(09-25-2013, 04:16 AM)Crypdos Wrote: [ -> ]Why an Intel CPU? A good AMD Phenom II seems to be sufficient for x2 native, and this option would be more cost efficient than replacing the whole mobo+CPU. But I don't know which CPU to pick from. Does quadcore make a difference, or should I go for a fast dualcore?
Because Intel CPUs provide better performance than AMD does. And a quad-core (high-clocked) will be fine for Dolphin (hint: extra core for DSP).
Intel CPUs have a much higher IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) than AMD. It is true on average that AMD CPUs are more cost effective, and much more in this case since it doesn't involve a board replacement. AMD CPUs scale well with multi-core workload, but not as well when you require high clock speed and more work per clock. As an AMD fanboy myself, this was a hard thing to accept as I learned more about Dolphin initially. I've been building AMD rigs since 1998 or so. The Intel i5 series outperforms everything else when it comes to Dolphin. The third and fourth gen of these chips (Ivy Bridge, Haswell) perform best. These are not available in dualcore. The i7 is overkill for Dolphin since it won't use the extra cores provided by HyperThreading.
Depending on your setup, Dolphin won't currently use more than 3 cores with LLE on a dedicated thread, and 2 if you use HLE or LLE without dedicated thread. So, a fast dualcore would potentially suffice in theory, although in practice there are none that will clock high enough to meet the demands of some of the games on your list. Currently the new rewritten HLE works well for most games but I noticed there are two Zelda games and a Mario game on there. Those games all use the Zelda microcode audio, which won't work well with HLE. So, for those games you would benefit from a third core and a faster CPU to run LLE on a dedicated thread.
(09-25-2013, 04:16 AM)Crypdos Wrote: [ -> ]Why an Intel CPU? A good AMD Phenom II seems to be sufficient for x2 native
Even with the greatest CPU of 2013, that means nothing about resolution. The resolution you can get depends almost only on the GPU you have. If you want only 2xIR, I think any GPU in the $100 price range will do the job. I don't know if your GPU cand do it, but "6450" sounds pretty low range
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(09-25-2013, 04:16 AM)Crypdos Wrote: [ -> ]Does quadcore make a difference, or should I go for a fast dualcore?
What about a fast quad core?
In general, emulators run a lot better on Intel CPUs because of their superior single core performance. As rockclimb15 stated, at least 3 cores are recommended for LLE audio. You still haven't told us how much money you can spend. Recommendations can vary depending on that.
Ok, that's good to know about Intel CPU's. Yeah, if I would do it from scratch I definitely would consider getting a Intel socket motherboard with a decent I5. But that isn't the case. I already got the motherboard and graphics card. And if a mere CPU upgrade would allow me to play 1,5x or even 2x then I'm satisfied. Going the I5 route +new graphics card is likely more than 400 euros, maybe I can even do 3x then. While buying only a new CPU is only around maybe 80 euros.
It's not that I have a low budget for these things, I just want it to be worth it.
Say I would buy an AMD Phenom X4 955 Black Edition, would it be an okay system for 1,5x or 2x? (I'm even satisfied with x1 in complex games). Would I need a graphics card upgrade in that case?
It's not so much a question of IR. I'm not sure that the X4 955 can run Skyward Sword fullspeed at native resolution without a really aggressive OC. Without 100% speed you'll get audio glitches. If you get that processor and plan to stick with it in an HTPC case, I'd think about some water cooling if your board will allow for overclocking. It's tricky, but it could be done.
Otherwise, if your goal is to run those games at full speed, plan on replacing with a Z87 board, i5-4670K, and a case big enough to do air cooling.
FWIW, despite being a Zelda game, Skyward Sword actually uses the AXWii µcode instead of the Zelda µcode. The only game in your short list that actually uses the Zelda µcode is Twilight Princess, which is already a demanding game on the problematic HLE, so if you care about that game you'll probably want a 4670K, or at least something close to that.
(09-25-2013, 07:14 AM)pauldacheez Wrote: [ -> ]FWIW, despite being a Zelda game, Skyward Sword actually uses the AXWii µcode instead of the Zelda µcode. The only game in your short list that actually uses the Zelda µcode is Twilight Princess, which is already a demanding game on the problematic HLE, so if you care about that game you'll probably want a 4670K, or at least something close to that.
Really? Is this on the game wiki? I'm surprised I didn't know that. Does that mean that SS takes advantage of the new AX-HLE? What about Mario Kart Wii?
Other than Hyrule Field, I typically don't have any emulation issues with my 4670K on TP. SS is a different story.
Yeah, both Skyward and MKWii use AXWii (and are thus fine with new-ax-hle), as far as I know. I dunno if it's on the wiki, I never really look at that thing. :P
For reference, here's my incomplete list of games that use the Zelda µcode:
-GameCube BIOS
-Luigi's Mansion
-Animal Crossing (the original one; City Folk likely uses AXWii)
-Pikmin/Pikmin 2 (both GC and Wii "New Play Control!" versions)
-Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (also both GC and Wii versions)
-Zelda: Wind Waker/Twilight Princess (oddly, Skyward Sword uses AXWii)
-Super Mario Sunshine/Galaxy/Galaxy 2
-Mario Kart: Double Dash (MKWii probably uses AX)
-None of the Mario Party games, according to JMC47
This makes sense, since TP was a GameCube game ported to Wii (and reversed 180 on the X axis for right-handed Wiimote users). If I could ever summon my c++ skills from long ago I'd love to help in fixing the Zelda microcode for TP.
@OP - in that case you can technically run these games at less than 100% and use timestretching with the exception of Twilight Princess. That'll need some bigger guns. You'll still need a heavy OC on that 955 to get acceptable emulation speeds on some of those games.
I've decided to get a Phenom X4 955. Maybe I could do some slight OCíng since I got a Zalman copper CPU fan and 2 120mm case fans. Still don't know about the GFX card though. Is the PC still balanced then? Will the graphics card bottleneck the new CPU? On the other hand, Dolphin seems more reliant on a good CPU than a GFX card, right?
What can I expect?