Will Dolphin run on this laptop?

[CoupureElectrique]

Intel HD graphics
Intel Core i5-8250U
Processor Cores 4
Processor Speed 1.6 GHz
8GB Ram

Looking for a laptop that’s cheap (which is why I’m leaning towards one with integrated graphics) and can run GameCube games smoothly. The sale ends in a few days so your input is greatly aappreciated

 

[Davidchao23]

I'm no Dolphin expert, but I think 1.6 GHz is a bit low for running games, however I can't say much because I only have an Acer laptop and Dolphin runs like shit on here.

 

[RaptorDMG]

Based on this video:
You should be able to play games fine but your laptop will likely get quite hot during gameplay
The CPU has a turbo boost to 3.4GHz so it should be fine

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

Intel HD graphics
Intel Core i5-8250U
Processor Cores 4
Processor Speed 1.6 GHz
8GB Ram

Looking for a laptop that’s cheap (which is why I’m leaning towards one with integrated graphics) and can run GameCube games smoothly. The sale ends in a few days so your input is greatly aappreciated

most likely no

 

[KleinesSinchen]

(Hope it's not too late for a reply, because the test took some time)

Test-computer: Laptop with Intel Core i5-4200M CPU @ 2.50GHz / openSUSE Leap 15.0
Dolphin version from http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators/openSUSE_Leap_15.0/x86_64/
(dolphin-emu-5.0+git.1540367980.dc5a678fca-lp150.2.1.x86_64.rpm) 24-Oct-2018
All Dolphin-settings on default, Dolphin running with internal graphics. Although the Laptop has an Nvidia secondary GPU and optirun works for other applications, Dolphin did not work with it - so sadly no comparison what impact the better GPU would have had on the performance.

1.: GameCube
Super Mario Sunshine → full speed
Luigis Mansion → full speed
Mario Kart Double Dash → full speed

The GameCube games were playable with graphics setting on 2x native (1280x1056) (sometimes slight drops in the frame rate). All other settings still on default. The CPU was not fully busy for GameCube games at native resolution.

Wii:
Super Mario Galaxy → full speed for the most time
New Super Mario Bros Wii → full speed
Super Smash Bros Brawl → full speed

The Wii games were unplayable with graphics setting on 2x native (1280x1056) (except for New Super Mario Bros. This one is okay with 2x native.) Even at native resolution the CPU was at almost 100% for the most time but all three games were playable IMHO.

You should read the faq on the Dolphin-website. My laptop is five years old, but has a much higher clock speed than the computer you want to buy.
https://en.dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/
This page states processors with “U” at the end are not good for Dolphin. They also say that newer generations are more efficient per clock. And they have a hardware forum for this kind of question. Maybe you can ask there?

If you do not need emulator specific features such as save states, it is a lot cheaper to buy a Wii and hack it.

 

[RaptorDMG]

(Hope it's not too late for a reply, because the test took some time)

Test-computer: Laptop with Intel Core i5-4200M CPU @ 2.50GHz / openSUSE Leap 15.0
Dolphin version from http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators/openSUSE_Leap_15.0/x86_64/
(dolphin-emu-5.0+git.1540367980.dc5a678fca-lp150.2.1.x86_64.rpm) 24-Oct-2018
All Dolphin-settings on default, Dolphin running with internal graphics. Although the Laptop has an Nvidia secondary GPU and optirun works for other applications, Dolphin did not work with it - so sadly no comparison what impact the better GPU would have had on the performance.

1.: GameCube
Super Mario Sunshine → full speed
Luigis Mansion → full speed
Mario Kart Double Dash → full speed

The GameCube games were playable with graphics setting on 2x native (1280x1056) (sometimes slight drops in the frame rate). All other settings still on default. The CPU was not fully busy for GameCube games at native resolution.

Wii:
Super Mario Galaxy → full speed for the most time
New Super Mario Bros Wii → full speed
Super Smash Bros Brawl → full speed

The Wii games were unplayable with graphics setting on 2x native (1280x1056) (except for New Super Mario Bros. This one is okay with 2x native.) Even at native resolution the CPU was at almost 100% for the most time but all three games were playable IMHO.

