I have decided to build myself a dedicated emulator PC, to have no other objective but to emulate gaming consoles. I'm doing this to get some experience in building PC's, and through research have a better understanding of whats out there and how it works together.
I have decided on a 400 dollar budget but quickly realized that would not be enough so I raised my budget to 500-600.
The parts that i have purchased so far are:
- i5-4670K cpu
- EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card
The parts I'm planing on purchasing:
- Cooler Master Elite 130
Things i would like to emulate:
-Nintendo 64
-Nintendo GameCube
-Sega Dreamcast
-Sony PlayStation
-Sony PlayStation 2
-Nintendo SNES
-Nintendo NES
Everything else I'm pretty much unsure about. The reason I'm creating this is to maybe help someone out if there planing on building something like this but also receive a ton of help and suggestions. Thanks!
You're basically getting one of the best CPUs you can get right for Dolphin. Most games will run fullspeed without even overclocking.
The only emulators you really need to worry about having adequate horsepower are Dolphin and PCSX2 (from the list of systems you want to emulate). Everything else won't even come close to taxing your PC. So basically you have nothing to worry about.
The only matter is how high do you want to raise your internal resolution and anti-aliasing in Dolphin and PCSX2.
(04-20-2014, 09:56 AM)admin89 Wrote: [ -> ]Make you you pair that CPU with Z87 mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157374
That's a good Motherboard but I need something a lot simpler. I was looking for something to just do the job without any cool perks.
I don't know, is a good motherboard recommended?
(04-20-2014, 10:15 AM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ]The only matter is how high do you want to raise your internal resolution and anti-aliasing in Dolphin and PCSX2.
Im not sure, just enough to where it does not bother me. I haven't emulated anything yet so I'm not sure how different the resolution is from consoles.
Well, it really comes down to 1) do you want to play in the game's native resolution or 2) play the game in HD resolutions like 720p, 1080p or 1440p or 3) play the game in "ridiculous" resolutions. For many games, a GTX750 Ti will have no problem doing 3x IR and 4x IR (depending on the game of course) in Dolphin (both IRs are larger than 1080p actually) and even though I've had limited experience in PCSX2, I can't imagine it struggling for 1080p+ gameplay on that emulator either, not until you start setting it to those "ridiculous" resolutions.
Anti-aliasing depends on how sensitive you are to "jaggies". At higher resolutions, aliasing gets less and less noticeable, but most people can still see it, even at 1080p+, hence the need for AA. You really shouldn't have any trouble doing 3x IR + 4xSSAA in many games in Dolphin, can't say for sure about PCSX2. MSAA is even cheaper in terms of using GPU resources, so if you can deal with only geometry (that is to say polygonal) anti-aliasing, you can often go 3x IR + 8xMSAA all the way to as high as you can set it, depending on the game of course. GPU intensive games will require you to scale back, but with a 750 Ti, you should be able to set it fairly high in many games. Obviously when talking about N64, PSX, and DC games, you should be able to max it out as much as you want; they're not nearly going to be as demanding as Dolphin or PCSX2.
As for how different an emulators HD output is from a console, just take a look at comparisons online. The main site has plenty of HD Dolphin screenshots to give you an idea of what 1080p gameplay looks like. The level of detail is orders beyond the original consoles in many cases. N64, PSX, and some DC games might not seem as impressive due to the models and textures used, but you'll still have more pixel data and higher image quality compared to the consoles themselves. As to if you even want to mess around with these graphical enhancements, that's for your preference to decide. Some people love HD emulation; others like to mimic the console as closely as possible.
(04-20-2014, 02:30 PM)letsdothisnot Wrote: [ -> ] (04-20-2014, 09:56 AM)admin89 Wrote: [ -> ]Make you you pair that CPU with Z87 mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157374
That's a good Motherboard but I need something a lot simpler. I was looking for something to just do the job without any cool perks.
I don't know, is a good motherboard recommended?
The point of the motherboard is for overclocking. The Z87 is your best bet for overclocking. The extra money you paid for the
K at the end of your processor (denoting overclockable) is a waste if you don't get a good overclocking board.
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.
(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.
Just a small thing 2x4GB is better than 1x8GB because you can run dual-channel RAM. Doesn't make a huge difference though.
Wow.. This is really helpful, especially what Shonumi said about resolutions. I would mind playing older games with their original resolutions even those it would be nice do experience them in 1080p.
(04-20-2014, 03:02 PM)yl-smash Wrote: [ -> ] (04-20-2014, 02:30 PM)letsdothisnot Wrote: [ -> ] (04-20-2014, 09:56 AM)admin89 Wrote: [ -> ]Make you you pair that CPU with Z87 mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157374
That's a good Motherboard but I need something a lot simpler. I was looking for something to just do the job without any cool perks.
I don't know, is a good motherboard recommended?
The point of the motherboard is for overclocking. The Z87 is your best bet for overclocking. The extra money you paid for the K at the end of your processor (denoting overclockable) is a waste if you don't get a good overclocking board.
I'm looking into this mobo because they look similar but a lot cheaper, what do you think?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...0%20%20%20