It's almost certainly a GPU bottleneck since the integrated graphics of Sandy Bridge Intel 2nd gen wasn't all that great. While it's worth mentioning that having two sticks of RAM is required to maximize the bandwidth of integrated graphics, graphics performance is still woeful even with it and I had to use some
majorly reduced "emulated CPU clock override" settings combined with Linux to get things playable at all (trilogy version of Metroid Prime 1 ran through PrimeHack):
There is actually the angle of upgrading to a cheap used Ivy Bridge Intel 3rd gen assuming the BIOS is compatible on your motherboard (check the motherboard manufacturer's website) which has substantially improved integrated graphics and a slightly better CPU, not to mention they're pretty darned cheap nowadays (especially LGA1155 Xeon CPUs if you get a model that has integrated graphics), but it won't be enough for more than 1x internal resolution (maybe 2x could work on less GPU-demanding games? Even on my Haswell Intel 4th gen I get slowdown on FAST Racing League's attract demo／title screen with 2x internal resolution).
When doing a quick search on ebay, I found used 3.2GHz 4core/4thread
Xeon E3-1225 v2 go for like 8-10 USD while used 3.5GHz 4core/8thread
Xeon E3-1275 v2 go for a little under 30 USD (the 8 threads won't really help Dolphin, but it's up to you if you'd want to pay 3x the amount for only 10% more CPU performance, keeping in mind that they both have identical GPU performance).
At the same time, for under 100 euros I almost can't help but think about a cheap Ryzen G-series Ryzen CPU with a cheap motherboard and two-sticks of RAM which would be somewhat faster on the CPU side and miles faster on the GPU side (3x internal resolution is possible). There's even the option of a cheap used LGA1150 Xeon that has integrated graphics paired with a used motherboard and using your existing RAM which would boost CPU performance similarly if not greater than a Ryzen for Dolphin (save for Ryzen 5000-series) and would have integrated graphics a bit faster than Ivy Bridge.
(01-15-2024, 03:11 AM)D34DL1N3R Wrote: [ -> ]I have a GTX 1060 (6GB) in my PC with an i5 2500k and things work great. Anything more than a 1060 and your cpu is just going to be a bottleneck and you'll see no improvements.
Considering that OP is using Linux, I would highly suggest an AMD GPU rather than anything Nvidia (Intel is also a valid choice, but that's not really applicable to your situation).
And while they're not
that powerful, there are a slew of low-profile used AMD GPUs on the market that would likely be plenty if you're fine with only running with perhaps 2x to 3x internal resolution; maybe refer to my lengthy posts over on the Linux Mint forum:
Basically...:
- RX 6400 is fastest but most expensive
- Radeon WX 4100 is a moderately distant second fastest
- Radeon WX 3200 is third fastest but only by a bit
- Radeon 350 GDDR5 is the dirt-cheap but slower option (may be called R7 350 or R9 350—just make sure it's GDDR5, and it'd still be faster than Haswell Intel 4th gen integrated graphics)
Just be wary that the WX 4100 and WX 3200
only have mini DisplayPort outputs so you'll probably want to spend a couple more euros on a corresponding passive adapter to either full-size DisplayPort or HDMI (and, if you want DVI, note that HDMI is passively compatible with DVI).
Heck, since used WX 4100 and used WX 3200 are well within your budget, one crazy option is to actually try upgrading to Ivy Bridge and making sure you have two sticks of RAM
first and then, if you're still having performance issues, to then go for a discrete GPU (remembering that, to get the most out of older Intel graphics, Linux is actually required)