Ideal platform for running Dolphin

[aswerft]

I have two different computers at my disposal, each of which run 32-bit Windows and 64-bit Linux. My desktop has ~3GB of RAM with a single-core 2GHz AMD 64-bit processor and a half-decent ATI graphics card. I honestly can't remember the exact specs on it and I don't know where the box is, but it's definitely better than the integrated graphics on my laptop, which also has 3GB of RAM, but has a dual-core Intel 64-bit processor, with each core at 2GHz.

The memory and core speed is the same on each system, so that won't make a difference. I would imagine that Dolphin would run faster on a 64-bit system than a 32-bit system; however, I would also imagine that Linux support is not as complete as Windows support. I know that it would run better with a decent graphics card than crappy integrated graphics, but I also know that it would run better on a dual-core than on a single core. So, my question is, which setup seems like it would get the most performance out of Dolphin:

• 32-bit Windows XP, single core, decent graphics card
  
• 64-bit Linux, single core, decent graphics card
  
• 32-bit Windows 7, dual core, crappy integrated graphics
  
• 64-bit Linux, dual core, crappy integrated graphics
  

I have to say, Dolphin's performance has already blown me away compared to my experiences with PCSX2. Currently I'm using the 32-bit Windows 7 setup and the speed is definitely good enough, but I'm hoping that with a little tweaking I might be able to get near-native performance.

[NaturalViolence]

How crappy are we talking? If it's an intel gma then I would probably say

# 32-bit Windows XP, single core, decent graphics card

Otherwise:

32-bit Windows 7, dual core, crappy integrated graphics

For dolphin
windows>linux>macos
64 bit>32 bit
win 7>win xp>win vista

win 7 64 bit is the best os hands down.

Honestly I would just install dolphin on both your desktop and laptop and see which one it runs better on. Although honestly it will run like shit on both. A 2GHz single core athlon will only be able to achieve playable speed in <1% of games. Likewise an intel gma igp will not be able to achieve playable speed in most games and some games might not even work properly due to z buffer issues. So they both suck.

[aswerft]

It is indeed an Intel GMA. The only game I've tried so far, which I randomly got a hankering to play a couple days ago, is the Resident Evil REmake. So far, I've gotten very acceptable performance with it, probably because the game uses pre-rendered backgrounds and static camera angles, which isn't very taxing. As long as it keeps running as well as it is, I'll probably just stick with what I'm using now; if that doesn't meet my needs, I'll try it on XP and see what kind of results I get.