Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hello there! I'm hoping I don't start out joining Dolphin by shooting myself in the foot while seeking help!

I've had a few select games struggle a bit on my main machine; Custom Robo a bit, Thousand Year Door, Metroid Prime. I'm using version 5.0-8715, on a Windows 7 64 bit, with 16 Gigs of Ram and a 1060 NVidia Card through an 840 x4 AMD Processor.

So I'm somewhat nervous about trying to find a Black Friday deal on a Laptop that wouldn't cost as much as my machine but that can play -some- of the games it can play. And while I chalk that up to me not knowing what I'm doing (I bet half my troubles would go away if I mess with the settings a bit more, since the main machine can play XCOM2 and Dark Souls and TableTopSimulator at full power), I'd probably better just ask for advice while I can before I shell out several hundred to play games on my laptop. If only the Gamecube could go Mobile somehow...

I'm currently looking at an option with the following specs:

   Intel Core i5-2520M Processor 2.5GHz
   8GB RAM
   320GB Hard Drive
   Intel HD Graphics 3000
   Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
   DVD-ROM Drive
   10/100/1000 Network
   14" Display (I'll plug it into a monitor when I need to at work, but otherwise it's for my own fun)

I'm looking into Smash Melee (a given), and recent interest has me wanting to dust off my old Mario Party copies and Mario Kart Double-Dash, too. And Mario Tennis (which I also distinctly remember looking TERRIBLE and being nearly unplayable on my Main Machine, though this was before I got a Graphics Card and Ram Upgrade).

Any hope for me, or any help to be had? I've got the machine on hold for me, and I've 1 hour before the store I want to buy it from closes until Black Friday, so I've got only until then to change my mind if this isn't a feasible option...

I appreciate any and all help I am given.

That computer is nearly 8 years old, I'd look for something newer.

Give us a budget and we can suggest the appropriate hardware. You can easily pick up a $350-$400 laptop that's not even focused on gaming and it'll run circles around the machine you picked out.

(11-22-2018, 12:07 PM)ExtremeDude2 Wrote: [ -> ]That computer is nearly 8 years old, I'd look for something newer.

You mean the one listed, or my own? Because my Dinosaur is from 2011, and I've only had to upgrade the Graphics Card and get a new wifi-stick when we switched routers. I don't need something that can play games from 2019 on. While I'm sure it'd help, it's not -entirely- what I need.

(11-22-2018, 12:16 PM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ]Give us a budget and we can suggest the appropriate hardware. You can easily pick up a $350-$400 laptop that's not even focused on gaming and it'll run circles around the machine you picked out.

I had a 2nd friend check it out and say that it's not very good, too. But I didn't expect a replacement only that much more expensive would be easy to find. Alright. Show me something $399.99 before Tax or Addons. I'm new to the idea of getting decent strong games out of a machine that's not either hooked into a wall or hyperpriced, so maybe I'm just in need of a wake-up. The aforementioned friend says something midranged like I'm looking for is impossible, but I wouldn't mind him being wrong if it means new-toy!

Thank God I've got 2 paychecks before I have to pay off the card I'm flexing...

For the sub $400 mark, I think the best CPU around that price range would be an i3-8130U. It shouldn't do too bad in Dolphin these days. Melee, Mario Kart Double Dash, and the Mario Party games are fairly light as far as Dolphin goes, so you shouldn't have trouble running them on a modern laptop. Just a quick NewEgg search:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...6834235007

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...EYJ8DG3942

The last one is indeed a business notebook, but they managed to out a decent CPU in it. Don't expect super miracles from the i3-8130U. It only draws in 15W, so it can't be a powerhouse, but it definitely beats the i5-2520 you were looking at and should run the listed games fine. If you have any other games you're looking to play, it would be helpful to know, since the demands Dolphin has on a system varies per-game.

EDIT - In my testing (I've got a laptop with an i3-7100U), the Intel HD620 sometimes had trouble maintaining fullspeed at 2x IR (essentially 720p as far as Dolphin is concerned) in Melee and Mario Tennis. Double Dash was fine. 1x IR had no slowdowns. So since these laptops have the same integrated GPU, expect similar performance. I just played with D3D11, not OpenGL or Vulkan.

