Nettop GameCube Emulation?

01-07-2011, 10:41 AM #1

Hey all, I wonder if you can help me. I'm looking to get myself a small media pc on which I'm hoping to run older consoles emulated (so I can just have a single system hooked into the TV). I realise Wii games are out of the question, but does anyone know of any nettop machines which would be able to cope with running GameCube? (I've been looking at the ASUS EB1501, 1.8GHz Dual core with Intel ION graphics card and 2GB ram)

Thanks for your help Smile

**boogerlad** · 01-07-2011, 10:44 AM #2

wait for amd brazos. Much better performer than atom.

Bart1975 · (This post was last modified: 01-07-2011, 10:58 AM by Bart1975.)

Sure but it is really expensive Tongue

Vision 3D It can play wii games though.

**NaturalViolence** · 01-07-2011, 04:28 PM #4

An atom cpu is far far away from the amount of throughput needed to emulate GC games.

Bart1975 · 01-07-2011, 05:40 PM #5

These is a lot of net tops to choose from it just depends on how much you want to spend.
Some examples are listed below.
Dell Zino HD $299-$499
Apple Mac Mini $699
Asrock Vision 3D $849.99

01-07-2011, 08:46 PM #6

boogerlad: True, but according to this article it's more or less on the same grade as a Celeron or Nile processor, so might be able to get something on the same grade already. Thanks for the heads up on the Atom though, I'll make sure to give them a wide bearth

Bart1975: Fair point :p. I was planning for this just to be a multimedia PC with emulators on it, so I was hoping for a cheaper machine in the $400-$600 range. Most of the spec sheets I've seen have been for Dolphin running Wii games, but since I wasn't planning to go any further than GC I wasn't sure what I would need. Those Zinos look interesting though. Would any of them work, or would I have to get one of the more powerful ones?

Metzelmaennchen · 01-07-2011, 09:21 PM #7

Sorry, but I don't think that a nettop will do the same performance as a WII which is around 180 dollars.
Even on a i7 not everything runs fullspeed on this machine. Just plugged in my GameCube (bought for 20€) and had a look at the Metroid Prime Intro. Impressive how fast this little machine is Wink

Bart1975 · (This post was last modified: 01-08-2011, 01:10 AM by Bart1975.)

(01-07-2011, 08:46 PM)SolidSquid Wrote: boogerlad: True, but according to this article it's more or less on the same grade as a Celeron or Nile processor, so might be able to get something on the same grade already. Thanks for the heads up on the Atom though, I'll make sure to give them a wide bearth

Bart1975: Fair point :p. I was planning for this just to be a multimedia PC with emulators on it, so I was hoping for a cheaper machine in the $400-$600 range. Most of the spec sheets I've seen have been for Dolphin running Wii games, but since I wasn't planning to go any further than GC I wasn't sure what I would need. Those Zinos look interesting though. Would any of them work, or would I have to get one of the more powerful ones?

The one with the Turion II P540 looks decent. It is interesting to see how differently they configure them in the UK from the US site.
You may want to take a look at this thread and also checkout the passmark score for the cpu in the system you want to get.

01-08-2011, 01:43 AM #9

(01-08-2011, 01:05 AM)Bart1975 Wrote: The one with the Turion II P540 looks decent. It is interesting to see how differently they configure them in the UK from the US site.
You may want to take a look at this thread and also checkout the passmark score for the cpu in the system you want to get.

Oh hey, fantastic! That was exactly the kind of info I was after. Judging from the cpu benchmarks the Turion should be able to cope with GC games, since it's scoring 1501 (and the game list only rates processors with below 1300). The Athlon only gets 1281 though, which does fall into the low power category, so I guess that £50 is worth the money after all

Thanks a lot for your help with this, I'll probably go with the Turion processor Zino 410 build. It's a little higher than I'd hoped for, but still in the price range I was after and looks like it'll cope with majority of GC games ok (although hey, even if I just get Metroid Prime and Super Smash Bros Melee I'll be happy Big Grin

)

JackyCola · 01-08-2011, 02:40 AM **#10**

I have some Atom Netbox here (Intel Atom Dual Core 330, FSB 533, 1,6 GHz und NVIDIA MCP7A-ION Chipset) it didnt give me more than 10% in Super Mario Sunshine. I own no other GC game to test. New Super Mario Bros even slower =)

Also i have to say that the wii and gc hardware are not that different.

If you are sure to get a nettop box go for it. But when looking at the price I could imagine buying a flat case for a "real" pc. miniATX cases arent that big and that would give you way better hardware for the same price and wii emulating will be possible.