CPU/APU for GameCube emulation?

[Uji Ninja]

Hi,

 

I will need to buy/build a new PC for retro gaming with my daughter and, to be honest, I really have no idea what to do.

Could you guys give me some tips? I'm mostly in need of help determining what kind of CPU/APU would suit our needs.

 

While the sky is the limit when it comes to raw power (sadly, not when it comes budget, I could go up to about ¥80,000), and I wouldn't mind giving a try to PS3 emulation, I'd be more than happy with a system allowing us to play our GameCube games at full speed and no hiccups (Doubutsu no mori, Mario Kart, Smash Bros etc.)

 

For what I've seen, it seems that most computers, even entry level Celeron-based, can do PS1, sometimes Saturn, maybe even Dreamcast. But GameCube seems to be an entirely different story...

 

On the other end of the spectrum, is there any SBC or Android box that could do GameCube? (no Nvidia Shield, thanks, it's not available in Japan)

 

A precision : I'm not interested in laptops. I'd prefer a SFF desktop, something like NUC, or Asrock X300 / Inwin Chopin if I build the PC myself.

 

Thanks for your help! Christmas is getting nearer and, with global shortage, I may have to act asap before it's too late.

Philip

[AndreiArgeanu]

There's various options you can choose from. I can't pick one for you since I don't know how different the prices are for these parts in your market.

For the APU, there's the 3400G which is a bit older and only has 4c/8t, the 5600G/5700G which is newer but costs more, these would be perfect if you plan to add a gpu later down the line. And there's the 4700G which should be something in the middle. All of these are capable to an extent to do gamecube, PS2, even some WII and PS3 emulation.

Here's some videos of benchmarks of the 3400G/4700G/5700G emulating various consoles, including 3ds, Gamecube, ps3. The 3400G video doesn't have any time stamps but the rest do.

3400G

 

4700G

5700G

 

Edit: I also forgot to mention that the 4700G has a better GPU than the 5600G and maybe even 5700G since the 5600G has only 7 vega cores clocked at 1900mhz, while the 4700G has 8 vega cores clocked at 2100mhz, which should make a difference in GPU bound scenarios.

[Cyracus]

A Ryzen 3000G series or 5000G series I would expect could manage. Definitely with a graphics card from the 1000 series nvidia or AMD 400 series if you can find something for a reasonable price.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Uji Ninja said:

Hi,

 

I will need to buy/build a new PC for retro gaming with my daughter and, to be honest, I really have no idea what to do.

Could you guys give me some tips? I'm mostly in need of help determining what kind of CPU/APU would suit our needs.

 

While the sky is the limit when it comes to raw power (sadly, not when it comes budget, I could go up to about ¥80,000), and I wouldn't mind giving a try to PS3 emulation, I'd be more than happy with a system allowing us to play our GameCube games at full speed and no hiccups (Doubutsu no mori, Mario Kart, Smash Bros etc.)

 

For what I've seen, it seems that most computers, even entry level Celeron-based, can do PS1, sometimes Saturn, maybe even Dreamcast. But GameCube seems to be an entirely different story...

 

On the other end of the spectrum, is there any SBC or Android box that could do GameCube? (no Nvidia Shield, thanks, it's not available in Japan)

 

A precision : I'm not interested in laptops. I'd prefer a SFF desktop, something like NUC, or Asrock X300 / Inwin Chopin if I build the PC myself.

 

Thanks for your help! Christmas is getting nearer and, with global shortage, I may have to act asap before it's too late.

Philip

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/frHF7X

Edit, I kinda mindlessly posted this, the board can be switched out for an ITX board and the case can be swapped too.

Sorry.

[wONKEyeYEs]

1 hour ago, Uji Ninja said:

Inwin Chopin

Inwin B1?

[Uji Ninja]

2 hours ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

Inwin B1?

Nope. The B1 is a tad too big for my taste, and its shape definitely not something I like.

I find the Chopin more pleasing

https://www.in-win.com/en/gaming-chassis/Chopin/

[Uji Ninja]

3 hours ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

There's various options you can choose from. I can't pick one for you since I don't know how different the prices are for these parts in your market.

For the APU, there's the 3400G which is a bit older and only has 4c/8t, the 5600G/5700G which is newer but costs more, these would be perfect if you plan to add a gpu later down the line. And there's the 4700G which should be something in the middle. All of these are capable to an extent to do gamecube, PS2, even some WII and PS3 emulation.

Here's some videos of benchmarks of the 3400G/4700G/5700G emulating various consoles, including 3ds, Gamecube, ps3. The 3400G video doesn't have any time stamps but the rest do.

 

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I'm familiar with ETA Prime's videos. It's often a very good source of info, even though he sometimes has the bad tendency (to my point of view) to overclock CPU/iGPU, which makes it difficult to really know what the processor can do or at base clock.

 

As a matter of fact, I'm really more trying to know what would be the bare minimum for GameCube. I've seen YouTube videos of people testing the same processors, sometimes even the same computer, and get really different results (might be due to how they tweaked Dolphin) so I'm kind of lost.

 

See, for example, I've seen a video in which ETA Prime reviews the Chuwi Larkbox and a few GameCube games seemed to run relatively well (hint: F-Zero GX was not one of them). He even pushed to WII territory with various levels of success. He could also run Dreamcast and Saturn on this tiny box.

But I've also seen other reviews where Dreamcast could barely run, Saturn was choppy, and running GameCube was an illusion.

 

So, yeah, I'm actually more than kind of lost...

[Uji Ninja]

3 hours ago, Cyracus said:

A Ryzen 3000G series or 5000G series I would expect could manage. Definitely with a graphics card from the 1000 series nvidia or AMD 400 series if you can find something for a reasonable price.

 

Yeah, difficult to find stuff these days. Eg: ETA Prime reviewed a SFF Lenovo 4650g computer a few weeks ago but, on Lenovo Japan's website, it's 3 months delivery at best, and "gosh we have no idea when you'll get your computer" if you're unlucky.

 

Small NUC-sized 4800U PCs from Asrock and Asus are out of stock everywhere ~~ and I'm not really sure that a 4300U or 4500U would be enough.

 

It's still possible to find 3400G + Asrock X300 computers sometimes with Japan-based BTO manufacturers, but they are becoming rarer and prices tend to go up.

 

Anything based upon the new 5000 series might be too expensive I'm afraid.

Eg: a 5700G + Asrock X300 BTO would cost me ¥130,000

https://www.ark-pc.co.jp/bto/customizer/?pc_id=1867

and not that much cheaper if I build myself.

Actually, with my budget of about ¥80,000, I would only be able to buy the X300 and the 5700G, and nothing else.

Even if I save money by installing Linux/Batocera instead of Windows, I still need storage and ram.

I just can't justify putting that much in a small retro gaming rig that would mainly be used during weekends and holidays.

[Cyracus]

21 hours ago, Uji Ninja said:

save money by installing Linux/Batocera instead of Windows

for what it's worth, windows 10 will allow you to use it without activation indefinitely, puts a watermark in the bottom right corner and puts some barriers on some settings that can be worked around.

Sorry I can't be more helpful

[Middcore]

3400G handles GameCube emulation just fine in my DeskMini A300 system, and that's even with relatively slow RAM.