Dolphin/Emulation PC - CRT build

[LordBarker]

Hi all,

Been using Dolphin for ages on my gaming desktop an o/ced 4.5ghz 2600K with a GTX 1060 and runs perfectly, along with all other emulators.

However, recently I've been messing around with my CRT and PVMS and using an old Dell Optiplex i5 3450 (I believe) @ 3.2ghz with a Radeon 5450 and installing Calamitys CRT Emudrivers I've been able to get Dolphin running at 480i/Native res on my CRTS quite well, and even some games on PCSX2 pretty well also. However I'm still noticing things like slowdown in Wind Waker and certain games that I obviously don't get on my gaming rig. So I'm thinking with a little more power I could get everything running perfectly. To clarify I do NOT need to run things at super high internal resolutions as this is for a tube set and I can already do that on my desktop. I also need to use an older Radeon such as a 6450, 5450 or the 7 series, something with 2GB of RAM that's LP ideally due to the driver compatibility.

So, I'm wondering, as this is to be a budget build would I see improvement over my Dell setup with a G4620? I was thinking the unlocked Pentium anniversary chip overclocked, but I understand the G4620 might be quicker stock due to hyperthreading? I'm also wondering now whether a i3 7300 would be quicker again at stock. I was going to pair this up with a MiniITX board and one of the older Radeons and if someone could recommend a Radeon that's not entirely crap that would be great and needs to be in the compatibility list: https://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/v...php?id=295

If anyone could advise CPU and GPU to get mainly Gamecube stuff running well that would be great. While I'm aware this isn't the PCSX2 forums, if either of those CPUs would improve performance here would be good to know that too. 

[TKSilver]

The i3 7300 is faster then the g4620 which is going to be faster then the i5 3450. The g3258 (if you can find one for a reasonable price is about as fast stock as the g4620 with much less multi threaded performance which effects emultors very little.

The g4620 should handle most games on dolphin just fine. The extra performance on the i3 7300 would help on PCSX2 but the fact you have to use a radeon graphics card is going to hurt you in PCSX2 more then anything since unlike dolphin PCSX2 does not have Vulkan at all (no plans to do it anytime soon), the DirectX backend has only a fraction of the fixes or compatibility of the OpenGL one, and OpenGL on amd cards is not great due to drivers.

For Dolphin I would recomend a GCN (graphics core next) card that supports Vulkan.. something like an R7 250 shouldn't be too bad price wise (used) or the r7\r9 300 series if you can get a really nice deal somewhere used from someone who already moved to the RX cards.

[JonnyH]

To be honest if you're buying new hardware anyway, something like a Ryzen 2200g may be a good choice. And likely cheaper than a separate CPU and GPU.

And I wouldn't recommend anything older than the GCN Radeon 7xxx stuff - that still gets first class driver support, works with all the latest APIs and features (vulkan etc.), and the architecture is likely a better fit to most use cases.

[TKSilver]

The problem is that Ryzen APU does not work with the CRT emudrivers the OP wants to run (or anything Polaris). I would have recommended the same otherwise.

[LordBarker]

The problem is that Ryzen APU does not work with the CRT emudrivers the OP wants to run (or anything Polaris). I would have recommended the same otherwise.

Correct.

Thanks for the info about TKSilver it's really useful. So do you think the g3258 overclocked might still be a better bet pound for pound next to a 7300? I can get a g3258 for about £30, while a 7300 is about £100-120, so it's quite a huge price gap! Just wondering if it's worth the extra cash? Many thanks

[TKSilver]

if you get a good overclock then it should handle PCSX2 and Dolphin fine. If you get a good overclock then for emulation it should outperform your 2600k.

[LordBarker]

if you get a good overclock then it should handle PCSX2 and Dolphin fine. If you get a good overclock then for emulation it should outperform your 2600k.

Great, thanks so will probably go for:
*ASrock H81M RDS 2.0 (would prefer mini ITX but can't seem to find a decent one for the G3258 for the right price)
*Pentium g3258 (stock cooling/potentially a Noctua 12S)
*Radeon R7 250 or 9 200/300 series
*240gb SSD
I have some 1600 mhz DDR3 ram lying about.

Any idea if a 250W Pico PSU would be suitable? Thinking I might fabricate my own case anyway at which point it won't matter

Cheers

[TKSilver]

1. Are you sure that ASrock H81M RDS 2.0 supports overclocking the g3258? Only some H models support overclocking the g3258.

2. Even without overclocking the g3258, or the r7 250 (or picking a more power hungry card), or even adding in any fans\USB\disc drives\or anything else you are sitting at 233W on a conservative estimate I would recomend a 400W PSU if you plan on overclocking any of the components and a 300-350W if you are not.

[LordBarker]

1.  Are you sure that ASrock H81M RDS 2.0 supports overclocking the g3258? Only some H models support overclocking the g3258.

2. Even without overclocking the g3258, or the r7 250 (or picking a more power hungry card), or even adding in any fans\USB\disc drives\or anything else you are sitting at 233W on a conservative estimate  I would recomend a 400W PSU if you plan on overclocking any of the components and a 300-350W if you are not.

It does indeed, however I think a mini ITX would be better, can get a H81M plus for cheap, also able to be O/C'ed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w41XjH_Y7c  

Yeah, perhaps I'll go for a modular 400W PSU. If I go mini ITX  I have a far wider range of small cases on offer anyhow.

Cheers again