Wow. Those would be able to run any of those games perfectly?

I'm very new to actually making my parts count when on a laptop. I'm used to it being just mobile note-taking...

I'm also not sure which games are more or less intensive than normal on Dolphin. Looking through my old boxes, I've got those ones, the other aforementioned Paper Mario, Custom Robo, Metroid Prime 2 and Soul Calibur 2. I'm also pretty sure I've got Hunter the Reckoning in here someone (since I never beat it), Pokemon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness (the later I also never got to finish, as I got it back only after a friend had snatched it for like 10 years).

Huh. Could you -possibly- please assist me further? I'd been meaning to go about putting my Wii games on my Computer as well, frankly. I've got Super Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart 8, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Pokemon Battle Revolution, Metroid Prime 3, and Twilight Princess. Could either of these run those at a decent rate/95% full speed? What if I went as far as $500, in regards to them or the previous ones?

The Gamecube games, I'd messed around with more than once on my main machine about 5 years ago, but that was when it had a much weaker graphics option, and when a power-surge knocked out the back-ups I made of my disks (I hadn't double backed up Luigi's Mansion or Jungle Beat, so I'm gonna have to go buy those games again), I stopped Emulation for a bit. A friend recently got me back into it, and only now do I know that there's so much I have to learn.

To wit: You keep mentioning CPU as why those machines beat out the cheap-o one I picked out. I assumed that something better would have involved a proper Graphics Card, not an integrated Chip-Set. I don't even know how to gauge the difference between them, other than that they aren't very good for any half-decent gameplay, let alone the serious modern-gaming that current laptops shoot for.

And speaking of modern gaming; this isn't about Dolphin, but since the response here seems to be so wise, I hope I'm not crucified for dropping it. Would either of these laptops be a decent choice for being able to play League of Legends from locations other than my computer (so long as the wifi is decent)?

Back to Dolphin: Looking in the increased price range, there are devices off of NewEgg like these, and I honestly don't know how or why they're more expensive at a glance than the ones you suggested unless the numbers on them are bigger.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...gnorebbr=1

This one, for example (just to try to do my own homework a bit because I sincerely appreciate the assistance, and trying to be informed on it would hopefully be more of a benefit than a hindrance in regards to using your aid) has double the RAM and an i5 processor vs i3. But I don't even know how much of a jump the latter is supposed to be.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...gnorebbr=1

This one is apparently worth double either of those at normal price, but also at the point where I don't even know what's going on in regards of quality when it comes to the machine. (It even has a Card-Reader. Like, Check Card? I don't know...)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...gnorebbr=1

And this one is apparently a discount Super Saiyan, yet the specs for it don't seem consistent in its descriptions, and seems only on par with the previously discussed ones. Yet I can almost buy a used car for its original price, let alone a Desktop or Laptop that could probably do VR and everything... x.x

Quote:I'm also not sure which games are more or less intensive than normal on Dolphin. Looking through my old boxes, I've got those ones, the other aforementioned Paper Mario, Custom Robo, Metroid Prime 2 and Soul Calibur 2. I'm also pretty sure I've got Hunter the Reckoning in here someone (since I never beat it), Pokemon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness (the later I also never got to finish, as I got it back only after a friend had snatched it for like 10 years).

Huh. Could you -possibly- please assist me further? I'd been meaning to go about putting my Wii games on my Computer as well, frankly. I've got Super Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart 8, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Pokemon Battle Revolution, Metroid Prime 3, and Twilight Princess. Could either of these run those at a decent rate/95% full speed? What if I went as far as $500, in regards to them or the previous ones?

For GC the only ones I'd be concerned about are Metroid Prime 2 and maybe Gale of Darkness. Pretty sure the rest are light to mid-weight games in Dolphin. It doesn't take an impressive CPU to run any of the rest fullspeed. MP2 and Gale of Darkness would definitely be playable, not a lag-fest, but you would probably experience some slowdowns.

