Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hey guys, I'm planning on building a PC especially for Dolphin, I would like some advice on which hardware to get. I'm currently planning on getting a Intel i5-4690k processor, and I would also like to overclock this to make it work better with the more CPU demanding games, but I'm not sure which cooler to get for overclocking...

Also I'm planning on buying it with this motherboard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K9R1OCW?colid=1JVN2K2V3NW03&coliid=I19ZHCJLG1RC8F&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl

I'm hoping my current graphics card will be okay for Dolphin, its an AMD Radeon HD 5700 series with 1GB VRAM at GDDR5, so I'll try and stick with that one if I can.

If anyone has any suggestions of a better choice of hardware please let me know, I want to run Dolphin on the higher settings such as 4x native internal resolution at full speed.


The main games I want to play are:
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Super Mario Galaxy 2
- Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Wind Waker
- Twilight Princess
- Mario Party 4, 5, 6 and 7
- Skies of Arcadia Legends
- Baten Kaitos
- Tales of Symphonia (GameCube)
- Super Mario Sunshine
- Zelda: Collector's Edition
- Luigi's Mansion
- Super Smash Bros. Melee


Many Thanks

You might have some trouble hitting 4x IR with that GPU.  It simply lacks the raw power.  Now that's only an estimate,  and not all of the games you listed will have problems.  But I would warn you that it may prove an issue.  As for the CPU,  I would recommend an i5 (3570 or even 2500K).  If you aren't big on regular games then a Pentium G3258 would get quite close for even less.  Otherwise it's a question of money and how powerful you are willing to make this computer. 

Definitely stick with the i5 4690k or the Pentium G3258 for the CPU. Haswell performs 30% faster in Dolphin than its predecessors. Your current GPU wont be able to do 4x on all those games but you shouldnt have a problem with 2-3x IR for most.

what smash said. Looks good but build it on pcpartpicker for cheaper

Thanks for your replies, I'd like to ask which GPU do you recommend?
I'm looking at this one at the moment: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FL8H49Q?colid=1JVN2K2V3NW03&coliid=I315I61XPT0N4Z&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl

If there's cheaper which can get the job done, I'd much prefer to go for the cheaper option (I'd like to stick with ATI/AMD since I've always used them before). If you have any GPU recommendations please let me know.

Also which cooler do you guys recommend for i5-4690k overclocking? There seem to be a few on amazon but some of them are quite expensive, I don't want to end up picking the wrong one then finding out afterwards I could've bought one that is just as effective for much cheaper haha.

Thanks.

If you're willing to spend that much, this one's a little cheaper, but significatly more powerful: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-radeon-r9-285-gaming-2g-28nm-5500mhz-gddr5-gpu-918mhz-boost-973mhz-1792-streams-dp-dvi-hdmi

Either would be overkill for Dolphin unless you want to go to 4K and beyond, but are a pretty reasonable choice if you were playing PC games too. If you wanted something cheaper, that would be fine, but you're going to see your performance per unit cost falling.

Okay thanks, I just need to sort out which cooler to get now for the i5-4690k.

Can I ask which cooler you use on your processor for overclocking?

Okay I've found a good cheap cooler for only £25; http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0068OI7T8/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1JVN2K2V3NW03&coliid=IZ5N5BMS0ZGGV&psc=1

Will this cooler be okay for overclocking the i5-4690k to around 4.0 - 4.5 GHz?

That's what I have, and it's definitely one of the best you can get until you spend about twice that much. You'll get more headroom with a Noctua D14, but it might well not be enough to justify the extra cost. I get pretty high temperatures with one, but my chip's slightly less good at keeping itself cool than the 4690K, and I've got a fairly large overclock for a 4670K.

Ah I see, I may just go for the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, I've seen some other forums saying they've pushed it to about 4.5 GHz quite easily; http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2219111/hyper-212-evo-cooler-decent-ing-4690k.html