Hey all,
I am looking to build/refurbish a machine to use for emulation. I want to optimize this build for Dolphin (and maybe PCSX2) but I am trying to do this on a budget. I am mostly looking to play a lot of local multiplayer GC/Wii games especially:
All of the Mario Parties
Mario Kart Wii
Mario Kart Double Dash
Smash Brothers Melee
Smash Brothers Brawl
I am looking at the following parts (paired with Windows 7 or Ubuntu Linux):
AMD FX-4350
8 GB of DDR3 ram
GeForce GTX 750 Ti
I am looking to run this on a 42" HD TV without noticeable lag or audio disruptions. Is this unrealistic expectations for this hardware? If so what would a barebones buld for those game look like?
Noooope. Avoid AMD chips if you want to do Dolphin or PCSX2 emulation. You need as high single threaded performance as you can get. AMD chips have awful IPC. If you can afford $320~, I can throw together a part list that will run both just fine.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/RBQZ4D
$282 after rebates.
Overclock the CPU in that build to at least 4.0 ghz and you'll be fine. I was able to overclock mine to 4.6 before I decided I didn't feel like bumping voltage anymore. I think I used 1.75v? Maybe 1.2?
Pick your own case and storage. Those don't matter.
(04-20-2016, 03:49 AM)helios747 Wrote: [ -> ]Noooope. Avoid AMD chips if you want to do Dolphin or PCSX2 emulation. You need as high single threaded performance as you can get. AMD chips have awful IPC. If you can afford $320~, I can throw together a part list that will run both just fine.
I have been out of the PC building scene for a bit, What is IPC? The processor you recommended has a lower clock speed than the one I asked about. Thanks for your response.
(04-20-2016, 03:54 AM)helios747 Wrote: [ -> ]http://pcpartpicker.com/p/RBQZ4D
$282 after rebates.
Overclock the CPU in that build to at least 4.0 ghz and you'll be fine. I was able to overclock mine to 4.6 before I decided I didn't feel like bumping voltage anymore. I think I used 1.75v? Maybe 1.2?
Pick your own case and storage. Those don't matter.
Thanks for the list, I'll have to save up a bit more to get that list. If I had Windows 10 with direct x 12 would that change your part list?
Clock speed doesn't directly translate to how quickly a CPU can do something.
IPC = Instructions per cycle.
If it takes say, 10 CPU cycles for a CPU to execute the instructions to calculate say, (2+2*5) / 2 (I'm pulling these numbers from my ass), and another CPU only takes 5 cycles, that CPU can do more things per cycle and clock speed becomes less important. IPC is a pretty important factor in single threaded performance.
When you take that Intel Haswell CPU that I listed, it has a very very good single threaded performance. The highest end AMD CPUs only come to about a low end Core i3 in single threaded perf, while consuming twice as much power.
So you take my build, you overclock the CPU to roughly 4.0 without voltage bumps, 4.5/6 if you don't mind bumping voltages, and you'll run every single game we emulate well in Dolphin, as well as PCSX2, assuming the game has no emulation issues. All while being about half the power consumption of the AMD chip and much much lower temps.
That G3258 chip matches high end i7s in Dolphin performance simply because we have 2 hard working threads. Not 8.
Having access to Direct X 12 will let you do fun things like turn up anti aliasing to absurd levels because D3D12 takes a lot of work off of the GPU emulation thread.
Thanks for the information, I am so glad I checked before buying. I appreciate the information!
No problem! I'm glad you checked first since you weren't sure!
Woulda sucked if you spent all that money and ended up with a crappy emulation system.
But with the system I linked you to, you'll run every emulator out there right now and all of their games as well as high end $1000 systems can emulate them.
Does that motherboard you linked support overclocking?