Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hello,

I would like to start off by saying I know the general performance I can expect of this build.

I am posting for opinions, and potentially a change to hardware spec.

Specs:

CPU - Intel Core i7-4790k 4.0GHz
MOBO - ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard
Cooler - Corsair H90
RAM - Kingston Fury Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
HDD - Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
GPU - Zotac GTX 970
PSU - Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply
Case - Silverstone FT03B-MINI (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case

It all comes out to be around $1280. The max limit is $1300.

I like the Small form factor/HTPC builds because they are easier to move from place to place.

I have thought about the Bitfenix Prodigy, Corsair 250D. Just not something that I particularly like.

I'm curious to know if anyone here has used this particular case for their build? Early on I was thinking of the RVZ01 to build a console-esque PC. Then I saw the FT03B-MINI. It looks nice, sleek and all around beautiful. With the combination above, does anyone know what kind of clock I can see with respectable temps?

Also, ZOTAC. I've been fond of EVGA myself because of how good their cards run at what once was a generally cheaper price. However, this time it appears Zotac is the cheapest option. What can anyone tell me about their cards?

How will this perform with Dolphin? At a minimum: excellent. Seriously, there isn't much you can throw at that machine that will run poorly, just as long as you don't go for crazy high resolutions with insane (read: unreasonable) amounts of AA. Those specs are pretty top-tier for Dolphin. Though be warned, in Dolphin, and i7-4790K has no significant advantage over it's i5 counterpart, the i5-4690K. Dolphin is generally a dual-core CPU, and 4 cores/thread is enough to keep it running happily. Anymore will just sit idling.

About Zotac, I own an aging GTX 550 Ti from them. Sure it was cheap, but thus far, almost 3 years old, I haven't had a single issue. Sure, Zotac isn't EVGA, but if you just want a GTX 970, I can't really think of a reason not to buy from them (since price is a factor) unless their GTX 970 has some unsavory reviews.

Well, that's always good to hear. I'm coming up from an i5-4670k @4.4GHz. Running Dolphin like a champ. The reason for this upgrade is for something a little more basic that gives me more headroom for graphic design and the like. This case has me a bit confused, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me a bit about their experience with it if any.

Thanks for the reply though! May go with the Zotac. Reviews are about the same as any other card out there.