Upgrading CPU, need help.

dolphinfan · 07-15-2016, 11:47 AM #1

I'm upgrading my current CPU (Pentium g3420) and I need some advice. I have two CPUs in mind : i3 4170 and i3 4370. Of the two which would you recommend? The games I play are 'moderately' demanding. Mostly kids games with my nephews like Looney Tunes Acme Arsenal (I noticed lots of slow down with my current cpu). I don't expect any crazy resolutions or effects either (I play at 2xIR and 2xAA 99.99% of the time).

Would I even see a difference in performance upgrading from the Pentium g3420 to the i3s I listed?

**KHg8m3r** · (This post was last modified: 07-15-2016, 12:44 PM by KHg8m3r.)

The i3-4370 has a 100Mhz speed boost over the i3-4170. It also has the Intel HD 4600 vs the HD 4400, but that's kinda irrelevant since you have a dedicated GT 730.

The clock speed of your G3240 is 3.2 Ghz, where the i3's are 3.8 and 3.7 Ghz. While they do have hyperthreading, the small increase in speed plus hyperthreading will only give you an extra 5 or so fps on average in games.

I would first put all your graphics enhancements at native or 1x, and see if you get any speedups. If so, you may want to upgrade your GPU instead.

dolphinfan · 07-15-2016, 01:22 PM #3

(07-15-2016, 12:40 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: The i3-4370 has a 100Mhz speed boost over the i3-4170. It also has the Intel HD 4600 vs the HD 4400, but that's kinda irrelevant since you have a dedicated GT 730.

The clock speed of your G3240 is 3.2 Ghz, where the i3's are 3.8 and 3.7 Ghz. While they do have hyperthreading, the small increase in speed plus hyperthreading will only give you an extra 5 or so fps on average in games.

I would first put all your graphics enhancements at native or 1x, and see if you get any speedups. If so, you may want to upgrade your GPU instead.

Hey KHg8m3r, thanks for the reply. You saved me $120 dollars (no point buying the new cpus if I'm only gonna see at best a 5fps improvement). What can you recommend instead then? Keep in mind the CPU has to be able to be installed in an Intel Q87 Express mobo. Is there anything that can fit in there that will give me performance equal to a Pentium G3258 OCed to 4.0ghz? The reason I ask is, I have a friend that has the G3258 OCed to 4ghz (with an AMD R7 240 2g DDR3 128bit video card) and he tested the game for me on his rig. It ran fine. So it's got to be the CPU, our GPUs are more or less similar.

PS, I tried 1xIR with no other enhancements (AA, etc.) and there is no difference.

**KHg8m3r** · 07-15-2016, 01:54 PM #4

What backend are you using OpenGL or D3D? And do you have the latest GPU drivers? Nvidia just dropped the 368.81 drivers today.
OpenGL is faster on Nvidia GPUs than D3D.

Well, if your motherboard supports the Haswell refresh, you could get the i7-4790K, with the base clock of 4.0 GHz nothing else in the Haswell line can beat it

**admin89** · 07-15-2016, 02:13 PM #5

Agree . i7 4790k is the best CPU for Dolphin right now (4.4GHz turbo boost) , you can find a used one for like $250 on ebay . It's quite expensive but it's worth the money you pay for and you never need to upgrade again

dolphinfan · 08-04-2016, 05:59 AM #6

Guys (and Gals) one last question. Which is better overall for Dolphin emulation : the i3 4170 or the i5 4590? Can anyone who has one of these processors test a game for me : Megamind Mega Team Unite. On my current rig it runs slowly. My friend tested it on his G3258 OCed to 4ghz and it runs at the full 30fps. Can any i3 4170 or i5 4590 owners test this game please?

themaster123 · (This post was last modified: 08-04-2016, 01:08 PM by themaster123.)

I would imagine that i3 4170 or i5 4590 would perform about the same due to similar peak clocks as dolphin don't use more then 2 core well from that last I knew. that said if you gaming outside emulation I would recommend the i5 though between those processors. Have you try the direct 12 backend though. I would try the game but I don't have it.