01-12-2015, 08:13 AM
Ok so I've been browsing these boards for 5 years now and during that entire time this forum has been absolutely flooded with "help me build a dolphin PC!" and "which component should I upgrade next?" threads. And 95% of the time they're given the exact same advice over and over and over again. I thought it might be nice to organize some of the common statements into a reference thread that can be copy/pasta or linked to. A lot of this stuff is covered in the faq but not everything. Although it would be nice to have that stuff stickied somewhere on the forums since clearly not everybody reads the FAQ or is even aware of its existence. I would highly recommend anyone new here to read through the "Hardware and system requirements" section of the faq first: https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/#what-o...-supported
Frequently Asked Questions
Laptops vs Desktops vs NUCs:
We get asked this constantly. Desktops are always strongly recommended whenever possible. For some of you the extra mobility of a laptop or space saving of a NUC may be a requirement and if that's the case then there is not much that can be done. But whenever you are given a choice most of us here will recommend you to get a desktop. Why? Because they offer much faster hardware for the same or less money. Dolphin is an extremely demanding application and laptops/NUCs that can actually run most games well are usually pretty expensive. And even they pale in comparison to your average desktop build. We can still give you advice on good NUCs/laptops if you require one though.
Prebuilt vs DIY desktop:
DIY is strongly recommended whenever possible. Even if you have zero experience with building PCs. The fact is building a modern desktop is so painfully easy that if you can assemble a lego kit you can assemble a desktop. http://pcpartpicker.com/ is a useful reference for choosing parts, finding the best prices, and ensuring compatibility between parts. DIY systems give you better bang for your buck, give you more choice in designing it the way you want, generally use higher quality components, and generally give you more control over the system UEFI. If you insist on getting a prebuilt system you probably won't get as much help here because nobody here buys them.
Intel vs AMD CPUs:
Intel cpus are much better for dolphin at every price point. Period. Please read the faq to learn why. This doesn't mean that you can't use AMD cpus for dolphin or that high end amd cpus might not run your favorite games well. It just means that Intel cpus will deliver more bang for your buck and therefore we're going to recommend them over AMD cpus at every opportunity. We don't care what you read on other sites as this conclusion is based on our own dolphin cpu benchmark. Which is more accurate at predicting a cpus performance with dolphin than any other application could be.
What if I want a NUC?
The gigabyte brix or anything else with either the i7 4770R or i5 4670R is strongly recommended.
What if I want a laptop?
The i7-4700MQ and i7-4930MX are common recommendations for the cpu. Pair them with decent discrete graphics and you'll have a decent dolphin laptop. If you don't have the money for that ask us for a case by case recommendation. Or maybe someone more familiar with laptops will shoot me some more mobile cpu/mobile gpu/laptop model recommendation to list here. I'm not really this forums laptop guru after all.
But what about PC games?
Please read the faq. Most dolphin builds are also intended to play high end PC games too so we get asked this a lot. PC games are generally more gpu heavy and less cpu heavy than dolphin.
Building/upgrading a PC system
So which cpu do I get?
This is a bit more straightforward. Intel haswell is STRONGLY recommended over all other microarchitectures. For low budget builds the Intel g3258 ($70), for mid budget the i5 4690K ($240), and for high budget the i7 4790K ($340) are the typical recommendations. Note that the i5 4690K and i7 4790K have virtually identical performance with dolphin and PC games. The i7 just offers better multithreaded peformance which could be useful for other tasks like video encoding or 3D modeling.
What about core count?
Quad core cpus deliver slightly better performance than equivalent dual core cpus. About 20% better on average. This is due to background tasks and minor threads being able to run on separate cores. Beyond that adding more cores makes no difference. Please see the faq for the reasons why.
Although low end Intel cpus are dual core they still consistently beat similarly priced AMD cpus in both emulator and PC game benchmarks. Some people prophesize that low end quad core amd cpus will be better for PC games in a few years as better multithreading takes hold. I am personally doubtful of this claim considering how far ahead they are in per core floating point performance and would rather bet on the horse that is already winning now then speculate about the future. Regardless of this low end Intel cpus despite being dual core are still a better choice for emulators and current PC games so we're going to keep recommending them regardless of how much you may or may not love AMD.
