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+--- Thread: Laptop good enough for games? (/Thread-laptop-good-enough-for-games)
Laptop good enough for games? - Ilan321 - 12-08-2013
Hey, I was wondering if my laptop could handle playing games like wind waker (pretty much the only game I want to play).
My specs are as following:
Dell Inspiron 15 3521
CPU: Intel i7-3517U @ 1.9Ghz (dual-core, 2 threads each = 4 processors, boosts up to 3.2Ghz)
RAM: 4GB OEM
HDD: 1TB OEM
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 8730M 2GB DDR3 VRAM + Intel HD 4000
Dolphin version: 4.0.1
I've tried playing it but it lags on detailed scenes - I think it's because my laptop won't run Dolphin with my dedicated GPU, but with the integrated one. Or is it just my crappy GPU? (I can play Metro:LL at medium graphics, I have no idea why a 10+ year old console emulator won't)
RE: Laptop good enough for games? - admin89 - 12-08-2013
Quote:I can play Metro:LL at medium graphics, I have no idea why a 10+ year old console emulator won'tWelcome to emulation where the requirement is insanely high
PC games are optimized and coded for PC while Emulator try to make your PC look like a console . With that said , even if your laptop run Crysis xxx , it doesn't mean anything
Have you ever run Windows or PC games on a virtual machine yet ? Did you think that would be as fast as real hardware ? No , not even close
For most Wii/GC games , your CPU is weak . Zelda WW uses LLE backend as default , LLE is very demanding on CPU side . You need a top of the line OCed quad core (i5 4670k @ 4.2GHz for example) to run most games full speed with LLE
PC games doesn't need a very good CPU to begin with . In Japan , we have a low-end Pentium Ivy Bridge mobile CPU paired with top of the line Nvidia GTX 680M (used to be top of the line GPU LOL ) . I know that CPU sure bottleneck GPU in BF3 but it shouldn't matter much as the strong GPU will cover it
On the other hand , Dolphin CPU requirement will make your pocket cry (by alot lol)
Dolphin doesn't care about Hyperthreading and Ultra low voltage CPUs are much weaker than a normal CPU . Zelda WW is a light-weight game , even Intel HD 3000 can run it just fine . You certainly have CPU bottleneck here
If you want Zelda WW to run faster then choose HLE backend instead (via Audio settings)
Btw , i5 3517U turbo boost :
_2.8GHz (2 cores active)
_3.0GHz (only 1 core)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i7-3517U-Notebook-Processor.74462.0.html
Ultra low voltage CPU performance is a hit and a miss . If your laptop run hot , the CPU will downclock itself
I always advise Dolphin users to stay away from those ULV CPU . Anyway , just follow the performance guide and see if you can raise your CPU clock speed at max (2.8GHz)