For Wii, Brawl is very light, MK Wii should be okay as long as you're doing single-player and stick to lower resolutions, can't comment on Return to Dreamland, Battle Revolution might have slowdowns as I recall, MP3 is definitely a heavyweight and I wouldn't expect that to play well (save it for your desktop), and LoZ:TP should be doable most of the time as long as you enable the correct settings.

Quote:To wit: You keep mentioning CPU as why those machines beat out the cheap-o one I picked out. I assumed that something better would have involved a proper Graphics Card, not an integrated Chip-Set. I don't even know how to gauge the difference between them, other than that they aren't very good for any half-decent gameplay, let alone the serious modern-gaming that current laptops shoot for.

Dolphin is a different beast from PC gaming. Modern PC games rely greatly on the GPU for performance. Most of the heavy lifting is graphics-related. If your GPU isn't up to task, it holds you back in PC games, while you can get away with very sub-par or even low-range CPUs. Dolphin, on the other hand, needs a good CPU first and foremost, one with high single-threaded performance. Most of the work inside Dolphin is done on the CPU, while the GPU is responsible for receiving commands and translating those into something that can be rendered on-screen. With this emulator, the GPU basically determines how high you can push the resolution (1x, 2x) and what enhancements you can throw on like AA. You can have a terrible GPU and get away with 1x or 2x IR, but if the CPU is no good performance-wise, it doesn't matter what resolution you pick, you'll still gets slowdowns.

So, with laptops on a small budget, you generally have to resign yourself to integrated GPUs. If you want dedicated mobile GPUs from Nvidia or AMD, that ups the price. These days, most mobile laptops have enough CPU power to run Dolphin at fullspeed, and the recent integrated GPUs are finally strong enough for consistent performance at 1x or 2x (Intel HD3000 and Intel HD4000 used to routinely struggle with those resolutions as I recall).

Keep in mind to that the most recent i3/i5/i7/i-whatever offer better performance than the old Sandy Bridge ones, even when clocked lower. This is due to the changes in the microarchitecture over the years. Those changes really benefited Dolphin performance-wise. Haswell alone brought a 15-25% bump. I don't believe there's been that big a bump recently, but nowadays, an i3-8130U would beat an i5-2520M (especially since the integrated GPU in the i5-2520M would bottleneck performance even at 1x resolution). So that 2.2GHz base clock on the i3-8130 would be equivalent to the i5-2520M running at 2.6 or 2.7GHz or something like that (I don't know exactly, haven't kept up with the numbers).

Quote:And speaking of modern gaming; this isn't about Dolphin, but since the response here seems to be so wise, I hope I'm not crucified for dropping it. Would either of these laptops be a decent choice for being able to play League of Legends from locations other than my computer (so long as the wifi is decent)?

Should do alright. There are a couple of YouTube videos of it running on similar CPUs such as the i3-7100U or i3-7130U. They use the same integrated GPU, so expect similar results.

Out of the three you listed from NewEgg

1) This one seems the best out of the three. You'll want the highest base frequency since Turbo Boost is always dependent on thermal limitations. Get too hot and you drop back to base clocks. You always get too hot with laptops, unfortunately. The i5-7200U apparently has lower single-threaded performance in comparison to the i3-8130, and more cores/more threads doesn't really help a great deal with Dolphin (aside from background processing). However, the higher base-clock on the i5-7200U offsets the slightly weaker single-threaded performance IMO. Both this one an the i3-8130U should perform as I described above for your selected games.

2) Avoid this! Anything these days that say Pentium Nxxx are rebranded and updated Atom CPUs, which are weak for Dolphin. Low single-threaded performance + low base clock.

3) Same specs as my laptop (i3-7100U). It does alright in Dolphin. Not as good as either the i3-8130U or i5-7200U, but it does a good job. As I said, a number of games can't handle 2x resolutions on the Intel HD 620. That discount in ridiculous though lol. Looks like most of the original price came from that monster SSD and 8GB of RAM. Besides that, nothing special about the CPU or the rest of the laptop.

