HTPC Project Build Advice

[SN3S]

Hey all, I'm back :p I think the last time I posted in here was when I built my first PC almost 2 years ago. Since then I've been loving every minute of Dolphin I can show you guys some videos of my Skyward Sword HD playthrough, if you'd like to see how well I got it running.


However, I want to start on another build, this time a true HTPC. My last build ended up evolving into a full fledged tower, as my smaller budget build ended up going to my little brother. I want a bigger challenge this time around, so I'm going for something I can take to anyone's house and blow them away with a full-fledged media center that can also emulate Wii and PS2 games.

With that being said, here's the planned hardware for my build:

Mobo:
Either
GIGABYTE GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 (50$, Used from a friend and confirmed to not have the boot loop issues. Good for OC'ing my processor to at least 4.5GHz)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128503
or
ASUS P8Z77-M PRO (More expensive, but I'm a sucker for ASUS. What is it with POST errors on the newer M-Atx boards though?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131833

The main goals for the Mobo are surround sound and possible OC'ing support. My case supports Micro Atx boards so if anyone has a better suggestion for that, please let me know.

Processor:
Either i5-2500k (experience using this processor, love it to death) or the i7-3570k (less wattage, also might get better performance with OC'ing than the i5. Any thoughts? It's only 10$ more)

Main goals for the processor are, of course, to handle most, if not all the compatible Wii and GC games at full speed. I might be able to OC them to get there, but I was wondering how they'd run stock, as I'm trying to keep a quiet noise level for the HTPC. I haven't used the newest iterations of Dolphin, so if there's been any new stuff I need to look out for let me know.

Storage:
Corsair Force SSD 240GB (For XBMC, Programs, and a few games. Dolphin will be on the SSD, the games probably won't.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233208
and
Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 3TB HDD (Obviously, for the space. Games will be stored here - does anyone have experience with this? How are the noise levels?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844

Main goals are space, speed, and quiet drives.

Blu-Ray drive:
ASUS Black (I wanted to see about getting the famed drives that could read Wii discs, but that's a bit complicated for an all-in-one HTPC. So I went for this one, 3D capable and all. I doubt it has any bearing on Dolphin though :p It's for movies, really)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247

Graphics Card:
Either
EVGA GTX560Ti (Used from a friend, for cheap! Also an EVGA fanboy because they run so quiet, at least from what I've experienced)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604
or
EVGA GTX660Ti (Dat performance. Also free borderlands 2 at the moment, so tempting...)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130810

What would be the max stable resolution I could get out of the 560Ti? I want to save a bit of money so if I can get stable 2-3x resolution, or at least 1080p and some Anti-Aliasing to make it look good on my TV, then I'll go with that. I can also OC both if necessary to get there, but I think the 660Ti should be able to handle dolphin, right?

RAM:
G-SKILL ARES 8GB DDR3 1866 (8GB should be enough, no? Never had any problems with my current PC which only has 8, but at a lower clock speed.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231550

Cooling / Case will be determined later as noise / space / hardware dictates.

Any advice / comments? Thanks in advance guys.

[admin89]

Quote:Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 3TB HDD (Obviously, for the space. Games will be stored here - does anyone have experience with this? How are the noise levels?)

Very low noice . I have a 4 years old Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 160GB on my desktop . All my games are stored on external HDD
Go for i5 3570k , i5 3570k @ 4.2GHz beats i5 2500k @ 4.5GHz -> Definitely Z77 mobo and make sure you prepare a decent cooling for it (water cooling is not necessary)
Gigabyte WindForce GTX 660Ti is best bang for buck right now but you said you could get 560ti for cheap price then why not to
http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread.php?tid=24973&pid=233461
4GB DDR3 Ram is enough for 64bit version . 8GB is more than enough

[SN3S]

(09-04-2012, 03:04 AM)admin89 Wrote:

Quote:Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 3TB HDD (Obviously, for the space. Games will be stored here - does anyone have experience with this? How are the noise levels?)

Very low noice . I have a 4 years old Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 160GB on my desktop . All my games are stored on external HDD
Go for i5 3570k , i5 3570k @ 4.2GHz beats i5 2500k @ 4.5GHz -> Definitely Z77 mobo and make sure you prepare a decent cooling for it (water cooling is not necessary)
Gigabyte WindForce GTX 660Ti is best bang for buck right now but you said you could get 560ti for cheap price then why not to
http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread.php?tid=24973&pid=233461
4GB DDR3 Ram is enough for 64bit version . 8GB is more than enough

Awesome, thanks. Went ahead and bought some parts because of the Newegg Labor Day sale, will come back and knock out the rest of the parts when I sell some old stuff of mine / get my next paycheck.

Thanks for the clarification on the processor. Getting to 4.2GHz is a sinch, and at minimum wage spending 10$ to save myself a couple of hours of OC troubleshooting / testing is worth it.

I can get the 560Ti for 160/170$, so yeah it's a big savings compared to spending 300$ for the 660Ti. I can use that money saved for the Z77 ASUS board, the 3570k, and the cooling fans. The 560ti can play most games at 2-3x native on a 1080p TV, yes?

Speaking of cooling, since my case is about 6" high, I'm looking at these three:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214026
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608019

Listed in order of price per performance. I'd probably be swapping the 140mm / 120mm fans for fans like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242011

To further increase performance and lower the noise level. Anyone have any suggestions as to which of those three heatsinks would work best for minor OC'ing? Anything more expensive than the Noctua and I might as well get the Corsair H80...

[admin89]

Quote:The 560Ti can play most games at 2-3x native on a 1080p TV, yes?

550Ti can can play most games at 4x native on a 1080p TV
http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread.php?tid=18414
560Ti is much faster than 550Ti .Therefore , you can add some AA
Edit : Noctua heatsink is good

[Axxer]

Heck on Wind Waker I can run the game at 4x IR + FXAA on my 550 Ti no problem. The 560 Ti will demolish any jagged lines you could ever see in some games, in others you might have to take it down.

[SN3S]

Awesome, thanks for the tips guys. Hope to have this build done and running smoothly by Thanksgiving, so I'll be sure to post videos and such too. The hard part is going to be getting everything to play nice with XBMC... XD

Quick last question - Dolphin supports surround sound, yes?

[Axxer]

It does as far as I can tell (it worked with wind waker's built in surround).

[ExtremeDude2]

afaik you need LLE, but yeah

[SN3S]

(09-04-2012, 06:49 AM)ExtremeDude2 Wrote: afaik you need LLE, but yeah

Alright, thanks. 4.5GHz is enough for LLE on most games, correct? We've got a 7.1 Setup at our house so I'd like to make the most of it, but I don't mind if I just use them as speakers without the surround. But the more awesome I can get this, the better

[AnyOldName3]

If you have a good enough amp, it should be able to split out bass and send that to the subwoofer, and then estimate which direction a sound should come from based on the phase difference between the left and right channels, so even if dolphin doesn't support 5.1 or 7.1 (which the Wii doesn't, as it only supports 5.1) in HLE, a good amp should be able to run it better than 2 channel mode.