Need hardware recommendations for sub $500 setup

[phreakwars]

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.

[admin89]

Since Dolphin is a dual core application , i3 4130 @ 3.4GHz outperform both i5 3570k @ 4.2GHz and FX-8350 @ 5.0GHz in Dolphin Benchmark
For more info and build , see post #6 in this thread
You can change the CPU to Pentium Haswell G3220 @ 3.2GHz which is a lower clock speed i3 Haswell without Hyperthreading to add a dedicated GPU such as AMD R7 250 , swap that WD HDD to SSD .
Edit : Also change the H81M mobo to MSI Z87 G45 mobo . With this mobo , you will have an upgrade route (up to next gen Broadwell i5/i7 k version : support overclocking) . You can keep that H81 mobo but you only are able to upgrade to next gen Broadwell i5/i3 non k version (no overclocking )
non k CPU : i5 4430 , i7 4770 , Xeon E1230v3
k CPU : i5 4670k , i7 4770k

[phreakwars]

OK, so what about video cards, just did a quick peek, his is currently using a Radeon HD 5570 (not the 5450 that I initially thought it had). Should I stick with that for now, or upgrade him to something a little more beefier? Like I said before, Dolphin will be the most graphic intense game he'd actually play. I can't see justifying a video card upgrade if what he has now is adequate enough already.

[KHg8m3r]

That should be enough for around a 2-2.5x IR with AA/AF boost in most games. If you want to go higher, look into Nvidia cards to take advantage of some fun new enhancements with OpenGL 4.4

[pauldacheez]

KHg8m3r: AMD cards have had the exact same functionality enabled for a bit longer than the Nvidia cards have, and they're gonna be *much* faster than equivalent Nvidia cards later on once tev_fixes_new is merged due to their ridiculously good integer performance.

[NaturalViolence]

phreakwars Wrote:I won't be needing to change out the case or power supply or DVD writer of course

I wouldn't be so sure about the PSU if it's that old. What model does it have?

And does the DVD burner support SATA? Probably not. Most modern motherboards don't have IDE ports anymore.

$90 will get you a samsung 840 evo 120GB SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147247
$100 will get you the MSI G43 Z87 motherboard that admin was talking about: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130706
$85 will get you 8GB (2 x 4GB) of DDR3 1600 MHz ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
$70 will get you the Pentium G3220 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950

That's $345. Leaving you $150 for the graphics card.
The AMD R7 260X is a good option for that price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125486

Your other option is to keep the current graphics card and use the extra money on a better cpu. This will yield better performance and will enable you to play more games but will force you to use a lower resolution (the equivalent of 720p instead of 1080p + AA) and some games will run fullspeed either way. Just with better image quality on the system with the better GPU. If you did this the best cpu you could afford would be the i5 4570. The best possible cpu for dolphin right now is the i5 4670K, which would put you $20 over budget. When paired with a good $35 cooler and overclocked to 4.2GHz it would be the perfect machine for dolphin. But that would put you $55 over budget. Pair that with an R7 260X and you would have the best of both worlds. But that would put you $205 over budget. I leave the choice up to you.

[KHg8m3r]

@pauldacheez: Forgot about AMD pinned_memory

If you don't want to go above budget with the CPU, look into the i3 4340. Its performance in Dolphin is better than the G3220 (and has hyper-threading, is $90 more) and below the i5 4670k (and is $80 less) [source being newegg]

[phreakwars]

(02-12-2014, 11:59 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: I wouldn't be so sure about the PSU if it's that old. What model does it have?

He has the RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS

Quote:And does the DVD burner support SATA? Probably not.

Most modern motherboards don't have IDE ports anymore.

$90 will get you a samsung 840 evo 120GB SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147247
$100 will get you the MSI G43 Z87 motherboard that admin was talking about: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130706
$85 will get you 8GB (2 x 4GB) of DDR3 1600 MHz ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
$70 will get you the Pentium G3220 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950

That's $345. Leaving you $150 for the graphics card.
The AMD R7 260X is a good option for that price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125486

Your other option is to keep the current graphics card and use the extra money on a better cpu. This will yield better performance and will enable you to play more games but will force you to use a lower resolution (the equivalent of 720p instead of 1080p + AA) and some games will run fullspeed either way. Just with better image quality on the system with the better GPU. If you did this the best cpu you could afford would be the i5 4570. The best possible cpu for dolphin right now is the i5 4670K, which would put you $20 over budget. When paired with a good $35 cooler and overclocked to 4.2GHz it would be the perfect machine for dolphin. But that would put you $55 over budget. Pair that with an R7 260X and you would have the best of both worlds. But that would put you $205 over budget. I leave the choice up to you.

Yes in fact, it is an SATA DVD burner. The hardware he has is old, but not completely outdated. It's a ASRock N68-S UCC, so obviously he's still using older DDR2 memory, running a Western Digital 1 terabyte HDD. What I'll more then likely do, is just go with a 64 gig SSD for the OS to boot off of and reuse the HDD. The Pentium g3220 just seems a tad weak, I'll more then likely plan on an i5. As for going over budget, no big deal, I was planning on just building him a whole new setup and plunk down almost a grand, but thought... eh.. think I'll think this upgrade through a bit first.

I upgrade my own personal PC about once a year, and OF COURSE put ALOT more cash into it then what I do my kid's PCs. I was planning on handing down the GTX 550 Ti off to my daughter and get my son something more beefier.

He's suffered enough with that old Athlon X2/DDR2/HDD combo. His little sister got the A-6 AMD upgrade last year with 8 gigs RAM and an SSD (onboard video). She loves nothing better then tease him about how much faster her computer is then his.. She'll do things like say "LET'S SEE WHO BOOTS FIRST", then she'll push his power button and stretch out a bit, slowly walk to her room, then hit the power button on hers and scream "DONE"... OOHH he hates that!! So yeah, now it's HIS turn for the upgrade. He's been begging me for months!!

[NaturalViolence]

We'll see how long that PSU lasts. You must have done a partial upgrade since some parts are much newer than others.

phreakwars Wrote:What I'll more then likely do, is just go with a 64 gig SSD for the OS to boot off of and reuse the HDD.

There aren't many 64GB SSDs out there and they tend to be substantially slower than 128GB models yet only slightly cheaper. 120/128GB is pretty much the baseline for SSDs. $90 isn't bad.

phreakwars Wrote:The Pentium g3220 just seems a tad weak, I'll more then likely plan on an i5. As for going over budget, no big deal, I was planning on just building him a whole new setup and plunk down almost a grand, but thought... eh.. think I'll think this upgrade through a bit first.

Fair enough. Just don't bother with an i3 since they're barely faster than the pentiums.

phreakwars Wrote:She loves nothing better then tease him about how much faster her computer is then his.. She'll do things like say "LET'S SEE WHO BOOTS FIRST", then she'll push his power button and stretch out a bit, slowly walk to her room, then hit the power button on hers and scream "DONE"... OOHH he hates that!! So yeah, now it's HIS turn for the upgrade. He's been begging me for months!!

Oh god that's adorable. That almost makes me want to have kids.

Spoiler: (Show Spoiler)

But then I think about the cost and maintenance! No equipment that I have ever owned is that hard or expensive to maintain. And I have some seriously crazy hobbies.