How well will it run on this comp?

[Damned]

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115095

Graphics Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127582

RAM: 8 Gigs of this... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233180

Sound Card: I was thinking maybe just the onboard sound on this motherboard would do (I just want the sound to be as accurate as possible and to not have ANY annoying popping / crackling / stuttering / skipping / etc.) ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790

I want to be able to run any game at fullspeed 60 FPS at all times (assuming the emulator's current coding allows the game to and any slowdown's will only be the fault of the emulator and not my computer's) with any game that I throw at Dolphin Wii or Gamecube, and I am also looking to make this computer future proof so any new developments in the emulator will not have any problems running on my system.

More specifically I want to know about the sound card, I'm getting mixed opinions about what to do. Some say a sound card is a waste of money for gaming, others say it makes the experience much better. As I said above, I'm not looking for something that is going to give super ultra high definition movie theater quality. I just want what I stated above.
I was thinking maybe to invest in some better quality speakers than the ones I got 5 years ago that came with my first pre-built.

Also keep in mind I'm building this computer for emulation purposes, not really to play all the latest and greatest PC games

[obscured]

Can't go wrong with those specs. On board sound is enough good for gaming now and days but if you do get high quality speakers ($250+ for the good ones) then you might want to shell out for that sound card. Expect slowdowns in games even with those specs but most games should be very playable. Emulation is not perfect. Also, fyi most of the popular games run at 30fps.

[NaturalViolence]

CPU: Save some money and get a 2500K instead. You're basically just throwing away $125 by buying the 2700K since you'll end up turning off HT anyways.
Aftermarket cooling: Unlisted, you'll want to buy one for overclocking
GPU: It's up to you but I would save some money and get the GTX 560 TI instead. The 570 is barely faster yet costs $100 more.
Case: Unlisted, I assume you're reusing one
HDD: Unlisted, I assume you're reusing one
CD/DVD: Unlisted, I assume you're reusing one
Memory: fine
Motherboard: Over the top if you ask me. A good Z68 board can be had for $125.
Power supply: Unlisted, I assume you're reusing one
Audio card: Audio cards are used to improve audio quality. None of the issues you described are usually caused by the audio chipset.

[Damned]

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=22392787

Well here we go, that is what I'm planning on buying. Not to sure on the case right now, because I'm not sure if it will fit in the space I have for my comp. But that is basically what I'm looking at. So if what you guys are saying is correct, I don't need to spend extra money on a sound card with the expectations on sound performance that I have. Excellent.

What exactly is HT and why would I want to turn it off? I am also aware of emulation being imperfect (unfortunate the Wind Waker heat/smoke glitch has been eluding developers on how to fix, but I'm sure it will be fixed one day) and that the games get slowdown due to imperfect emulation. I am sure, however, with all the support this emulator has gotten, and how far it has apparently come since the days it was first released almost a decade ago, that it will one day play all the really popular games with a high degree of accuracy and near flawless speed.

[NaturalViolence]

Revised:

CPU: Save some money and get a 2500K instead. You're basically just throwing away $125 by buying the 2700K since you'll end up turning off HT anyways.
Aftermarket cooling: Get something a bit higher end.
GPU: It's up to you but I would save some money and get the GTX 560 TI instead. The 570 is barely faster yet costs $100 more.
Case: Fine. You can always save money and get a midtower like a storm scout but it's up to you.
HDD: Buy an external drive instead and take the HDD out, it's much cheaper at the moment.
CD/DVD: fine
Memory: fine
Motherboard: Over the top if you ask me. A good Z68 board can be had for $125.
Power supply: You can get a modular 620w from seasonic for half that much, and that's plenty of power for your needs.
OS: You don't need the retail version. Get the OEM version and save yourself $90: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Quote:What exactly is HT and why would I want to turn it off?

Hyperthreading. And you'll end up turning it off because it reduces performance more often than it increases performance. Dolphin runs faster with it off.

Quote: I am also aware of emulation being imperfect (unfortunate the Wind Waker heat/smoke glitch has been eluding developers on how to fix

Actually that's been fixed for a long time.

Quote:and that the games get slowdown due to imperfect emulation.

