Athlon II X4 upgrade for emulation

[rohizz]

Hey guys,

I currently have an Athlon II X4 3.0 GHz overclocked to about 3.3 GHz with 4gb of 1600 RAM and a 5770. The build is about 4 years old now. I can still play 1-2 year old games well at 1600x900. I'm happy with the performance for PC games. But my gamecube recently broke (RIP) and I wanted to start using Dolphin. I'm getting around 70-90% in all games. Which is playable, but not enjoyable when I'm used to the Gamecube. I also wanted to play some PS2 games I have as well on the PC. I think the Athlon II is lacking SSE3 and SSE4 which makes things difficult to emulate at these clock speeds.

All I want to do is upgrade the CPU/Mobo for the cheapest possible. Should I try to go Ivy Bridge i5, i3, Vishera 6350, or possibly the newest A10? Emulation speed increases are the only thing I am concerned about.

Appreciate your help in advance!

- Rohizz

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I would say that if cost is an issue, go with an i3 with any cheap mobo. Reading the Dolphin System Requirements, it won't take advantage of more than 2 cores, nor will it take advantage of SSE3 or higher:

System Requirements

Dolphin makes use of two processors if present!
Windows XP or higher, or Linux, or MacOSX Intel.
Fast CPU with SSE2.
GPU with Pixel Shader 2.0 or greater. Not all integrated graphics chips work. [read more

The following statement confuses me, though, since they only mention 2 cores above.

For good results it's recommended to use Intel i5 Sandy or Ivy Bridge CPUs or higher (i7)

And then there's this:

Can I use more than 3 CPU cores to make Dolphin faster?

Sorry, that's not possible.

The i3 is dual core plus HT (4 threads), and is very close to matching the i5 in games that don't utilize 4 full cores, so I would think it should be fine.

You will also need that 5770 or better, and not the onboard graphics of the i3, and just get the cheapest RAM you can find (4GB should be fine for Dolphin, but 8GB is generally recommended these days).

 

[rohizz]

Thanks for the reply!

Would a last gen i3 perform better than my current Athlon II build for everything else? Or will it be a downgrade except for emulation.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

It will be an upgrade for most tasks, but especially for gaming.

 

[Durvelle27]

do you have a budget

 

[rohizz]

My budget would probably be $200. And I have a Microcenter near me. but it's sold out of all of their i3's. According to the AT benchmarks, a 6350 Vishera looks comparable to the old i3, but the only pitfall is double the energy consumption. As I don't keep my desktop on all the time, this wouldn't make a huge deal right? Thanks!

 

[mfenn]

I agree that better single-threaded performance is what you want.

i3 3220 $130
ASRock H77M $70

MC would get you $40 off on the i3 3225 + mobo if you want to wait them to restock it.

 

[Durvelle27]

welp go for the FX 6300+ASRock 970 Extreme 3 for $164.99 then sell your HD 5770 and get a HD 7770 or GTX 650

 

[AnonymouseUser]

welp go for the FX 6300+ASRock 970 Extreme 3 for $164.99 then sell your HD 5770 and get a HD 7770 or GTX 650

The FX 6300 is the better overall processor, and had Dolphin not specified Sandy or Ivy CPUs I would definitely recommend it over the i3. Still, it lags by only a few percentage points overall in gaming as can be seen by the graph below, and it will be a better gaming chip far longer than the i3, so it's a great choice as well. It's also overclockable, so either of the Asrock or Asus boards would be my choice.

 

[rohizz]

Thanks you guys. I'm going to ask around and see if I can find an i3, and if not, I'll just grab a 6300 which should work well. Appreciate the help!

 

[Cerb]

What is your current motherboard? I would think an i3 would be slightly better, but if your motherboard is an AM3+, you might be able to do just a CPU upgrade to a speedy FX chip, like the 4300 or 4350 (emulation won't make use of the extra cores, but will make use of extra clock speed, and may make use of the big L3).

 

[lamedude]

PCSX2 can use 3 cores and even more if you use the software renderer so I would say 6350 if going the FX route.

 

[Torn Mind]

Overclocked i5 is the ideal, based on what I've seen, but it's most expensive choice.

If you get Vishera, I'm tempted to suggest the FX-4350 since it has a higher base clockspeed.

 

[rohizz]

I unfortunately have an AM3 board, so I'd have to get a new motherboard as well. After doing more research, and playing some more games on my Athlon II x4 3.3, I am seeing that any of these processors will probably push me into the enjoyable range at 720p (i3, 6350, 4350, along with my 5770). Probably I can just go with what is cheapest and most readily available?

When I add in general computing, I'm assuming the Vishera will be a better bet down the road? I don't tend to have lots of things open at any given time, or any major applications. Chrome browser with 7-8 tabs, lightweight music player, and steam/origin. An SSD is in my future and I may purchase one with this order, wherever it's from.

Also a tad OT, but if I incorporate selling my current motherboard/processor combo (Athlon II x4 640 3.0 and a M4A78-M LT), how much do you think I can get from that combination? That could just be the financial nudge I needed toward an i5.