You should read the faq on the Dolphin-website. My laptop is five years old, but has a much higher clock speed than the computer you want to buy.
https://en.dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/
This page states processors with “U” at the end are not good for Dolphin. They also say that newer generations are more efficient per clock. And they have a hardware forum for this kind of question. Maybe you can ask there?

If you do not need emulator specific features such as save states, it is a lot cheaper to buy a Wii and hack it.

He should have better performance since he has a quad core with 8 theads and turbo boost would match his cpu speed around the same as yours anyway

 

[SomeGamer]

I can play at stable 60fps with my i5-7200U so you should be fine.

 

[Sakitoshi]

It should, I got a i7 6500u and runs smoothly, my friend has a i5 5200u and can also run most games pretty well.
we both have a dedicated nvidia 940m and 8gb ram. more intensive games or that rely heavily on texture to ram effects (mario sunshine for example) can give trouble.
I recommend using ishiiruka 756, is the version I'm using and one of the fastest.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

He should have better performance since he has a quad core with 8 theads and turbo boost would match his cpu speed around the same as yours anyway

Agreed. Sounds plausible. It should work somehow.

Accordingly, the perfect CPU for Dolphin has high IPC, a high clock rate, and four cores or more. With four cores, Dolphin has two cores for the main emulation threads, a third core for other tasks, and another core for the operating system and background tasks to run without taking resources from the emulator.

Although I tried to lower the impact of the OS as much as possible, four cores are in advantage compared to my two cores.
But about the turbo boost: Isn’t that a function if most cores are almost idle, so there’s less heat, and one single core can skyrocket with the frequency? (Not quite sure anymore, correct me if I’m wrong.)

All the other CPUs here have higher base frequency:
i5-4200M:2.50GHz two cores, four threads, turbo 3.10GHz
i5-7200U: 2.50GHz two cores, four threads, turbo 3.10GHz
i5-5200U: 2.20GHz two cores, four threads, turbo 2.70GHz
i7-6500U: 2.50GHz two cores, four threads, turbo 3.10GHz
===
i5-8250U:1.60GHz four cores, eight threads 3.40Ghz

 

[Sakitoshi]

Agreed. Sounds plausible. It should work somehow.

Although I tried to lower the impact of the OS as much as possible, four cores are in advantage compared to my two cores.
But about the turbo boost: Isn’t that a function if most cores are almost idle, so there’s less heat, and one single core can skyrocket with the frequency? (Not quite sure anymore, correct me if I’m wrong.)

All the other CPUs here have higher base frequency:
i5-4200M:2.50GHz two cores, four threads, turbo 3.10GHz
i5-7200U: 2.50GHz two cores, four threads, turbo 3.10GHz
i5-5200U: 2.20GHz two cores, four threads, turbo 2.70GHz
i7-6500U: 2.50GHz two cores, four threads, turbo 3.10GHz
===
i5-8250U:1.60GHz four cores, eight threads 3.40Ghz

I would say that the bottleneck would be the graphics card.
I get a penalty hit if there are heavy effects (lots of alpha transparency in that screenshot) when using the integrated graphics (intel HD 520) even when I lower my settings a bit to 720p and only fxaa. otherwise it runs at 60 under the same conditions with the nvidia 940m.

 

[CoupureElectrique]

My Smash Ultimate GameCube controller arrived a few days ago and I decided to not take the risk/save money and just hack my old Wii for now

Thank you for the honest replies, I was hoping the answer would be an obvious “yes” from everyone. lol

 

[Sakitoshi]

My Smash Ultimate GameCube controller arrived a few days ago and I decided to not take the risk/save money and just hack my old Wii for now

Thank you for the honest replies, I was hoping the answer would be an obvious “yes” from everyone. lol

just wait a bit and buy one with a dedicated graphics card, that is all that laptop lacked to run dolphin at solid 60fps.
btw the latest intel graphics are pretty good, my hd 520 is quite impressive for integrated graphics and that i5 8250u comes with an hd 620 which is even better. but the safe bet is a dedicated card.