Bulding a Home Theater PC that can emulate dreamcast?

[fastbilly1]

Batch file

Ok so its been a couple years since I made Batch files - GENIUS. I would not have thought about that.

[shateredsoul]

SSF emulator works well for Saturn games, you have to mount cd images with another program or use real discs though =/

Mounting Disc Images is not that hard and can be done easily with free software. The only issue will be if you are planning on using a frontend for your box and no mouse/keyboard.

Speaking of which, how do you plan on controlling it?

I'd control it through xbox 360 wireless controllers, I have the receiver already. I'd probably want a media remote too, and probably a tiny keyboard to hide somewhere for having to fix things.

By the way you can use actual discs with a lot of emulators, or you can rip and make your own disc images.

[noiseredux]

I'd be interested to know the cheapest setup needed to emulate stuff say all the way through PS2.

[shateredsoul]

That setup I posted with a 2tb hdd instead of a solid state drive comes out to $500, no tax and free shipping through amazon.com and according to the guy who already owns it, he can run gamecube games through the dolphin emulator. Plus it's a really good Home Theater PC.

[neilencio]

@noise

shateredsoul's recommendation is perfect. The setup he recommended will be able to run most PS2 games that pcsx2 runs well. Although I'm not really sure about the GT 520, isn't that a low end card? I don't know much about the 5-series as I've only had experience with mid and low end cards from the 4, 2, and 9 series. And usually, the low end ones bog down when upscaling in pcsx2 (2x internal res and above), I've personally had experience trying to run upscaled games on a 9500GT, a GT 220, a GT 240 and a GT 440. The GT 9500 and GT 220 can't handle 2x internal res without slowing down.

Also, if $500 is still too much for you, you can just go with an LGA 775 mobo, it's already on its last legs but Intel has released a new batch of Wolfdale-based Dual Cores (basically a core 2 duo with a reduced L2 cache and disabled sse4 extension). The best ones are the e5800 (3.2 Ghz, 2mb L2 cache, 800 mhz fsb) and the E6600 (3.6 Ghz, 2mb L2 cache 1066mhz fsb). Both are way cheaper than a 1st gen i3 and provide decent performance for PCSX2 and even current gen games (provided that you have a good video card) - the i3 is significantly faster than the E6600, but the games that the e6600 can't run fullspeed won't run fullspeed on an i3 as well.

Note: the dual core e6600 (wolfdale based, 3.6 ghz, 45nm, 2mb L2 cache) is not to be confused with the core 2 duo e6600 (conroe based, 2.4 ghz, 65nm, 4 MB L2 cache). The wolfdale e6600 is going to be faster than the conroe e6600 in programs that don't rely too much on the L2 cache.

I can't give out a specific price quote since I'm not familiar with the prices in your country, but as a means of comparison, in my country a sandy bridge i3 package (2 GB DDR3, 500 gb hd, a 9500 GT) is 14,000+ philippine pesos, but downgrading the package to an e6600, using the same other components (2 GB DDR3, 500 gb hd, a 9500 GT) knocks the price down to 10,000+ pesos.

(based on a local shop's pricelist)

[shateredsoul]

The biggest deal with that card is keeping the heat down, and sound, and output to hdmi. Do the cards you recommended have hdmi outputs? Yeah, I was surprised that this card he recommended was able to run dolphin.

I'd love to do an i5 and a stronger graphics card, but it is a $$$ issue.

@noise

shateredsoul's recommendation is perfect. The setup he recommended will be able to run most PS2 games that pcsx2 runs well. Although I'm not really sure about the GT 520, isn't that a low end card? I don't know much about the 5-series as I've only had experience with mid and low end cards from the 4, 2, and 9 series. And usually, the low end ones bog down when upscaling in pcsx2 (2x internal res and above), I've personally had experience trying to run upscaled games on a 9500GT, a GT 220, a GT 240 and a GT 440. The GT 9500 and GT 220 can't handle 2x internal res without slowing down.

Also, if $500 is still too much for you, you can just go with an LGA 775 mobo, it's already on its last legs but Intel has released a new batch of Wolfdale-based Dual Cores (basically a core 2 duo with a reduced L2 cache and disabled sse4 extension). The best ones are the e5800 (3.2 Ghz, 2mb L2 cache, 800 mhz fsb) and the E6600 (3.6 Ghz, 2mb L2 cache 1066mhz fsb). Both are way cheaper than a 1st gen i3 and provide decent performance for PCSX2 and even current gen games (provided that you have a good video card) - the i3 is significantly faster than the E6600, but the games that the e6600 can't run fullspeed won't run fullspeed on an i3 as well.

Note: the dual core e6600 (wolfdale based, 3.6 ghz, 45nm, 2mb L2 cache) is not to be confused with the core 2 duo e6600 (conroe based, 2.4 ghz, 65nm, 4 MB L2 cache). The wolfdale e6600 is going to be faster than the conroe e6600 in programs that don't rely too much on the L2 cache.

I can't give out a specific price quote since I'm not familiar with the prices in your country, but as a means of comparison, in my country a sandy bridge i3 package (2 GB DDR3, 500 gb hd, a 9500 GT) is 14,000+ philippine pesos, but downgrading the package to an e6600, using the same other components (2 GB DDR3, 500 gb hd, a 9500 GT) knocks the price down to 10,000+ pesos.

(based on a local shop's pricelist)

[neilencio]

The cards I recommended all support HDMI, and have low temps. Although I recommend staying away from anything from nVidia that's older than the 2-series, since they don't have HDMI audio.

Another card that I can recommend is the ATI HD 5570. It's only slightly slower than a GT 240, but has very low power consumption, temps, and noise level -since most models are passively cooled. Not sure about the price, though. ATI cards are more expensive than nVidia cards in my country (but I don't know if they're really more expensive or they're just able to price nVidia cards lower because it has more brand recognition in here).

[shateredsoul]

the gt 240 is cheaper here, about $20 us dollars cheaper, and it's stronger than the ati right?

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-GT240-550M-Vi ... 591&sr=8-1

[xan_racketBOY_fan]

Though this beast doesn't play DC games, it's still quite the feat! Six consoles in one? Fantastic!

[shateredsoul]

that is a crazy crazy system.. don't think I can fit that one into my htpc case