HTPC build

[Anthe]

Hello,

first of all, I know helping newbees isn't exactly the greatest thing out there but I'd highly appreciate any help.

So me and my dad got the idea of buildilng an htpc for the living room which would be able to play DVD, Blu-Ray, CD's and stream media of a server/Youtube. Then, I figured my Wii was reaching age '6' very soon, and it might be cool to make it play games as well. Our build would have to change drastically, but since my dad wanted to put a shitton of power in that thing anway (i5 for streaming media, lolwut), that wasn't exactly that big of a problem.

I have been experimenting with Dolphin for the past month or so, and so far I'm quite pleased. My dad has an Intel 4670K running Integrated Graphics, which was emulating pretty fine. My dekstop computer holds an AMD A10 5700 APU and that one is also able to pull of quite a lot.

So my first question is, what should my build feature? My first choice would be another 4670 with an Asus Z67 motherboard, though I am not sure about the graphics. The integrated graphics will not be enough for playing Super Mario Galaxy (2) or Mario Kart Wii. I basicly want to play pretty much all the games I have in my collection. DKCR, SMG(2), MKWII and a bunch of other games (which are not worth mentioning because they run full speed on my main machine anyway). Cooling needs to be super silent, and I was originally going for another Scythe Mugen 4 (monstrous, but so silent!), but sadly that one does not fit in the SilverStone LC16B-M-USB 3.0 we are planning to use as a case.

I don't know anything about GPU's sadly, it's not really my thing. Any help on a small, cool, silent and powerful GPU would be amazing, thanks!

On to the next part, software.
I'm not sure wether to use Linux or Windows. Windows has really proven to be fast in its 8.1 release, but Linux will always be that little faster and more customizable. I have been searching on this forums which one is the best, but I don't see any winner. Older threads seem to say Windows, but the newer ones say it doens't matter. I see there's a Linux tester around here (I forgot your name though, sorry :p) so I guess it's not that bad. Any feedback on that would be nice too, though

tldr;
- What HTPC GPU and cooling do you advise to go with an Intel 4670K?
- Windows or Linux, what's the best for Dolphin?

Thank you for reading my ridiculously long post and thanks to everyone for contributing to the project.


- Anthe

[DJBarry004]

Windows normally performs better with Dolphin. And your dad did a really good election buying the i5-4670K (it´s one of the fastest for Dolphin). Oh, and don´t pair it with Z67, but with Z87 board since this one will make overclocking easy.

The Linux tester you´re talking about is Shonumi.

[Anthe]

Excuse me, I meant Z87. He has that exact motherboard in his desktop as well :') (it is a great motherboard, btw). I'm not really planning on overclocking it though, as I have no experience in doing so and it'd suck to screw up 200 bucks of processor.

About the Windows/Linux thing, I might have to try emulating the same games with a live USB of Ubuntu and Windows 8.1 on my dads computer, then compare the speeds. That's a fair test, I think.

[admin89]

Do you really need to build it right now ?
If you wait a few months , you can get Pentium Anniversary Edition
Since Dolphin is a dual core application and that Pentium is unlocked , you will have excellent perfomance with Dolphin
OCed Pentium Haswell will outperform stock i5 4670 (with turbo boost) in Dolphin for sure . Pentium is basically a downclocked version of i3 with a weaker iGPU and no Hyperthreading
Pentium is dust cheap , low power consumption . It's the best CPU for a truly silent HTPC
Btw , you have to pair Z87 with that pentium if you want to overclock
For the GPU , either EVGA GTX 750 or EVGA GTX 750 TI is fine

[Anthe]

I'm really not looking into overclocking, so I'm not sure if picking the Pentium will be that great. Please note that this is not a Dolphin only machine, it has to do a bunch of other multitasking too. Thanks to everyone for all the help, though. Any recommendations for the cooling?

[Shonumi]

So I'm the resident Linux user now? :p

Anyway, I'd say to use what you're most comfortable with. A skilled Windows user won't encounter many headaches on Windows, and a skilled Linux user won't encounter many headaches on Linux. If there are additional requirements for the HTPC (IR remotes, full control via joystick, network and storage stuff), use the OS you have the most experience with.

