Dolphin PC buying guide

[SN3S]

(04-15-2011, 06:41 AM)turingpest Wrote: that psu looks a bit poor. no 80+ efficiency and iirc a fairly bad reputation for the cx series. not too sure what to recommend, as it's been a while since i built a pc and i live in the uk. probably just best to stick with the 650w tx one. it's got a good rep and you know that you'll have more than enough power. not sure what the 550w vx one is like. and if you have the money then you may as well get the 8gb of ram (it'll be pretty much the standard in a couple of years.) also, if you're (pc) gaming at 1080p, then the full-blooded 1gb gtx460 is probably worth getting. it shouldn't be too much extra, and the difference will definitely be worth it. if you could even stretch to it, then the 560ti would be even better of course, but if it's a big difference in price, then you could just see how you get on with the 460 and always upgrade in the future.
other than that, this build will definitely last you for years. that cpu is about as good as it gets at the moment for general builds like this, and will eat emulators, pc games, photoshop and anything else you care to throw at it for breakfast

Alright, thanks again mate. I don't PC game all that much, but I do keep Steam handy for indie games, the ridiculous sales, and for Racing games that don't have great wheel support on consoles. It would be awesome to play the big budget PC exclusives like SCII and CIV every now and again though - my current tower can run them, but not very well.

I can always upgrade the cards later, but for now I think this build will be a great first time project. Hopefully I can keep it quiet and cool though

[turingpest]

well, if you don't pc game very much, then definitely stick with 768mb gtx 460 if it's cheaper. and if you want to keep it all cool then it's probably worth getting some decent low noise fans (scythe, sharkoon, yate loons, etc) for that case, as well as a decent cooler for the cpu.

[SN3S]

(04-15-2011, 07:01 AM)turingpest Wrote: well, if you don't pc game very much, then definitely stick with 768mb gtx 460 if it's cheaper. and if you want to keep it all cool then it's probably worth getting some decent low noise fans (scythe, sharkoon, yate loons, etc) for that case, as well as a decent cooler for the cpu.

If it's in a well-ventilated area, would I need it? I mean, I'm thinking of adding fans, but if room is tight I don't know. But, my TV center's shelving is open, so there's plenty of airflow.

Still though, looking at my budget I could have the money for this saved by mid-summer, so I'm really stoked about this. Now I just need to get back on making those ROM Dumps XD

*Edit*
And after reading that thread on maxing out Wii settings, I just wanted to say thanks again for steering me towards the intel i5 over the AMD chip. The wait to get this thing built is going to kill me...

[Duke Nukem]

(04-16-2011, 08:08 AM)SN3S Wrote: If it's in a well-ventilated area, would I need it? I mean, I'm thinking of adding fans, but if room is tight I don't know. But, my TV center's shelving is open, so there's plenty of airflow.

I say the more fans the merrier. You can never have enough fans in the case.
Fans are relatively cheap so don't be cheap on the cooling part.
And good luck with the up-coming build.

[tuanming]

No Sandy Bridge build? The Core i7 920 is old and is no longer the top pick/choice for enthusiasts. Say hello to the new and improved 2nd generation Core i7 codename Sandy Bridge. The 2500k and the 2600k are monsterous CPUs, they can do up to 4.5GHz on stock voltage and that will rape all previous Intel previous CPUs Yes, even the Core i7 990x (6 cores beast) in benchmarks.

[Duke Nukem]

(04-18-2011, 06:03 PM)tuanming Wrote: No Sandy Bridge build? The Core i7 920 is old and is no longer the top pick/choice for enthusiasts. Say hello to the new and improved 2nd generation Core i7 codename Sandy Bridge. The 2500k and the 2600k are monsterous CPUs, they can do up to 4.5GHz on stock voltage and that will rape all previous Intel previous CPUs Yes, even the Core i7 990x (6 cores beast) in benchmarks.

I have noticed that my 2600K rape the Phenom II X6 1100T badly.
I notice it's more aggressive and responsive.
Compared to my AMD build, the I7 build is going in hyper speed.

