Best budget PC parts for Dolphin emulator - Help?

[mbudden2015]

It'll work yes but if emulators need more power later it'll probably struggle. Should be good for at least a few years.

Thanks! Also, will it be enough to run PS2 emulation?

 

[Toothless]

Thanks! Also, will it be enough to run PS2 emulation?

It should though I heard PS2 is tough due to hardware differences.

 

[mbudden2015]

It should though I heard PS2 is tough due to hardware differences.

Oh okay. I heard that Dolphin is much harder on the CPU than it is for the PS2 emulator. If that's the case, then if it can run good for the Dolphin, it should run for the PS2. Also, I know you had the AMD A10-7850K picked out, but another person on here suggested the AMD A10-5800K. Do you think that would be okay? And for another $10 (compared to the A10-5800K), my friend could get the AMD FX-4350 Vishera Quad-Core 4.2 GHz. What do you think he should do?

 

[Toothless]

Oh okay. I heard that Dolphin is much harder on the CPU than it is for the PS2 emulator. If that's the case, then if it can run good for the Dolphin, it should run for the PS2. Also, I know you had the AMD A10-7850K picked out, but another person on here suggested the AMD A10-5800K. Do you think that would be okay?

7850k has a stronger GPU and a bit better CPU. If the emulators are hard on CPUs then the 5675c would run better but honestly, researching would help.

 

[mbudden2015]

7850k has a stronger GPU and a bit better CPU. If the emulators are hard on CPUs then the 5675c would run better but honestly, researching would help.

Oh okay. Well, I'd rather ask people and that's what I'm doing here. I tried Tomshardware forum, but I don't like them. lol! Ummm what's a 5675C? Can't find that on Newegg. He says he can't get the 7850K cause it's too expensive. I know that the Dolphin emulator says it's recommended to have an Intel processor, but he doesn't have the money for that.

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

Just want to remind you that dolphin emulator depends highly on cpu clock speed and ipc. I have experience with the pcsx2 emulator. For pcsx2 you need a very high clock speed for 2 cores, it does not really take advantage of 4 cores. Going amd would not be ideal for emulator like those. Emulator have really gone on well with efficiency nowaday compared to me running core 2 duo 8 years ago.

I am using a pentium g3258 it run pcsx2 very well for my persona game. It is overclock of course. I used to run pcsx2 on first generation core i7 laptop. A dual core core i7 with an optimise game like Final fantasy X. For very optimise games most cpu can do.

5675c is the intel cpu for broadwell. Their as rare as unicorns.

 

[Toothless]

Just want to remind you that dolphin emulator depends highly on cpu clock speed and ipc. I have experience with the pcsx2 emulator. For pcsx2 you need a very high clock speed for 2 cores, it does not really take advantage of 4 cores. Going amd would not be ideal for emulator like those. Emulator have really gone on well with efficiency nowaday compared to me running core 2 duo 8 years ago.

I am using a pentium g3258 it run pcsx2 very well for my persona game. It is overclock of course. I used to run pcsx2 on first generation core i7 laptop. A dual core core i7 with an optimise game like Final fantasy X. For very optimise games most cpu can do.

5675c is the intel cpu for broadwell. Their as rare as unicorns.

So the 5675c would be better, correct?

 

[mbudden2015]

Just want to remind you that dolphin emulator depends highly on cpu clock speed and ipc. I have experience with the pcsx2 emulator. For pcsx2 you need a very high clock speed for 2 cores, it does not really take advantage of 4 cores. Going amd would not be ideal for emulator like those. Emulator have really gone on well with efficiency nowaday compared to me running core 2 duo 8 years ago.

I am using a pentium g3258 it run pcsx2 very well for my persona game. It is overclock of course. I used to run pcsx2 on first generation core i7 laptop. A dual core core i7 with an optimise game like Final fantasy X. For very optimise games most cpu can do.

5675c is the intel cpu for broadwell. Their as rare as unicorns.

Okay so! I need to know if the g3258 will run Dolphin (Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Super Mario Sunshine, etc etc) & PS2 emulator (GTA games, FF10 & FF10-2, Metal Gear, etc etc)? He doesn't wanna overclock, by the way. Him and I can figure out the other parts but we just need to know a good budget Intel CPU with Intel HD graphics included. He can't buy a video card just yet so he has to use the integrated graphics on the Intel CPU. ****

EDIT: Can't find the Intel 5675C on Newegg so we're not gonna get that. Seems we only have the g3258 as the option.