Thanks again everybody, really putting things into perspective!

 

[sm625]

You definitely want an i5 for top performance. Your current X4 with its minimal cache probably scores under 30 on this benchmark. Any modern i5 is going to double your score. But it does scale extremely well with gigahertz.

It looks like you'll see a good 30% performance jump simply by upgrading to a phenom II, probably due to the larger cache. If your board can take a phenom II X4 965 you might want to consider that option. Especially if you dont want to spend more than it costs to buy a gamecube! (Though getting one of these phenoms might cost you about that much, unless you can sell the old X4 for a good price.)

more data: https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=DA2FE7FDA6EB085E!107&app=Excel&authkey=!ALQ0-tZv6Pc_h84

 

[rohizz]

Actually, that sounds like a great idea. Seems like that Phenom goes toe-to-toe with the newest i3 as well an AT Bench. And it's only about a hundred everywhere I look.

Seems like the most logical upgrade for what I want. What's the most popular HSF to get with this so I can eek out some more Hz, this also allows me to get a Samsung 840 120gb SSD for about the same amount as the i3 upgrade.

Edit: Scratch that, my mobo only takes up to 95w... going to have to go Vishera/core i

 

[Torn Mind]

I think it is best to get a "K" i5. It will save you from the "itch" to upgrade because your upgrade to a $120 chip wasn't substantial enough.

 

[rohizz]

So maybe overstepped a little, but got the i5-3570k, Asrock Z77 Pro3 1155 ATX Intel Motherboard, and a Hyper 212 EVO Universal CPU Cooler, for $286 after tax. This should last me until the end of desktops, I hope. Future upgrades may include an SSD, but this should handle my needs for right now.

I'm going tomorrow to pick it up from Microcenter, so let me know if I should change something or some tips for using that motherboard for OC.

Thanks everybody!

 

[AnonymouseUser]

So maybe overstepped a little, but got the i5-3570k, Asrock Z77 Pro3 1155 ATX Intel Motherboard, and a Hyper 212 EVO Universal CPU Cooler, for $286 after tax. This should last me until the end of desktops, I hope. Future upgrades may include an SSD, but this should handle my needs for right now.

I'm going tomorrow to pick it up from Microcenter, so let me know if I should change something or some tips for using that motherboard for OC.

Thanks everybody!

With Dolphin's obvious i5/i7 bias it is overkill (any i5 would be fine), but will keep you satisfied for quite some time. :thumbsup:

 

[Torn Mind]

All I know is that the Celeron G550 and its IGP can barely run Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance at 30 fps without seriously turning things off. Probably running it on Linux doesn't help, but it's one emulator that is still starved for CPU power.

 

[Cerb]

Well, you went slightly overkill, for you stated purposes, but that should get you by for several years, especially if you eventually overclock it a bit, so it should work out well, in the end. I can definitely say that the times I've decided to do that when upgrading have never been times I've regretted my choices .

 

[monstercameron]

im not one for pushing intel parts but just get the i3 and be done with it, dual core, higher st perf and relatively low price.

 

[rohizz]

I was seriously about to just jump on the above-stated i3 combo for $200, but I think with HSF, the i5 combo would work for the Playstation as well as Wii/GC (I get nostalgic for my older games) and should just last me longer in terms of general computing, and maybe future uses (attempting to get into light multimedia editing), especially since I eventually feel like this may be the last time I, personally, will update a desktop, due to life and whatever. I guess since I made this thread, I realized what I wanted more out of this desktop than just emulator performance. Plus I feel like I got an at least decent deal (I hope), and will spare myself frustration down the road.

Plus I've never OC'd before. So it should be fun to play with the Z77 board, K processor, and 212.

 

[frozentundra123456]

[QUOTincreE=rohizz;35163931]I was seriously about to just jump on the above-stated i3 combo for $200, but I think with HSF, the i5 combo would work for the Playstation as well as Wii/GC (I get nostalgic for my older games) and should just last me longer in terms of general computing, and maybe future uses (attempting to get into light multimedia editing), especially since I eventually feel like this may be the last time I, personally, will update a desktop, due to life and whatever. I guess since I made this thread, I realized what I wanted more out of this desktop than just emulator performance. Plus I feel like I got an at least decent deal (I hope), and will spare myself frustration down the road.

Plus I've never OC'd before. So it should be fun to play with the Z77 board, K processor, and 212.[/QUOTE]

I think you made a good choice. Computer stuff is so relatively cheap today, it is nice to just get a bit of extra performance. Especially now that CPU performance increases have levelled off, spread over the life of the system, the additional cost is minimal.

 

[Cerb]

I was seriously about to just jump on the above-stated i3 combo for $200, but I think with HSF, the i5 combo would work for the Playstation

I hope you mean Playstation 2 . Anything faster than an Atom can do Playstation emu at full speed. But don't fret: thanks to BSNES, you'll need an overclocked i5 to emu SNES, these days .