Dolphin PC buying guide

[7heBoss]

(07-07-2011, 07:13 AM)setya5785 Wrote:

Quote:Would I be able to make a decent desktop setup for say $1200? (Price of Customized XPS after Coupons)

i don't know about XPS, but if you buy components seperately, you'll get a very decent above average PC with that

my rig (see signature) cost me around $1000 (not including monitor, mouse, keyboard, speaker)

Hey, on a side note. How is your experience with RAID 0? I have heard of people randomly losing files through the use of RAID 0. They were saying that RAID 1 is much more reliable.

[setya5785]

raid0 is for performance. you'll get double performance by using block striping (in a sense kinda like dual channel ram) using 2 or more disk. the downside, if one of your disk is damage, it'll break raid array, and you'll lost ALL data. i never had any problem with it so far (and hopefuly not), never heard about it also. if you had bad sector, make sense, but that also apply on single non-raid hdd also.
if you don't want to move to SSD, this is a nice alternative for OS disk and apps/game. my raid raid0 config (2 wdc caviar blue) dan get me 230MB/s sequential reading. faster load time not recommended for important data.
2x500GB raid0 => 1TB volume

raid1 is for realiability. baslicly you use extra disk to mirror your main disk, yes, you'll always have a backup of your files, therefor, when your disk is failing, you'll have an extra data backup. you might want to consider this, if you want a reliable storage for documents, or other important data. but not for OS, apps, or games
2x500GB raid1 => 500GB volume

depend on what you need, and the nature of those raid, you simply can't compare those 2 mode.
you can also combine raid0 and raid1, but you need atleast 4 disk

if you're really worried about raid0, just use small (say, 2x250GB for OS and apps/game) and get another extra disk for data (either single non-raid, or make it raid1)

[matt44]

Do you guys think this pc would run dolphin at full speed?

Intel Core i3-2100, 2 x 3.1GHz, 65W
Club 3D Radeon HD 6850, 1024MB
TeamGroup Elite 4GB PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 (DDR3-1333)
ASRock Z68 Pro3, Z68
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
LiteOn iHAS124 DVD-RW
XFX Core Edition PRO 450W
BitFenix Shinobi
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SP1

[ExtremeDude2]

(07-07-2011, 09:35 AM)matt44 Wrote: Do you guys think this pc would run dolphin at full speed?

Intel Core i3-2100, 2 x 3.1GHz, 65W
Club 3D Radeon HD 6850, 1024MB
TeamGroup Elite 4GB PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 (DDR3-1333)
ASRock Z68 Pro3, Z68
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
LiteOn iHAS124 DVD-RW
XFX Core Edition PRO 450W
BitFenix Shinobi
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SP1

It should, but I would get a 2500k if you can.

[matt44]

(07-07-2011, 09:45 AM)ExtremeDude2 Wrote: It should, but I would get a 2500k if you can.

Umm sorry but what you mean with 2500k? I dont know much about computers..

[Toshiaki]

(07-07-2011, 09:50 AM)matt44 Wrote: Umm sorry but what you mean with 2500k? I dont know much about computers..

He basically means the model.
You see your computer specs?

The CPU has the number "2100"
2500K is generally faster and has the ability to overclock.

[setya5785]

if you're on limited budget, i3 2100 should be fine. if you can shell out extra cash, get 2500K (around 2x the price for i3 2100). or you could consider another motherboard. Z68 kind awasted on i3 2100.
better get H67 based, or even cheaper H61 based mobo.
you can use the money you save from mobo on CPU, atleast get i5 2400 (or 2500 non K). it is quadcore and have turbo boost enabled
i5 2400 is enough to get you fullspeed on most games even using LLE DSP.
while i3 2100 might strugle if you're using LLE on certain game, but it will do just fine with HLE

if you're gonna get i5 2500K, just get P67 board, cheaper than most Z68. (if you're on limited budget)

for GPU, instead that 6850, get saphire 5850 extreme saphire re-release those gpu with crazy cheap price (price range along the line of 5770 and GT550Ti), with performance that can compare newer 6850 ane even GTX560ti. a friend of mine got some sample of 5830 extreme and 5850 extreme from saphire for review, it's awesome ^_^

[Duke Nukem]

(07-07-2011, 07:13 AM)setya5785 Wrote:

Quote:Would I be able to make a decent desktop setup for say $1200? (Price of Customized XPS after Coupons)

i don't know about XPS, but if you buy components seperately, you'll get a very decent above average PC with that

my rig (see signature) cost me around $1000 (not including monitor, mouse, keyboard, speaker)

That's actually very good for 1000$
It proves that you don't have to waste a fortune.

[setya5785]

yea, got pretty decent PSU, casing and aftermarket cpu cooler too

[Duke Nukem]

(07-08-2011, 02:15 AM)setya5785 Wrote: yea, got pretty decent PSU, casing and aftermarket cpu cooler too

Nice!!