 

[GoldenX]

Recent versions of Dolphin (dedicated sound thread) and PCSX2 (trough the speedhacks section) can take advantage of 3 cores, so a quad would be a good idea, I got a nice speed bump when I recieved my 980, coming from a x2 550 (same Deneb core, only 2 enabled).
Also, as MIRTAZAPINE says, I think is mandatory to use a Intel CPU, the lattest versions of Dolphin are trading speed for stability, and my Phenom II 980 at 4,2GHz wasn't enought to reach the 50 or 60fps some games run at.

A good GPU is needed only to multiply the native ressolution of the games, it's not mandatory. My HD7750 can do FullHD without causing any bottleneck.

 

[mbudden2015]

Recent versions of Dolphin (dedicated sound thread) and PCSX2 (trough the speedhacks section) can take advantage of 3 cores, so a quad would be a good idea, I got a nice speed bump when I recieved my 980, coming from a x2 550 (same Deneb core, only 2 enabled).
Also, as MIRTAZAPINE says, I think is mandatory to use a Intel CPU, the lattest versions of Dolphin are trading speed for stability, and my Phenom II 980 at 4,2GHz wasn't enought to reach the 50 or 60fps some games run at.

Okay so! I need to know if the g3258 will run Dolphin (Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Super Mario Sunshine, etc etc) & PS2 emulator (GTA games, FF10 & FF10-2, Metal Gear, etc etc)? He doesn't wanna overclock, by the way. Him and I can figure out the other parts but we just need to know a good budget Intel CPU with Intel HD graphics included. He can't buy a video card just yet so he has to use the integrated graphics on the Intel CPU. ****

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

So the 5675c would be better, correct?

I don't recommend any broadwell cpu. Getting motherboard to support it is hard. Even my z97 cannot support it. It does had a nice gpu on it though.
PS2 emulator is a terribly hard project! I am surprise it can succeed with enough reverse engineering. The old xbox was a fail to emulate despite being x86 cpu. You will be lucky in the old days to get a few frames with pcsx2 with interpreter mode on even the high end core 2 duo.

@mbudden2015

Unfortunately cheap pentium board with overclock is block in windows now. It is possible for your friend to increase his budget to $450? Or perhaps he can use some components like a power supply or HDD he have lying around?

 

[Toothless]

EDIT: Can't find the Intel 5675C on Newegg so we're not gonna get that. Seems we only have the g3258 as the option.

http://www.amazon.ca/Intel-Broadwell-Core-i5-5675C-BX80658i55675C/dp/B00YAEA1CE

 

[mbudden2015]

http://www.amazon.ca/Intel-Broadwell-Core-i5-5675C-BX80658i55675C/dp/B00YAEA1CE

My friend's budget for his whole build is $400. Don't think he'll spend all his budget on a CPU lol Thanks, though.

 

[mbudden2015]

I don't recommend any broadwell cpu. Getting motherboard to support it is hard. Even my z97 cannot support it. It does had a nice gpu on it though.
PS2 emulator is a terribly hard project! I am surprise it can succeed with enough reverse engineering. The old xbox was a fail to emulate despite being x86 cpu. You will be lucky in the old days to get a few frames with pcsx2 with interpreter mode on even the high end core 2 duo.

@mbudden2015

Unfortunately cheap pentium board with overclock is block in windows now. It is possible for your friend to increase his budget to $450? Or perhaps he can use some components like a power supply or HDD he have lying around?

If we went through Newegg again and saved him some money, then yeah he could even get it for less than $400. What Intel CPU did you have in mind? Keep in mind that he doesn't want to overclock and it HAS to have integrated graphics included into the CPU.

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

If we went through Newegg again and saved him some money, then yeah he could even get it for less than $400. What Intel CPU did you have in mind? Keep in mind that he doesn't want to overclock and it HAS to have integrated graphics included into the CPU.

I had in mind for you this. It the lastest intel cpu. Faster than the previous generation for the speed GHZ. With a cheap board like this.
No overclock required. Cheaper ram with this.
Total CAD$306

That leave you just $94 left for HDD, power supply and case. That is why I am asking if your friend have those around.

