Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

[Sorry for any grammar mistakes, English isn't my mother tongue]

Hi!

I want to build myself a new PC. It should be optimized for daily use (Office, Internet) but also for gaming, especially for the Dolphin Emulator! Keep in mind that I'm going to use that system for serveral hours a day.

It should cost between €1500 and €2500. I want to be able to play Dolphin games at 8xIR (rendered at 5K resolution) with HD textures on a 1080p TV and sometimes on a 4K TV.

These are the parts that I have in mind:

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700k
RAM: F4-3200C16Q-16GVKB (4x4GB @ 3200mhz)
Graphics card:
- Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 390 OC Tri-X NITRO (8GB VRAM, 512 Bit) OR
- ASUS AMD Radeon R9 NANO (4GB HBM) OR
- EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Superclocked ACX 2.0+ (6GB VRAM, 384 Bit)
SSD: Samsung MZ-V5P512BW (512 GB)
Cardreader: Sharkoon Media Reader III
WiFi: TP-LINK TL-WDN4800

Other facts:
I'm from Germany so all prices are in €.
I won't build the PC myself as I have no manual skills or knowledge of the assembly of computer hardware. I'll let a computer store build it, just like last time.
Even though I'd like to stay with Windows 7, I'll probably have to go with Windows 10 sooner or later. Apparently newer hardware works better on new operating systems.


Here are some questions regarding the build:

1) The CPU only supports DDR4 up to 2133 mhz. Does it make more sense to order 2133 mhz RAM then? Since 3200 mhz doesn't seem to be supported I guess it wouldn't be wise to go with the "the higher the number the better"-route? Also, would it be better to order 4x4GB sticks or 2x8GB sticks?

2) Regarding the graphics card; I'll choose the one that gives me the best performance in the Dolphin emulator. That AMD Radeon R9 390 is my favorite so far because it's the cheapest out of these three cards and it seems to have the best performance (at least when I go with raw numbers though GDDR5 can't be simply compared with HBM...).

3) What motherboard should I get? I have no idea... due to the Samsung Pro 950 SSD I need a motherboard with "NVMe, m2 + 4 pci lanes Support", whatever that means. The ASUS MAXIMUS VIII HERO seems to have a m2 slot but is it the right one?

4) Which cooling method should I choose? I actually wanted to go with water cooling this time but I'm not so sure... I really want a very "cool" system but if it costs more than €400 then I'll just go with air again. I'd like to cool my CPU, GPU and SSD, if possible. I have no idea which "cooling kit" to choose or what I'll actually need for a water cooling system. Should I get one of these? Is it hard to maintain a water cooling system?

5) I also don't know which case to choose. I initially wanted to go with a bog-standard cheap version, the Sharkoon VS4-S but then I realized that maybe I should focus more on having a system with good airflow (even though I'd like to go with water cooling, since other parts also need cooling besides the CPU, GPU and SSD), so maybe this product might be a better idea? Or should I go completely overboard?

6) I also have no idea which power supply to choose. 650W, maybe?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon!

I created a similar thread on LinusTechTips and already got some helpful replies! However, I'm still unsure which graphics card I need. Which one would give me the best performance in Dolphin?

Quote:1) The CPU only supports DDR4 up to 2133 mhz. Does it make more sense to order 2133 mhz RAM then? Since 3200 mhz doesn't seem to be supported I guess it wouldn't be wise to go with the "the higher the number the better"-route? Also, would it be better to order 4x4GB sticks or 2x8GB sticks?

2x8GB 2133Mhz is fine , faster RAM won't give you better performance in Dolphin . We also have benchmark to prove that
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel...eration/11
Dolphin Benchmark is in the middle of the page

Quote:2) Regarding the graphics card; I'll choose the one that gives me the best performance in the Dolphin emulator. That AMD Radeon R9 390 is my favorite so far because it's the cheapest out of these three cards and it seems to have the best performance (at least when I go with raw numbers though GDDR5 can't be simply compared with HBM...).

Maybe best performance per dollar , not the best card for Dolphin , it's 46% slower than GTX 980Ti . Keep in mind that GTX 980 Ti is almost as fast as GTX Titan

Quote:3) What motherboard should I get? I have no idea... due to the Samsung Pro 950 SSD I need a motherboard with "NVMe, m2 + 4 pci lanes Support", whatever that means. The ASUS MAXIMUS VIII HERO seems to have a m2 slot but is it the right one

MSI Z170 M5 and MSI Z170 M7 supports that SSD . Here is proof :
http://benchmarkreviews.com/wp-content/u...I-Z170.jpg

Quote: 4) Which cooling method should I choose? I actually wanted to go with water cooling this time but I'm not so sure... I really want a very "cool" system but if it costs more than €400 then I'll just go with air again. I'd like to cool my CPU, GPU and SSD, if possible. I have no idea which "cooling kit" to choose or what I'll actually need for a water cooling system. Should I get one of these? Is it hard to maintain a water cooling system?

