So my son LOVES the Dolphin emulator but he doesn't get quite the same speeds that I get on my PC. His PC is an older hand me down that USED TO be what I used. If I remember correctly, it has an AMD X2 CPU @ 2.4 or 2.6Ghz, and I believe an ATI Radeon 5450 GPU. It's been a pretty decent machine for him for the last couple of years, but he's been getting kind of antsy about it lately because even his sister's PC is now faster then his.
What he likes to play most on Dolphin is F-Zero GX, which I know is pretty CPU intensive. I get decent frame rates on my current setup of an AMD 8350 paired with a GeForce GTX 550 Ti, but on his machine, the game is just pathetic.
If I had my choice, his new (upgraded) PC would be an AMD A-10 series machine with an SSD drive which is a pretty quick machine for everyday tasks, but, I don't think that is gonna quite cut it this time around. He needs some more serious gaming power since he's getting to be a bit older now (15).
My focus for the parts has been based on what works with Dolphin best. My son has autism, so the Emulator type games (MAME, ZSNES, etc), are the ones he's most familiar with and plays.
Reading the FAQ from the dolphin website leads me to the conclusion that I should get him an i5 series CPU and an HD7000 series or better GPU. Personally, I'm more into AMD CPU's then I am Intel because of the value and personal commitment I have had to them over the years. I guess I wouldn't mind at all buying an Intel, no biggy, but I want to keep his upgrade somewhere in the $500 range with an added SSD drive and probably around 8 gigs of ram. I won't be needing to change out the case or power supply or DVD writer of course so that will cut down on total cost, but I do need a good combo in the $500 or less range that consists of CPU/Memory/GPU/& SSD & will work well with Dolphin.
What he likes to play most on Dolphin is F-Zero GX, which I know is pretty CPU intensive. I get decent frame rates on my current setup of an AMD 8350 paired with a GeForce GTX 550 Ti, but on his machine, the game is just pathetic.
If I had my choice, his new (upgraded) PC would be an AMD A-10 series machine with an SSD drive which is a pretty quick machine for everyday tasks, but, I don't think that is gonna quite cut it this time around. He needs some more serious gaming power since he's getting to be a bit older now (15).
My focus for the parts has been based on what works with Dolphin best. My son has autism, so the Emulator type games (MAME, ZSNES, etc), are the ones he's most familiar with and plays.
Reading the FAQ from the dolphin website leads me to the conclusion that I should get him an i5 series CPU and an HD7000 series or better GPU. Personally, I'm more into AMD CPU's then I am Intel because of the value and personal commitment I have had to them over the years. I guess I wouldn't mind at all buying an Intel, no biggy, but I want to keep his upgrade somewhere in the $500 range with an added SSD drive and probably around 8 gigs of ram. I won't be needing to change out the case or power supply or DVD writer of course so that will cut down on total cost, but I do need a good combo in the $500 or less range that consists of CPU/Memory/GPU/& SSD & will work well with Dolphin.