 

[mbudden2015]

I had in mind for you this. It the lastest intel cpu. Faster than the previous generation for the speed GHZ. With a cheap board like this.
No overclock required. Cheaper ram with this.
Total CAD$306

That leave you just $94 left for HDD, power supply and case. That is why I am asking if your friend have those around.

Actually, when I add those three links you provided me, go to my shopping cart with my postal code, it comes out to be: $367.03

Is there anything cheaper? Or is it hopeless for my friend to play Dolphin or PS2 emulators with such a low budget?

 

[GoldenX]

What abou an older i3? That would be cheaper and the performance will be pretty similar.

Forgot to mention, PCSX2 can play some games with GPU acceleration (the mayority), other like Metal Gear Solid 3 are better with the CPU doing all the work, and the CPU graphics plugin of PCSX2 can use unlimited cores for that. Is one of those cases where a 24 core Xeon/Opteron is the best option

 

[mbudden2015]

What abou an older i3? That would be cheaper and the performance will be pretty similar.

Please just find a Intel processor with HD graphics included for a good price. My friend is starting to get extremely fed up and discouraged. He's thinking of just giving up.

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

Actually, when I add those three links you provided me, go to my shopping cart with my postal code, it comes out to be: $568.13

Is there anything cheaper? Or is it hopeless for my friend to play Dolphin or PS2 emulators with such a low budget?

Gosh I forgot the shipping! I was assuming it was free! Shipping raised the price that high?

It is still possible I use ps2 emulator on far slower laptop like my Macbook air 2011. Emulation have gone far since the old crazy days. In that case you would have to turn down resolution for your emulation. Any I ran them on the default 1024x800 resolution with no problem on pcsx2. Even then it is very playable.

This intel cpu? It is as low as I can go! By now I recommend you get a second hand deskstop. Can provide more for the money.

 

[GoldenX]

I bet for a i3 4160. You will get better performance from Hyper-Threading than from the arch changes of the new Skylake.

 

[mbudden2015]

Gosh I forgot the shipping! I was assuming it was free! Shipping raised the price that high?

It is still possible I use ps2 emulator on far slower laptop like my Macbook air 2011. Emulation have gone far since the old crazy days. In that case you would have to turn down resolution for your emulation. Any I ran them on the default 1024x800 resolution with no problem on pcsx2. Even then it is very playable.

This intel cpu? It is as low as I can go! By now I recommend you get a second hand deskstop. Can provide more for the money.

It's for my friend, as I said. Can that processor you just linked to me play PS2 & Dolphin emulators? He doesn't have a video card so will the HD graphics on that CPU be enough?

 

[GoldenX]

It's enought, just don't use antialiasing, and keep the resolution to a sane level (no 4k madness).
My brother uses a HD5450 for Dolphin, that tings is old as hell. It can play almost any Dolphin game at HD (1280x720), Twilight Princess and Mario Kart Wii strugles a little.

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

Yep it is enough with the pentium I gave you. Like GoldenX said just leave emulator setting to default! If old 1.7GHz notebook cpu can run that Pentium can run many times better!

 

[mbudden2015]

Yep it is enough with the pentium I gave you. Like GoldenX said just leave emulator setting to default!

Great! Thanks so much! Before I go, I wanted to ask something else! If he plays games like (GTA, FFX, FFX-2, MGS 2, Zelda Wind Waker, Zelda Twilight Princess, Super Mario Sunshine, etc etc) with the included HD graphics, will it be at playable speeds? And also, when you say to keep the emulator settings at default, he's not allowed to change anything at all? None of the settings that may improve the emulation?

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

Great! Thanks so much! Before I go, I wanted to ask something else! If he plays games like (GTA, FFX, FFX-2, MGS 2, Zelda Wind Waker, Zelda Twilight Princess, Super Mario Sunshine, etc etc) with the included HD graphics, will it be at playable speeds? And also, when you say to keep the emulator settings at default, he's not allowed to change anything at all? None of the settings that may improve the emulation?

Yes! I only have experience with FFX as you listed and the game persona 3/4. HD graphic is more powerful than you think nowadays!