PC build for emulation

Has anyone here built a PC before? It's something I'm interested in doing it, so any advice would be great. The main push for it is emulation but it will be used as a general system too.

I currently use an android box but it's starting to give up. I had thought about an Nvidia Shield, but I prefer the more stable emulation from Windows and the possibility of upgrading in the future. I don't want to lose the console-feel of gaming, so the machine would need to be small-form and sit next to the TV.

The machine would primarily be used for emulation. Anything up to and including PS2 (PCSX2) and Gamecube/Wii (Dolphin). Getting Cemu to run would be great but I think that's out of my price range. Not bothered about 4k, but upscaling would be great.

This is what I have at the minute (does this parts list even work?!?) At the moment though it's way out of my price range. I'd prefer up to around £450. Any thoughts on how this list looks and if I can reduce the costs anywhere would be great:

System Builder - Core i5-7500 3.4 GHz Quad-Core, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB, GD09B HTPC - PCPartPicker United Kingdom
 


Have you got a budget limit?

Try this, its vastly superior for around the same price, and it'll run modern games at 1080p at above 60fps at highest detail. If you can stretch your budget then go for bigger storage but if its emulation I'd aim for mechanical over SSD's You'll get more space for your money and the performance gains for SSD would be tiny for emulation. The case is a Micro ATX, its not massive, but its not console size either, probably same size as a original Xbox One, but twice as thick.

Forgot the link.

System Builder - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core, GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB VENTUS XS OC, MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

Better, switched from none Ti to Ti GPU card.

System Builder - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC, MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom
 
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Have you got a budget limit?

Try this, its vastly superior for around the same price, and it'll run modern games at 1080p at above 60fps at highest detail. If you can stretch your budget then go for bigger storage but if its emulation I'd aim for mechanical over SSD's You'll get more space for your money and the performance gains for SSD would be tiny for emulation. The case is a Micro ATX, its not massive, but its not console size either, probably same size as a original Xbox One, but twice as thick.

Forgot the link.

System Builder - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core, GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB VENTUS XS OC, MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

Better, switched from none Ti to Ti GPU card.

System Builder - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC, MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom
Bit over the top for emulation isn't it? Wouldn't something like a ryzen 5 2400g in an itx board be more sutible and a lot cheaper?
 
Have you got a budget limit?

Try this, its vastly superior for around the same price, and it'll run modern games at 1080p at above 60fps at highest detail. If you can stretch your budget then go for bigger storage but if its emulation I'd aim for mechanical over SSD's You'll get more space for your money and the performance gains for SSD would be tiny for emulation. The case is a Micro ATX, its not massive, but its not console size either, probably same size as a original Xbox One, but twice as thick.

Forgot the link.

System Builder - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core, GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB VENTUS XS OC, MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

Better, switched from none Ti to Ti GPU card.

System Builder - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC, MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

Cheers mate, appreciate it. As I say I haven't really got a clue!

I was hoping to spend about £450 but this is clearly far too low based on what you've kindly sent there. I could probably push it a bit higher but I'd be worried about putting the thing together the more I invest.

One question based on what I've read online - apparently emulators work better with Intel CPUs rather than AMD? Something to do with pushing a single core? Do you think that's something I should keep in mind, or would this Ryzen be ok?
 
Cheers mate, appreciate it. As I say I haven't really got a clue!

I was hoping to spend about £450 but this is clearly far too low based on what you've kindly sent there. I could probably push it a bit higher but I'd be worried about putting the thing together the more I invest.

One question based on what I've read online - apparently emulators work better with Intel CPUs rather than AMD? Something to do with pushing a single core? Do you think that's something I should keep in mind, or would this Ryzen be ok?
If your just emulating that build is over the top. I can run most emulators on an i3 dual core laptop that I paid £200 for a few years ago.
 
Something like this should do ps2 and game cube at 1080p and 50-60fps if my quick bit of research is right.

System Builder - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core, Sugo SG13B Mini ITX Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

That's an itx build so nice and small if you wanted it to be cheaper again go micro atx like this but it will be a bigger tower.

System Builder - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core, Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

Windows 10 key off eBay for £5 and your good to go.

Also have potential to add a gpu at a later date and upgrade the cpu to a higher end ryzen chip down the line.
 
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Something like this should do ps2 and game cube at 1080p and 50-60fps if my quick bit of research is right.

System Builder - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core, Sugo SG13B Mini ITX Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

That's an itx build so nice and small if you wanted it to be cheaper again go micro atx like this but it will be a bigger tower.

System Builder - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core, Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker United Kingdom

Windows 10 key off eBay for £5 and your good to go.

Also have potential to add a gpu at a later date and upgrade the cpu to a higher end ryzen chip down the line.

Cheers mate, will look into it!
 
All seems over the top. A pi and retro pi not do the job for like £50 with all the stuff needed?
PS2 & Gamecube are the killers here. You'd need to have something better than a pi to run them and something quite impressive to run them with all of the graphics filters turned on (particularly Dolphin from what i've read).
 

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