You'll notice that there's also an i5-8250U that's in a bunch of sub $500 laptops. Again, base clock is important. If things get too hot, your clocks drop back to base (or close to it anyway). I'd avoid that the i5-8250U since 1.6GHz is pretty low for Dolphin, while the i3-7200U and i3-8130U guarantee 2.5GHz and 2.2GHz at a minimum no matter the thermal levels. Honestly, it's a toss-up between the i3-7200U and i3-8130U for me.

(11-23-2018, 02:30 AM)Dmon Wrote: [ -> ]Wow. Those would be able to run any of those games perfectly?

I'm very new to actually making my parts count when on a laptop. I'm used to it being just mobile note-taking...

I'm also not sure which games are more or less intensive than normal on Dolphin. Looking through my old boxes, I've got those ones, the other aforementioned Paper Mario, Custom Robo, Metroid Prime 2 and Soul Calibur 2. I'm also pretty sure I've got Hunter the Reckoning in here someone (since I never beat it), Pokemon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness (the later I also never got to finish, as I got it back only after a friend had snatched it for like 10 years).

Huh. Could you -possibly- please assist me further? I'd been meaning to go about putting my Wii games on my Computer as well, frankly. I've got Super Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart 8, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Pokemon Battle Revolution, Metroid Prime 3, and Twilight Princess. Could either of these run those at a decent rate/95% full speed? What if I went as far as $500, in regards to them or the previous ones?

The Gamecube games, I'd messed around with more than once on my main machine about 5 years ago, but that was when it had a much weaker graphics option, and when a power-surge knocked out the back-ups I made of my disks (I hadn't double backed up Luigi's Mansion or Jungle Beat, so I'm gonna have to go buy those games again), I stopped Emulation for a bit. A friend recently got me back into it, and only now do I know that there's so much I have to learn.

To wit: You keep mentioning CPU as why those machines beat out the cheap-o one I picked out. I assumed that something better would have involved a proper Graphics Card, not an integrated Chip-Set. I don't even know how to gauge the difference between them, other than that they aren't very good for any half-decent gameplay, let alone the serious modern-gaming that current laptops shoot for.

And speaking of modern gaming; this isn't about Dolphin, but since the response here seems to be so wise, I hope I'm not crucified for dropping it. Would either of these laptops be a decent choice for being able to play League of Legends from locations other than my computer (so long as the wifi is decent)?

Back to Dolphin: Looking in the increased price range, there are devices off of NewEgg like these, and I honestly don't know how or why they're more expensive at a glance than the ones you suggested unless the numbers on them are bigger.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...gnorebbr=1

This one, for example (just to try to do my own homework a bit because I sincerely appreciate the assistance, and trying to be informed on it would hopefully be more of a benefit than a hindrance in regards to using your aid) has double the RAM and an i5 processor vs i3. But I don't even know how much of a jump the latter is supposed to be.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...gnorebbr=1

This one is apparently worth double either of those at normal price, but also at the point where I don't even know what's going on in regards of quality when it comes to the machine. (It even has a Card-Reader. Like, Check Card? I don't know...)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...gnorebbr=1

And this one is apparently a discount Super Saiyan, yet the specs for it don't seem consistent in its descriptions, and seems only on par with the previously discussed ones. Yet I can almost buy a used car for its original price, let alone a Desktop or Laptop that could probably do VR and everything... x.x

League can run on toasters, so any of those should suffice.

I mean, my current laptop (Latitude E6320) can run it without any single drops. Likewise for a couple of games on Dolphin.

Then again, you´re better off buying a more up-to-date PC.

I'm kinda glad I didn't rush shooting for this, now. A heck of a lot better decision than the one I made trying to snag a Switch Deal (got one online  while I  could, then found out I could get the same one in store to get a game to go with it for the exact same price. >.>). So, just a run  through of things I should look for when trying to seek out a Dolphin ready Laptop:

-CPU: The MOST Important thing. Using Intel Cores as something to wrap my head around, the i# doesn't matter, so long as the Gen is as new as can be. So I'd want to search for 8th Gen, be it i9, i7, i5, or i3, then. And so long as it's that good, getting multiple doesn't automatically matter with Dolphin... but since I frequently have Discord or Music or Firefox-Youtube (for music) in the background, wouldn't it be good for that?

