Which PC build is better for 1080p/720p performance?

[Nintendo Maniac 64]

(10-18-2022, 05:07 PM)RustingParagon Wrote: Should I just get the i3 to be safe? Future proofing isn't a thing with these things (I think?) but maybe I could play some pc games up to 2010 even with its iGPU. Not at the finest graphics ofc. All benchmarks and such I looked up keep saying 8 gigs and the GPU is going to make things medium graphics at the maximum. 

I would not rely on the the iGPU on the i3 for emulation of things more demanding than the Wii; for that you'd want to go the AMD Ryzen route.

(10-18-2022, 05:07 PM)RustingParagon Wrote: Still... 10 bucks for a used processor from 2013?

I don't know why you find that hard to believe - non-high end CPUs depreciate in value quite quickly since, lets be honest - if you're buying a used old CPU, you're either upgrading an existing system or, if you're putting together a newer system, then you'll want a higher-end CPU in order for it to help with modern workloads.

In particular, older used systems are quite a common route for budget PC gamers which is where that dual core issue comes in - dual core for native PC gaming is pretty dead now. Then combine that with the "multi-core explosion" seen with mobile devices whereby more "normie" people will think more cores automatically equals better, and a dual core suddenly looks pedestrian.

Also there's probably the branding issue - soon after 4th gen aka Haswell, Intel started using the brand "Pentium Silver" (as well as some Celeron CPUs) for what historically was called "Atom" and it resulted in quite a few people, including tech people on forums and similar, to associate Pentium with "trash" (I ran into this issue myself when trying to explain that my Pentium G3258 at 4.5GHz should have emulation performance similar to an i7-4790K).

(10-18-2022, 05:07 PM)RustingParagon Wrote: wouldn't finding a MRB for it be the equivalent to hunting for a fossil in a bog?

I wouldn't think so - it's compatible with LGA1150 boards which were used with your i7s, i5s, etc, and CPUs like the 4790K were pretty popular. Furthermore, because some more budget H-series motherboards were even able to overclock, and the aforementioned G3258 was actually a really popular budget option, this means that the quantity of compatible entry-level motherboards shouldn't really be an issue.

Really the two main issues are just making sure that it is a board that can overclock the G3258 as well as being a motherboard that can even just boot with it (it's no good to have a board that requires a BIOS update but you need a different CPU just to even apply the update).

(10-18-2022, 05:07 PM)RustingParagon Wrote: Alright, I wont worry too much about the sound, and overclocking is on the table. Then.. what build could I possibly get at this point? Something that could, say, fit inside the space of an Xbox series S console?

Well in terms of used parts, the obvious route is an ITX motherboard. Cases have a lot more preference and subjectivity so, for that, I'll refer you to the previously-mentioned PCPartPicker.com.

And of course, as I mentioned in that one thread, there are pre-assembled SFF PCs as well that are available.

(10-18-2022, 05:07 PM)RustingParagon Wrote: Also yea Im definitely going for Linux, probably Zorin OS.

I personally like Linux Mint and have previously jokingly called it "more similar to traditional Windows than modern versions of Windows are".

Also minor protip about using the official 1st party GameCube USB adapter: after creating the according conf file and pasting the corresponding text into it and saving the flie, all you actually need to do is reboot the PC for it to "just work".