Building a passively cooled Dolphin machine

[NorsteinBekkler]

So I'm thinking about the best (in other words: cheapest) way to build a fanless Dolphin machine, and with the latest performance improvements, I am positive that it is entirely possible.

I installed Dolphin on my 2008 Laptop, and am able to play e.g. New Super Mario Bros and Rune Factory Frontier without slowdowns, despite the Laptop being powered by a Core2Duo 2*2.0Ghz, 4GB DDR2-800 and a Geforce 9600M-GT.

My Goal is to run the game in 1920*1080 in, say, 2x resolution with improved Textures.
Do you think an Intel Pentium J3710 (as in this board http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/J3710M/index.asp ) would be able to run that?
As for the graphics, I have set my eye upon a Sapphire Ultimate HD 6570 passive. It is a little more powerful than even the full desktop version of the 9600M-GT, plenty newer, has twice the VRAM and a max power consumption of 40W, which would suit the noiseless PC just fine.

An alternative would be to try and find an older used i3 or i5 CPU that is capable of handling 1080p Dolphin games, and equip it with a strong passive cooler like the newer Scythe models, maybe undervolt it a little.
But I'd really prefer the J3710 because it comes with a board and cooler, has extremely low power consumption, and would fit a smaller case.

[KHg8m3r]

New Super mario Bros is litterally one of the easiest games to emulate. Try the Last Story, Rogue Squadron, or Xenoblade on that machine and report back about how bad performance is

Question 1: why do you want a passively cooled computer?
Question 2: Are you looking for something low powered as well? if so, why?

Edit: the J3710 isn't a horrible CPU, but it has a base clock of 1.6 GHz, and a max boost of 2.6 GHz, so you'll probably have trouble playing some games.

[NorsteinBekkler]

(11-18-2016, 03:52 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: New Super mario Bros is litterally one of the easiest games to emulate. Try the Last Story, Rogue Squadron, or Xenoblade on that machine and report back about how bad performance is

Well, for starters the games I'm interested in are mainly the SMG series, Mario Party 8, the 2.5D platformers (Kirby, New Super Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong) and both Rune Factory titles. Maybe the Zeldas but that's it.
I tried Rune Factory Frontier and it runs well.

(11-18-2016, 03:52 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: Question 1: why do you want a passively cooled computer?
Question 2: Are you looking for something low powered as well? if so, why?

I want a (mainly, except for maybe a really silent 140mm casefan) passively cooled computer that doesn't consume too much power because I want it to run 24/7 and be our NAS and home theater at the same time. If it's not silent it will bother me at night, and if it consumes too much power it will be harder to cool silently and cost way more money over time.

[KHg8m3r]

If by SMG you mean Super Mario Galaxy, you'll need a way better GPU because that's a graphics processing heavy game series. The others don't sound too bad, but I think Donkey Kong may be CPU heavy? Zelda Wind Waker is pretty lightweight, but Twilight Princess is really CPU intensive.

Well, if you don't need this computer immediately, there is an upcoming i3-7350K that is rumored to be an overclock-able i3. I would recommend sticking that on a good overclockable board (for future proofing and ability to have a lot of system features), get a water cooler, never hear it again. It will run at a really high clock speed and use comparatively little energy when idling. And pair that with a quiet GTX 1050/1050 Ti and it should be a quiet, powerful system for years to come.

[NorsteinBekkler]

(11-19-2016, 04:35 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: If by SMG you mean Super Mario Galaxy, you'll need a way better GPU because that's a graphics processing heavy game series. The others don't sound too bad, but I think Donkey Kong may be CPU heavy? Zelda Wind Waker is pretty lightweight, but Twilight Princess is really CPU intensive.

Well, if you don't need this computer immediately, there is an upcoming i3-7350K that is rumored to be an overclock-able i3. I would recommend sticking that on a good overclockable board (for future proofing and ability to have a lot of system features), get a water cooler, never hear it again. It will run at a really high clock speed and use comparatively little energy when idling. And pair that with a quiet GTX 1050/1050 Ti and it should be a quiet, powerful system for years to come.

Sorry, but hardware-wise, you don't seem too knowledgeable.
First off: it is not "rumored" to be an overclockable i3. The K always stands for a CPU with a free multiplactor (which is more simple to overclock, but really any CPU can be overclocked if you have the right mainboard).
Next: Overclocking it makes it consume more power thus producing more heat thus needing a greater fan speed resulting in more noise. Even a watercooled system needs a fan, mind you.
And why would I even overclock a CPU that's not even come out yet. There is plenty of CPUs on the market that can pull it off already, even without overclocking.
The 6570 is sufficient for 1080p Super Mario Galaxy 2, I know that because I tried it. EDIT: Fixed a typo that spelled 1090
Also, even if it wasn't there is no reason at all to buy a 1050 - because AMD has better GPUs in that price range, and I already said that the system is NOT going to do anything else than playing movies and running dolphin. And even if the 1050 had the better bang/buck ratio, it will not last "for years to come". Even the bigger 1060 will be obsolete in 2 years at the VERY most.