Watercooling is great for overclocking but air cooler will work just fine . GPU does not need it , most Nvidia GPU (maxwell) run cool at full load though you should watch out for R9 380 and R9 390 . These two card run really hot , will need 3 fans for cooling
For CPU , Corsair H80 or H60 is fine
SSD doesn't run as hot as HDD since it does not have moving part (motor) . Therefore , you won't need to add additional cooling unit for it
I have SSD on every laptop , desktop I own , it run extremely cool

Quote:5) I also don't know which case to choose. I initially wanted to go with a bog-standard cheap version, the Sharkoon VS4-S but then I realized that maybe I should focus more on having a system with good airflow (even though I'd like to go with water cooling, since other parts also need cooling besides the CPU, GPU and SSD), so maybe this product might be a better idea? Or should I go completely overboard?

Well , it wouldn't pay that much money for system that has a lame case . Think about it , you have enough money to buy GTX 980ti yet don't even have money for a good case with beautiful LED and multiple USB 3.0 ports ?

Quote:6) I also have no idea which power supply to choose. 650W, maybe?

That is fine but keep in mind that PSU does degrade over time , extra wattage can make your PSU last longer in theory . Also , you should stick with decent brand like Seasonic , bequiet or EVGA

(02-13-2016, 11:23 AM)admin89 Wrote: [ -> ]SSD doesn't run as hot as HDD since it does not have moving part (motor) . Therefore , you won't need to add additional cooling unit for it
I have SSD on every laptop , desktop I own , it run extremely cool

This is absolutely not true, the 950 Pro in particular will throttle under sustained load because of how hot it gets:

Whoa , I've never heard a SSD that could run that hot till now lol .
In that case , I would choose a different SSD if I was the @OP . How about Toshiba 19nm nand 512GB Q Series Pro ? It's not as fast as the Samsung 950 but 554 MB/s read / 512 MB/s write should be more that enough and it's much cheaper , a faster SSD would be pointless anyway
I don't have thunderbolt so I don't know for sure but I only get 230MB/s maximum write speed when transferring files to HDD (USB 3.0) . Game load time is blazingly fast and I don't thing I would spend that much money to get any faster

It seems that I'm infected with the "the higher the number the better"-mindset.

-> So DDR4@3200 isn't better than DDR@2133 and 2 RAM sticks are enough. What about quadro channel?
-> So the AMD graphics card with 8GB VRAM and 512 Bit is 46% worse than the Nvidia one with 6GB and 384. Is there a reason for this? Oh btw, a friend of mine got that AMD Nano card and he told me that he could play all these games at 8xIR. Does the Nvidia card still outperform the AMD HBM card?
-> These Z170M5 and M7 motherboards seem fine. What's the difference between these two? The only difference I see is that the M7 is slightly more expensive and supports "ECC", whatever that means.
-> I am fully aware that the Samsung Pro 950 SSD runs hot at times so that's why I wanted to cool it with water. Or maybe I should place a fan directly in front of it or something.
-> So I should go with a case with much room for future upgrades and many fans, like that Corsair Obsidian 900D? I don't really care that much about looks and cases and stuff, I just want everything to be "cool" when it comes to temperatures.

Oh, and thank you very much for your help.

Quote:-> So the AMD graphics card with 8GB VRAM and 512 Bit is 46% worse than the Nvidia one with 6GB and 384. Is there a reason for this?

Their architecture are different . The Nvidia GTX 980ti costs twice as much as any R9 390 . How could you tell they're in the same league ?
You make me remember about my Nvidia 9800GT 512MB . Don't let the VRAM fool you , it's twice as fast as my Nvidia GT 540M 1GB despite being much older
You can't judge a card by looking at the number alone . If you need number , just look at benchmark
http://techreport.com/review/28685/gefor...compared/5
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvi...3439vs3481

And btw , Nvidia has memory compression technology , a low memory bandwidth maxwell card can outperform a high memory bandwidth Kepler card

Quote:Oh btw, a friend of mine got that AMD Nano card and he told me that he could play all these games at 8xIR. Does the Nvidia card still outperform the AMD HBM card?

