Hardware Emulator PC Parts?

[Stardust3033]

I'm going to build my own PC pretty soon and I need some help with the parts.

The kind of PC I'm going for is an emulator PC. A PC that can easily emulate NES, SNES, Genesis, Genesis 32X, every type of Gameboy, N64, DS, Gamecube, Wii (maybe Dreamcast, 3DS, and Wii U) games without any slow down, lag, freezing, buffering, and viruses.

But I don't know what parts are the best for building an emulator PC. If you can give me a list of good parts or a video please reply. I'm looking for a $2000-5000 budget. If you have additional questions, just ask. Thank you.

Please include: whether a single, double, triple, or more monitor set up is best, kind of monitor, keyboard, mouse, headphones, and a desk & chair set.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Budget seems a bit overkill, I doubt you'll have to spend more than $3k including everything.

As for specs, emulation requires mostly CPU power, and things like Dolphin work better with Intel CPUs. Therefore, your best bet is most likely a 6xxx series, an i5 for cost saving or an i7 if you feel like wasting money. Do you want something that will just emulate, or something that will also be used for PC games? Because you can easily get by emulation wise with some $800 prebuilt junky thing no problem sans maybe 3DS/Wii U, but those emulators are still years off from being plausibly playable.

Here's something I just tossed together quickly in a couple minutes, this will emulate (currently) everything ever, plus you'd be set for PC gaming for the next few years. I basically just went with the (IMO) best hardware in general: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Csp3K8

For monitors, it's entirely personal preference. Single monitor setups work just fine for everything. I prefer dual monitors myself. I'd suggest keeping it below 4k, maybe some 1440p monitors or something since emulating anything to 4k is entirely pointless and would be a waste of processing power. You shouldn't need to really bother with 144hz for emulating, but it's a nice luxury for regular PC gaming.

Keyboard/mouse is also personal preference for the most part, especially if you're just going for emulation only. For a keyboard you should look into mechanical keyboards, Red Cherry switches are generally considered "best" for gaming by enthusiasts, so something like the Corsair K70 would be more than enough. Mice are, for the most part, purely personal preference. Assuming all you're doing is emulating, you won't need any fancy mouse, just go for something that looks comfortable for you.

Headsets, Logitech makes some really nice ones. I used to use Logitech G930's, which work wonderful and has a great sounding mic.

Desks are entirely up to you, you can use a piece of cardboard or some stupid expensive fancy desk. Really makes 0 difference. Same with chairs, really, just buy something comfortable and that won't fall apart.

 

[Stardust3033]

Thanks dude, I'll look into the list.

 

[izy]

Though you wont get Wii U emulation working good for long time yet if you are going for a really powerful system like linked a 4K monitor is your best option, most A list Wii games and Some Gamecube games have texture mods for HD.

Btw you can also emulate PS2 fullspeed with the build linked

 

[Stardust3033]

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Forgot about that last post.

Here's something I just tossed together quickly in a couple minutes, this will emulate (currently) everything ever, plus you'd be set for PC gaming for the next few years. I basically just went with the (IMO) best hardware in general: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Csp3K8

Can you please make a new list with everything, including monitors, a headset, mouse, keyboard, speakers, fan controller. I'll REALLY appreciate it. I'll rather go with your choices then mine.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Updated list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VtBrzy

I went with dual 1080p 144hz monitors, and the same mouse I use (which is nice enough). No idea on a decent fan controller, though, I don't ever bother with them and you shouldn't need to either if you're going with a liquid cooler (like I chose).

 

[Stardust3033]

Updated list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VtBrzy

I went with dual 1080p 144hz monitors, and the same mouse I use (which is nice enough). No idea on a decent fan controller, though, I don't ever bother with them and you shouldn't need to either if you're going with a liquid cooler (like I chose).

Thank you so much!

Question, I need a lot space for download the emulators and games especially. Does this setup have a lot of storage, or should I get some RAMs?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Thank you so much!

Question, I need a lot space for download the emulators and games especially. Does this setup have a lot of storage, or should I get some RAMs?

RAM is not storage
There's a 2TB drive in the build he linked which might be a bit small if you're going to install a lot of games (and a lot of large ISOs for emulators), you might want to change that to a 4 or 5 TB instead which should do you well for many years to come.

 

[Stardust3033]

RAM is not storage
There's a 2TB drive in the build he linked which might be a bit small if you're going to install a lot of games (and a lot of large ISOs for emulators), you might want to change that to a 4 or 5 TB instead which should do you well for many years to come.

Oops, my bad. Still have a lot to learn about computers.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Actually, for a situation like this I'd get a Xeon E3-1230. It's a Haswell chip that has the power of an i7 at the price of an i5

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Yes, as mentioned I included a 2TB HDD just for storage, but if you need more than you can always go for 5TB.

 

[Stardust3033]

Updated list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VtBrzy

I went with dual 1080p 144hz monitors, and the same mouse I use (which is nice enough). No idea on a decent fan controller, though, I don't ever bother with them and you shouldn't need to either if you're going with a liquid cooler (like I chose).