What about cache size?
Cache size increases do tend to have a noticeable impact on dolphins performance. The exact amount depends on a number of factors including architecture and starting/ending amount so an exact formula is impossible to derive.
What about memory speed?
We don't have much data to go on for this one but it seems to have some, although very little effect in most cases.
What about memory amount?
Please read the faq. 2GB or more is recommended. Beyond that it will have little to no effect on performance.
What about discrete vs. integrated graphics?
Please read the faq. Discrete is highly recommended. Although modern integrated graphics are often fast enough to handle HD rendering now they are not ideal.
So which graphics card do I get?
This depends highly on your requirements. Mainly which games you plan on playing and what settings you plan on using. We're also in dire need of good benchmarking data for this. Both AMD and Nvidia cards run dolphin well so pick whichever you prefer. As long as the card is not terribly low end it will likely run dolphin at 1080p just fine. Pick whatever your budget can afford from the latest AMD/Nvidia lineup or ask us and provide a budget.
What about the power supply?
Use this web application to determine your systems power requirements: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psuca...orlite.jsp then simply pick a power supply that provides enough power and is from a reputable brand (corsair, seasonic, antec just to name a few).
What about the case?
This is totally up to you as it doesn't effect performance or functionality much. Although you may want to consider reading reviews regarding airflow if you plan on OCing.
What about the optical drive?
Modern drives cannot read Wii/GC disks so this is completely up to you.
What about the HDD/SSD?
This has no effect on dolphins performance so this is completely up to you. If you want a fast system use a small SSD for a boot drive to hold the OS and applications and a large HDD to store "big data" (PC games, .iso rips, videos, music, images, etc.).
What about the motherboard?
If you plan on overclocking on Intel you will need a Z97 based motherboard. Other than that just pick one that you like that fits your budget, is compatible with your cpu, and is from a reputable brand.
What about the cpu cooler?
If you plan on overclocking this is strongly recommended. The Noctua NH-D14 ($80) is commonly recommended but if you're on a budget the cooler master hyper 212 evo ($35) is another common recommendation.
Up to date as of 1/11/2015. Please leave questions, comments, concerns, and possible additions here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Laptops vs Desktops vs NUCs:
We get asked this constantly. Desktops are always strongly recommended whenever possible. For some of you the extra mobility of a laptop or space saving of a NUC may be a requirement and if that's the case then there is not much that can be done. But whenever you are given a choice most of us here will recommend you to get a desktop. Why? Because they offer much faster hardware for the same or less money. Dolphin is an extremely demanding application and laptops/NUCs that can actually run most games well are usually pretty expensive. And even they pale in comparison to your average desktop build. We can still give you advice on good NUCs/laptops if you require one though.
Prebuilt vs DIY desktop:
DIY is strongly recommended whenever possible. Even if you have zero experience with building PCs. The fact is building a modern desktop is so painfully easy that if you can assemble a lego kit you can assemble a desktop. http://pcpartpicker.com/ is a useful reference for choosing parts, finding the best prices, and ensuring compatibility between parts. DIY systems give you better bang for your buck, give you more choice in designing it the way you want, generally use higher quality components, and generally give you more control over the system UEFI. If you insist on getting a prebuilt system you probably won't get as much help here because nobody here buys them.
Intel vs AMD CPUs:
Intel cpus are much better for dolphin at every price point. Period. Please read the faq to learn why. This doesn't mean that you can't use AMD cpus for dolphin or that high end amd cpus might not run your favorite games well. It just means that Intel cpus will deliver more bang for your buck and therefore we're going to recommend them over AMD cpus at every opportunity. We don't care what you read on other sites as this conclusion is based on our own dolphin cpu benchmark. Which is more accurate at predicting a cpus performance with dolphin than any other application could be.
What if I want a NUC?
