Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Would a gt 730 be powerful enough for dolphin at let say 720p trying to build a low power emulation computer. thank you in advance.

That's a pretty terrible GPU. It only scores 1188 in Firestrike. A GTX 460, a low-midrange card from 9 years ago scores well over double that at 2553 points!

So um, please don't use the GT 730. It very well might not run games at 720p. If you want a low-power emulation computer, I'd suggest a 1050Ti, or just get a decent APU and use its integrated graphics.

I'll just mention that the GTX 1650 is supposed to have the same power draw as the 1050 Ti. Both should be around the same price, but the GTX 1650 is faster and just came out recently.

On the low-end segment (and considering Dolphin usage), the GT 1030 is also very capable, available in fan-less options and pretty cheap nowadays. Its performance is close to the old GTX 750 Ti, which was one of the best budget GPUs for Dolphin (and for a lot of PC games) at the time it was released...

Before considering the GTX 1650 (which I'm not 100% sure is a useful suggestion as it costs a fair bit more than a GT 730), it's worth considering that an RX 570 is faster and cheaper, even when you factor in the additional power supply cost and electricity cost over its lifetime. If low power draw is genuinely your main goal above performance, neither card is your best bet, but if you want to find a nice balance, the 570 might be more attractive.

(05-01-2019, 06:40 AM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: [ -> ]Before considering the GTX 1650 (which I'm not 100% sure is a useful suggestion as it costs a fair bit more than a GT 730)

I mean, it's pretty much +/- $5 of the GTX 1050 Ti that Maylmilae brought up, so why not mention the GTX 1650 in that regard?

It is highly dependent on the model of GT 730 you have. The gddr3 versions are complete and utter trash and will not work well at all. The gddr5 versions or actually semi reasonable and can handle native and 2x on some games. Games that require higher GPU performance may suffer.

You basically want the gk208-400-A1 version since the Fermi version is bad and the other Kepler version is crippled by the ddr3 memory (yes not even gddr3). I used to use the gk208 card in my emulation machine (it was a gt 640, but the good gt 730 is a rebrand from this card) and it worked mostly fine using OpenGl in whatever dev version of Dolphin 5.0 I was on at the time. But I mainly play on Native, I prefer it. This was also paired with a good CPU (i5 4690k with a slight overclock).

(05-01-2019, 06:40 AM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: [ -> ][...] it's worth considering that an RX 570 is faster and cheaper, even when you factor in the additional power supply cost and electricity cost over its lifetime.

Not really an option when the OP is "trying to build a low power emulation computer". The GTX 1050 ti and GTX 1650 are within reach as they can be powered by the PCI Express slot alone, but their price ranges are well above the GT 730 and those GPUs (RX 570 included) are somewhat overkill if the goal is just emulation. With all that said, I think the Ryzen APUs and the GT 1030 are the better options currently available.

(05-01-2019, 10:13 AM)TKSilver Wrote: [ -> ]It is highly dependent on the model of GT 730 you have. The gddr3 versions are complete and utter trash and will not work well at all. The gddr5 versions or actually semi reasonable and can handle native and 2x on some games. Games that require higher GPU performance may suffer.

All GT 730 models are underpowered and pretty old for 2019 standards. There are far better options close to the same price range nowadays...

(04-30-2019, 10:07 AM)laminat3 Wrote: [ -> ]Would a gt 730 be powerful enough for dolphin at let say 720p trying to build a low power emulation computer. thank you in advance.

how about going for a more modern card and underclocking it (for nVidia set the powerlevel and voltage as low as it goes in MSI Afterburner) and just go higher and higher until you get the games you want to play up to full speed, you could even try this for a GTX750 (non TI, it worked great on my old Pentium G4560 based system for 3x IR in most games)

But also keep in mind that newer GPU's will have become more energy efficient thus giving higher performance at lower or same(ish) powerdraw.

(05-01-2019, 11:36 AM)mbc07 Wrote: [ -> ]All GT 730 models are underpowered and pretty old for 2019 standards. There are far better options close to the same price range nowadays...

Yes, I would never recommend a GT 700 series card if it was priced anywhere near a newer card.  Unless you really need the analogue output (the main reason I only upgraded my emulation box to a 750ti instead of something newer, well that and the fact my 750Ti cost $35 from Craigslist).  Mainly I was letting the OP know what performance a GT 730 would give, since I used the card myself up until late 2018 running Dolphin, PCSX2, and a handfull of other emulators on it.  Since everyone did offer up good advice, but did not actually say what performance would be like on the GT 730.