configuration (hardware / software) for wii and ps2 games

Retroboy · 2019-10-05T17:54:41+00:00

Batocera 5.23 x64 Intel core i5-2500 3.3Ghz 4GB Ram (Intel HD Graphics 2000) no configuration changes Good morning, everyone! I just installed Batocera, and...

joinski

Retroboy

For gamecube/wii the dolphin emulator and for PS2 the pcsx2 emulator is used.
You could search via google for "dolphin hardware requirements" and "pcsx2 hardware requirements" (or "minium / recommended"). I'm sure, you will find many information in dolphin/pcsx2-forums and pages like reddit for example 😉
Also have a look at the youtube-channel from ETA Prime. He has many videos, where he is testing emulation on different hardware-builds.

Retroboy

Good morning,
Thank you joinski for this information 🙂.
However, will the answers found outside Batocera definitely be valid?
I ask because of versions emulators, Bios, drivers... that may be different between Batocera and the rest of the world...

joinski

Retroboy

I don't know.
In german we say "trying is better than studying", which means: do not read so much, better try yourself 😉

Retroboy

joinski
Nice expression😉

In France, it is rather "We don’t have oil but we have ideas" which means "we are not rich, but resourceful"...but especially not rich😃

My budget for emulation being limited, I hoped to take advantage of the experience of the Batocera community to know what to buy (at a lower cost) so that everything works well...what graphics card references would be welcome?
Thank you for your support on my topic🙂

joinski

Retroboy

for graphics i would suggest a used gtx 750 (ti)
you should get one for around 30-40€

for cpu the minimum for gamecube would be a haswell pentium or i3 and for ps2/wii a haswell i5 or i7
they are also sold very cheap at the moment (i saw haswell i5 cpus for about 40-50€ in market place of several hardware-forums in the internet)

that is from my experience so far (intel/nvidia is a bit better supported under Batocera than AMD/ATI)

as a l ittle orientation help / guidance i recommend to have a look at passmark cpu/gpu mark for comparison of the performance of CPUs/GPUs
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php

i would recommend a CPU with at least 1.500 in single rating performance and a GPU with at least 2.000 G3D mark for gamecube.
For PS2/Wii you should have a CPU with a single thread performance of at least 2.000 and GPU with at least 3.500 G3D Mark (but that is just a guesstimate)

For an older batocera version (a beta of 5.21) i had made some tests with all the PC-Hardware i had at home (i sold many of them in the meantime):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K-HDv3SXqWj-aoniuAJnFzsRNsg8HyHv55C0RJgFgrY/edit#gid=0

0 means the game did either not run, or run slowly (not fullspeed)
1x means that the games run fullspeed (30 or 60fps) in native resolution.
2x means 2x native resolution
3x = 3x native resolution
and so on

Retroboy

joinski Pour la PS2 / Wii, vous devez avoir un processeur avec une performance d’un seul thread d’au moins 2 000

I didn’t understand, does that mean that a quad-core must get at least 8000?

Thank you for all these explanations, and the links, and your patient to me😉

Tomsen

joinski

First you mention ETA Prime and then you tell him he needs a i3 for Dolphin. But ETA prime tested a Intel e8400 and was able to play GameCube at max.
GPU was a 6350 ATI.

joinski

Retroboy

No, in Passmark CPU Mark there are 2 score-values
1. Average CPU Mark (multi-thread performance)
2. Single Thread Rating

For most emulators the Single Thread Rating is more important.
So i would rather take this chart as orientation:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

Retroboy

Hello joinski ,
Thank you for all this useful information, it is a great help for me (and those who will read afterwards😉)!
You’ve spent time testing this, and sharing is a blessing to us!
I realize that my equipment is really not up to snuff, and I will surely invest in new components.
I’d like to make some kind of super console for my kids, something pretty small based on a mini ITX wrapped in a little box.
Is there a processor powerful enough to play PS2 and Wii without a graphics card? or is this mandatory regardless of the processor and the amount of RAM?

Thank you for your help, I pray to receive the material for Christmas in time🙂

joinski

Tomsen

The Intel e8400 has a single-thread rating of 1248 (see https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core2+Duo+E8400+%40+3.00GHz&id=955). That's why he is capable of emulating Gamecube games.
I mentioned the i3 just as an example.

There are so many CPUs out there that have a single-thread rating of more than 1.000 (which for my tests with several CPUs so far was the absolute minimum to run some Gamecube games in full speed) and I do not want to list them all here.
Just have a look at cpubenchmark.net
But benchmarks are just a rough guide. There is no guarantee that a CPU with a good benchmark value is capable of emulating gamecube or ps2 in full speed. In the end, you just have to test it yourself.

Tomsen

joinski thanks for your reply. I got a e8400 because of eta prime (lol). I am playing ps2 aswell but i want a little more performance. I saw a very cheap i3 3220 @3.3Ghz. I am currently at 3.0ghz, cant overclock because these are oem systems. Do you think this is a good upgrade?

GPU is a 7750 (low wattage).

joinski

Tomsen

yes the i3-3220 should be noticeably perform better than the e8400, so i would give it a try.

Tomsen

joinski IT had at least 500 passmark score extra on the single core performance. Im going to try IT out today. Greetz

joinski

Retroboy

Hi Retroboy,
I recently bought an Intel NUC of the latest generation with i3 (Intel NUC8i3BEH). And many PS2 games run very well on it (with some more demanding games like God of War for example, the game does almost run in full speed).
So i would recommend this NUC or even better the latest generation NUC with i5 or i7.
Otherwise, if you want to built an ITX system, then i would suggest a CPU with Intel UHD Graphics 630.
But if you want all (or allmost all) ps2 games to run in full speed, then i would suggest a dedicated graphics-card with nvidia gpu (something like GTX 750 or GT1030, GTX 1050 will do, as for all of them there exists low profile variants, which could fit in a small ITX-Case, as long as it has place/room for it).
In theory the latest generation of AMD CPUs/GPUs (Ryzen etc.) should also have enough power, but i do not know, if Batocera already supports it (drivers). I do not own AMD hardware at the moment, so i could not test for myself.
BR joinski

Tomsen

joinski If tested PS2 with a ATI hd 5750 and a ATI hd 7750, if your CPU is powerful enough I think you can play about anything and these cards are very cheap to buy. ATI hd 7750 doesn't even need extra PC- express connectors (12v).

PaulMcClernan

My cabinet has a 2nd Gen Core i7 with Inted 4000 iGPU, I can play most Wii & PS2 roms acceptably well with the right settings adjustments, I can live with occasional stutter / audio stretch. I would think a newer board Intel 630 would handle it better, but buying a low-profile dedicated graphics card is probably more cost effective than buying a newer ITX motherboard.

Tomsen

PaulMcClernan I'm pretty sure a better GPU will help a lot.

joinski

Tomsen
nice to know! 🙂 so HD 7750 is a cheap alternative

Dragu

I played through Wii vers. Golden Eye, and finished the game with the J5005Itx board.
The 2,8Ghz (rated 1,5GHz, this processor mostly run at turbo speed) are still ok, but not perfect with the internal Gpu. Now, try to find an performant graphic card for the board Pcie 2.0 connector....

joinski

Dragu
i guess when you use a graphics card like Radeon HD7750 or GeForce GT 1030, then your CPU will be the bottleneck 😆

Dragu

joinski
The only card to fit in the slot of the J5005itx board is the Zotac GeForce GT 710 PCIe x1.
I think I have just the place, I expect better performance as with the integrated GPU605.
What do you think. I dont want to go to the edge of most performant machine with a noisless
10Watt CPU. Just try an upgrade.