[tuanming]

(04-18-2011, 07:47 PM)Gabriel Belmont Wrote: I have noticed that my 2600K rape the Phenom II X6 1100T badly.
I notice it's more aggressive and responsive.
Compared to my AMD build, the I7 build is going in hyper speed.

The current AMD CPUs are still unable to beat the outdated Core 2 series LGA 775 socket T and that's pretty sad. So, it's no competition even on the first generation of Core i7. The only exception is that the 6 core cpu from AMD only benefits from programs or apps utilize all of its cores. If there's a 6 cores Core 2 series, then without a doubt Intel can easily take its crown. But programs like Dolphin and Pcsx2, Intel is the way to go if you want maximum performance with no compromise.

[Duke Nukem]

(04-19-2011, 12:17 PM)tuanming Wrote: The current AMD CPUs are still unable to beat the outdated Core 2 series LGA 775 socket T and that's pretty sad. So, it's no competition even on the first generation of Core i7. The only exception is that the 6 core cpu from AMD only benefits from programs or apps utilize all of its cores. If there's a 6 cores Core 2 series, then without a doubt Intel can easily take its crown. But programs like Dolphin and Pcsx2, Intel is the way to go if you want maximum performance with no compromise.

Ain't that the truth, amen to that!

[turingpest]

(04-16-2011, 08:08 AM)SN3S Wrote:

(04-15-2011, 07:01 AM)turingpest Wrote: well, if you don't pc game very much, then definitely stick with 768mb gtx 460 if it's cheaper. and if you want to keep it all cool then it's probably worth getting some decent low noise fans (scythe, sharkoon, yate loons, etc) for that case, as well as a decent cooler for the cpu.

If it's in a well-ventilated area, would I need it? I mean, I'm thinking of adding fans, but if room is tight I don't know. But, my TV center's shelving is open, so there's plenty of airflow.

Still though, looking at my budget I could have the money for this saved by mid-summer, so I'm really stoked about this. Now I just need to get back on making those ROM Dumps XD

*Edit*
And after reading that thread on maxing out Wii settings, I just wanted to say thanks again for steering me towards the intel i5 over the AMD chip. The wait to get this thing built is going to kill me...

actually, maybe i shouldn't of wrote that. the best thing to do is to actually build it first and then monitor your temps with something like HWmonitor. if they're too high then you would need to add fans, but those components should actually run reasonably cool. there's no point in adding fans if they're unnecessary, as they cost money!
anyway, no worries on the cpu recommendation. as pointed out above, the first page definitely needs updating as those builds are way out of date. the 2500k and the 2600k are the only chips worth looking at for the 'mainstream' and 'enthusiast' builds atm. and imo the 2500k is the only chip worth looking at for a dolphin htpc build.

[SN3S]

(04-20-2011, 07:44 AM)turingpest Wrote: actually, maybe i shouldn't of wrote that. the best thing to do is to actually build it first and then monitor your temps with something like HWmonitor. if they're too high then you would need to add fans, but those components should actually run reasonably cool. there's no point in adding fans if they're unnecessary, as they cost money!
anyway, no worries on the cpu recommendation. as pointed out above, the first page definitely needs updating as those builds are way out of date. the 2500k and the 2600k are the only chips worth looking at for the 'mainstream' and 'enthusiast' builds atm. and imo the 2500k is the only chip worth looking at for a dolphin htpc build.

Yeah, I figured - also, the HTPC case comes with it's own fans, which may do the trick. If they're too loud I'll replace them with some Scythes. If things run too warm, I can always add cooling options

And as an update, I actually started purchasing the parts for it. I had some money saved already, and while I'd have it all saved up by summer, there's been some good deals going on. Got a Samsung Blu Ray drive instead of the light on for the same price, got the Corsair power supply for 30$ off, and got 8GB of Ripjaws X RAM for less than the 8GB Default Ripjaws RAM.

I plan on buying the case next and seeing how everything fits, then move onto the processor and mobo