Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

I was talking with my wife the other day about moving all our Gamecube and Wii gaming over the computer. She was all for it; we decided whenever we upgraded, we’d head in that direction.

A week later, the computer started having increasingly bad problems. It acted like the GPU at first, but after trying a second card and enjoying some arbitrary shutdowns I’m inclined to think it’s the PSU (I have seen it happen before and the signs are familiar). I’m running my computer now on the default VGA driver, because although it can barely stay alive doing that (it freezes if the card tries to access real nVidia drivers), I had a lot of work due today.

So it looks as if upgrade time has come sooner rather than later.


I’d like to build a Dolphin machine that can run not only our GameCube but also our Wii games at high resolution (say 1920×1080) at 60 fps and with AA and AF turned all the way up.

I’m not sure what Wii games are the most demanding, but here’s a sampling of the various Wii and GameCube games we’ll be wanting to play:

• Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
• MarioKart Wii
• Metroid Trilogy
• Monster Hunter Tri
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• Rune Factory: Frontier
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl + Project M
• Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Xenoblade Chronicles

• F-Zero GX
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
• Pikmin
• Pikmin 2
• Pokémon Colosseum
• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness
• Skies of Arcadia
• Soul Calibur II
• Super Mario Sunshine
• SSX 3
• SSX On Tour
• SSX Tricky
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Tales of Symphonia
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• TimeSplitters
• Timesplitters: Future Perfect

Maybe some of these aren’t that demanding; but I’ve tried to give an idea.

I’m not interested in running all today’s newest and greatest computer games at their highest settings; my main goal is to be able to play these Wii games at their highest settings without stuttering.


I’ve read the advice on processors for Dolphin, so I looked for an i5-4670K at pcpartpicker. Then I tried to find compatible parts that were rated 4½+.

In particular, I noticed the recommendation that I get a GPU that is both OGL 4.4 and DX 11.1 compatible. But I read that the GeForce 700 series was not fully DX 11.1 compatible; and because the 800 series is a laptop line, that left only the 900 series being fully DX 11.1 compatible. So that bumped my price quite a bit.

I’ve listed below what I came up with, but I can’t shake the feeling I’ve overbuilt. (The Windows 7 is necessary, however; I’m currently running XP x32; the reason I have more RAM than I can use in x32 is that this computer was a hand-me-down.)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.69 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BL 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($134.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($131.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($329.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF Stacker 935 ATX Full Tower Case ($160.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($134.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($133.79 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($68.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1382.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-04 00:39 EDT-0400

In short, I’m wondering: What is the least expensive rig I can get that will run the Wii games I’ve listed above at 60 fps with everything turned up?

Have I overbuilt? Do I not need a 4GB GPU, or a 900-series card? Better to get less RAM?


Particularly, can I reuse my current processor (Intel Core i7-920 @ 2.67 GHz)? I’m guessing not.

Can I reuse my current RAM (OCZ PC3-12800, Intel XMP; 2 GB×6 sticks)? Though six sticks might be a problem on some MBOs, slotwise.

I suppose my video card (EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 470; 1 GB) isn’t up to the job, in any event?


I’m sorry to ask such a blanket question and rely on others to help me find an answer, but although I can put together something that will run Dolphin, I don’t know how low I can drop my build and still run what I want to without experiencing quality drawbacks. As happy as I’d be to simply have a top-end computer, I’m not in a position for money to be no object. I wouldn’t even be building this computer now except that the current one is, as I’ve said, in its throes as I speak.

However, seeing that we are forced to build a new computer now, I only want to build one: I’d rather pay enough to build a replacement for the Wii and not have to upgrade again later.


Also, I will happily engage as much as I can here, but seeing that my computer is hanging by a thread right now, if I disappear it’s not because I’ve checked out; I’ll use my wife’s phone if I have to, or borrow my sister’s laptop.

Thanks for the help. I was looking forward to doing this someday; not so much to being forced to do it in somewhat of a state of crisis.


And I have one more question. We’ll be keeping our current monitor, but we’d like to also connect in a large television screen, mounted on the wall, for Dolphin play. I don’t know anything about this except that a friend said that a television’s refresh rate is important for gaming purposes, but he couldn’t remember important in what way.

We are looking to get a television screen not wider than 45 inches. 42 inches or thereabouts would probably be better. (That’s the width of the space in which we’ll be fitting it, not the diagonal measurement of the desired screen.)

Is there a television screen good for our purposes? I found the Samsung UN46EH5000 at Amazon; is this a good screen for our purpose, or not at all? If not, what would be good?


And—I’m really showing my ignorance here—what is needed to connect a television screen to a computer as a second monitor? A certain kind of video card? Certain cables? (I ask because we don’t have a television except the old CRT beast we currently use for the Wii. I am a late adopter in all respects.)


I’ll be very grateful for any help. Thanks so much for taking the time to read even this!

I should point out, though I suppose I left it implicit, that I do already have (a number of) hard disks, including an SSD. I’ve also got a disc reader (both an external for RAWdump and an internal that predates it). Also (of course) any number of peripherals.

