I want a computer that will act like a emulation box.

[rich2k4]

Everything from NES up to Gamecube/Wii in full 1080p. The thing is that I don't really want to build it myself. Is there anything currently prebuilt that could handle my requirements?

[s1mplehumar]

Everything from NES up to Gamecube/Wii in full 1080p. The thing is that I don't really want to build it myself. Is there anything currently prebuilt that could handle my requirements?

With a deep enough wallet, sure. What are your reasons for not building? Bang for buck is definitely not in your favor for pre-builds, obviously.

[ninjainspandex]

Buy a cheap computer and pay a guy on craigslist to configure it for you and load it up with games? I see ads for this all over.

[tintinmayo]

How about buying an i5-based prebuilt desktop (the packages that use the onboard video) and ask the place you're buying it from if you can pay extra to upgrade the video to a midrange discrete (something like a GT *50 from nVidia). They'll handle the installation themselves. The specs should be safe enough for PS2, Wii and older while not being as expensive as high end i7s.

[pvt_awol]

^

I disagree a bit here. While the i5 will be enough, for Wii in 1080p full speed, you'll need a GOOD gpu. I was using a GTX 470 overclocked and was still not getting full speed in everything.

I currently use an i7/GTX 670 overclocked combo and it gets the job done. That might be overkill though, I'm thinking that a GTX 660 will get the 1080p performance you're looking for. Games like Pandora's Tower and The Last Story seem to really want LOTS of gpu. Where as, Super Mario Bros Wii and Smash Bros take a bit less.

AMD guys, please feel free to chime in here. I haven't used any of the latest AMD cards, so I can't recommend something in their camp. I can tell you that an older Radeon 6850 that I had couldn't do 1080p smoothly in all Wii games.

[tintinmayo]

^pvt_awol is right about Dolphin needing a high end card for Wii emulation (I was wrong/providing outdated information). I just checked out the latest release of Dolphin and my PC no longer cuts it (core 2 duo e8400 @ 3.0ghz stock, nvidia GT 440). Can no longer get fullspeed on any of my wii games when set to 1080p and integral scaling.

I only got dem fullspeeds back when I dropped down to 720p (or by switching back to a very old revision that has poor compatibility with the hard-to-emulate titles):

...the DBZBt3 screenshot looks like arse because it doesn't have widescreen support. You can force it by using widescreen hack but it messes things up too much (the beams and fireballs appear a few inches away from the hands)