New to Dolphin... miniATX PC

[Knuckleheadz]

Hi All,

I'm new to Dolphin although not new to PCs or emulators.. I used to have a cheap MAME rig for years but slowly built it up with different emulators like Project64, MESS, WinVICE etc so I wanted something small but dedicated.

I've just built myself a miniATX PC with the following configuration but I want to boost it to be able to play Star Wars Rogue Squadron II at a better resolution and without the game noticeably slowing down (although I maybe asking too much!)

ASUS H81i-PLUS MOBO
INTEL i3-4160 (this was a spare CPU from my Windows Server so this is the one part that formed my setup)
ASAKA CRYPTO X1 miniATX case - http://www.akasa.co.uk/update.php?tpl=product/product.detail.tpl&no=181&type=Active%20Chassis&type_sub=Active%20Mini%20ITX&model=A-ITX11-A1B
WINDOWS 8.1
4GB DDR3 RAM
60GB SSD for OS
1TB HDD (7200rpm) for EMULATORS & ROMS

Would I benefit from an improved CPU and a dedicated GPU?
Or would just an i5 with HD4600 improve things?
Would more RAM improve things too? Currently the system uses about 60% RAM whilst running Star Wars on Dolphin

The case is small... I can only get a 1x SLOT Low Profile GPU and most I have seen are low end (i think!) cards like:

* Nvidia GeForce GT 720
* SAPPHIRE R7 250 1GB GDDR5 Low Profile
* Asus GT730-SL-2GD3-BRK

I also noticed that CPU seemed to be running at almost 100% in Task Manager but not on both cores.... is this right?

Any help would be gratefully received

Thanks
Jon

[admin89]

Sapphire R7 250 is the best choice here . GT 720 is trash , same as hd 4600 and GT 730 is low-end GPU

Quote:I also noticed that CPU seemed to be running at almost 100% in Task Manager but not on both cores.... is this right?

It's normal , i3 has hyperthreading after all
Dedicated GPU will boost your performance greatly when you run game at high resolution (higher than 2xIR)

[Benze]

There is a low profile 750 ti from GALAX/KFA² or Zotac which takes up one slot at the back of your pc but the cooler has a 2x height internally. However I'm not sure it would fit in there. There are also some low profile 7750 which would perform slightly better than the r7 250.

You could also take a look at Silverstone's ML05 -> http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=411&area=en . It is a little bigger but offers more variety and has more width rather than depth.

[admin89]

Just don't buy ddr3 version , GDDR5 version is so much bettter

[Knuckleheadz]

thanks for the rplies guys I will go and take a look.... I think i might just have room for a 2x height internally but I'll need to get my ruler out! lol

ohh.. and I forgot that I only have a 200w PSU in the case so that might also limit what I can get.... unless I upgrade to a 300w

[Benze]

according to pcpartpicker you will need around 168Watts. I dont know how accurate this is. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vrVtRB (dont mind the exact parts)

[Knuckleheadz]

Thanks for everyone's help.

Annoyingly the 750 Ti is 2x slots wide and won't fit in my miniITX case and I also only have a 200w PSU

Can anyone recommend a low profile Graphics Card that is only 1x slot wide which will be an improvement on the HD4600 that I get from my i5 4690k CPU?

Many thanks

[KHg8m3r]

http://www.galaxytech.com/__EN_GB__/Product2/ProductDetail?proID=517
Single slot 750 Ti, Europe only

Or
http://us.msi.com/product/vga/N750ti-2GD5TLP.html#hero-overview
Available in more palces

[Knuckleheadz]

Thanks for coming back really quickly however I ordered on of the 750 Ti cards and although the card is single slot PCI the card easily takes up another slot and my MOBO only has 1xPCI and there isn't room to the edge of the case to fit anything much wider than something that is single PCI a slot wide.

[Knuckleheadz]

The MSI looks the same head on. Single slot output but 2x slots high