Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hello ladies and gentlemen, Santa Clause here.

My plan is to surprise my stepsister and her husband with a way to play SSB Melee for Christmas, I’m thinking here my budget will be $500. I’ll be building this on my own btw.

My goal is to build a console-sized pc for most likely GameCube (SSB & Mario Sunshine) and lower gens (SNES, NES) only, it will only be running on a TV (1920x1080) at 60Hz so no need to meet any 4K or frame requirements, but of course the more frames available the better.

From what I’ve read so far, and correct me if I get any of this wrong but from what I’ve gathered is that Dolphin is more CPU intensive and generally a 4 core with high speeds will be good.

As far as GPU, GT750 or better works?
Storage I’m aiming for 250GB SSD, is that enough for just a few games?
The PSU will be Seasonic Silver/Gold/Platinum and whatever the power usage needs to be (500W maybe??)
And RAM seems to be negligible with 4-8GB being enough
So it’s really came down to motherboard choice and a small enough case that I’m completely clueless on, so if you guys can give my list a look, let me know if I’m wrong anywhere in here I’d really appreciate it

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/26Fk9G

Here you go. Pick a case.

The iGPU in the new Ryzen CPUs can trivially push Dolphin at 1080p, and fast RAM will allow it to run at it's full potential.

If you're worried about getting a motherboard that doesn't come shipped with a firmware new enough to support the CPU, you can swap it out.

ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard. Should support the 3400G, does not cost that much more, and will fit in a smaller more "console sized" case

The silverstone SG13B is an mITX case roughly gamecube(ish) shaped, fits a standard size power supply, and can be cooled fairly well.