Machine #1
AMD Athlon X2 5600+ 2.9ghz
7GB DDR2 RAM -- 6GB PC2-3200, the other 1GB a random chip I had lying around
ATI Radeon HD 512MB DDR2 RAM
Machine #2
AMD Athlon X2 5600+ 2.8ghz
4GB DDR2 RAM
Zotac GeForce GT 520 1GB DDR3 RAM
Both machines support up to 8GB RAM (4 x 2GB), both running WinXP x64 with a r4xxx build (I'll compile a 3.x build with VS2010 for it later on for compatibility). I'd like to see what I can do hardware-wise to upgrade them. My options are essentially just GFX and RAM as the CPU speed is maxed on these motherboards. I'm also partial to XP, so upgrading to Vista/7 is something I'm not willing to do.
Now, one PC (#2) is going out into the living room to be a sort of media/game center, the other is staying in my den. I'd like both to run GC games (I can run Mario Party 5 on machine #1, but that's the only game I own). In a perfect world it'd be nice to run select Wii games such as Brawl, but from what I understand both processors are too slow. Not a big deal if I can't run any Wii games I would purchase. I have Mario Kart Wii, but it runs at only 1/2 speed, so I'll probably get rid of it and pick up MK Double Dash.
Ideally I'd like to run the following:
F-Zero GX -- GC
Mario Kart: Double Dash -- GC
Mario Party 5 -- GC
Rampage: Total Destruction -- GC
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle -- GC
Star Wars (all games) -- GC
Super Smash Bros Melee - GC (since Brawl is unlikely to run at speed)
Wishlist:
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 & 2 -- Wii
New Super Mario Bros -- Wii
Punch Out -- Wii
(07-13-2012, 12:12 AM)Teancum Wrote: [ -> ]My options are essentially just GFX and RAM as the CPU speed is maxed on these motherboards.
Too bad that's the best thing to do XD
Good evening Teancum,
A game being on the Wii doesn't always automatically mean that it will be hard to emulate.
It depends on the game whether you can run it well or not.
Now, before we talk about hardware upgrade, what are you aiming for?
A consistent 100% in the mentioned games? 80-100%? Or are you alright with it being around 50-70%?
What's your budget?
In the perfect world, you would have to switch to Intel for great performance.
As for your Mario Kart decision, both games are taxing on the hardware when you play multiplayer.
Keep the Wii version and invest in better hardware.
Now we're going through your checklist:
F-Zero GX -- GC
This is a very taxing game, where you'll need a CPU (comparable) to a 2500K/3570K running at a clockspeed of 4.5GHz or so for consistent 60FPS.
Mario Kart: Double Dash -- GC
Again, I recommend either the 2500K/3570K especially for multiplayer for a consistent 60FPS experience.
Mario Party 5 -- GC
Doesn't seem to be a very CPU intensive game.
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle -- GC
Doesn't seem to be a very CPU intensive game.
Super Smash Bros Melee -- GC
Requires an i5 at a 2.3GHz clockspeed.
New Super Mario Bros -- Wii
Very light game, you should be able to achieve playable speed. (30-60FPS)
Disclaimer: Most of the information was extracted from the Dolphin Wiki. Any inaccuracies found is due to the wrong information listed there.
(07-13-2012, 12:38 AM)Garteal Wrote: [ -> ]Good evening Teancum,
A game being on the Wii doesn't always automatically mean that it will be hard to emulate.
It depends on the game whether you can run it well or not.
Now, before we talk about hardware upgrade, what are you aiming for?
A consistent 100% in the mentioned games? 80-100%? Or are you alright with it being around 50-70%?
What's your budget?
In the perfect world, you would have to switch to Intel for great performance.
I suppose it depends on the game. I'm looking for 80-100% I guess. If slowdown affects gameplay then I'm out. I'm planning to upgrade the RAM in both machines to 8GB. Will that make a difference at all?
(07-13-2012, 12:38 AM)Garteal Wrote: [ -> ]As for your Mario Kart decision, both games are taxing on the hardware when you play multiplayer.
Keep the Wii version and invest in better hardware.
Thanks for the notes on that -- I think I'll actually just play Mario Kart 64 via emulator or Joy Ride Turbo on my 360 then.
On a different note, I know Brawl is rather CPU intensive, but I'm curious how much of that is due to polygons/texture size. Is there a way to get output a polygon count? The reason I ask is that Brawl Vault has an extensive amount of info on modding the game and I could simply use all Melee characters and stages (or anything of that polygon level) if it would improve performance enough. Heck, I'd even be willing to export the models, reduce polygons, then reimport.
http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php
lol brawl is one of the easiest games to run XD
Brawl isn't very CPU intensive, in fact, it requires nearly the same hardware as Melee.
An i5 at 2.3/2.4GHz will do fine, but will probably have some slowdowns with 4 players and intensive stages such as Delfino Plaza.
As long as you have a decent (discrete) GPU or IGP, you don't have to worry too much about the graphical details.
Quote:If slowdown affects gameplay then I'm out.
In what way? Any slowdown will make the game go slowmotion.
Quote:I'm planning to upgrade the RAM in both machines to 8GB. Will that make a difference at all?
Not at all.
Quote:Heck, I'd even be willing to export the models, reduce polygons, then reimport.
That won't make a difference. The hard truth is that your hardware is very slow and weak for Dolphin.
Your CPU is slow, and your GPU isn't meant for gaming at all.
Your only solution to play any of these games at a good (playable) speed, is to get a better machine.
Fair enough. I didn't really build these from new parts, they were refurbs that I fixed up. Rather than dump money into them I guess I'll just test to see what games run at speed and what games don't, then do without the slow games. I do most of my gaming on my 360 anyway, so it's not a huge loss.
Thanks for the help all.
Quote:I'm planning to upgrade the RAM in both machines to 8GB. Will that make a difference at all?
Not at all.
I'd not say not at all, When using EFB > Ram you need decent bandwith, if you're running a single stick of memory you can run into limitations when using efb>ram as the bandwith to the ram
will bottleneck the system.(just pointing that out from my personal experiences)
But for his system it could make a difference (if he's only using a single stick, and trying to emulate using EFB to ram). However, given his system specs he would be better off with a new system as trying to run EFB to RAM on his system would probably decrease his performance drasticly
in Dolphin.
The amount of RAM isn't important when you use EFB Copies to RAM.
The speed of the RAM is decisive. EFB Copies to RAM works faster, when you use e.g. DDR3-2000 (or even faster) instead of DDR3-1333
(07-13-2012, 01:19 AM)DefenderX Wrote: [ -> ]The amount of RAM isn't important when you use EFB Copies to RAM.
The speed of the RAM is decisive. EFB Copies to RAM works faster, when you use e.g. DDR3-2000 (or even faster) instead of DDR3-1333
Actually there is very little difference between using a 2133MHz clock speed vs a 1600MHz versus the difference when using 1066MHz and bumping it up to 1600MHz, this is due to Windows not benefiting (much) from higher memory clock speeds that are higher than the memory controller in the CPU.