I built myself small mini-PC solely for emulation with a lot of little requirements (auto-login, joystick-to-keyboard bindings, a game menu with icons, etc) and I would have had a hard time setting it up on Windows since I'm just not familiar with all the tools I'd need to do that.

Now about Dolphin in particular, just keep in mind that Linux builds don't have the D3D backend. OpenGL is fast and accurate though, so there may be little to no difference in performance. Test it to make sure if you're worried. Other than that, the Windows and Linux versions don't vary in terribly significant ways as it concerns ordinary users.

I can't speak for cooling, but the IGP (HD 4600 I believe, or something like that) on a 4670K should be more than sufficient for 2x IR in many games, and 3x IR in lighter, non-demanding games. It's a good option to save on costs, power usage, and generated heat. 2x IR is a little larger than 720p and 3x IR is a little larger than 1080p.

[Anthe]

Your title says Linux so I guess you are
I'm more comfortable with using Windows but it's not like I haven't used Linux before. My server and laptop are running Linux and so is my Raspberry Pi (of course!).

I tested Super Mario Galaxy 2 with stock Intel 4670K and HD4000 and the game was not really running that smooth, even on native resolution. I might have been doing something wrong though, so I should test that again. My minimum requirements are 720p by the way, anything higher is a bonus

[meshflesh]

(05-03-2014, 08:57 PM)Anthe Wrote: Hello,

first of all, I know helping newbees isn't exactly the greatest thing out there but I'd highly appreciate any help.

So me and my dad got the idea of buildilng an htpc for the living room which would be able to play DVD, Blu-Ray, CD's and stream media of a server/Youtube. Then, I figured my Wii was reaching age '6' very soon, and it might be cool to make it play games as well. Our build would have to change drastically, but since my dad wanted to put a shitton of power in that thing anway (i5 for streaming media, lolwut), that wasn't exactly that big of a problem.

I have been experimenting with Dolphin for the past month or so, and so far I'm quite pleased. My dad has an Intel 4670K running Integrated Graphics, which was emulating pretty fine. My dekstop computer holds an AMD A10 5700 APU and that one is also able to pull of quite a lot.

So my first question is, what should my build feature? My first choice would be another 4670 with an Asus Z67 motherboard, though I am not sure about the graphics. The integrated graphics will not be enough for playing Super Mario Galaxy (2) or Mario Kart Wii. I basicly want to play pretty much all the games I have in my collection. DKCR, SMG(2), MKWII and a bunch of other games (which are not worth mentioning because they run full speed on my main machine anyway). Cooling needs to be super silent, and I was originally going for another Scythe Mugen 4 (monstrous, but so silent!), but sadly that one does not fit in the SilverStone LC16B-M-USB 3.0 we are planning to use as a case.

I don't know anything about GPU's sadly, it's not really my thing. Any help on a small, cool, silent and powerful GPU would be amazing, thanks!

On to the next part, software.
I'm not sure wether to use Linux or Windows. Windows has really proven to be fast in its 8.1 release, but Linux will always be that little faster and more customizable. I have been searching on this forums which one is the best, but I don't see any winner. Older threads seem to say Windows, but the newer ones say it doens't matter. I see there's a Linux tester around here (I forgot your name though, sorry :p) so I guess it's not that bad. Any feedback on that would be nice too, though

tldr;
- What HTPC GPU and cooling do you advise to go with an Intel 4670K?
- Windows or Linux, what's the best for Dolphin?

Thank you for reading my ridiculously long post and thanks to everyone for contributing to the project.


- Anthe

A decent GPU would be the gtx 770. It will max out everything and is in decent price range.

[kinkinkijkin]

Meshflesh, this is for an HTPC. He asked for a small, cool, silent GPU as well as a powerful one.

I've seen the 750 Ti thrown about here a lot, it seems like a nice GPU, really.

[Anthe]

Unfortunately, the EVGA SC is a rather noisy card and while I really like the MSI version, it doesn't fit in the case. I'm going to test the integrated graphics once more though.