2 Questions:

1. Does the stuff in your list provide me with a screwdriver, screws, and cables to connect the things, or do I have to provide my self?

And 2. I found this great guide on YouTube. (watch 0:41-1:07)
Does the list you gave have all the parts he has? If not...do you know a better guide? I can use?

(and yes, that was more than 2 questions)

 

[endoverend]

Unrelated question: does skylake require ddr4 to be used?

 

[hundshamer]

@Tom Bombadildo, would you really recommend the liquid cooling with this processor? I run comfortably at around 25c with a coolermaster evo 212. I pretty much just built that very machine save for a few minor difference. The only major difference was the air cooling, I have a 970, and I have 32GB RAM. I was told that the 6700K does well with air cool. I will also mention my case has 3 120mm fans.

 

[izy]

Actually, for a situation like this I'd get a Xeon E3-1230. It's a Haswell chip that has the power of an i7 at the price of an i5

except its a 2011 CPU
has older instruction sets (doplhin is optimzed for these)
lower clock speed
slower ram support
Larger die size and power draw
Supports only PCI Express 2 and also has lower bandwidth
Poor overclocking

I7 6700 can go to 4.8ghz on air stable aswell

@Tom Bombadildo, would you really recommend the liquid cooling with this processor? I run comfortably at around 25c with a coolermaster evo 212. I pretty much just built that very machine save for a few minor difference. The only major difference was the air cooling, I have a 970, and I have 32GB RAM. I was told that the 6700K does well with air cool. I will also mention my case has 3 120mm fans.

Well that reasonably cool but its also because the Die size is 12nm which is pretty small
though if hes constantly emulating and putting his cpu under load the liquid cooler will help
at least its a nicer option to water cooling these years

 

[Master X]

Unrelated question: does skylake require ddr4 to be used?

Yes and no.

It doesn't have DDR3 support, but it does support DDR3L. You won't be able to use DDR3 ram with skylake, it has to be the L variant.

 

[Plstic]

Unrelated question: does skylake require ddr4 to be used?

My motherboard only supports DDR4 but there may be other boards that do. Don't quote me on that though lol.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

except its a 2011 CPU

Nope, the E3 series is LGA-1150, you're thinking of the E5

has older instruction sets (doplhin is optimzed for these)

It's as old as the 4690K I'm currently using to emulate every Nintendo system under the sun (read: not very)

lower clock speed

But hyperthreading

slower ram support

I'll take that one

Larger die size and power draw

Meh/not more than common AMD chips

Supports only PCI Express 2 and also has lower bandwidth

Ok I'll eat that one

Poor overclocking

And that one

I7 6700 can go to 4.8ghz on air stable aswell

Yes but it's also as overpriced as these

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Unrelated question: does skylake require ddr4 to be used?

No, it can use DDR3 or DDR4, but not both at the same time, so it's dependent on the motherboard manufacturer

 

[izy]

Nope, the E3 series is LGA-1150, you're thinking of the E5

Meh/not more than common AMD chips

Also comparing an intel chip to an amd chip we already know the performance issues with the FX line since it launched.

The main culprits being the Heat and the CPU performance because the its Core work.
Their 8 core cpus are not really 8 cores they are 4 cores with 2integr cores inside each one. they dont perform aswell as I7s hyperthreading

also the die size affects an important factor being heat well that and efficiency are related *not going into it*

32NM came out in 2010 on intel Cpus, 2011 for AMD
22 NM came out in 2012 for Intel Cpus
14NM came out in late 2014 for intel CPU
Also AMDs now thermal throttle at lower temperatures because of how hot they can get lookup the AMD FX 9590 i mean people have reported it hitting over 30-40c on idle with watercooling and it throttles at a low temperature.
The i700k happily overclocks and runs really cool on air, die size is important i jumped from a 65nm cpu to a 45nm cpu before (years ago lol) temperatures had noticeable drops


Also this guy wants to spend $2000+ on his system so cost isnt a problem

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Also comparing an intel chip to an amd chip we already know the performance issues with the FX line since it launched.

The main culprits being the Heat and the CPU performance because the its Core work.
Their 8 core cpus are not really 8 cores they are 4 cores with 2integr cores inside each one. they dont perform aswell as I7s hyperthreading

also the die size affects an important factor being heat well that and efficiency are related *not going into it*

32NM came out in 2010 on intel Cpus, 2011 for AMD
22 NM came out in 2012 for Intel Cpus
14NM came out in late 2014 for intel CPU
Also AMDs now thermal throttle at lower temperatures because of how hot they can get lookup the AMD FX 9590 i mean people have reported it hitting over 30-40c on idle with watercooling and it throttles at a low temperature.
The i700k happily overclocks and runs really cool on air, die size is important i jumped from a 65nm cpu to a 45nm cpu before (years ago lol) temperatures had noticeable drops


Also this guy wants to spend $2000+ on his system so cost isnt a problem

Fair enough. I do like to save money where I can out of habit, but if this guy is fine with going balls-to-the-walls I won't stop him

(Also sorry about the 2011 confusion, I thought you meant socket, not year produced)