What's new

New PC Inquiry

F

Fanatic 64

Guest
I'm going to get a new laptop (model chosen), because reasons. I've already checked reviews and benchmarks, and it's good for what I need, specially for the price. However, I was wondering how good would it work for N64 emulation. Say, would I be able to run Perfect Dark, with Counter Factor 1, Anisotropic Filtering, and with Jabo's framebuffer emulation, at full speed? My current PC can almost do it, but it slows down on occasions, with GFX: 100% in Project64. I was wondering, what does it take to emulate the framebuffer at full speed? Does it primarily rely on the CPU? The GPU? Or something else?

Here's the new computer's specs:
Processor: Intel Core i5 4210U
Graphics Chip: Nvidia GeForce 840M (2GB DDR3 VRAM)
RAM: 8GB DDR3
Hard Disk: SATA 750GB 5400RPM
And all the other essential things.
For reference, it can run Battlefield 4 at 1366x768 on High at ~30FPS.

By comparison, my current PC has a powerful Intel Core i7 processor, but only a ****** Intel HD Graphics 3000. Do you thing the new PC will be able to use all the N64 emulator fancies (excluding crazy software rendering plugins, and Rice/Glide horrible framebuffer)? It has OpenGL 4.4, so at least it'll be able to run GLideN64.

Please abstain from PC gaming-related recommendations, I'm only interested in the N64 emulation part (I already know the laptop's gaming capabilities).

Thank you for your answers.
 

NES_player4LIFE

Texture Pack Invader
Moderator
If you're going to with an Intel Cpu you should go for an i7.
Not sure about the GPU as i'm an AMD guy. :)
The ram sounds good but I would look into upgrading to 16GB DDR3 and be sure that it will handle 1600mhz (PC3-12800)
You can buy ram dirt cheap online these days.
I would look into a faster hard drive, or dual boot with a nice SSD and use the 750GB Hdd as storage.
 
OP
F

Fanatic 64

Guest
an actual n64 is a lot cheaper
¬¬ I never said I wanted it only for N64 games. And did you really register only to say that?
If you're going to with an Intel Cpu you should go for an i7.
Not sure about the GPU as i'm an AMD guy. :)
The ram sounds good but I would look into upgrading to 16GB DDR3 and be sure that it will handle 1600mhz (PC3-12800)
You can buy ram dirt cheap online these days.
I would look into a faster hard drive, or dual boot with a nice SSD and use the 750GB Hdd as storage.
Thanks. The problem is this is the fastest processor+GPU combo I could find that does not cost $1500+. All other computers below that price only got Intel HD Graphics 4400/4600 or a weak Core i3 processor. I've seen benchmarks of this setup and it runs new (late 2014) games on medium at 1366 resolution. What I was wondering is if framebuffer emulation would be a special case, and if so what should I look out for to tell if I will be able to use it.

The RAM is 1600MHz and can be upgraded to 16GB (comes with 2 slots, one with the 8GB stick, so I would only need to buy a second 8GB stick).
I could also upgrade the HD later, it is not soldered into the board.

Bear in mind this only costs around $800, and I can't go much over if I want to get it before Christmas.
 

NES_player4LIFE

Texture Pack Invader
Moderator
Not to blow off the framebuffer inquire but I'm unable answer you.

If you plan on upgrading the RAM be sure that you buy the exact match to pair correctly.
Some chips will burn out if not correctly paired.

If I could persuaded you to buy an AMD rig, I would recommend buying a HP DV6-6135dx.
It's a 2010 model I think, but upgrading it will vastly improve performance.

If you plan on spending $800, you should look for used tech online.
Generally cheep laptops are cheep laptops.
 
OP
F

Fanatic 64

Guest
Used laptops are used laptops. I've had bad experiences with those.

And it doesn't matter really. We'll see how it works when I buy it. It'll be enough to not have ****** textures with Jabo...
 

V1del

New member
I'd recommend from refraining from a U model processor, they are intended to be low power consumption and have significantly lower speed than other models. It may cut it for N64 emulation, but personally I'd rather not take any chances, and emulation is by pretty bound to good cpu emulation. Graphics card should be good enough
 

Toasty

Sony battery
From looking over benchmark charts and comparing it to hardware I've used, I'd strongly suspect that that laptop will handle what you want to do just fine. BTW, I know you said you'd decided on a model, but as I was looking up the spec sheet on that CPU, I noticed NewEgg has a laptop listed that appears to have similar specs to the one you described, but for $100 less. Anyways, just thought I'd mention it, though I don't know all the finer details of the model you selected. Happy emulating. :)
 
OP
F

Fanatic 64

Guest
Well I finally picked it up, and managed to bring the price down to $700. From outside it looks nice, I'm going to set it up and try what I described above next morning, since it's already past midnight and I tend to screw things if doing them while drowsy.
 
OP
F

Fanatic 64

Guest
So, what I've found out so far is that Intel HD Graphics now suck less when using the default Jabo plugins (textures are rendered properly, but decals still disappear when you get close). The problem is that I cannot force Project64 to use the Nvidia GPU, even after selecting it in the graphics driver, it still runs with the integrated graphics. I'm going to see if there's a way to fix that...

On the upside, I maxed out Mafia 2 and nearly so with Just Cause 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (the most recent games I currently have). So at least native programs do run well (except for an issue with Windows 8.1 that messes up Need for Speed Carbon, which otherwise runs maxed out at 60FPS).

EDIT: Setting the graphics plugin to Glide64 makes the Nvidia GPU kick in. Enabling "Read Every Frame" in the framebuffer settings runs at full speed, so I guess I can confirm this PC is good for what I described in the OP :happy:
EDIT 2: It seems DirectX 9 and OpenGL plugins run with the Nvidia GPU, while DirectX 8 plugins run with the integrated graphics. Verdict: N64 emulators need to stop using ancient APIs.
 
Last edited:

Top