[KHg8m3r]

Counter points, because I wasn't clear enough in my post:
-I say rumored because the chip has not been officially announced by Intel, my bad on that
-Yes, overclocking would draw more power, but at stock speeds of 4.0GHz running at a rumored (because not officially announced) 61W TDP, that's a ways below any i5/i7 chips. That would lead to lees heat needing to be displaced, thus less power draw, thus less noise generated by cooling system, while still being a really fast CPU that can handle darn near anything Dolphin could throw at it
-or skip the overclocking with the i3-7300 at 51W TDP
-Any Skylake i3 would also work, but the Kaby Lake generation of CPUs is a refined version of Skylake, meaning they are expected to be more efficient at the same speeds. You're looking for low power consumption, so it was a factor I was thinking of
-Overclocking does draw more power, but its an optional thing. The base clock of the i3-7350k is really high already, so its like a free pass for more performance in the future
-water cooling tends to be quieter than air cooling unless you get some really nice air coolers
-I have a GTX 760 in my desktop running SMG1 at 3x IR (1080p), there are areas with some slowdown due to light-rays using the OpenGL back-end (haven't tested Vulkan yet). The HD 6570 is way less powerful than a GTX 760, so again, taking that into consideration
-I recommended the 1050/1050 Ti because I am more familiar with Nvidia hardware.
-Dolphin's GPU requirements don't raise very often, usually only when some new feature gets more accurate before it gets optimized. So a 1050/1050 Ti would be a great card for at least 4 years because it's a new design so it'll receive driver updates for at least that long, and is a very capable card.

I recommend this setup because it is what I would buy for myself if I had money to make a new computer just for Dolphin and didn't want a lot of noise. Passively cooled hardware is something I would recommend to stay away from, because those sort of systems are usually clocked at low speeds and will thermally throttle themselves if they can't get enough heat moved away from the system fast enough

[NorsteinBekkler]

Well it seems we were in a misunderstanding then, I apologize in case I came across all high and mighty.
Anyway, as mentioned I think you are overestimating Dolphin's GPU requirements, possibly because you are relying on an OpenGL backend. I can't tell for newer Nvidia cards, since the latest I am using is the 9600M-GT, but with AMD cards, I find DX11 and especially DX12 to deliver much, much more FPS than OpenGL. DX12 has the drawback to crash sometimes, though. It is still in early development after all.
All in all the hardware requirements for dolphin are more likely to drop than to rise, since Dolphin, Vulkan, DX12 and the drivers keep getting optimized while Wii and Gamecube games stay the way they are. In the end, I'm still aiming for passive cooling. If I didn't already have my GPU, I'd probably go for the GTX 750ti passive, it does actually manage without any fans at all, while still delivering enough performance even for games like GTA5. Which I don't play. But anyway.
Same with the CPU: My plan was looking for an existing one with TDP of 55W or less that I could cool with a big fanless cooler.

[admin89]

Most likely NSMB and Rune Factory is the only 2 games that will be playable on that processor
As for SMG , it's a pretty intensive game . I had an old Pentium E5300 @ 3.6GHz , yet not able to run it full speed all the time . Mario Kart Wii , SMG series and some other games are graphic demanding games , you may have to run these games at 720p . I had 9800GT which is equivalent to HD 6570 and 720p is the highest option for these games
Just get a better GPU, a passive cool GTX 750 or 750ti or HD 7750 will do
Donkey Kong CR and Kirby RTDL are CPU intensive games . Kirby may run well at first but when you reach a certain stage , game will become slower and slower

[NorsteinBekkler]

(11-19-2016, 10:16 AM)admin89 Wrote: Most likely NSMB and Rune Factory is the only 2 games that will be playable on that processor
As for SMG , it's a pretty intensive game . I had an old Pentium E5300 @ 3.6GHz , yet not able to run it full speed all the time .  Mario Kart Wii , SMG series and some other games are graphic demanding games , you may have to run these games at 720p . I had 9800GT which is equivalent to HD 6570 and 720p is the highest option for these games
Just get a better GPU, a passive cool GTX 750 or 750ti or HD 7750 will do
Donkey Kong CR and Kirby RTDL are CPU intensive games . Kirby may run well at first but when you reach a certain stage , game will become slower and slower

Any suggestions on the CPU? That's basically why I started the thread in the first place.

[admin89]

i3 6100T , $99 atm
It's low power CPU (only 35W) which mean you can use a passive cooler on it
Here is one of them , for only 9 bucks :
https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-Passive-passive-cooling-performance/dp/B01ARGVZBE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1479520410&sr=1-1
As for mobo , any H110 mobo is fine