The gigabyte brix or anything else with either the i7 4770R or i5 4670R is strongly recommended.
What if I want a laptop?
The i7-4700MQ and i7-4930MX are common recommendations for the cpu. Pair them with decent discrete graphics and you'll have a decent dolphin laptop. If you don't have the money for that ask us for a case by case recommendation. Or maybe someone more familiar with laptops will shoot me some more mobile cpu/mobile gpu/laptop model recommendation to list here. I'm not really this forums laptop guru after all.
But what about PC games?
Please read the faq. Most dolphin builds are also intended to play high end PC games too so we get asked this a lot. PC games are generally more gpu heavy and less cpu heavy than dolphin.
Building/upgrading a PC system
So which cpu do I get?
This is a bit more straightforward. Intel haswell is STRONGLY recommended over all other microarchitectures. For low budget builds the Intel g3258 ($70), for mid budget the i5 4690K ($240), and for high budget the i7 4790K ($340) are the typical recommendations. Note that the i5 4690K and i7 4790K have virtually identical performance with dolphin and PC games. The i7 just offers better multithreaded peformance which could be useful for other tasks like video encoding or 3D modeling.
What about core count?
Quad core cpus deliver slightly better performance than equivalent dual core cpus. About 20% better on average. This is due to background tasks and minor threads being able to run on separate cores. Beyond that adding more cores makes no difference. Please see the faq for the reasons why.
Although low end Intel cpus are dual core they still consistently beat similarly priced AMD cpus in both emulator and PC game benchmarks. Some people prophesize that low end quad core amd cpus will be better for PC games in a few years as better multithreading takes hold. I am personally doubtful of this claim considering how far ahead they are in per core floating point performance and would rather bet on the horse that is already winning now then speculate about the future. Regardless of this low end Intel cpus despite being dual core are still a better choice for emulators and current PC games so we're going to keep recommending them regardless of how much you may or may not love AMD.
What about cache size?
Cache size increases do tend to have a noticeable impact on dolphins performance. The exact amount depends on a number of factors including architecture and starting/ending amount so an exact formula is impossible to derive.
What about memory speed?
We don't have much data to go on for this one but it seems to have some, although very little effect in most cases.
What about memory amount?
Please read the faq. 2GB or more is recommended. Beyond that it will have little to no effect on performance.
What about discrete vs. integrated graphics?
Please read the faq. Discrete is highly recommended. Although modern integrated graphics are often fast enough to handle HD rendering now they are not ideal.
So which graphics card do I get?
This depends highly on your requirements. Mainly which games you plan on playing and what settings you plan on using. We're also in dire need of good benchmarking data for this. Both AMD and Nvidia cards run dolphin well so pick whichever you prefer. As long as the card is not terribly low end it will likely run dolphin at 1080p just fine. Pick whatever your budget can afford from the latest AMD/Nvidia lineup or ask us and provide a budget.
What about the power supply?
Use this web application to determine your systems power requirements: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psuca...orlite.jsp then simply pick a power supply that provides enough power and is from a reputable brand (corsair, seasonic, antec just to name a few).
What about the case?
This is totally up to you as it doesn't effect performance or functionality much. Although you may want to consider reading reviews regarding airflow if you plan on OCing.
What about the optical drive?
Modern drives cannot read Wii/GC disks so this is completely up to you.
What about the HDD/SSD?
This has no effect on dolphins performance so this is completely up to you. If you want a fast system use a small SSD for a boot drive to hold the OS and applications and a large HDD to store "big data" (PC games, .iso rips, videos, music, images, etc.).
What about the motherboard?
If you plan on overclocking on Intel you will need a Z97 based motherboard. Other than that just pick one that you like that fits your budget, is compatible with your cpu, and is from a reputable brand.
What about the cpu cooler?
If you plan on overclocking this is strongly recommended. The Noctua NH-D14 ($80) is commonly recommended but if you're on a budget the cooler master hyper 212 evo ($35) is another common recommendation.
Up to date as of 1/11/2015. Please leave questions, comments, concerns, and possible additions here.
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