Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

I had found the same specs page at the Gigabyte website, but I wasn't sure whether it was the same board. For some reason, there is an H tacked to the end of the name, so it might very well be another type.

Compatibility tables aren't all that big a deal, most of the time any type of RAM will work. Two 1600 2 GB banks should work just fine, regardless of brand. Normally I'd use Kingston or Corsair memory, but as you're aiming for a budget build, that might not be feasible.
I did look for 1666 DDR3 memory, but as you said, it's just not out there, so my guess is that 1600 memory would work just fine. I'll ask around and see if I'm proven wrong.

Ramsinks for a GPU? I didn't even know those things existed, I normally just advise against frying-prone cards. If it's that cheap and you can easily install it, why not? You can also try to find an extra case fan and install that close to your graphics card. Shouldn't be too expensive or loud.

Speaking of cooling, if you're going to OC or modify the CPU, make sure you've got some good cooling paste. It can make all the difference in the world.

I'm looking to install these stylish ramsinks on the video card if overheating becomes an issue.

I read that the CPU can easily OC to 4gHz. What type of cooling would be necessary to prevent it from frying at that speed? This will be my first OC that wasn't a made-to-OC (i7) CPU.

a good heatsink usually is 120mm behemoth, i'm not sure if will fit in your case.


here's a nice round up of cooling solution http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=432&Itemid=62

Wow that is a long article. The final conclusion showed a nice CPU heatsink for only $35. The article was so convincing that the only reason I didn't buy it was Newegg was out of stock.

(Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler if you were wondering.)

I ordered my parts an hour ago and stuck with what I listed in the last post. I also updated the OP with the final budget build. Shipping only added $11 to the total cost! That was a nice surprise.

So the final(?) build is:

Budget HTPC/Dolphin Build (Final)
(Frys parts)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 341 mATX Computer Case $40 ($25 after rebate)
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2 AMD 785G AM3 motherboard $90 ($75 after rebate)

(Newegg parts)
RAM: OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory $115 ($95 after rebate) Free Shipping
Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Callisto Edition $88 Free Shipping
Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 Video Card $105 ($80 after rebates) Free Shipping
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply $37 ($25 after rebate) Free Shipping

New Total: $475 ($388 after rebates) + $11 Shipping

A $399 build when my target was $400. Not bad.


I'm still not entirely convinced the GPU was a good choice, but it was 20% cheaper than the alternatives of the same caliber. At that price I might just have to use one of the rebates for an extra ramsink later.

Oh yeah, I also hear many good thing about COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus

review : http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2419 and some testimony of fellow forum member

especially if you put two fans on it... though once again, make sure your case can fit those cooler in.

Nice one! Drop a note on how it's working when you've got it assembled, might be a build for the system thread.
Biggest plus on this system is that you could actually add stuff to it if you wanted to.

(05-11-2010, 03:13 AM)demori Wrote: [ -> ]Budget HTPC/Dolphin Build (Final)
(Frys parts)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 341 mATX Computer Case $40 ($25 after rebate)
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2 AMD 785G AM3 motherboard $90 ($75 after rebate)

(Newegg parts)
RAM: OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory $115 ($95 after rebate) Free Shipping
Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Callisto Edition $88 Free Shipping
Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 Video Card $105 ($80 after rebates) Free Shipping
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply $37 ($25 after rebate) Free Shipping

New Total: $475 ($388 after rebates) + $11 Shipping

A $399 build when my target was $400. Not bad.

Even more proof for the whiners that it is not expensive to build a PC capable of dolphin emulation or high level gaming, and you don't need to spend "thousands" to get full speed emulation. For the euro people, that's about 320e, for a system that can practically do anything that's dirt cheap.

P.S. Your build would be perfect if it also had a dvd/bluray drive. Especially ones capable of reading wii discs would obviously be ideal like the lg 8162/8161 drives, and they cost only 10 to 20 bucks.

(05-11-2010, 03:48 AM)Ocean Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-11-2010, 03:13 AM)demori Wrote: [ -> ]Wow that is a long article. The final conclusion showed a nice CPU heatsink for only $35. The article was so convincing that the only reason I didn't buy it was Newegg was out of stock.

(Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler if you were wondering.)

I ordered my parts an hour ago and stuck with what I listed in the last post. I also updated the OP with the final budget build. Shipping only added $11 to the total cost! That was a nice surprise.

So the final(?) build is:

Budget HTPC/Dolphin Build (Final)
(Frys parts)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 341 mATX Computer Case $40 ($25 after rebate)
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2 AMD 785G AM3 motherboard $90 ($75 after rebate)

(Newegg parts)
RAM: OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory $115 ($95 after rebate) Free Shipping
Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Callisto Edition $88 Free Shipping
Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 Video Card $105 ($80 after rebates) Free Shipping
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply $37 ($25 after rebate) Free Shipping

New Total: $475 ($388 after rebates) + $11 Shipping

A $399 build when my target was $400. Not bad.

Even more proof for the whiners that it is not expensive to build a PC capable of dolphin emulation or high level gaming, and you don't need to spend "thousands" to get full speed emulation. For the euro people, that's about 320e, for a system that can practically do anything that's dirt cheap.

I can actually tell you that you can get this build for a bit UNDER €300.

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Amount=388&From=USD&To=EUR

Actually I was wrong, with the current market prices that's 302 eur, less than the price of a ps3. This build is also better than most branded crap sold in stores at 600eur+.

Though, if you were to build it from scratch instead of upgrading, you would need to buy at least a hdd and heatsink for processor, but even then you could push it way under 400e

Converting the price from dollar to euro isn't really fair, as some parts are cheaper in Europe and some are more expensive. Especially Gigabyte boards are going for less than the US price.