Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hello,

I would like to play GameCube games on my laptop. Since my Cd reader dont accept small DVD I already made isos with acetone IsO. I use linux mint.

The problem comes from my configuration.

I have a TOSHIBA satellite pro L650 Here is  data sheet

My CPU is a dual core intel i3 M330 . This is barely not enough. I can play crash bandicoot 4, it works but when I jump it lags for a few seconds... I just need a little more power. I tried to configure Dolphin but when I installed it was already configured for low power PC... I read that some people used older version of dolphin with no problem... Do I have to try with older versions ?

Here is an example of Zelda - twilight princess running on dolphin with a core i3 M350 which is just a little more preforment than my M330. Look at the specs under the video info.

The graphical card is the same : Mobility Radeon HD 5145 core speed :80 @ 720 MHz memory speed :64 Bit @ 900 MHz

I took a look about the minimal config for graphic card, it was tricky to compare but I think mine is enough after quick comparison. correct me whether I am wrong.

I think the only problem is the CPU. I would like to buy a new one. Is it easy to upgrade it ? I'd like to buy a i5 450M for example. I think its compatible because the chipset is HM55 Express and most other version of my laptop uses a i5 450M or something. I read its not possible to upgrade to i7. But I don't need so much power, just a little bit. I know it could be problematic to add too much power because of the temperature but I little bit could be ok, no ?

Another question : When I run the game, when I check the cpu I can see it does not go above 50-55 % each.. Why they are not full powered ??

Thanks in advance for your help,

Dr.Methyl

Buy a new computer.  No amount of black magic is going to give you extra performance.  The era of "downloading ram" is over.

The difference from the M330 to the M450 is not significant enough. Get a new desktop. If you give us a budget we can help you build a strong computer

(05-11-2015, 06:53 AM)Dr.Methyl Wrote: [ -> ]My CPU is a dual core intel i3 M330 . This is barely not enough. I can play crash bandicoot 4, it works but when I jump it lags for a few seconds... I just need a little more power.

First, note that the jumping animation in that game is just pretty poorly done. Make sure you aren't confusing that with lag.

Second, there's only one interesting thing I can think to try. On hyperthreaded i3s, Dolphin is known to run notably faster when assigned to two cores instead of four (thus avoiding the overhead of switching the threads between logical cores). I believe the difference is more pronounced on Windows than Linux, but it made a significant difference with my new 4160, so it's worth a try.

Start Dolphin on two logical cores by doing:
and try running a game.

Don't get your hopes up too much, though- your chip is just plain too slow for Dolphin, and I don't suggest upgrading a laptop CPU. Laptop thermal designs tend to already be rather tight.

If you upgrade to either i5 480M or i5 560M , many games will run well . I know because I have both of 'em (i5 480M on my Acer notebook and i5 560M on my NEC versapro notebook)

Hello,

Thank you very much for the answers !!

Quote: The difference from the M330 to the M450 is not significant enough. Get a new desktop. If you give us a budget we can help you build a strong computer

Ive seen some people run dolphin quite good with M350 but they use dolphin 3.0. Ive seen the version 3.0 uses less ressources than 4.0. I tried to install the 3.0 or 3.5 but there is no download link for LINUX on the official website. WHere can I get it ?

Concerning building new computer I have one that is not used. It contains the tower, keyboard , mouse, screen and CPU is intel core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz. I have dozen of hard disk from 100 Go to 750 Go. I tried to insall dolphin but it didnt work... When I tried to check the graphic card, I opened the tower and ... NOTHING ! now I understand why it does not work... I also have a Nvidia NVS 300 but its a shitty one, I dont think it supports OpenGL. What card can I have under 100$ ?

My brother has a computer with Gforce GTX 460 and I dont remember the CPU, I think its Intel Core2 Duo E8600 @ 3.33GHz. Dolphin gamecube and PCX2 works perfectly but Dolphin wii lags... I think CPU is not sufficient because GTX 460 is really good.

Quote: The difference from the M330 to the M450 is not significant enough. Get a new desktop. If you give us a budget we can help you build a strong computer

I have seen that a lot of people run dolphin good with M450. I now I dont have much more power but I think I also wont have too much temperature. If its ok 20 euro worth the try. By the way I don't think I can change the CPU because the spec on my chip set HM55 express says that CPU is not removable...

Quote:Start Dolphin on two logical cores by doing:
Code:
taskset -c 0,2 dolphin-emu

Thanks I will try this afternoon

(05-12-2015, 06:52 PM)Dr.Methyl Wrote: [ -> ]What card can I have under 100$ ?

For Linux users:

f you want to use stable open-source drivers with decent performnce, the best option is to look for a used (second-hand) AMD Radeon HD6870 (or a HD6850). You can get one for a ridiculously low price.

If you want to use proprietary drivers, get an NVIDIA (GeForce) card.

Asking a graphic card without providing any information about PSU (Power Supply) is crazy man . Unless you want to blow up your tower for good then I won't stop you to do so
Btw Nvidia GTX 750 , AMD HD 7750 , AMD HD 6670 don't require a high power supply , 70% efficiency (20A or higher A on 12V+- rail) 300W PSU will run 'em fine

Hello, thanks for the help.

Here is my chipset to compare compatibility : DG33FB http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15062/en...nglish.pdf

I can have theses second-hand graphic cards:
- AMD radeon HD 6850 - 100 CHF (note CHF = Euro)
- Radeon Amd HIS R9 270X IceQ X² Turbo Boost Clock 2GB - 120 CHF
- Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 Dual-X OC 1GB - 60 CHF

Let me know if something really worth the quality/price. I am interested by the second one because its close to my house. I don't like waiting

Hello,

I also can have Nvidia GTX 650 - 70 CHF. Its also close to my house.

It is really better to have an AMD HD with linux ? or nVidia are ok

Could you also give me a note for each card on a scale of 10 ?

Thx