So I’m just looking at what I’ve got listed—the performance internals.

Your build that you linked is a bit overbuilt
Here is a cheaper but still very kick-ass build instead. Dropped the super fancy case and power supply to reasonable ones, scaled the GPU down to a 960, brought the RAM down, added a HDD, removed the unnecessary sound card because integrated ones are fine, and gave you a PCI wireless adapter so you don't need to run an Ethernet cable across the house or use a junky USB adapter.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/V8Nh8d for only $897 before a $55 rebate)

The TV looks fine, it has 60 Hz refresh, which is fine. You don't need a 120 Hz screen unless you want it, and 30 is too low
All you need is an HDMI cable from the GPU to the TV.

(you can drop the HDD, but you should keep the PCI Wifi card)

Thank you! I was almost certain I was overbuilding, but it has been so long since I built a computer, and I am so new to Dolphin, that all I could do was err on the side of this-will-certainly-work.

I’m blushing over the tower after your comments. I selected solely based on star ratings because every case I’ve had has been a hand-me-down. In fact my current case has no walls and has a box fan set up against it for ventilation. The last brand-new computer I owned was in 2002.

Everything since then has been incremental upgrades years late, or hand-me-downs from a friend who always upgrades sooner than I do. I am still stuck playing Thief: The Dark Project and System Shock 2 and so don’t feel it like he does.

Oh, one thing I forgot to ask. I have never shopped on Black Friday, nor on Cyber Monday. But one hears things.

And so I am left to wonder—am I likely to get an ungodly deal (say, hundreds of dollars in savings) on such a television if I wait 7 months? Or am I expecting too much? Better to just buy now?

Probably this seems like a stupid question, but as I said one hears things about the absolute steals available that weekend (though I’m certainly not going to any store in person; one hears things about that, too). And we could make do with our current computer monitor for half a year for some such savings.

Though of course I know no one can guarantee anything. It’s just that I have no experience with the whole Cyber Monday thing.

I tried cheapening up you build while not gimping components too much, also that stacker case is huge(but not without it's benefits). This is coming from a guy with an air 540, haf 912, and fractal r4 that are currently lined up. Also the integrated sound is the same as I have and it drives my 558's nice and fine with decent clarity and no discernable static. The 970 is a nice card, but it will have issues if you force it to use all the vram, so unless you are into modding skyrim or 4k gaming you should be fine. The case I used is very nice, especially if you are into tearing things apart or modding. Also psu was way overkill, I replaced it with a near equivalent unit for less, that will still do sli. Cooler keeps my 4790k under 60 Celsius at full load at 4.5 and is quiet while doing so.

Link for good case review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBhmn21ylkc

Build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WkYFMp

Is this overkill for dolphin, yes. Is this going to play almost every game max and/or decent settings @ 1080p and 1440p, yes.

Edit: Fixed Thanks for noticing.

The main things going on in the monitor market are free sync and g-sync right now and they are just finally starting to roll out in greater numbers, but as for panels in general the past year has seen them getting vastly cheaper, so maybe not black friday, but it may be a safe bet to say we are in a transition period where we are slowly moving away from the old 1080p standard as new monitors become cheaper and cheaper.

(04-04-2015, 02:38 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]Your build that you linked is a bit overbuilt
Here is a cheaper but still very kick-ass build instead. Dropped the super fancy case and power supply to reasonable ones, scaled the GPU down to a 960, brought the RAM down, added a HDD, removed the unnecessary sound card because integrated ones are fine, and gave you a PCI wireless adapter so you don't need to run an Ethernet cable across the house or use a junky USB adapter.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/V8Nh8d for only $897 before a $55 rebate)

(04-04-2015, 03:18 PM)combine1237 Wrote: [ -> ]I tried cheapening up you build while not gimping components too much, also that stacker case is huge(but not without it's benefits).  This is coming from a guy with an air 540, haf 912, and fractal r4 that are currently lined up. Also the integrated sound is the same as I have and it drives my 558's nice and fine with decent clarity and no discernable static. The 970 is a nice card, but it will have issues if you force it to use all the vram, so unless you are into modding skyrim or 4k gaming you should be fine. The case I used is very nice, especially if you are into tearing things apart or modding. Also psu was way overkill, I replaced it with a near equivalent unit for less, that will still do sli. Cooler keeps my 4790k under 60 Celsius at full load at 4.5 and is quiet while doing so.

Link for good case review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBhmn21ylkc

Build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/V8Nh8d

Is this overkill for dolphin, yes. Is this going to play almost every game max and/or decent settings @ 1080p and 1440p, yes.

Out of curiosity, these two builds look the same and have the same URL. combine, did you intend to link a different build (“I tried cheapening up your build . . .”; “The case I used . . .”; “I replaced the PSU . . .”)?

Wow, I need to learn to check my clipboard, sorry.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WkYFMp

Thanks!