GTX 960 can handle 6xIR , R9 Nano is way faster than that . So yeah , it could handle 8xIR just fine
GTX 980Ti is overkilled . R9 Nano won't stand a chance , the only AMD GPU that can go head to head against GTX 980ti is R9 Fury X (Actually , GTX 980ti is faster than R9 Fury X too)
http://www.maximumpc.com/amd-r9-nano-review/

Quote:So DDR4@3200 isn't better than DDR@2133 and 2 RAM sticks are enough. What about quadro channel?

For gaming , running a quad channel won't help you . It also show no improvement in video encoding either . Basically , it's useless
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2982965/c...tml?page=3

Quote:So I should go with a case with much room for future upgrades and many fans, like that Corsair Obsidian 900D? I don't really care that much about looks and cases and stuff, I just want everything to be "cool" when it comes to temperatures.

Isn't that case too expensive ? For case , normally $100 price range (like Fractal Design Define R5 ) is a sweet spot

Quote:You make me remember about my Nvidia 9800GT 512MB . Don't let the VRAM fool you , it's twice as fast as my Nvidia GT 540M 1GB despite being much older

You can't judge a card by looking at the number alone . If you need number , just look at benchmark

Quote:GTX 960 can handle 6xIR , R9 Nano is way faster than that . So yeah , it could handle 8xIR just fine

GTX 980Ti is overkilled . R9 Nano won't stand a chance , the only AMD GPU that can go head to head against GTX 980ti is R9 Fury X (Actually , GTX 980ti is faster than R9 Fury X too)

Oh, I see! So it's either the AMD R9 Fury X or the Nvidia 980Ti then... hm, what to do, what to do... more people recommended the GTX 980Ti though so it'll likely be my choice. It's pretty damn expensive but oh well. I have enough money so I can afford that.

Combining your help with the help of LinusTechTips leads me to the following build:


Let's just say I go with 4x4GB RAM. So that mainboard needs 4xDDR4 sockets. That NVMe SSD needs an m.2 slot and PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes. The graphics card needs 2x PCIe x16 slots. According to Alternate, the "MSI Z170A GAMING PRO" and "MSI Z170A GAMING M5" only has 3x PCIe 3.0x16 slots, so it wouldn't work? I'm worried that I can't utilize the full potential of that SSD.

I might go with the "Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow" tower or the "Corsair Obsidian 900D" tower. Which one would be better? Are there any heatsinks/fans/etc. you can recommend? How many fans should I install to achieve similar temperatures as on my current build (CPU: 22°C, GPU: 50°C, Mainboard: 27°C, idle)?

EDIT: Oh, you've edited your post!
I see, so quadro channel is of no use, then. So I only need a mainboard with 2xDDR4 sockets, nice! Is that tower good for airflow and stuff?

Afaik , Fractal Define R5 is built for water cooling . It's one of the best cases out there
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Frac..._R5/6.html

Quote:That NVMe SSD needs an m.2 slot and PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes. The graphics card needs 2x PCIe x16 slots. According to Alternate, the "MSI Z170A GAMING PRO" and "MSI Z170A GAMING M5" only has 3x PCIe 3.0x16 slots, so it wouldn't work? I'm worried that I can't utilize the full potential of that SSD.

I'm not familiar with M2 SSD . So I don't know for sure for MSI Z170 M5 but MSI Z170 M7 and Asrock Z170 Extreme 7+ definitely will work . The problem is both two boards are as expensive as the Asus Maximus Hero
Here is a review
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sams...313-2.html
Edit : Forget the MSI Z170 M7 . It seems that 950 need to be configured via Bios, this sounds like a pain in the ass to me . Asrock Z170 Extreme 7+ then

Quote:Asrock Z170 Extreme 7+ then

Are there differences between an Asrock Z170 Extreme 7+ and an ASUS Maximus VIII Hero? They seem almost identical to me with the ASUS being cheaper in terms of price. The ASUS also has the correct type of socket for that Samsung SSD (M.2 Socket 3 Type M PCIe Gen 3.0x4).

The way I see it, there are two ways to go from now on.


1) Water-cooled build
AMD R9 Fury X which already has built-in water cooling with a bog-standard CPU water cooler (e.g. Corsair Hydro Series H110i GT). Other parts are cooled with air. I could go with the Fractal Define R5 or Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow as towers.
I am not going to spend a fortune on a custom loop or something. I actually thought €300 would be enough to water-cool CPU, GPU and SSD on a custom loop but I guess I was wrong.

2) Air-cooled build
Nvidia GTX 980 Ti. I focus on very good airflow and many fans. I'll probably use the Corsair Obsidian 900D case.

instead of spending 679€ on a graphics card i would buy a gtx 970 it can handle 1440 p pretty well, with the rest of the money you can have fun with one lady of the night at least.