What should I upgrade?

[williamk]

Guys, please, I need to figure out how to improve my setup so I can play games at higher native resolutions. ;-)

So, should I upgrade the CPU, the GPU, both? What should I get that is cheaper but would double my changes of running things at higher settings? Thanks!

CPU: Intel i5 2310 3.1 Ghz (Quadcore)
GPU Nvidia GeForce 210 2 Gig

I have to check what kind of PSU I got so I will know if I can put a bigger card there. Also, what kind of motherboard I got, as it has been some years since I got it and I have no clue on how to check it. I guess the BIOS?

Thanks again! Loving to be able to play my old games, as my new Wii U has no option to play and I gave my old Wii to someone else...... stupid.....

Best Regards, William

[williamk]

Just found what motherboard I got.

http://br.gigabyte.com/products/product-...id=3773#ov

[Helios]

Your CPU is okay compared to the average we get on these forums

Some heavier games might lag a little, but most should play fine.

I would upgrade the GPU. The GPU more or less affects what IRs your system can handle.

If you buy a 750 TI and run Windows 10 to use the Direct X 12 backend we have, you can pretty much play at 4k resolutions. Or at 1080p and turn up SSAA a ton.

Also, use the latest development build.

[williamk]

Thanks, I will check things out and see what I co do. :-)

[williamk]

Only Windows 10 supports DX12? I will check this out, as the benchmarks does look tasty. ;-) Thanks again!

In any event at least my fave games are running, a but on the low-end (basic native res) but they do run. In time I will upgrade this computer, as where I live things are expensive (Brazil).

[themanuel]

You will be hard pressed to see much difference in a 1080p display by running at an IR greater than 3x, and the impact to peformance will be very noticeable. Using SSAA will also degrade performance and offer minimal visual gains over MSAA.

Regarding the CPU, if you motherboard supports overclocking it, a $60 G3258 pushed to 4.0GHz or even a little more will help cope with the more demanding games.

[Helios]

We don't do any meaningful downsampling when you raise your IR above your displays resolution, so don't do that.

If you want super sampled AA which one is probably trying to accomplish by doing that, we support SSAA directly in the anti aliasing drop down menu. This is also faster than doing our own downsampling as GPUs tend to have ways to make SSAA fast.

Also, themanuel. The G3258 is pretty much the best chip on the market right now for emulation (And it's incredibly cheap!), but if you want to play other more modern games, the i5 will be better. I imagine OP wants to play other things than just emulators.

[themanuel]

Good point on PC gaming. However, I do more PC gaming on my PC than I do dolphin and my processor hasn't held me back. I do realize some games are famous for actually benefiting from more than 2 cores, like Battlefield 4 but I think those games are still a minority. I'm no authority on the subject, though.

[williamk]

I only care about dolphin, really

[williamk]

I wonder if I should test the onboard graphics card:

Enhanced Intel HD Graphics 2000/3000 integrated with the processor

Compared to the external one I'm currently using:

GPU Nvidia GeForce 210 2 Gig