Upgrading my HTPC - Best bang for my buck?

[gimme_vidyagames]

Hi guys,
I've got an existing HTPC which I built about a year ago, and it does a pretty great job at 720p, but my 1080p frame rate is hit or miss. Looking to upgrade (Metroid Prime deserves it), and I was wondering if I'd get more bang for my buck from upgrading my CPU or GPU. In other words, do you think Dolphin will benefit more from a CPU or GPU upgrade in my case? Is either upgrade option a futile waste of cash?
Current Specs:
Ubuntu x64, Dolphin 5.0
i5 6500 @3.2 Ghz
Zotac GTX 750 Ti Low Profile
8GB DDR3

Upgrade option 1: GTX 1050 Ti Low Profile
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2W8MJ9/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487251273&sr=8-1-fkmr1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=zotac+gtx+750+ti+low+profile

Upgrade option 2: i5 6600k @3.5 Ghz
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B012M8M7TY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1487251425&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lga+1151+i5&dpPl=1&dpID=41qV0dbcgOL&ref=plSrch

[KHg8m3r]

GPU upgrade will be what you want for increased graphics visuals. Getting a faster CPU will only help you if the games aren't running at fullspeed.

[gimme_vidyagames]

(02-16-2017, 11:49 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: GPU upgrade will be what you want for increased graphics visuals. Getting a faster CPU will only help you if the games aren't running at fullspeed.

So if I'm understanding you correctly, the game's emulation speed is only related to FPS when it is emulating at less than 100%, but running at a higher resolution is purely a GPU task and has nothing to do with the CPU's emulation speed performance?

[admin89]

Your PC can run most games at 1080p just fine , you don't need to upgrade . There is no point in doing so anyway
i5 6600k is overclock-able , it requires a Z170 mobo . If your mobo is not Z170 , don't bother buying it
GTX 750ti is already fast enough for 4xIR (2460x2112) , 1080p is nothing... At least , this is how it performs in windows platform.
Perhaps you should use Vulkan backend , it's faster than the others

[gimme_vidyagames]

(02-17-2017, 12:35 AM)admin89 Wrote: Your PC can run most games at 1080p just fine , you don't need to upgrade . There is no point in doing so anyway
i5 6600k is overclock-able , it requires a Z170 mobo . If your mobo is not Z170 , don't bother buying it
GTX 750ti is already fast enough for 4xIR (2460x2112) , 1080p is nothing... At least , this is how it performs in windows platform.
Perhaps you should use Vulkan backend , it's faster than the others

I'll do some benchmarks while running at 1080p, and see whether my GPU or CPU is maxed out. That would potentially indicate where my bottleneck is.


I've heard that Vulkan generally only runs better on AMD hardware, but that information may be out of date.
Does it actually perform better than OpenGL on Nvidia + Linux?

[admin89]

Open Nvidia Control Panel via terminal -> 3d settings -> Find "Power Option" or anything like that , default setting is either "optimal power" or "adaptive" -> Change this to "Maximum Performance"
I have the same GPU , most demanding games run well with it (1080p or higher res ofc). There's definitely sth wrong on your end
This is an old version of Nvidia CP on utunbu . Sorry , I couldn't find the newest one

Spoiler: (Show Spoiler)

[gimme_vidyagames]

Excellent, thanks for the tip. I will try this once I get home and will report my findings.

[gimme_vidyagames]

No luck - I get 60 FPS 75% of the time, but ~45 FPS 25% of the time (Metroid Prime Trilogy - Echoes). Stutters continuously unless I stand still.
I set my Nvidia Powermizer to maximum performance, as well as verified that I'm running the most recent proprietary drivers (which get better performance than the open source versions).
My only two renderer backend options in Dolphin 5.0 are OpenGL and Software Renderer - didn't see Vulkan, so obviously sticking with OpenGL.
Rendering at 3x native / 1080p, antialiasing and anisotropic filtering are each set to 2x. All of the other Dolphin settings are set to their recommended values.
I checked my system resources, and two of my cores are maxing out from time to time, consistent with when I experience stuttering. I'm not running anything else in the background, and this is after a clean reboot.
I also tried at 2.5 internal resolution instead of 3, and I was basically getting 60 FPS consistently. Resource manager still shows CPU cores maxing out, similar to 3x IR.
Any ideas, guys? Please let me know if I can provide more details.

[DJBarry004]

Dolphin is a dual-core application, so two cores maxing out is normal.

You should make sure you aren´t overheating... just in case, that is.

[admin89]

Go to your bios - Turbo Boost Control . Set 3.6GHz for all cores (multiplier = 36)
Your i5 max turbo frequency is 3.6GHz but it won't run at this speed all the time unless you force it
https://ark.intel.com/products/88184/Intel-Core-i5-6500-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz
Turn off anti-aliasing and set internal resolution = 3x , see if you can gain any FPS .
If 3.6GHz i5 6500 is not enough for that game , i doubt i5 6600k can do any better
Edit : Check this out : https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Metroid_Prime_2:_Echoes_(Metroid_Prime:_Trilogy)
i3 4170 + GTX 750ti can run that game at 3xIR , the tester also uses Dolphin 5.0
Stroll down until you see the "testing" tag