Upgrading and Dolphin is the benchmark

Kazumi'Zorah · (This post was last modified: 03-02-2014, 01:53 PM by Kazumi'Zorah.)

So after a series of unfortunate and fortunate events, that is winning a lottery right after my graphics card ($400) and PSU ($150) died on me due to a prolonged and unnoticed coil whine Dodgy

, I'm going to upgrade my system and since dolphin is the most demanding piece of gaming software I'll be using it made sense to ask for advice here. My desire is simple; as long as the hardware can run the most resource-hungry wii games at a [n almost] constant 60fps on a 23" 1080p display, it would not only be optimal in terms of emulation I believe but would also cover me in terms of pc gaming in general (the most demanding pc game I play is ME3 anyway).

Currently I'm running with 8gb of ram, i5-3570k @ 3.4Ghz and z77 extreme4 mobo on Windows 8.1 Pro x64. From what I'm told this hardware in itself is sufficient as long as I OC the cpu, which I've never done. I guess I could upgrade if need be. As for graphics this time around I'm leaning towards AMD, what would fit my description?

**admin89** · 03-02-2014, 07:32 PM #2

R9 280X then

Quote:From what I'm told this hardware in itself is sufficient as long as I OC the cpu

Depending on the game ...
i5 3470k @ 4.4GHz is on par with i3 4130 @ 3.4GHz in Dolphin Benchmark . i3 4130 is fast for most games but not so fast for some demanding games

Kazumi'Zorah · (This post was last modified: 03-03-2014, 12:09 AM by Kazumi'Zorah.)

(03-02-2014, 07:32 PM)admin89 Wrote: R9 280X then

Quote:From what I'm told this hardware in itself is sufficient as long as I OC the cpu
Depending on the game ...
i5 3470k @ 4.4GHz is on par with i3 4130 @ 3.4GHz in Dolphin Benchmark . i3 4130 is fast for most games but not so fast for some demanding games

No game in particular, just a performance standard is what I'm looking for. In that case which cpu would not only be fast for most games but the 'demanding' ones too? Again I'm talking 1080p 4x IR and maxed AA (if that's even possible). A socket 1155 cpu would mean I don't have to change the mobo but in the case that I do (and I wouldn't mind all that much) would you recommend an AMD cpu? Like piledriver? I'm afraid I have even less experience with AMD cpus but if I could get the desired performance from that I'd like to move towards AMD/ATI hardware rather than Intel/Nvidia. As a general preference, not a requirement Smile

.

As for graphics card, would the Radeon r9 280X do the job? This very one: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...ubcat=1842 ?

**admin89** · (This post was last modified: 03-03-2014, 12:23 AM by admin89.)

Nah , AMD FX 8350 is a whole lot slower than your current i5 3570k . Dolphin is a dual core application , that's why newer dual core i3 outperforms last gen quad core i5
Here is our official benchmark :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?...Fa1E#gid=1
The i5 4670k is the fastest CPU for Dolphin atm

Quote:Again I'm talking 1080p 4x IR and maxed AA (if that's even possible).

You never mention AA in the first place . I thought you were only talking about 1080p alone (AMD 7870 is good enough in this case , R9 280X is overkill) .
However , Max AA + 4xIR then it's not 4xIR anymore but more like 12xIR or even higher . In that case , you need to get top of the line single GPU (Dolphin doesn't support SLI , crossfire , dual GPU) . EVGA GTX 780Ti Superclocked is your best bet , R9 290X is out of the question imo since it run too hot (90~95 degree celsius at full load , this is just insane no matter what they say)

Kazumi'Zorah · 03-03-2014, 01:12 AM #5

Quote:Dolphin is a dual core application , that's why newer dual core i3 outperforms last gen quad core i5

Here's a question then, will/can Dolphin ever become a quad-core application? I ask this because rather than "upgrade" my current system I will be building one only for "retro" emulation. And yes I now consider Wii retro :p. If I could save money/increase cpu frequency by reducing cores I'd go ahead with an i3-4340 for 90 euros, otherwise, the 4670k is the best bet it seems. Perhaps the i5 OC better?

Quote:You never mention AA in the first place . I thought you were only talking about 1080p alone (AMD 7870 is good enough in this case , R9 280X is overkill) .

My bad! Subconsciously I hoped my puritanical whims would have made that obvious Angel

haha. A 780Ti would make the whole purchase too expensive for my budget, maybe I shouldn't set my sights so damn high for now. Is the 280X capable of giving me 4xIR with some AA? If so it's a good bang/buck...for now.

**admin89** · 03-03-2014, 01:38 AM #6

4xIR + 4xMSAA shouldn't be a problem for R9 280x

Kazumi'Zorah · 03-03-2014, 02:14 AM #7

(03-03-2014, 01:38 AM)admin89 Wrote: 4xIR + 4xMSAA shouldn't be a problem for R9 280x

I'm settled then. You've been a big help, thanks!