No. Games get slowdowns because the hardware running them isn't fast enough to keep up. It has nothing to do with "imperfect emulation". More accurate emulation usually REDUCES performance. Trust me, dolphin has traded accuracy for speed in several areas. If we had a truly "perfect" emulator you wouldn't be able to get anything higher than 1 fps in any game.

Quote: I am sure, however, with all the support this emulator has gotten, and how far it has apparently come since the days it was first released almost a decade ago, that it will one day play all the really popular games with a high degree of accuracy and near flawless speed.

It already does if your hardware is powerful enough.

[Damned]

Thanks for the response. What I was wondering was, when reading the two reviews, one of them highly suggested me putting two hard drives in my pc, a solid state one and a HDD one. I understand that the SSD are much faster than HDD, but since this is my first time building, I want to keep it as simple as possible. So, is it really bad to have that 2 TB drive only like that first reviewer said? I need alot of space on my hard drive, hence why I went with the 2 TB drive. What I want to know is, should I go with, instead, maybe a 150 gig SSD drive and a 1 TB Hard Drive? It is what my friend suggested I do, install windows OS and other programs on the SSD drive, and then use a 1TB HDD drive for storing everything else.

You suggested a higher end cooler, may I ask what you would suggest? I wanted to go for something that has efficient cooling (obviously, I heard the stock cooler that comes with that CPU is terrible), but I also wanted something that runs extremely quiet. What exactly is it about that particular cooler that makes you suggest a higher end one? Remember I don't plan on overclocking, since I do not trust myself doing it correctly.

Finally, that same person said Windows 7 Pro comes with microsoft office programs? Does he mean stuff like MS word, Powerpoint, etc.?? Cause I already have one more install left for MS office '07 stuff, just wanted to make sure.

[NaturalViolence]

Quote:What I was wondering was, when reading the two reviews

What "reviews" are you talking about?

Quote: I understand that the SSD are much faster than HDD, but since this is my first time building, I want to keep it as simple as possible. So, is it really bad to have that 2 TB drive only like that first reviewer said?

No. Very few people use SSDs right now due to the high price/low storage capacity.

Quote:What I want to know is, should I go with, instead, maybe a 150 gig SSD drive and a 1 TB Hard Drive? It is what my friend suggested I do, install windows OS and other programs on the SSD drive, and then use a 1TB HDD drive for storing everything else.

I should let you know that HDD prices are REALLY high right now because of the flooding in Taiwan. 1TB HDDs that were $75 before the flooding now cost $250, and the prices will only continue climbing higher and higher until the manufacturing facilities are back up and running. This is why I recommended that you buy an external drive and pull the HDD out. External drives haven't been hit by the price hikes yet in most places because they are made by big companies that buy the internal drives in massive volumes. But you have to hurry.

Quote:You suggested a higher end cooler, may I ask what you would suggest? I wanted to go for something that has efficient cooling (obviously, I heard the stock cooler that comes with that CPU is terrible), but I also wanted something that runs extremely quiet. What exactly is it about that particular cooler that makes you suggest a higher end one? Remember I don't plan on overclocking, since I do not trust myself doing it correctly.

Well what specifically are you looking for? Air coolers come in all shapes and sizes (literally). There are quiet ones and loud ones but most models these days have a fanspeed nob that can be used to change the fanspeed. Higher fanspeed = louder. This allows you to make it as quiet or loud as you want. Increasing fanspeed increases noise but it also decreases temperature. Some air coolers are small and some are big. Some are cheap and some are expensive. Some are powerful (low temps) and some are weak. Some are light and some are heavy (heavier models tend to produce better cooling since they have a bigger and therefore better heatsink).

And don't sell yourself short on overclocking, it's a good learning experience. Just make sure to ask a lot of questions first. Don't raise the voltage too high, set the voltage manually instead of leaving it on auto, make sure you have a powerful enough power supply, and check your temperatures and stability with stress testing software. Follow those rules and you can't do anything harmful. If you are really sure you aren't going to overclock than don't get a 2500K/2600K/2700K. The K edition cpus are specifically for overclocking. When you listed a 2600K I assumed that you wanted to overclock and therefore recommended a better air cooler.

