Dolphin PC buying guide

[RupeeClock]

I spoke with Novatech customer support, and they're actually happy to replace components for me, I can specify a processor, a motherboard, some RAM and get a quote from them.
Will probably do that in October because prices are always dropping and I don't need it now.

[WiinRAR]

Hi I'm about to get a http://www.asusnotebook.com.au/2216_ASUS-PL80JT-PL80JT-WO018X-Black-Notebook-Intel-Core-i5-520UM-with-Win-7.php

Do I even have the slightest chance of using the Dolphin emulator?
Specs as follows:
ASUS PL90JT PL80JT-WO018X Notebook Features:

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Intel Core i5 520Um 1.06GHz Processor (1.86GHz Turbo)
Mobile Intel HM55 Express Chipset
NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M, with 1GB DDR3 VRAM
4GB DDR3 1066MHz Memory
500GB 5400rpm Hard Drive (Upgradeable to up to 1TB Hard Drive or up to 250GB SSD)
14" HD (1366x768) Color-Shine (Glare-type)
HDMI Output
0.3 Mega Pixel Camera
802.11n Wireless
Bluetooth
Battery Life: Upto 10hrs
Weight: from 1.9kg

Graphics card details below:
Manufacturer NVIDIA
Series GeForce 300M
Codename N11M-GE1
Pipelines 16 - unified
Core Speed * 625 MHz
Shader Speed * 1530 MHz
Memory Speed * 800 MHz
Memory Bus Width 64 Bit
Memory Type GDDR3, DDR3
Max. Amount of Memory 512 MB
Shared Memory no
DirectX DirectX 10.1, Shader 4.1
technology 40 nm
Features DirectX Compute Support (Windows 7), CUDA, OpenCL, OpenGL 2.1, HybridPower
Notebook Size small and light
Date of Announcement 10.01.2010
Information 73 Gigaflops

[Seviien]

I'm thinking about swapping out my CPU, and I was wondering if it would make a difference for Dolphin. As it is, I have an intel e6300 that's been OCed to 3.2ghz. I've paired that with a 250gts green, and I'm seeing full speed in all gamecube games, and near or at full speed in the Wii games I've tested when running with an openCL build at 720p.

Specifically, I get 60fps in Mario Kart Wii, though it drops down to around 50 if there's a lot of cars on screen. Mario Galaxy will run at 60fps if nothing is going on, but consistently drops down to 40ish over the course of normal play. New Super Mario Bros Wii is basically at 60 fps all the time.

Would it help me if I went with something like an 8400 or 8500 Woldfdale? I don't know if I could get more ghz out of them with my mobo, as I'd have to do a voltage overclock rather than just adjust the FSB. So I'd basically just be picking up the additional cache (2MB>6MB) as well as the incremental instruction sets.

Any thoughts folks have would be greatly appreciated.

[obscured]

You won't see a big difference unless you overclock that wolfdale a few hundred mhz over 3.2ghz from your current setup. Have tried to oc your current chip more? Give that a try.

[Seviien]

(07-04-2010, 12:35 PM)obscured Wrote: You won't see a big difference unless you overclock that wolfdale a few hundred mhz over 3.2ghz from your current setup. Have tried to oc your current chip more? Give that a try.

Thank you.
I was able to squeeze out another 150mhz before the OC got unstable. Looks like it got me a handful of FPS, but that's about it (3-5 depending). Guess I'll just wait for some effiency gains; the progress that's been made even since the 2.0 release is simply amazing. Hopefully it can continue.

[WiinRAR]

Can anyone give me advice?

[bmwz4y]

for all who ask about intel's core i3, i5, i7 go to my new thread

http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/thread-10769.html

[reinfallt]

I was thinking of buying a new graphics card for my pc and was simply wondering how much of an improvement I realistically can expect.

This is what I currently have:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
RAM: 3 GB 800 MHz DDR2
Graphics card: Geforce 7600GT 256 MB
OS: Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit

I tried out Super Mario Sunshine and it was basically unplayable. I think it ran at about 70% speed.

Right now I'm leaning towards getting this card: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=UOAMmxQPE5m52wWL

I want to know if it's a waste of money since I don't really need a knew card otherwise.

[Arpit]

Try playing on Windows 7 (x64) or XP (x86) if possible... OpenGL plugin is slow as hell...DX9 is the only plugin that CAN play dolphin...

I don't think that anything will help you on OpenGL....Let others answer.

[reinfallt]

(07-19-2010, 12:42 AM)Arpit Wrote: Try playing on Windows 7 (x64) or XP (x86) if possible... OpenGL plugin is slow as hell...DX9 is the only plugin that CAN play dolphin...

I don't think that anything will help you on OpenGL....Let others answer.

I have just installed Windows 7 (x64) on another partition so I'll try that.