New commer question

[grantoswisey]

Hi all

First off I'd just like to say I'm impressed with all the info that these forums have and apologies if I've put this in the wrong section. As the title says I'm new to all this and I'm a bit stuck from. The get go.

I'm having trouble with what hardware route I should go for my hyperspin based pc I'm currently looking at a refurb Dell with The following spec

Spec:

Processor: Intel Core i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz 3.10GHz

Memory: 4GB RAM DDR3

Hard Drive: 500GB HDD

Graphics : Intel HD Graphics

Video Interfaces: VGA, HDMI

DVD

OS : Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit With COA

Ports:

8.0 x USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 6 rear)

1x Ethernet Network (RJ45)

1x VGA Out, 1.0 x HDMI, 1x Stereo line-in, 1 x Speakers, line-out, 1x Microphone-in

1x PCI-e 16x connector, 3x PCI-e 1x connector

All in for £170

My question is would this be a good base unit to use and upgrade a few things like graphics or would I be better off building a custom machine?

I mostly want just the consoles and maybe video streaming,I own a ps4 and Xbox one and both have backwards gaming so upto ps2 will be fine for me.

Any help will be appreciated

[Styphelus]

Not sure about Intel Video. If you want to run PS2 and Wii games, they require a beefy machine. Also, 500GB hard drive space? The PS1 collection is close to 500GB. The Gamecube collection is close to 700GB. The PSP collection is up there too.You need at least 4TB or double that is you want a complete PS2 set and Wii set as well.

[gigapig]

Welcome to the forum. Yes I concur, a video card minimum of something like an nVidia 650ti and more storage. The rest is OK.

[grantoswisey]

Thanks for the replies

So would this be a good option with the added storage and graphics card over a custom built pc using an Intel g3258 processor? I have a few 1 and 2 to externals I can use but mainly just want a pc that can keep up with the emulators without slowing down some say the G3258 is better

[rastan]

I'd also add it depends on what you plan on emulating....  I can run PS2 games like Grand Theft San Andreas on my dedicated Hyperspin laptop for the moment.. which only is a first gen i3 and has a Intel HDgraphics and I'm happy with how the game runs (with the added tweaks to the emulator it'self) other games kind suck but again I specifically configured my emulator to run Grand Theft so maybe I have to spend more time tweaking for other games but I would agree that a better video card is always best... especially for certain emulators that definitely require them since CPU speed doesn't always make up for not having a good video card.

 

But like I was saying it depends on what you want to run but it would make sense to add a nice VIDEO card.. other than that your system looks good to me.

 

The biggest question you have to ask yourself is what do you plan on doing with the machine?

[rastan]

I use a 1TB external myself which is good enough for me... 500gigs is enough depending on what you plan on doing with it. it all comes down to you and how you plan to customize your HS. Most people have a bunch of wasted space on their HS drive... all that MEDIA takes up space so while one person can say their PS1 or PS2 collections are near 500gigs... somebody else may only have the best of those systems or the games they actually plan on playing and could only be using a tiny bit of that 500gig space.

[grantoswisey]

Well i own nearly all the mainstream consoles since I was young and I still have them but wiring them all up would be a nightmare,basically a machine that could emulate them and also stream videos. A machine cappible of running upto or as well as GameCube ps2 if poss with room to upgrade later if needed if that makes any sense.

If the system I listed is a good starting point with a few upgrades then I'll get the nessesary upgrades or does anyone know if a custom build would've the way to go?

[rastan]

from your specs I can almost be 100% sure that you should have no problems emulating every mainstream console from the 80s and most of the 90s: The Atari 2600 - 7800, Sega Master System, Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, Possibly dreamcast (it runs on my i3.. sound is sometimes funny but games are playable), Nintendo NES, SNES, N64, Playstation 1... pretty much all the systems that fall in between those timelines or even before.

 

The systems that can be emulated but you may see some struggling are PS2, Gamecube, Wii, but even then you can sometimes tweak them to run better.

 

My rule of thumb is always the systems that run perfect or damn near perfect so anyone wanting to emulate the consoles that I mentioned before (80s - 90s) your specs are more than fine. not everyone wants to go crazy with the PS2 and other systems.... but it's nice to be able to run them. Personally I think being able to emulate everything from Atari2600 era (and before) to N64 is pretty damn good... and a hell of a start!

[grantoswisey]

Thank you for your input I'll buy that system and work from there I'm assuming this will be ok for all m.a.m.e games as well upto recent ones

[rastan]

Thank you for your input I'll buy that system and work from there I'm assuming this will be ok for all m.a.m.e games as well upto recent ones

 

Yeah, you're good for MAME... for the most part I don't see any trouble using mame... if mame can emulate it you shouldn't have any problems. I think 2005 or 06 is the newest stuff I've seen in my mame ROMSET but with thousands of ROMS I'm not really checking. I like Taito Type X and X2 for semi newer ARCADE games.... Taito type x runs find on my i3.... the Type X2 games run but are noticeably slow.. but playable but with the Taito Type X stuff... just getting them to run is sometimes a major thing because they were made to work on specific systems in the first place.

[rastan]

you should also try setting up some emulators on your current computers... just to get a feel of how they work with certain hardware. I'm not sure if you're just new to Hyperspin or new to emulation all together.

[grantoswisey]

Had mame years ago but now I have kids I'd like to show them old school stuff but with hyperspin I can show them the rest without having to drag every console out the attic,I have an old dell vostro 200 I'm going to use for hyperpin to keep them seperate but that's more for me than the kids

[rastan]

I think you'll be fine.. you seem like you're more interested in the older systems anyways and MAME... and mame will run fine on a computer from 15+ years ago. half the older systems SPECS probably even say they'll run on a 166mhz-300mhz computer lol... not suggesting anyone use one that old but based on the specs of a lot of older system emulators... they will run.

[grantoswisey]

Yeah I have a wii,wii u Xbox one and ps4 with those doing backwards compatibility thought it would be easier to use them giving less strain on the pc or making one that could rival the price of a small arcade

[grantoswisey]

Thanks for all the info on this much appreciated