How much do I need to spend for a tiny HTPC w/ Game Cube emulation?

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PcZac

Limp Gawd
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Aug 30, 2013
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Looking to do a budget HTPC to use for emulation as well, want something small and clean enough that I can just leave it sitting on the TV stand.

This was my first mockup, but it's about $100 more than I wanted to spend, where you you start cutting corners?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.75 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 250X 2GB Video Card ($93.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Silverstone SG06BB-LITE Mini ITX Desktop Case ($49.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: Silverstone 300W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $430.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 00:47 EDT-0400
 
Well, do you actually live near a Microcenter?

Honestly, for an Intel setup, that's probably as cheap as you could go without getting into either "slow performance" and/or "shit quality" territories. With that said, the R7 250X is a really overpriced at $94 plus shipping costs. Especially when the R7 260X is available for $115 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202081

So that R7 250X should only cost $95 shipped. Also, a way to save money is to make sure that the shipping costs are actually listed. If not listed, ditch it.
 
Besides that, you don't need a dedicated video card for those requirements. I have an AMD a6-5400k APU with 8gb RAM that handles all forms of video and all emulation up through and including N64, PSX. I haven't run Dolphin on it though. I'm not saying it's better, I'm just saying you can get what you need much cheaper.
 
HeavensCloud said:
Besides that, you don't need a dedicated video card for those requirements. I have an AMD a6-5400k APU with 8gb RAM that handles all forms of video and all emulation up through and including N64, PSX. I haven't run Dolphin on it though. I'm not saying it's better, I'm just saying you can get what you need much cheaper.
Click to expand...

I don't personally know about dolphin, but PS2 range can effectively be run on a 2008 laptop. Specifically AMD 3400 and FFX. So realistically with compatibility an APU or higher should be fine....for your upscaled legally bought games.
 
For newer versions of Dolphin you're going to need a strong processor, but older versions of Dolphin (like Dolphin 3.0) run nicely even on a Core2Duo. I played through all of Resident Evil: Remake on a Core2Duo E6400 (2.1ghz) and Radeon X800 GTO 128MB with Dolphin 3.0, it ran flawlessly and looked great. Although if you're going to want to run PCSX2 (PS2 emulator) also, then you're going to want to go with a Core2Quad or higher and enable the MTVU 3+ core option.

If you really want a budget HTPC that can also run emulators, just get any Core2Quad + any GPU that can hardware decode h264 (GeForce 8400GS+, Radeon HD 4xxx+) and you'll be set. Otherwise if you are wanting to build new I'd just get a quad core APU instead to save on power.
 
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Dolphin is very CPU heavy, you should really go quad core.
If you really want to check, post on the dolphin forums about the specific games you want to pay as some are more power hungry than others.
 
Core 2 quad? Wha? Dolphin and PCSX2 are basically only dual core. Better to have the equivalent of a really fast i3 than a middling i5.
 
FnordMan said:
Core 2 quad? Wha? Dolphin and PCSX2 are basically only dual core. Better to have the equivalent of a really fast i3 than a middling i5.
Click to expand...

PCSX2 has a feature now called MTVU which allows it to emulate games better on 3+ core systems. If he has an i3 / i5 laying around he's fine obviously though.

But if he has a Core2Quad laying around he can get by as well. Use Dolphin 3.0 and enable MTVU on PCSX2 and it'll be a good experience as well. Like I said before, Dolphin 3.0 runs good on even Core2Duo's. You won't be able to use a regular Core2Duo for PCSX2 (unless it's like a super OC'd E8400), but any Core2Quad + MTVU enabled works great. This is all based on experience.
 
I have a q9450 build, but I'm selling it, couldn't find an ITX board to put it in for a HTPC build.
 
I run dolphin on a used 2500k setup. Dolphin is cpu intensive iirc, my amd 4130 fx couldn't handle it.
 
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