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Best Computer to get...

Discussion in 'Technical Help' started by thasere, Sep 18, 2012.

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  1. thasere

    thasere Member

    Hello, i would first like to thank the site for all of its hard work and dedication to sharing its excellent quality roms with me and to anyone willing to give a quick thorough answer to my question.

    Im shopping exclusively on amazon and would like to know the best computer for ps2 and dolphin emulation. Im looking to play games like tales of symphonia, FFX, and other games in the same tier...

    So, heres the computers im currently looking at:

    Acer Aspire V3-571G-6602 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black)
    15.6" HD Widescreen CineCrystalâ„¢ LED-backlit Display: (1366 x 768) resolution; 16:9 aspect ratio
    2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M Processor(3MB L3 cache, up to 3.1GHz) with Turbo Boost Technology
    Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
    Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
    NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630Mwith 2GB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM
    4GB DDR3 Memory
    500GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
    8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive
    Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
    802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIEDâ„¢
    10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port)
    Bluetooth® 4.0+HS
    1.3MP HD Webcam(1280 x 1024)
    Optimized Dolby® Home Theater® v4 audio enhancement
    Two Built-in stereo speakers
    2- USB 2.0 Ports
    1- USB 3.0 Port
    1- HDMIâ„¢ Portwith HDCP Support
    6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (4400mAh)
    Up to 4.5-hours battery life
    5.74 lbs. | 2.6kg <\strong>system unit only

    Acer Aspire V3-771G-6601 17.3-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black)
    17.3" HD+ Widescreen CineCrystalâ„¢ LED-backlit Display (1600 x 900) resolution; 16:9 aspect ratio
    2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M Processor(3MB L3 cache, up to 3.1GHz) with Turbo Boost Technology
    Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
    Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
    NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630Mwith 2GB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM
    6GB DDR3 Memory
    500GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drivewith Dual Hard Drive Support
    8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive
    Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
    802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIEDâ„¢
    10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port)
    Bluetooth® 4.0+HS
    1.3MP HD Webcam(1280 x 1024)
    Optimized Dolby® Home Theater® v4 audio enhancement
    Two Built-in stereo speakers
    2- USB 2.0 Ports
    2- USB 3.0 Port
    1- HDMIâ„¢ Portwith HDCP Support
    6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (4400mAh)
    Up to 4-hours battery life
    7.05 lbs. | 3.2kg <\strong>system unit only

    Theyre both acers and both nearly the same thing, i know. But my main concern is my budget, which is in the $600 range and no more than $750. Im truly a sad sight to behold in this area of knowledge and i can appreciate any help that i can get for the best results money-wise and performance.
     
    thasere, Sep 18, 2012
    #1
  2. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    does it have to be a laptop? they are extremely poor when it comes to gaming and complex emulation.

    Those two are so similar it really wouldn't make any difference.
     
    Loonylion, Sep 19, 2012
    #2
  3. thasere

    thasere Member

    I suppose that it doesnt, but im limited to amazon, so if you have any solid recommendations that would be excellent! If i do get a desktop, id be using my 42" smart tv so id be set to go in that situation. Itd just be nice to be able to have portability as a bonus, but i can settle with a desktop, as i already have a decent laptop. Im just looking for good enough specs to run these games with little to no problems at all.
     
    thasere, Sep 19, 2012
    #3
  4. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    Your best bet would be a self-built desktop
     
    Loonylion, Sep 19, 2012
    #4
  5. thasere

    thasere Member

    Okay, how will this desktop setup work:

    3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3770 processor 3.4GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology up to 3.9GHz
    Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
    Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
    2TB SATA Hard Drive
    12GB DDR3 Memory
    AMD Radeonâ„¢ HD 7770 GHz Edition Graphics Card with 2GB of Discrete Video Memory
    Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
    10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
    802.11b/g/n WiFi CERTIFIEDâ„¢
    16X DVD±R/RW SuperMulti Drive
    High-Definition Audio support with 5.1 Channel output
    10- USB 2.0 Ports (4 front, 6 rear)
    2- PS/2 Ports (keyboard and mouse)


    A friend said id be able to play wii games on something like this
     
    thasere, Sep 19, 2012
    #5
  6. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    the HD7770 isn't actually a very good card, you'd be better off with either a 6850 or a 7870.
     