**NaturalViolence** · (This post was last modified: 03-04-2014, 05:46 PM by NaturalViolence.)

KazumiZorah Wrote:Here's a question then, will/can Dolphin ever become a quad-core application?

Not a chance.

KazumiZorah Wrote:I ask this because rather than "upgrade" my current system I will be building one only for "retro" emulation. And yes I now consider Wii retro Tongue. If I could save money/increase cpu frequency by reducing cores I'd go ahead with an i3-4340 for 90 euros, otherwise, the 4670k is the best bet it seems. Perhaps the i5 OC better?

4670K is your best bet either way. It has a higher clock rate, bigger cache, more cores, and it can be overclocked while the i3 can't.

Unless you can buy the 4670K and a good Z87 motherboard then there is no point in upgrading. If you can get a good price selling your current cpu/motherboard than I say go for it. It will end up being around 30% faster in dolphin. But if you can't then I say stick with what you have and overclock it (get a good cooler first). What about the power supply? You're replacing that too right?

Do not buy the 280X. They are horribly overpriced right now due to the bitcoin craze. Get a GTX 770 or 760 instead. Hell you could even get a 750 or 750 TI and that would be fine for your needs depending on what your budget is.

Kazumi'Zorah · (This post was last modified: 03-05-2014, 04:49 AM by Kazumi'Zorah.)

Upgrading to 4670k, z87 mobo, 280x/770 and new psu is within my budget. According to an online calculator 750w is more than enough.

(03-04-2014, 05:42 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Do not buy the 280X. They are horribly overpriced right now due to the bitcoin craze. Get a GTX 770 or 760 instead. Hell you could even get a 750 or 750 TI and that would be fine for your needs depending on what your budget is.

I don't know.. from ocuk both come under the same price range and a number of comparisons online seem to suggest they are about equal leaning towards the 770 being very slightly better on a number of demanding games. Although many of those reviews compared the 280x 870Mhz with the GTX770 1Ghz

In comparing http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...ubcat=1842 with http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...ubcat=1750 , the price of the 770 is slightly lower (~40 euros, not bad) and the specifications are fairly similar. 770 has slightly higher core, boost clocks and higher memory clock while the 280x has 3gb of vram instead of 2 and memory interface is 384-bit as opposed to 256-bit. Clearly I have little idea what these specifications mean, I'm just pointing them out. Lastly nvidia cards describe support for "Physx" and CUDA" and the 770 lists support for DX 11 and OGL 4. On the other hand the 280x lists no support for the former or equivalent but supports DX 11.2 and OGL 4.2, is this anything significant?

Edit: Should point out the 280x is factory OC and the 770 is stock. So maybe.... Huh

EDIT 2: should have asked this earlier but how much should the 4670k OC on average to benefit Dolphin and what's a great air cooler to do it?

fringle · 03-05-2014, 06:57 AM **#10**

(03-05-2014, 03:06 AM)KazumiZorah Wrote: Upgrading to 4670k, z87 mobo, 280x/770 and new psu is within my budget. According to an online calculator 750w is more than enough.

(03-04-2014, 05:42 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Do not buy the 280X. They are horribly overpriced right now due to the bitcoin craze. Get a GTX 770 or 760 instead. Hell you could even get a 750 or 750 TI and that would be fine for your needs depending on what your budget is.

I don't know.. from ocuk both come under the same price range and a number of comparisons online seem to suggest they are about equal leaning towards the 770 being very slightly better on a number of demanding games. Although many of those reviews compared the 280x 870Mhz with the GTX770 1Ghz

In comparing http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...ubcat=1842 with http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...ubcat=1750 , the price of the 770 is slightly lower (~40 euros, not bad) and the specifications are fairly similar. 770 has slightly higher core, boost clocks and higher memory clock while the 280x has 3gb of vram instead of 2 and memory interface is 384-bit as opposed to 256-bit. Clearly I have little idea what these specifications mean, I'm just pointing them out. Lastly nvidia cards describe support for "Physx" and CUDA" and the 770 lists support for DX 11 and OGL 4. On the other hand the 280x lists no support for the former or equivalent but supports DX 11.2 and OGL 4.2, is this anything significant?

Edit: Should point out the 280x is factory OC and the 770 is stock. So maybe....

EDIT 2: should have asked this earlier but how much should the 4670k OC on average to benefit Dolphin and what's a great air cooler to do it?

Just wanted to add. I'm running an EVGA GTX 770 and it's a good card. Runs very well in dolphin although my current CPU is holding me back (FX 6300@4.5ghz). Replacing that hopefully tomorrow with an i5 4670k and an MSI z87-GD65 Gaming I ordered. I plan on running that, 2 sata 7200 rpm drives and a solid state drive off a Seasonic 650watt PSU and it should run perfectly fine with watts to spare. 750 is overkill unless you plan on going SLI or Crossfire later.

For an Air cooler if you want cheap but good the cooler master hyper 212 is very popular. I had one but swapped it out for an AIO water cooler to cope with the heat of this overclocked AMD.