendoManiac64 wrote this information in the reply below. I am adding it to my original post for the sake of organization.

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

It's also worth noting that I recommended 2x4GB of RAM while 13thstruggle was looking at 1x4GB of RAM, so advice on that would probably be useful as well.

And just to clarify a few things for everybody else with regards to what I told 13thstruggle about the G3258, I stated that it should only be slower than a G4560 if you lose the silicon lottery (meaning only being able to overclock to maybe 4.0GHz) or if you have to use LLE audio (since that can run on a separate thread and the G4560 is 2c/4t vs the G3258's 2c/2t).

(I also mentioned that, in the future, Raven Ridge could be ideal for super-budget Dolphin builds)

[Ivybridge11]

Both of those CPU's should run Dolphin okay, it's just a matter of how willing you are to overclock and how good each CPU is for it.
As for the GPU, the 710 is reeeaaaallllyyy bad. There's this misconception that emulation doesn't need a good GPU. That's false, you still need something good enough to push those pixels, it's just that the really high end ones are mostly overkill nowadays.
Integrated graphics or the 710 might do for native resolution (480p), but to get it to 1080p, you do need a decent GPU.
Since you want to play at 1080p with some enhancements, you'll need at least a 750Ti, which is widely thought of as the baseline for 1080p in Dolphin. I don't know much about the 1030, but if it's similar to the 750Ti in performance, it should do fine.
Hope this helps.

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

Both of those CPU's should run Dolphin okay, it's just a matter of how willing you are to overclock and how good each CPU is for it.

It's not that simple though.


The Pentium G3258 is a Haswell 2c/2t CPU with an unlocked multiplier at a stock clockrate of 3.2GHz.

The Pentium G4560 is a Kabylake 2c/4t CPU with a locked multiplier at a stock clockrate of 3.5GHz.


At stock the G4560 is clearly better, but the G3258 has an unlocked multiplier that can be overclocked even without a z-series board (unlike, say, the i3-7350k which does require a z-series board).

[GreenT]

You want 1080p gaming, with some effects such as AA, with Wii and Gamecube games.

Pentium G4560 at stock speed and a GTX 1050 should do that. The GT 1030 may be capable of doing it, but without having tested it myself, I suspect it may not be capable of doing it for all games. I also have doubts that it will be able to handle much in the way of optional effects like AA at 1080p. I base this on having built a Dolphin box recently with a 1050 ti, and extrapolating from there.

As for RAM, if you never want to run custom texture packs, 4 GB should be fine. But if you have any interest in HD textures, consider going with 8 GB now. I'm running an 8 GB config and so far everything I've tried has worked well. I was told that very large texture packs may require even more RAM, particularly with the "pre-load all custom textures" setting. But I use that setting, and so far no issues with 8 GB.

[Helios]

Dolphin doesn't need a good GPU, but the GT 710 is a god awful GPU that even the Intel HD 4600 (haswell desktop GPU) beats.

[Ivybridge11]

It's not that simple though.


The Pentium G3258 is a Haswell 2c/2t CPU with an unlocked multiplier at a stock clockrate of 3.2GHz.

The Pentium G4560 is a Kabylake 2c/4t CPU with a locked multiplier at a stock clockrate of 3.5GHz.


At stock the G4560 is clearly better, but the G3258 has an unlocked multiplier that can be overclocked even without a z-series board (unlike, say, the i3-7350k which does require a z-series board).

Yeah, I know that. As I said, it's the potential for Overclocking that the G3258 has as an advantage in.

[13thstruggle]

It's not that simple though.


The Pentium G3258 is a Haswell 2c/2t CPU with an unlocked multiplier at a stock clockrate of 3.2GHz.

The Pentium G4560 is a Kabylake 2c/4t CPU with a locked multiplier at a stock clockrate of 3.5GHz.


At stock the G4560 is clearly better, but the G3258 has an unlocked multiplier that can be overclocked even without a z-series board (unlike, say, the i3-7350k which does require a z-series board).

When you say clearly better, how much of a real world difference does that translate to? How much would I be missing out on? 10s of frames, or a few?

[GreenT]

When you say clearly better, how much of a real world difference does that translate to? How much would I be missing out on? 10s of frames, or a few?

The Pentium G4560 at stock clock speed should run every Wii game without issue. It's the GPU that determines which resolutions you can run at and which options (such as AA) can be enabled while maintaining playable frame rates. 

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

Just as a reference point, here's what the GPU choices look like around the price-bracket in question:

GT 1030 2GB @ $70

Rx 460 2GB @ $74 after rebate and shipping

Rx 550 2GB @ $90 after shipping

GTX 1050 2GB @ $90 after rebate and shipping