I've been unhappy with the PC i had to settle for last year (specs in sig), and i finally can cut loose (to an extent) and go for a rather solid PC. I intend to build my own this time and i'll post the components i intend to get-
CPU- Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz (WILL overclock this as high as possible)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115215
Motherboard- MSI P55-GD65 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813130239
Memory- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231253
GPU- XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814150447
PSU- CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817139005
Heatsink/CPU Cooler- COOLER MASTER V6
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6835103089
Misc parts include (not related to performance-
Case- Rosewill CHALLENGER Black ATX mid tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811147153
Optical Drive- OEM Lite-On DVD burner combo drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6827106289
Hard Drive- SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6822152185
My goal was to spend below $1000 and i've managed this so far. I invested in a better CPU cooler because i intend to overclock the CPU as high as possible while being stable. I've heard some people can get up to 4ghz on air, hopefully i can make it that far as well. Advice welcome in CPU coolers, but i'm about at my limit on what i want to spend. Unless you can recommend a better on for cheaper or the same price, i'll stick with this one. I'm probably only considering air cooling.
Decided to go with an i5 instead of an i7 due to price. Performance is apparently not TOO different between the two. It should be sufficient at a good overclocked rate, maybe even good at stock speed. I intend to play some stressful games at high resolutions like SOTC. As for going for quad, i realize PCSX2 uses only two cores. I'm intending to do some things that WILL require the extra cores. The i5/i7 series is apparently a very good performer in comparison to the core 2 duo series too (although i know the i series has dual cores). I had considered a six core AMD Thuban, but have almost certainly ruled it out. They're still a lot slower clock for clock than Intels and the extra cores don't even seem to give it an edge. Plus, PCSX2 supports extra SSE instruction sets which may help me. But know that i am choosing a quad for a good reason, i have other uses for it besides gaming.
Also hoping my GPU will be sufficient. My current 4350 is apparently barely better than integrated. I can't play any games above native res. I'm hoping the 5770 will be enough to play at 720p or higher. 720 is my goal though. Will it work? I don't mind overclocking it either if necessary. I considered the 4890 as well, but it's considerably more expensive. Again, advice welcome, though i'm about at my limit of price...
My PC build is a bit over $900 (i added some Arctic Silver thermal grease and a DVI to VGA adapter for my old monitor too). I do not wish to go any higher unless my build is unacceptable to run most games in PCSX2 fullspeed. I'll only consider spending about $30 more, and only if absolutely necessary. I'd prefer to spend only what i have compiled.
Thoughts and advice welcome. My goal with PCSX2 (already did research on normal PC games and other emulators) is to play games at HD resolutions of 720p or higher. And to get the majority of the working games running fullspeed most of the time. Can i do it with the parts i've chosen? Thanks in advance!