Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

System:
Win7 SP1 64bit
Intel Core i5-2400 @3.10GHz
AMD Radeon HD6540
Samsung 4GB DDR3
Dolphin 5.0

Wondering if I would benefit from installing a new graphics card or is the CPU not powerful enough? I can play most GC games at 1.5 IR but Wii games only run on native. I would like to be able to play Wii at 720p. Is this CPU just too old, or is the graphics card really terrible? Cards I've seen mentioned are GT 1030 or GTX 1050. Would a 1030 enable this system to play at 2x? The 1030 looks more appealing as the pc is a Dell Optiplex SFF and doesn't have big power supply or room for large card.

I noticed the latest builds removed the option of 1.5x IR, which I can just squeak by using for GC games but at 2x they all choke, so I still use 5.0.

Thanks

Try the latest development build, set the graphics backend to Direct3D 11 in Graphics > General, and check "Skip access from EFB to CPU" or whatever we call it in Graphics > Hacks.

That will give you the fastest you can get out of dolphin at the expense of some games breaking.

You are pretty limited by your very old GPU, your CPU also isn't great, but it should be ok for some games. Your system in general is just pretty old and Dolphin's GPU requirements have gone up a bit (while CPU demand has gone down)

Thanks Helios, I tried the latest build with D3D and also skip EFB Hack.
The game I've been testing is Mario Kart Wii and I'm only getting in the 20's FPS with 2xIR. With Native IR it plays okay with FPS close to 60.
5.0 will play at 1.5 IR with FPS 45-50. And of course native IR plays great.
Also the two latest builds I tried also had a 1/4 block of the screen dimmed down on top left, and 5.0 did not do this.
I figured my system is getting out-dated, but being so close to playable at 1.5x in 5.0, I just wondered if adding a better modern graphics card might be enough to push it over the edge to playable, versus investing in an entire new system?

Alright, so you are definitely GPU bound.

I think you can find some GTX 1050s that don't require power pins.

I know the GT 1030s don't require them either. But the GTX 1050 will let you crank up the graphics in some PC games if you're into that.

(12-02-2017, 02:19 AM)Helios Wrote: [ -> ]I think you can find some GTX 1050s that don't require power pins.

I thought all GTX 1050s didn't require external power pins considering that there you can even find 1050Ti models without any external power pins?

Two examples:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wrmxFT/...p4-6251-kr
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/7Ks8TW/...105toc-4gd

Becareful running Graphics Cards thst don't require pins on OEM Motherboards, Especially Dell. Not all Dell motherboards have the best traces connecting power through to the PCIE slot. This generally is more on an issue with certain RX4 series cards from AMD (some with pin connectors), but just keep in mind that if your PC starts experiencing stability issues when under heavy graphical load this might be the reason.