Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

There's only one PCI slot, so once you put in a dedicated GPU, you wont be able to add anything else as a PCI expansion

(04-21-2014, 01:26 AM)skanob Wrote: [ -> ]Im no tech guru, but with many research done, I've learned a lot about building PCs. I would recommend to grab a case for the pc that can quickly disperse heat. For my personal build, opted for the balance of being a bit of a small form factor and heat dispersement without much change, probably up until the end of its life when it's time for overclocking, and that is a mATX mobo and case. I found, based on research that this case will be very good for it.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Noctua NT-H1 3.5g Thermal Paste ($5.46 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($106.20 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.91 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Aerocool DS Cube Black Edition Silent Cube MicroATX Mini Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($18.83 @ Mwave)
Total: $550.37

In the long run, when money is not going to be an issue. you can easily upgrade to a third-party/better cpu cooling and add a dedicated gpu, then overclock. but on its own, this should be "reasonably" enough for emulation.

With the case, the PSU is on the bottom, unlike your normal ATX case which is on the top and "in-the-way" of your cpu/mobo. It has it's own compartment for it's own heat dispersement. The mobo is not sitting sideways but is sitting properly on its back-side, for me this is the proper mobo placement. By the time that you add a GPU, the GPU will not be "hanging" on its side and pressure on the mobo socket/connector because of gravity, that is depending on the GPU weight that you will add. You can either do an air or water cooling for this freely. Also either a modular or non modular PSU.

I guess what I am saying is that to add the case and air flow as a factor when building a pc, specially on your target as it uses a lot of heat than normal operation.

You can still save $30-$70 off my build if you want to lower down the mobo, PSU, and remove the network card. Change the mobo to a Gigabyte brand one to better compatibility for a Hackintosh PC/emulation. I've only added this mobo because it can overclock the RAM timing (might need be correct on this).

I originally opted for an mITX mobo and also the case that you've opted, but then started to realize all of the above. Personally, I think that the case is good, but not to my liking.

And so I learned that with any PC build, heat is the top most enemy. My newest rule of thumb when building a pc is: cool air must come in from the front/bottom, hot air must come out from the back/top. As cool air goes down (is on the bottom/floor), hot air goes up (is on the top/ceiling); or snow falls down and fire goes up.

Hope it helps. Feel free to correct me.

I don't know maybe its just me but I taught the cooler master 130 did a pretty good job of keeping the PC cool.. Especially since it won't be too crowded in there. I was originally wanting to get the cooler master 110 but thought everything was going to overheat like you said. Am I thinking correctly, what does peoples thinkiths...

So today I have received the last parts for my build. Here is what u settled with.

- i5-4670k
- ASRock B85M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard
- Patriot Viper 3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
- EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card
- Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
- Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case

For the memory I'm going to be using a 500Gb hard drive that I had laying around.

I will probably do the build this Saturday or the next day where ill have enough time.
Ill try to document it pretty well with pictures and then post them to see what you think.

B85M mobo doesn't support overclocking , i5 4670k would be a waste of money
Do not use any other mobo than z87 for k cpu !!!