Laptop for dolphin

[shogun krunch]

Hey guys. So I plan to buy a gaming laptop for playing dolphin.

So heres the deal. What Im looking at right now is this thing right here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152405

I believe the cpu and gpu are up to snuff no? i7 processor, gtx 765m graphics card. Ill admit I have no idea Whether or not its enough, atleast for what I want anyways. There seems to be so much more to it that it makes my head spin.

I want to be able to play games at 720p resolution, will probably hook it up to a flatscreen with hdmi if the screen of the laptop proves to be inadequate. Ill be using the laptop for pc gaming as well before any one mentions just buying a wii(thats not out of the question though as i realize they can be incredibly cheap now a days, but having an all in media center is a good thing for me).

Im well aware that I probably wont be able to play games right out of the box. To my understanding id have to change settings and possibly have other software installed to make the dolphin emulator more compatible?

The games I want to play are the mario galaxies, zelda skyward sword, the metroid prime trilogy and the operation rainfall trio. Thanks for any help if possible. A cheaper or alternative laptop reccomendation is welcome as well.

[garrlker]

The games you're wanting to play aren't able to be played fullspeed with the settings they need on that laptop or pretty much any laptop yet. There just isn't a laptop powerful enough(yet). With that 1200 bucks build a high-end desktop.

[admin89]

As long as you follow this guide and push your CPU & GPU frequency to the max ( i7 4700MQ @ 3.2) , most games should run fine at 3x Internal Resolution (1920x1584) or even 4xIR (2560x2112) , 16x Anisotropic Filtering , no AA

[shogun krunch]

(10-25-2013, 03:31 PM)garrlker Wrote: The games you're wanting to play aren't able to be played fullspeed with the settings they need on that laptop or pretty much any laptop yet. There just isn't a laptop powerful enough(yet). With that 1200 bucks build a high-end desktop.

(10-25-2013, 03:34 PM)admin89 Wrote: As long as you follow this guide and push your CPU & GPU frequency to the max ( i7 4700MQ @ 3.2) , most games should run fine at 3x Internal Resolution (1920x1584) or even 4xIR (2560x2112) , 16x Anisotropic Filtering , no AA

I am confused by the totally different responses

Well, heres the thing, I dont care much for absolute quality as i dont want my laptop to overheat much. Id much prefer lower settings than a laptop that burns out to quickly. Going by what you said admin, I should be fine with much lower settings then?

[admin89]

You can use the integrated GPU - Intel HD 4600 instead of GTX 765M when using Dolphin (Choose GPU via Nvidia Control Panel ) . The heat should be much lower than using dedidated GPU but your performance will be lower as well
Intel HD 4600 can handle 2x->2.5x IR , 16AF , no AA
i7 4700MQ @ 3.2 performance should come close to i5 3570k @ 4.0GHz . Therefore , demanding games like SMG & Zelda SS should run fine , don't know about the 2 other games you mentioned though . Keep in mind that both SMG & Zelda are demanding games , integrated GPU is not a good idea for those 2 (you may have to use 1xIR -> 2xIR)

[shogun krunch]

(10-25-2013, 04:02 PM)admin89 Wrote: You can use the integrated GPU - Intel HD 4600 instead of GTX 765M when using Dolphin (Choose GPU via Nvidia Control Panel ) . The heat should be much lower than using dedidated GPU but your performance will be lower as well
Intel HD 4600 can handle 2x->2.5x IR , 16AF , no AA
i7 4700MQ @ 3.2 performance should come close to i5 3570k @ 4.0GHz . Therefore , demanding games like SMG & Zelda SS should run fine , don't know about the 2 other games you mentioned though . Keep in mind that both SMG & Zelda are demanding games , integrated GPU is not a good idea for those 2 (you may have to use 1xIR -> 2xIR)

This confuses the hell out of me. i thought the more powerful the gpu was the less heat it would produce because of how well it could handle processing load? Or am I missing something fundamental here?

So, assuming I use the nvidia anyways, theres no way I could lower the high demand on the gpu to decrease the heat? Lowering res texture detail like I would with pc games or is that just not possible?

Im beginning to think i should get a wii as back up regardless

[admin89]

Quote:i thought the more powerful the gpu was the less heat it would produce because of how well it could handle processing load?

NO . I give you an example : Nvidia GTX 760 vs Nvidia GT 630
GTX 760 heatsink is much bigger than GT 630 heatsink . Why ? GTX 760 uses much more energy(wattage) than GT 630 . People have to use such large heatsink to keep it running cool . Your laptop has only 1 fansink for both GPU & CPU ... You know what i mean right ?
Why does Smartphone Processor (CPU+GPU+....) doesn't even need any fansink . The answer is simple , it uses much less energy than laptop CPU
Intel i7 4700MQ is not just a CPU , it's a processor with built-in GPU : Intel HD 4600 . Intel HD 4600 power consumption is so low compared to the power-hungry Nvidia GTX 765M

Quote:Lowering res texture detail like I would with pc games or is that just not possible?

PC game is the opposite . You have to use full power of your GPU
You can underclock your CPU to reduce the heat when playing PC game
Basically , it like this :
Dolphin : High-end CPU , Low-Mid-range GPU (Core 2 duo @ 2.5GHz + Nvidia GTX 760 < i5 4670k + Intel HD 4600)
PC game : Low-mid range CPU , High-end GPU (Core 2 duo @ 2.5GHz + Nvidia GTX 760 > i5 4670k + Intel HD 4600)

[garrlker]

(10-25-2013, 03:40 PM)shogun krunch Wrote: I am confused by the totally different responses

Well, heres the thing, I dont care much for absolute quality as i dont want my laptop to overheat much. Id much prefer lower settings than a laptop that burns out to quickly. Going by what you said admin, I should be fine with much lower settings then?

My bad. On the specs it only said 2.4ghz and I didn't see the turbo boost clock. If it turbos to 3.2ghz you will be fine. Sorry about that.

[Verix]

(10-26-2013, 02:05 AM)garrlker Wrote: If it turbos to 3.2ghz you will be fine.

Well it's not just the clock speed, it's the Haswell magic that makes it real good

[garrlker]

(10-26-2013, 02:50 AM)Verix Wrote:

(10-26-2013, 02:05 AM)garrlker Wrote: If it turbos to 3.2ghz you will be fine.

Well it's not just the clock speed, it's the Haswell magic that makes it real good

Yes I know. A haswell at 2.4 would probably be around an ivy bridge at 3 but to play SMG or Zelda SS(smoothly) he'd want something with performance equal to an Ivy bridge i5 at 4.0.