Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Reviews says that this is a case that will get hot, so I want the GPU under the soundcard to get better airflow. I have ordered some extra fans, two 80mm and one 120m.

Should I maybe change the mobo or cpu? I am not sure if I want to oc. Have never overclocked before, does it get any warmer from that? I dont need it to work that hard when watching movies.
is there a Matx better mobo with PCIex1 over PCIex16 for airflow?
35% gaming + 65% xbmc

Does this look ok, something I need / dont need.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.29 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Intel 330 Series 180GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1GB Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Fractal Design Node 605 HTPC Case
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $439.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-14 03:49 EST-0500

Thanks.

Do you really need a dedicated sound card? onboard sound in motherboards today is pretty good.

(11-14-2014, 06:59 PM)pluhemosdeeni Wrote: [ -> ]Should I maybe change the mobo or cpu?

First of all since you're posting this in the Hardware forum on the Dolphin forums; what games will you be emulating?

Quote:I am not sure if I want to oc. Have never overclocked before, does it get any warmer from that?

It does but that depends on how much fine-tuning you've done to your OC. Generally with a decent third-party cooler and adequate airflow in your case you shouldn't have a hard time reaching a reasonable OC with good temps.

Quote:I dont need it to work that hard when watching movies.

That depends on what you're watching. High level compression and HEVC do require a powerful CPU to playback; especially 4K material.
That said... if you leave the power saving features on (which you should unless it causes issues), then your CPU will only jump to its OC clocks whenever it is needed.
You can also (if you already haven't) use GPU decoding solutions that will reduce the load on your CPU to keep it cooler.

Quote:is there a Matx better mobo with PCIex1 over PCIex16 for airflow?

Looking at that board I see that it has a PCIE-x16 slot at the bottom of the board so you can use any of the above PCIE-x1 slots for your soundcard.

(11-15-2014, 04:58 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]Do you really need a dedicated sound card? onboard sound in motherboards today is pretty good.

They're 'okay' I'd say but probably enough for most people plus it looks like he already has that sound card.

you don't even need to overclock with that cpu, that cpu is one of the best for dolphin emulation or pretty much any kind of game emulation. You really don't need extremely fancy cooling to avoid blowing up the cpu when you overclock it, because the stock cooler really does perform very well. Unless you are overclocking it really hardcore and have a stinky mobo.