Hi all.
I tried running Dolphin 5.0 on a 2011 Mac Mini in my home theater/gaming setup and it wasn't happy. So I'm planning a custom hackintosh build for the home theater to replace the aging mini and double as a replacement for my Wii console. It's going in a
Fractal Designs Node 202 case, so the cooling system can't be too bulky and the maximum length graphics card is 310 mm.
For hackintosh compatibility, I have to pick components from this list:
Hackintosh compatible parts list
The performance goal for Dolphin is to run Skyward Sword smoothly at 1080p. I'm leaning toward the Core i5-6600K at 3.5 GHz for the CPU if it can meet that goal.
The bigger question is the graphics card. The recommended hardware list I linked above doesn't list any ATI Radeon options, which I have the (maybe mistaken?) impression are superior for Dolphin to the NVIDIA cards.
Suggestions/advice greatly appreciated.
Ted
Nvidia are generally considered better for dolphin. However mac drivers generally don't perform well, so if you can dual boot windows or linux with your mac.
Dolphin isn't slow because your Mac is slow. Dolphin is slow (and buggy) because you're stuck with MacOS buggy and gimped video drivers. That won't change with a Hackintosh build.
(05-01-2017, 01:21 AM)Craftyawesome Wrote: [ -> ]Nvidia are generally considered better for dolphin. However mac drivers generally don't perform well, so if you can dual boot windows or linux with your mac.
(05-01-2017, 01:23 AM)Helios Wrote: [ -> ]Dolphin isn't slow because your Mac is slow. Dolphin is slow (and buggy) because you're stuck with MacOS buggy and gimped video drivers. That won't change with a Hackintosh build.
Dolphin 5.0 runs great on my 27" iMac with an i7-6700K and a Radeon M395X. No crashes, great performance. But that's my photo editing workstation, and it's not connected to the home theater/gaming setup. The 2011 Mac mini in the home theater uses a mobile-class Sandy Bridge CPU (i5-2415M) and Intel's integrated graphics (HD Graphics 3000), neither of which is up to the task. A hackintosh build can definitely cure those issues.
I can dual boot Windows and Mac OS if required, but I'm going to try the hackintosh with just Mac OS at first to see how it goes. My Dolphin test on the iMac makes me think it will be alright. I'll buy the Windows license if necessary.
All that aside, any hardware advice? Sounds like the NVIDIA cards will be fine. Any particular recommendation for one from that list? The GeForce 740 GT is the easiest one to make work in a hackintosh build, but I get the impression it's slower than the other choices. The full list of hackintosh-compatible graphics cards is
here.
Also, how about the CPU? i5-6600K suitable for most Wii games?
Ted
Well your Mac mini is probably the worst system to play any sort of games on, as the Intel HD 3000 has the absolute worst drivers on macOS, and is the bare minimum for any sort of Dolphin game-play on Windows.
I have a Hackintosh myself, running an i5-6600 (will eventually get an i7-6700k when I get more $$$) and GTX 760 on an ASRock Z170 Pro4S board (I don't recommend this board, it was a pain in the ass to get things working).
I had an old GT 740 I reused at first from an old Hackintosh build I had, but it wasn't very fast for much. After I upgraded to the GTX 760, whenever there are system updates that require a reboot I have to log-in using the nv_disable=1 boot flag and run the ADGPFix since I'm too lazy to build a DSDT for my board.
I dual-boot Windows 10 and OSX 10.11.6, and of the two, Windows runs all my Dolphin games at a higher IR and at a higher FPS (when you hold tab it removes the fps cap), but at native resolution I don't have a game that I can't play on both.
Nvidia just releaseed support for the 10-series GPUs, so you may want to look into getting a GT740 for the time being and then getting a 10-series upgrade, or if you just want something that works, get a GTX 960/970.
(05-01-2017, 03:16 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]I have a Hackintosh myself, running an i5-6600 (will eventually get an i7-6700k when I get more $$$) [...]
This makes me wonder about the i5-6600K. As I mentioned before, my target is to run Skyward Sword at 1080p. I realize that will depend on the GPU as well, but I don't want the 6600K if it's going to be a bottleneck.
(05-01-2017, 03:16 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ][...] and GTX 760 on an ASRock Z170 Pro4S board (I don't recommend this board, it was a pain in the ass to get things working).
If you have a suggestion for an easier-to-implement motherboard, I'm all ears. I was thinking one of the two Gigabyte GA-Z170N options recommended on the tonymac site, assuming they're recommended because they're easier to deal with.
(05-01-2017, 03:16 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]Nvidia just released support for the 10-series GPUs, so you may want to look into getting a GT740 for the time being and then getting a 10-series upgrade, or if you just want something that works, get a GTX 960/970.
Do you think the GT 740 with the i5-6600K would handle Skyward Sword at 1080p? How about the GTX 960 or 970 with that CPU?
Thank you,
Ted
The only reason I want to update my CPU to the i7 is because I do video editing on both Windows with Adobe Premiere and on Mac with iMovie/Final Cut ProX.
Definitely go with a Gigabyte board that somebody else successfully built a Hackintosh with.
CPU wise, the i5-6600/6600K will be fine for Dolphin. As for the GT 740, I don't think it's enough for Skyward Sword, as it wasn't strong enough for my system to run Super Mario Galaxy at 1080p (SMG is harder on the GPU than most games) which is why I updated to the GTX 760, which can run it at 1440p no problems. I would recommend getting the 960 or 970 solely for the fact that they're stronger and you won't hve to deal with any slowdowns GPU-wise, and because they have HDMI 2.0 for 4k at 60 fps, which is really great looking with Dolphin.
KH, thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it.
I was just testing Skyward Sword on my iMac again, and even with OpenGL on a Radeon M395X, I was able to run it at 1440p. I guess if things don't work quite as well as expected on the hackintosh, I can install Windows 10 to try other renderers. But like I said, my actual target is 1080p, so I think I'll be alright with the Mac version.
Thank you!
Ted
Just an FYI, the M395X is about equal to the GTX 760, and absolutely destroys the GT 740.
Thanks for the heads-up, KH. I don't know if Skyward Sword is particularly difficult for Dolphin, and I haven't tried SMG on the iMac yet. I'm thinking of a GTX 1060, but they come in two flavors: 3 GB and 6 GB.
Does more memory on the graphics card help Dolphin? The price difference is around $60.