PC gaming specs for Dolphin emulator

[Steve-French]

I'm getting a new laptop and I want it to be at least good enough to run the dolphin Wii and GC emulator. How do these specs sound for that?

Intel i5 3320 2.60ghz
4gb ram (upgradable to 16 and I have and extra 12 GB laying around)
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Windows 10 64bit

I'm not looking to max out any new games or anything, but I don't want it to be a complete turd either. Any input would be appreciated, thanks guys.

 

[Blayt7hh]

I ran dolphin a long time ago on an AMD 640? and and ATI 5770. This is like 6 years or so ago now. The i5 is more than fine for it, but I would suggest getting a dedicated gpu to be safe.

 

[Satsui Ryu]

Yeah the GPU will be your bottleneck. I ran it on a laptop I bought in 2010 that had a dedicated graphics card. I only played REmake, but I was able to have it run consistently at 30 fps. 60 fps games were a different story.

 

[Steve-French]

Yeah the GPU will be your bottleneck. I ran it on a laptop I bought in 2010 that had a dedicated graphics card. I only played REmake, but I was able to have it run consistently at 30 fps. 60 fps games were a different story.

From what I was able to gather the i5 and i7 processors are best suited for Dolphin. Which is weird, because I always thought AMD was better for gaming. I also found that while a dedicated GPU, will always be better Intel's HD 4000 will be able to play most games at full speed but for games like Super Mario Galaxy I'll have to kick back the resolution.

Its hard to tell from YouTube, but I found a video of someone playing Super Mario Galaxy on an Intel HD 4000 GPU and it seems to preform just fine.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Which is weird, because I always thought AMD was better for gaming. I also found that while a dedicated GPU

?? No, definitely not. Is this a laptop or a desktop computer? If it's a desktop, you could always toss in cheap gpu and be way better off for it. I just don't trust integrated chips with anything newer than ps1 games

 

[Kalmah]

Dolphin recommended specs:

• 3 GHz+ dual core CPU
• DX11 GPU
• 2 GB+ RAM

You could also ask on their forums, they have a section just for that.

 

[Steve-French]

?? No, definitely not. Is this a laptop or a desktop computer? If it's a desktop, you could always toss in cheap gpu and be way better off for it. I just don't trust integrated chips with anything newer than ps1 games

It's a laptop. I'm way out of the loop when it comes to the gaming aspect of PCs. The last decent rig I had was around 2005/2006 when I was in the Army, but I've mostly been a console gamer since I was a kid.

I just ordered the laptop with the specs that are in the op, because my old one shit the bed and I needed something for day to day use. It was only $230 from New Egg. I can't justify spending any more than $300 on a laptop for what I use it for.

If was going to spend upwards of $400 I'd rather just put it towards a tower that I could snap together myself for a Gaming/Home Theater PC. Which I plan on doing in the future, but I just needed a laptop for now.

 

[Gref]

Should be ok but Dolphin is CPU intensive and that processor is more or less on par with the desktop i3 3220 where dolphin recommends a desktop i5 or mobile i7.

 

[Steve-French]

Yeah the GPU will be your bottleneck. I ran it on a laptop I bought in 2010 that had a dedicated graphics card. I only played REmake, but I was able to have it run consistently at 30 fps. 60 fps games were a different story.

I got my laptop in the mail yesterday and this is kind of the case. GameCube games run perfect 60fps. The only Wii game I've tried is Wii Punch Out!!! While it's definitely playable the frame rate drops to about 48 fps when ever I get knocked down or when I knock my opponent down and am in between rounds. Other than that when I'm in the middle of the fight and during the fighter intros it sticks to a solid 59-60fps. Punch Out is one of the heavier games though, so I'm not too disappointed.