Quote:Finally, that same person said Windows 7 Pro comes with microsoft office programs?

Well then politely ask that person how much crack they've been using, because clearly they're using too much. Windows and microsoft office are sold as separate software, though you may be able to get a bundle deal. I have windows 7 pro and I can assure you that just like every other windows distro it does not include office.

[Damned]

If you look at the very bottom of the wishlist, you should see two people that have rated what I want to buy. The first guy is the one who suggested an SSD / HDD drive combo and to replace my Windows Home Premium with Windows Professional.

I still have about 350 gigs left on this 1 TB drive that I am using, so I might just go with a 1 TB drive instead, that way I can also re-use my 1 TB back-up drive instead of having to buy another one. Since the K series of these processors are specifically made for overclocking, I'm guessing they cost more and that is why you suggest not getting them? Or is it due to performance differences at the native speed?

[NaturalViolence]

Quote:If you look at the very bottom of the wishlist, you should see two people that have rated what I want to buy.

Very well, I'll take a look.

Quote:HDD's can't even use 6.0gb/s, so your sata III ports are basically wasted.

Not true. Many HDDs support sata III and it does improve burst (small transfer) speeds.

Quote: to Windows 7 Pro, for MS Office programs and for Remote Desktop Protocol.

Not sure why he's talking about MS office. Microsoft.com lists no difference between home premium and pro that relate to office.

Quote:To cover this I would suggest you downsize your 2TB drive. HDD's fail and large drives fail hard, so it is better to have multiple smaller drives. So I would suggest starting with a 500gb or 1TB.

This I agree with. Although he seems to be exaggerating it. HDDs don't fail very often, and usually take 5-8 years to fail.

Quote:Also a better power supply would be a Corsair TX (or HX if you MUST have modular) 750 or 850, and cost less.

Kind of sort of agree. It's a good psu but he's acting like it's the only good psu in that price range. I find this is quite common for people. Most people tend to assume that because one brand is good all other brands in that category must suck.

Quote:IDK why you want that DVD drive either, when there are better rated ones for less money?

Doesn't really matter. It's $5 of price difference and a working 24x DVD burner is just as good as any other working 24x DVD burner as long as it doesn't have terrible ratings.

Quote:your Windows Experience Index with this build is going to be limited to 5.9 by your HDD, and the only way to get around that is to go to an SSD.

That's true but the windows experience index isn't a very good/reliable way of measuring system performance.

Quote:That's where the bottleneck in this system is. a 128gb SSD can be had for the same price of that 2TB, and will be much, much faster.

Only right now. When HDD prices come back down to what they were 2 months ago 2TB HDDs will be cheaper than 128GB SSDs.

Quote:You could save yourself some money by dropping that 2700K to a 2500K unless your use some thread intensive apps that take advantage of the hyper threading then go with the 2600K. Also unless you play really graphics intense games you could save more money by getting a 6950. That sits between a 560ti and a 570 and it costs less than both.

Agreed, except I personally prefer nvidia cards but that's my own personal bias.

That's my review of there review

Quote:I still have about 350 gigs left on this 1 TB drive that I am using, so I might just go with a 1 TB drive instead, that way I can also re-use my 1 TB back-up drive instead of having to buy another one.

Good idea. But buy an external drive like I suggested earlier.

Quote:Since the K series of these processors are specifically made for overclocking, I'm guessing they cost more and that is why you suggest not getting them? Or is it due to performance differences at the native speed?

They cost very slightly more.
i5-2500: $210
i5-2500K: $225

But if you are planning on overclocking you NEED a K edition cpu.

With the money you save on OS, HDD, PSU (power supply unity), GPU (graphics card), CPU, and mobo (motherboard) from my suggestions you could easily afford a $200 128GB SSD boot drive while still reducing the cost of your setup to something like $1420. And that would improve your overall system performance significantly.

[Damned]

Would Dolphin run just fine with an HDD drive though? If SSD's were a little more affordable, I would definately spring for a 1 TB one, but that would cost more than what my entire computer would cost.