Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hi, I'm on a tight budget but I want to build a good inexpensive desktop that will handle Dolphin emulator well.

It is my understanding from what I've seen, that dolphin relies more on the CPU than the GPU, unlike other pc games, and requires great single-core performance, that's why I want to choose the Intel Pentium G3258 CPU with a low cost motherboard that will support overclocking. For that, I used this guide to try to help me find the right motherboard: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2389948

Here's the build: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/g3FWjX

Graphics card-wise, I'm going to try using the integrated HD4600 for now, I've heard that intel's integrated graphics have gone a very long way within the last couple of years, otherwise I'll probably stick on a NVidia GTX 750 if there's a real need.

Anyway, my main two areas of concern is, will the motherboard I chose support my Pentium G3258 CPU (that compatibility note is scaring me), and is my PSU wattage good?

Your best bet would be Asrock B85 Anniversary . Other non-Z97 , h97 mobos may need Bios undate for G3258 to run
Integrated GPU of G3258 is not Intel HD 4600 but Intel HD Haswell which is on par with Intel HD 4000

Ahh alright. I feel more confident knowing that I won't need a BIOS update before being compatible with the G3258.

When it comes to motherboards, I try to stick with brands like Asus and Gigabyte, because out of my research and asking, some people have given mobo brands like MSI and Asrock the reputation having sub-par reliability records (according to them), is that still true nowadays?

Anyway, do I just choose that as the motherboard, and the build is all perfecto?

ps: thanks for the ultra-quick reply

I never have any good experience with Asus board . Gigabyte board only last 1.5 years for me
Depending on the model . Some models are good , some models are bad
ASRock was originally spun off from Asus ...Now Asrock is even better than Asus imo
On newegg , Asrock B85 Anniversary is an excelent board with maximum 5/5 rating
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157563
I recommended many Asrock boards to other Dolphin users , none of them have any problem

If you can afford it, I would definitely add a dedicated video card. I've tried using my integrated graphics before(Intel HD 4600) and I just can't stand it.

i recommend these GPUs : GT 730 (GDDR5 version only , do not buy DDR3 version) , GT 740 GDDR5 , R7 250 , GTX 750

Not sure about suppliers around you but GTX 750Ti is an amazing card for the price, I'd have one if it fit in my case. lol

R7 250 is what I have and I imagine it's enough for nearly everything if your going to use windows. I lose a bit of performance because of the shoddy drivers on linux, though they are getting better and better these days.

I was running my G3258 on a stock 150w (so probably not really 150w) OC'd to 3.8ghz fine, with a dedicated GPU, I'm using a 270w now for paranoia reasons.

So that shouldn't be a problem.

Intel IGPU should be avoided on the low end CPUs. The performance isn't too bad but the drivers aren’t as robust as NVidia's are, they don't really have the broad optimisations other drivers get.

But yeah, for reference I can run MOST Wii games at 2x-3x on my R7250, G3258 3.8ghz.
E.g. Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, NSMBW.

I'm using 4gb of cheap 1333mhz corsair ram, my motherboard is a Asrock Z97E/ITXac which is overkill because I wanted 2 usb headers for custom controllers and inbuilt wifi.
You should be able to make do with any z97/z87 board.
I read some manufacturers unlocked their H boards to the anniversary but I also read that intel wasn't happy about this and may have got them to reverse it.

It's pretty easy building a fairly powerful but cheap PC these days.

Alright.

I'll definitely consider getting a dedicated GPU if the integrated graphics doesn't cut it, I specifically have the GTX 750 (non-ti) in mine, or possibly the GTX 960 if my budget suddenly increases. Just wondering, can the modern intel integrated graphics be overclocked that much to be a worth while temporary alternative?

Also, how does my PSU wattage look? An PSU-calculator estimated a recommended 230W if I had a g3258 at 1.4V (probably overkill), with a gtx 650, 1 120mm fan, and 2 ram sticks, but I dunno if that's entirely accurate.

If you ever plan on getting a higher end GPU, get at least a 500 W power supply.
As far as I know, iGPU can't be overrclocked

Yeah it's always safe having a higher headroom on your PSU, buuuut in recent years there has been a massive trend of people getting way too powerful PSUs for what they are putting in their computers.
Heck I've been running an i5-2500k at 5ghz with a triple overvolted MSI 660ti (before they decided to discontinued it because nvidia didn't want to warranty that crazy voltage.) and with 4x 3.5" HDDs.
For nearly 4 years now on a 500w without a single issue.

I think people have had dud / cheap psus and gotten a bad idea of what the problem was, it's more often just the PSU quality not that they needed more wattage (though usually cheap PSUs aren’t rated properly, even big brands inflate their numbers sometimes)

AND my PC before that has a 350W antec lanboy stock PSU that's near 10 years old still running an e8400 OCed with a HD4850 in it and a bunch of hardrives.

So maybe try to aim for a bit of headroom but you don't need to go over the top with it.
You have one of if not THE lowest power usage CPUs on the market, and another thing to consider is try finding real world numbers and not what is on the box of GPUs, companies like to give big recommendations so people can't come back to them when they ran it on a cheap "200W" PSU even though a good one would have handled it fine and say it was rated for it and broke.

Another note to consider is, most of those high end 600-100W are meant for running duel and quad card setups, that's why they exist.
The average PC parts of today probably use less power then the average PC parts of yesteryear, things are getting more efficient. Only the bleeding edge are really sucking up ridiculous amounts of power.

Another ANOTHER note is, if your GPU only has 1 6pin connector it's only drawing about an additional 75w from the PSU on top of about 75w that it gets from the motherboard, 150w for GPU and it's the heaviest thing in this system. And that's only theoretical numbers, in practice it probably only maxes out at about 3/4 most of the time, and less on average loads.

Anyway sorry if I'm being pedantic, since I got into PC building 10+ years ago I've always believed in building well balanced computers with parts that match, otherwise your just wasting money. I've seen too many people buy those ridiculous corsair 1000W psus and only end up running single GPUs. By all means buy one of those if you want but make sure the rest of your computer parts match up or it's your loss.

EDIT: I found this neat little guide with good real world examples of PSU usage.
PSU guide