Read first: Will PCSX2 run fast on my computer?

[prog-amateur]

you need a new cpu too

Thank you for your very quick answer.
Too bad, the NUC was fanless, and I would like to add the Geforce GT 1030 fanless to play a few games.
PCSX2 seems to be really "CPU consuming".

[jesalvein]

Thank you for your very quick answer.
Too bad, the NUC was fanless, and I would like to add the Geforce GT 1030 fanless to play a few games.
PCSX2 seems to be really "CPU consuming".

like most emulators

[prog-amateur]

like most emulators

Well, that's not my opinion. It depends what you call emulator :

- 8bits : perfect & smooth
- 16 bits : perfect & smooth
- Arcade : perfect & smooth
- PCSX perfect & smooth
- N64 perfect & smooth

Only PCSX2 & some Dolphin games are not smooth with my computer.
I thought that 2 cores & 4 threads at 2.4 - 2.6 GHz were enough to play most of the emulators.
But I can understand that I shall think about a more up-to-date computer.

[Oemenia]

My desktop specs are

Intel Q9550 at 2.8 GHZ
6gb DDR2 RAM
AMD RX550

Obviously the CPU is an issue but how much?

[TkSilver]

My desktop specs are

Intel Q9550 at 2.8 GHZ
6gb DDR2 RAM
AMD RX550

Obviously the CPU is an issue but how much?

A lot
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html is a relatively good single threaded CPU comparison
Recommended scores 
1,600 - non demanding titles
2,000+ - demanding titles

Q9550 -1,199

So my guess is that most games (except maybe a few really low demanding titles) will probably have performance issues.  Your system is fairly well balanced for native computer games which lean more heavily on GPU performance over CPU and your GPU is right in the range to take the most advantage of your aging CPU while not being a waste of money by being too bottle-necked.  Unfortunately most emulators flip that idea on it's head and need far more CPU power over GPU might (depending on how much visual enhancements you also want).

Build advice
Unfortunately the 775 platform is really not going to give you many good upgrade options for your CPU (for PCSX2) so saving your motherboard (and most likely your DDR2 ram) is probably not going to happen. A used Core i5/i7 from Haswell and up at as close to 4GHz is a good starting point. Or the Kaby Lake line of Pentium (G4560) would also be a great new choice. The pentium or a nice used i5/i7 would probably pair nicely with your RX550 as well expanding the amount of newer pc titles that would run with improved settings.

[Oemenia]

Thanks for the reply, I actually haven't bought the GPU just yet but its going for £60 and I am strongly considering it. Good to hear though that I can still do some PC gaming with it.

[jesalvein]

Well, that's not my opinion. It depends what you call emulator :

- 8bits : perfect & smooth
- 16 bits : perfect & smooth
- Arcade : perfect & smooth
- PCSX perfect & smooth
- N64 perfect & smooth

Only PCSX2 & some Dolphin games are not smooth with my computer.
I thought that 2 cores & 4 threads at 2.4 - 2.6 GHz were enough to play most of the emulators.
But I can understand that I shall think about a more up-to-date computer.

2.4-2.6 ghz ?
are you sure ?
it says 1.3 Ghz here : https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu...40+1.30GHz&id=1944

about what you said. you really think emulators from 8 bits to N64 are as demanding as GC/WII/PS2 ?
I mean, compare original hardware cpu's speed to your PC's, and how your cpu is used during emulation. you'll understand what i mean when I say emulation is mostly cpu demanding, whatever original hardware you emulate.
it's about a 1000% ratio

[freno]

Originally posted by Refraction

If you have come here to ask this question, the answer is here, there is no point in making a thread about it. Look down the list for your hardware, you will get a fair idea of your system and how it will perform, if there are any additional hardware reply below with the additions, DO NOT reply if you are just going to ask "Will my system work? i have blah blah" because all you will get is a warning.

Will my game work?

If you have reasonable specs to those posted below but want to know if your game works, check out the Compatibility List before posting.

