Gaming Tips for building an emulation/multimedia PC

[chyyran]

I picked out some parts

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqUIl0cbrEZZdEgxQzdDTDM1VmhKcEE5ckEyVFRYOHc#gid=0

What do you guys think?

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[Rydian]

Since you're wanting high-end emulation (PS2/GC/Wii) make sure you get like a higher-end i5.

As for the GPU, you don't actually need a higher-end gaming card for minecraft and emulation. Something mid-range like the Nvidia x50 or ATi/AMD x650 x670 (or even x550) would work, where x is the most recent or second most recent. However if you do want to go for higher-end gaming, you should aim for x60 or x750 and up.

 

[pokefloote]

8GB of RAM should be just fine.

 

[Satangel]

The RAM is fine I think, although I can imagine decoding things takes a lot of memory power.... What's your budget? Else you can just go for 16GB RAM, or pick really fast RAM, to really make sure you're on the safe side.
For emulation the CPU is by far the most important. The clockspeed is very important, not necessarily the amount of cores since most emulators don't really take advantage of multiple cores. So really be prepared to spend 300-400 USD for a top-notch CPU, the GPU isn't that important.

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

Since you're wanting high-end emulation (PS2/GC/Wii) make sure you get like a higher-end i5.

As for the GPU, you don't actually need a higher-end gaming card for minecraft and emulation. Something mid-range like the Nvidia x50 or ATi/AMD x650 x670 (or even x550) would work, where x is the most recent or second most recent. However if you do want to go for higher-end gaming, you should aim for x60 or x750 and up.

Hit the spot right there.

If you're thinking of playing recently released games apart from emulating as you say, a decent graphics card will be best, say an HD6970 or a GTX560Ti.

Otherwise stick to the mid range cards

 

[chyyran]

I picked out some parts

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqUIl0cbrEZZdEgxQzdDTDM1VmhKcEE5ckEyVFRYOHc#gid=0

What do you guys think?

 

[Rydian]

The video card's weak. It directly influences your gaming ability, so don't skimp there. You could cut the RAM down to 4GB to make up the difference and you won't notice anything when gaming anyways, as modern games stick to 2/3GB of RAM usage or less, but they'll run far better with a stronger video card.

 

[chyyran]

The video card's weak. It directly influences your gaming ability, so don't skimp there. You could cut the RAM down to 4GB to make up the difference and you won't notice anything when gaming anyways, as modern games stick to 2/3GB of RAM usage or less, but they'll run far better with a stronger video card.

How about this one?

 

[Rydian]

That's about three times as powerful as the last, it's the kind of mid-range card I was talking about earlier, yeah.

 

[Deleted_171835]

The video card's weak. It directly influences your gaming ability, so don't skimp there. You could cut the RAM down to 4GB to make up the difference and you won't notice anything when gaming anyways, as modern games stick to 2/3GB of RAM usage or less, but they'll run far better with a stronger video card.

How about this one?

For gaming, the 6670 is pretty good. I have it one of my computers and I can run most games at 1680x1050 with 2x MSAA and most games at high settings (@ 40-ish FPS). Although, if you're gaming at 1080p and want to max out your games at 60FPS, you ought to get a better card.

 

[chyyran]

The video card's weak. It directly influences your gaming ability, so don't skimp there. You could cut the RAM down to 4GB to make up the difference and you won't notice anything when gaming anyways, as modern games stick to 2/3GB of RAM usage or less, but they'll run far better with a stronger video card.

How about this one?

For gaming, the 6670 is pretty good. I have it one of my computers and I can run most games at 1680x1050 with 2x MSAA and most games at high settings (@ 40-ish FPS). Although, if you're gaming at 1080p and want to max out your games at 60FPS, you ought to get a better card.

I really don't need 1080p, since my TV can't output that high anyway, it'll just get downsized.

 

[Originality]

Keep in mind, when outputting to a TV the pixels work differently so it may look weird. I refuse to read anything on my friend's TV when he plugs his computer into it, because it makes my eyes bleed (figuratively).