[JoonKimDDS]

right now I have
AMD 5600+ dual core = 2.88Ghz
2GB ram
8800 GT
1440x900
and windows xp sp2.

I am thinking about upgrading my pc.

My main interest lies on shadow of the colossus, MGS3, FF10, god of war 1 and 2.

Could you tell me what parts to get?

I heard that this emulator doesn't use more than 2 core so would it be wise to get the highest clock speed for dual core instead of buying expensive yet lower clock quad core? What's the highest clock for dual core? I don't want to overclock.


Thanks.

 

[Febrian]

As i know, to run this emulator better than ever, you´ll have to change your processor for Intel...A Quad-core would be great.

This emulator has a focus on processor and change your VGA for 9800GT would run fantastic.

 

[Phil]

A Phenom 940 might help

 

[JoonKimDDS]

A Phenom 940 might help

isn't it quad core with 3Ghz? I don't think it's a big jump from 2.88Ghz.

 

[masta.g.86]

The internal architecture of the Phenom II is quite different from the older Athlon X2 series. It can also be overclocked much more easily. A 4.3GHz OC is very easily achieved so long as you have a good CPU cooler.

 

[JoonKimDDS]

when you say internal architecture is diff from older one, does that means 2.88-->3.0 difference is much bigger than just a simple 0.22 difference?

I never had experience in overclocking and not sure if it's a good idea to overclock and give the expensive part a strain.
Is it possible to turn on/off OC whenever i want to?

 

[Princess Garnet]

As i know, to run this emulator better than ever, you´ll have to change your processor for Intel...A Quad-core would be great.

This emulator has a focus on processor and change your VGA for 9800GT would run fantastic.

Yes, advise to change the GPU to a 9800GT, when the 9800GT is the very same card (within 99.9%, which I consider within the exact range) as the 8800GT that's already had.

As for the CPU, it has only half to do with frequency. The other half is IPC.

It goes like this.

IPC (instructions per clock) plus frequency equals speed (there's also now the variable of number of cores, and on top of that, that's not so clear either since not all software is multi-threaded, so it gets really confusing).

You're thinking simply that frequency equals speed. There's also the IPC matter. In other words, A Pentium 4 at 3GHz is not even anywhere near as fast as a Core 2 at 3GHz (and that's not even counting the extra cores, we're just talking single-threaded versus single-threaded performance here).

So basically, not this...

frequency = speed

...but this...

frequency + this thing called IPC = speed

Does it make a little more sense now?

As for PCSX2, a faster dual core CPU gets better results. The extra cores over two sit completely unused, and while that will very likely change sometime soon, the extra boost you'll likely soon get from a quad core CPU won't be all that much (like we saw from one core to two) becuase the things being split are smaller things that won't see much from getting their own core (right now, I believe it's split with the graphics work on one core, and the rest on the other?). If this upgrade is solely for PCSX2, a dual core is better if you ask me.

Now, without overclocking, the Core 2 Duo E8400 (@3.0GHz) or the Core 2 Duo E8500 (@3.16GHz) is the best choice. It's not the fastest, but the faster ones cost much more for only a little more default speed. Yes, overclocking can be done on and off, but I won't pressure you to overclock. I will just say that with any half decent motherboard (you'll need a new one anyway to swap to one of those two CPUs) and an aftermarket cooler, 4GHz on one of those two CPUs is ridiculously easy, and will be just about the ideal setup for PCSX2.

 

[JoonKimDDS]

Thank you Lord Zedeck for giving me such valuble info like IPC
wow~! 4.5Ghz!! doesn't it kill your CPU? LOL
Are you basically running any ps2 games at 60fps?

 

[Princess Garnet]

It's just barely stable. What I mean is, If you want to get strict, it fails the same spot of a certain stress application, so it "doesn't count", but in the real world, games (PC or emulation), and everything else, encoding videos, watching them, music, browsing, etc. all run fine. Sure, I can't say I haven't had a crash since then, but I believe I've resolved the few I have had to other faults (mostly software). It does run really warm too (~70C at full load stress), and that's with a pretty good cooler.

The games I do have (about ten, so not very many) all run full speed (I have never even tried a speed hack once). Honestly, I've gotten my GPU to become a bigger bottleneck in PCSX2. I can't run over 1400x1050 in some games (like Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Budokai 3, and Smackdown vs Raw 2006), without slowdowns.

You're using 1440x900, so having the same GPU would be fine for you. Your RAM is fine too. With a better CPU, you'd be ideal.

 

[nanaya]

What's your motherboard? If it support Phenom 2 you might consider getting a Phenom II X3 720 for a cheap upgrade