How much would it cost to build a PC to run PCSX2?
#1
If I wanted to run pretty much everything full speed, how much would putting a computer like that together cost? Not including the monitor, speakers, etc of course, just the computer itself. I'm thinking of buying a new computer and running this emulator would be a primary factor in my decision. I don't know much about overclocking would be willing to put in the effort and research to figure that out. I'd probably go after a quad core over a dual core, to have other stuff running in the background.

In any case, think I could put something together like that for under $1500, or would it likely be more?
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#2
It won't cost anywhere near $1,500.

I built my system for about $900 over a year ago, and it runs everything at perfect FPS. I actually have to limit the FPS, or it'll shoot up to 400%.
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#3
Agreed, my machine ran me $650 USD a year ago (included all but video card and ram, already had ram and was holding out on a new video card until more power efficient options like the HD 5770 came out).

Go to newegg.com and start adding junk to your shopping cart. Granted if you get top-of-the-line i7 equipment, you can get up around $1500 in a hurry, but there's no point to that if you plan to be overclocking (most lower/mid end i7's overclock to nearly the same speeds as the higher end ones). Also, PCSX2 mostly is CPU-bound, so there's no point in shoveling more then $160 into the video card, except to have some silly fun with 3072x3072 internal resolutions -- tho of course PC games are the other way around typically and work better on cheap CPUs and $600 video cards.
Jake Stine (Air) - Programmer - PCSX2 Dev Team
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#4
Alrighty! Thanks guys. I'm thinking there's some stuff I can cannibalize from my current system to bring the price down a bit as well, so that should be all good. One last question - at this point is i7 the way to go, or are Core 2 Duo/Quads still viable? I'm guessing the the latter's probably cheaper, so I'm curious how much performance difference there would be.
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#5
(01-02-2010, 03:32 PM)IglooBob Wrote: Alrighty! Thanks guys. I'm thinking there's some stuff I can cannibalize from my current system to bring the price down a bit as well, so that should be all good. One last question - at this point is i7 the way to go, or are Core 2 Duo/Quads still viable? I'm guessing the the latter's probably cheaper, so I'm curious how much performance difference there would be.

Nope, it is not necessary at all to go for i7, and you should disrigard the 775 socket if you are buying a computer at this time.
Surely go for the much more affordable, almost as powerfull and more energy effiicient core i5 750.
This way you spend much less on a very good overclocking board with 1156 socket, and you only need 2 sticks of ddr3 ram, not 3 sticks.
The only observable loss to this sistem would be if you plan on having two video cards in sli/crossfire, but the much lower cost of the i5 sistem is more than worth that loss.

Here is a vey good article that may convince you. It compares multiple processors on the same frequency to see how they perform.
Look at the 3,6 ghz overclock tests for every processor and you will see what I am talking about, and even at it's stock speed of 2,66 ghz the core i5 750 is still a very good performer (btw all core i5 reach around 4 ghz on air so 3.6 ghz is surely achievable by anyone who knows some overclocking basics).

The link: http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=857$amp;p=12

I hope I was helpfull. With a core i5 750 system, there is no way you will reach the 1500$ limit, unless you get the absolute high end video cards, which are not required for pcsx2, which relies mostly on cpu.
i5 2500K @ 4.8 Ghz - 1.31 V
Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3
4 GB Mushkin Radioactive 1600 mhz @ 1866 (8-10-8-27 1T)
ASUS DCU2 HD 6870 (1050/1196) @ 1.3V
Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 32bit
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#6
My system costs like $250 and i can run many games at Full Speed..(Speed Hacks Laugh, but they are running).
And I'm going to upgrade my system soon for like $300 and I think its working perfect then.
So theres no need to spend $1500 o.O
Many games running full speed. o.O
Win XP SP3
Intel C2D E5200 @ 3,125 Ghz
2 GB RAM @ 800 Mhz
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4670

Weeeiiiird Laugh




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#7
to spend $1500 to play this emu is not worthed..
except ur upgrading for heavy gaming for pc
[Image: 871087.png]

*Mio sees a ghost for the first time*
Mio: Aaaaaaah!! x_x
Seriously, the way she acts, you'd think she grew up with ghosts.
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#8
Cool, thanks all, again. I'm a bit surprised that something I considered pretty high end somewhere between my imagination and lack of information would run so cheap, but that works for me!
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#9
augh another question

So I was re-reading cyber's post and just wanted to clarify:

When you you say "all core i5 reach around 4 ghz on air so 3.6 ghz is surely achievable by anyone who knows some overclocking basics", that means that I can buy a decent Core 2 Quad, for example, and overclock it to 4 ghz, with only a good air cooler keeping it going? Some kind of high-end fan, something like that? Just want to make sure I understand correctly, since as I said I don't know much about overclocking yet and the risk of burning stuff out seems a little scary if I don't know what I'm doing.
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#10
(01-02-2010, 09:07 PM)IglooBob Wrote: augh another question

So I was re-reading cyber's post and just wanted to clarify:

When you you say "all core i5 reach around 4 ghz on air so 3.6 ghz is surely achievable by anyone who knows some overclocking basics", that means that I can buy a decent Core 2 Quad, for example, and overclock it to 4 ghz, with only a good air cooler keeping it going? Some kind of high-end fan, something like that? Just want to make sure I understand correctly, since as I said I don't know much about overclocking yet and the risk of burning stuff out seems a little scary if I don't know what I'm doing.

eeerrr, not quite. Core i5/i7 reach 4 ghz with VERY GOOD air cooling,because the temperatures could become very toasty at that frequency.
The 775 socket core 2 Quads will have a pretty hard time reaching that kind of speed, maybe with a lot of voltage and heat and water cooling.
So yes, you need a very good air cooler for the core i5 in order to keep it running under acceptable temperatures.
Anyway, most good motherboards for the 1156 (like the gigabyte ud4 to the highest ud6 for example) have many automated mechanisms for helping users reach a stable overclock with ease.
The MSI GD-80 and maybe lesser models, have an OC GENIE button, and you press that and your motherboard auto-overclocks the i5 processor to a stable speed with no help from the user, so it can be pretty straight forward, but again a good air cooler is a big requirement.

Try these links for more information about the i5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llqhe3N1c...onse_watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI-Gx-H6Cts
i5 2500K @ 4.8 Ghz - 1.31 V
Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3
4 GB Mushkin Radioactive 1600 mhz @ 1866 (8-10-8-27 1T)
ASUS DCU2 HD 6870 (1050/1196) @ 1.3V
Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 32bit
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