Processors:

Won't work or barely do anything:

Intel Pentium
Intel Pentium II
AMD Athlon (non-XP)
AMD Thunderbird
AMD Duron

Will work, but very slowly, possible problems:

Intel Pentium III
Intel Celeron (any P3 and above series)
AMD Athlon XP
AMD Sempron
AMD Turion
AMD APU C-**, E-***, Z-01, E2-3**, A4-3***

Will work without compatibility problems, but will run slowly:

AMD Athlon 64 Single Core
AMD Opteron Single Core
AMD Athlon FX Single Core
Intel Pentium IV (4)
Intel Pentium D - Probably works best in this group
Intel Pentium M (Dothan)

Will work at a reasonably playable speed (this does not mean full speed):

AMD Athlon FX Dual Core
AMD Opteron Dual Core
AMD Athlon X2 (and Turion laptop equivalent)
AMD Phenom
AMD Phenom II
AMD APU A6- 3***, A8-3***
Intel Core 2 Duo (and laptop Core Duo equivalent)
Intel Core 2 Quad
Intel Core i 5
Intel Core i 7

Laptop Processors:

We do not recommend the use of any laptop machines on the emulator unless otherwise mentioned above, if it supports SSE2 then it may work. if it does not have SSE2 then it is likely it will be extremely slow and have emulator compatibility problems.


Graphics Cards:

Won't work (or very unlikely to) - Maybe possible with GSDX Software Mode (V. Slow):
Geforce 3 or below
Geforce 4 MX series - confirmed to be working but very slowly
ATi Radeon 8xxx series and below
ATi Radeon 9100
Most onboard graphics cards (excluding the GeForce 61X0 series and 5200 Go)

Will work but require GSDX - Very poor performance:

Radeon 9200 - Reported to work with ZeroGS too!
Radeon 9250
Intel GMA950 - confirmed to work
Geforce 4

Will work on both graphics plugins, but possibly poor performance

Radeon 9500 to 9800 series
Radeon X300 to X8x0 series
Geforce 5200 (Go included) to 6500 series (also including
Geforce 61x0 onboard series)
Geforce 7100

Will work at a reasonable to very good level of speed with both plugins:

Geforce 6600 series and above (excluding above mentioned)
ATi Radeon X1300 series and above - need confirmation for X1300

Recommended Processors:

Intel Core 2 Duo / Core i3 @ 3.2Ghz or faster
Intel Core i5 / i7 @ 2.66Ghz or faster
AMD Phenom II / Athlon II (X2, X3 or X4) @ 3.4Ghz or faster

Recommended VGA cards:

Nvidia Geforce 9600GT / 8800GT or better
ATI Radeon 4750 or better

Other Hardware Recommendations:

512 mb or above of System Memory:
Windows XP With Service Pack 3
Windows 2000
Windows XP 64 With Service Pack 1

1 GB or above of System Memory:
Windows Vista 32/64
Windows 7 32/64


And that's it! Nothing else is very important when it comes to system requirements, i hope that just cuts down the number of "Will it work" threads!

Operating System =  Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (build 15063), 64-bit
Physical RAM     =  4016 MB
CPU name         =  Intel® Core™ i3-5005U CPU @ 2.00GHz
Vendor/Model     =  GenuineIntel (stepping 04)
CPU speed        =  1.994 ghz (4 logical threads)
x86PType         =  Standard OEM
x86Flags         =  bfebfbff 7ffafbbf
x86EFlags        =  2c100000

will it work on mine?

[jesalvein]

Operating System =  Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (build 15063), 64-bit
Physical RAM     =  4016 MB
CPU name         =  Intel® Core™ i3-5005U CPU @ 2.00GHz
Vendor/Model     =  GenuineIntel (stepping 04)
CPU speed        =  1.994 ghz (4 logical threads)
x86PType         =  Standard OEM
x86Flags         =  bfebfbff 7ffafbbf
x86EFlags        =  2c100000

will it work on mine?

Slowly for most games.

[freno]

Slowly for most games.

any recommended settings for my specs?