    Loonylion, Sep 19, 2012
    #6
  7. serhat359

    serhat359 Well-Known Member

    you are better off with a i5-2500k and a mobo that lets you overclock your cpu
    you won't need 2TB of space
    4gb memory is enough for almost everything
    7770 is not a good card for its money, I'd recommend a radeon 6850 or 7850 (which I dont know if you'll need that much graphical power)
    a psu that can supply 35A on the 12v channel would suffice
     
    serhat359, Sep 19, 2012
    #7
  8. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    i7 is better than i5, hands down. the 3770k can be overclocked too anyway.

    How do you know he won't need 2TB? I have far more than that used.

    more ram is better. I'd go with at least 8GB (or 16GB. Only 12GB if its triple channel).

    depends on the PSU,
     
    Loonylion, Sep 19, 2012
    #8
  9. serhat359

    serhat359 Well-Known Member

    i7 is better than i5 because of hyper-threading, but we don't know if those emulators can use additional cores.
    i7-3770k is ivy bridge, it slows down when not cooled properly. I recommended i5-2500k because those emulators need a lot of cpu power.
    i guessed because he said he is looking for a pc to play games not storage, yes I also have a 2TB hdd and yes it is almost full.
    I have 6gb of ram and I never saw it go beyond 3gb except when I play crysis 2.
    I meant a quality PSU.
     
    serhat359, Sep 19, 2012
    #9
  10. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    better than not slowing down and taking damage. Also the fact that emulators require a lot of cpu power is a reason to get the i7 over the i5.
     
    Loonylion, Sep 19, 2012
    #10
  11. serhat359

    serhat359 Well-Known Member

    i5 I recommended can get to higher clocks than that i7
     
    serhat359, Sep 19, 2012
    #11
  12. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    this isn't an overclocking competition... he wants a powerful, stable machine.
     
    Loonylion, Sep 19, 2012
    #12
  13. serhat359

    serhat359 Well-Known Member

    I considered he would overclock because of cpu requirement, but if he isn't going to overclock than an ivy bridge is better choice.
    but if those emulators cannot use more than 4 cores, than an ivy bridge i5 (for example i5-3570) would be better
     
    serhat359, Sep 19, 2012
    #13
  14. thasere

    thasere Member

    Okay, so how would this setup do for almost half price of the previous post?

    Processor: Intel Core i5-2320 Quad-Core Processor, 4x 3.0 GHz; Socket 1155, 6MB L3 Cache
    Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT520 1GB
    Main Memory: 4GB (2GB x2) DDR3-1333 Memory
    Hard Drive: 1TB 7200rpm Hard Drive
    Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer DVD+/-RW Drive
    Software: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit)
    Power Supply: 700Watt Standard Power Supply
    Card Reader: 12-in-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer
    Front Port: 2x USB, 1x Audio, 1x Microphone, 1x eSATA
    Expansion: 4x External 5.25" Drive Bays (2 Available), 5x Internal 3.5" Drive Bays (4 Available)

    Also, the previous one had a pretty good built-in fan system
     
    thasere, Sep 19, 2012
    #14
  15. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    3.0ghz is a bit slow for emulation, it really needs all the speed it can get (the 3770k is 3.6ghz)

    the power supply concerns me a bit, 'standard' could mean anything, and it really needs to be one of a short list of brands in order to be trustworthy. Known good brands are:

    seasonic
    antec
    coolermaster
    ocz
    silverstone
    corsair
    thermaltake
    xfx

    If it's not one of these brands, don't touch it, regardless of how high the wattage is.
     
    Loonylion, Sep 19, 2012
    #15
  16. thasere

    thasere Member

    Okay, so out of the following whats my best bet? Im guessing the previous one is my best bet.
     
    thasere, Sep 19, 2012
    #16
  17. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    yes I'd suggest the previous one.
     
    Loonylion, Sep 19, 2012
    #17
  18. thasere

    thasere Member

    Im sorry to bother, but i have one more left, promise xP

    AMD Phenom II x4 Processor 3.4GHz
    12GB DDR3 RAM
    1TB Hard Drive
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

    This falls perfectly in my budget, how does this look?
     
    thasere, Sep 20, 2012
    #18
  19. Loonylion

    Loonylion Administrator Staff Member

    8 or 16GB ram, not 12GB. 12GB breaks the matched pairs rule so it will run slower. (single channel vs dual channel)

    The phenom II is a very nice processor on a budget
     
    Loonylion, Sep 20, 2012
    #19
  20. thasere

    thasere Member

    Should that one work for me then? Budget-wise is important to me and i just want to be able to play ps2 or gc games with fps on par with their original systems.
     
    thasere, Sep 20, 2012
    #20
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