-Memory: Also something I thought would be important, if only for that last concern with CPU. 8 GB minimum for doing multiple things while having Dolphin up, though Dolphin itself might work with a minimum of 4 GB? I wouldn't dare gamble on less...

-Storage: Is there any real difference between SSD and HDD, for the sake of Dolphin? I wouldn't mind having games stay in my External Hard-Drive (and I've been wondering about somehow putting Dolphin itself there, once I've committed everything to data, just so I can switch from my Dinosaur to my Mobile effortlessly), so I'm not sure how special the difference is. I figue just a good 200~ GB for general installs and any other data that might be worth keeping on; Dolphin doesn't use up most storage by itself, does it? Gosh, I played so much several years ago, and yet it's like I'm relearning how to walk again....

-Price: 300 minimum, 500 maximum. I doubt I'm able to get anything serviceable for under 300, but with everyone else's Black Friday presents, I'm not sure I can splurge more than half a grand on this yet. Plus I'd hate offending my old Dinosaur by getting a new machine that's half the cost of it and competes with it for my attention... I hope that's reasonable for a machine that should be better than a potato.

-Operating System: Windows. I've been bred to hate Macs instinctively. There's no chance there's any advantage to using one in regards to Dolphin, is there?

-Storage Again: ...is it worth trying to shoot for an SSD HDD combo? Because that -could- be an option, maybe...

-GPU: So, if I'm not getting a full on Graphics Card (nor do I need one), how do I know the benchmark for the Integrated Chip-Set being worth more than a bag of Potato Chips? I used to think they'd always be worthless and inferior to a full on card in every-way, but I'm more than happy to be learning...even if I feel like I'm an old man getting advice from the next generation at times, despite not even being 30 yet. But in any case, yeah, so many options on New Egg in regards to Integrated Graphics...

-CPU Speed: Gosh, so many options here, too! But just from what little I understood, I should shoot for at least 3 GHz speed for the CPU, right? High Clock Speed means being able to get all the little pieces running more efficiently? Some of these are in different units, though. So confusing. T_T

-Number of Cores: This supposedly doesn't matter -too- much? At  the very least, splurging for a 4+ is a waste of money for this, right?

-WLAN: Depends on my router, right? (Only asked because I absolutely want to look into seeing if I can set up Dolphin with my friends, have them play some of my games with me. I'm looking into being able to host game with them, however that works...)

-Bluetooth: Now. I've been told that if I can get some Bluetooth capability, either on this or on my Dinosaur, I could make it so my Wiimotes work on them. Is that true? Probably not something I'd use on the Laptop, but definitely worth noting. o.o

-Video Memory. That's listed as a thing. Is that supposed to be a thing that should be factored? (Newegg shopping)

(11-23-2018, 06:58 AM)DJBarry004 Wrote: [ -> ]League can run on toasters, so any of those should suffice.

I mean, my current laptop (Latitude E6320) can run it without any single drops. Likewise for a couple of games on Dolphin.

Then again, you´re better off buying a more up-to-date PC.

Eh, with League, it's just the convenience of being able to visit a friend and play it in their house with them, or playing it where-ever is comfortable in my home. And I -might- consider using some of what I've learned here to see if my Dinosaur can be replaced, but only after I get a Laptop I can trust to hold me over gaming wise until then.

Dang. I meant to add it to my last post, but I was also recommended this as a decent option, too.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-ideapa...thena=true

Looks like it seems semidecent if I'm keeping up with everything, but there are a few things I noticed:
-CPU Speed is kinda low at 1.6 GHz, right?
-What is that 16+ GB optional memory, which seems like it requires special circumstances to be able to use?
-Little information about the Integrated Graphics here and how strong they might be.
Am I learning?

Edit. My aforementioned previous post was somehow passed by this one. That's funny. XD
Double Edit: Okay, what the heck, now it showed up, and the edits seemed silly. That's some Einstein-Rosenbrigde shtuff.