Low Profile Emulator/Media Box

Haplo699g

Haplo699g

Haplo699g

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26 Jul 2020
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Hi Guys,

I've decided to build my Dad a micro ATX form factor PC for him to slip into his entertainment unit primarily as an emulation machine for the festive season. It would need to be capable of emulating PS2 and earlier (he has a whole bunch of PS2 games he can't play right now) so low power, low size and with a 5 1/4" drive bay.

I'm thinking a Ryzen with APU, A320M motherboard, and case similar to X-Box One size. Problem being I haven't touched AMD since I bought a Phenom 2 which refused to run about 30% of my games and finding a case of that size with a 5 1/4" bay for cheapish is proving problematic!

I know Ryzen processors like their memory (especially if an APU is going to reserve some) but considering the low power work I want the system to do will the 4gb of Corsair LPX DDR4 3000, that I have knocking around in my drawer be enough?

Looking for advice or part suggestions to make a crotchety old man happier (at least for a little while) this Christmas! LOL

Thanks to all,
Hap.
 
PCSX2, arguably the best PS2 emulator, has a recommended spec of 8GB RAM. If you're going to use an APU, then it'll be sharing the RAM and the recommended VRAM is 4GB. That means you either need at least 8GB RAM and a dedicated GPU or 16GB RAM. AMD is a great choice for this, though, regardless of whether you get a CPU or an APU.

As for cases. Why use an optical drive at all? Can you not just rip his game library for him? Then they'd all be accessible from the hard drive. Either that or you could download them.

What's your budget?
 
From a quick read, it looks like CPU performance is super important for emulation, but graphics is less so. Unless you want to use plugins to up the resolution to 1080p, in which case the recommended GPU is very surprising (a 1050 Ti)!

I'd be wary of using a single stick of memory with an APU, because the whole system will be bandwidth crippled.

Hopefully before Christmas the 4000 series APUs will either be widely available at retail, or you could pick up a barebones designed around them.
 
Look up the Asus PN50 - OcUK don't stock it but a few other retailers do. New mini form factor PC by Asus due out soon you can pre-order, think stock is due mid-August time to the UK. Prices from £275 scales up to £500 dependant on what CPU you go for.

It's a barebone kit of sorts, you need to add RAM and an NVMe drive. It uses AMD's new 4000 series Renoir CPUs, I expect the form factor would be appealing and having the newer APU should be enough for a PS2 emulator?

You could add say 16GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM for £60-65. Then a 500GB NVMe for £60-70 as an example.
 
Thanks for all the responses guys, really, all helpful and all mention things I hadn't considered!

In terms of wanting to keep the optical drive, he has about eighty PS2 games, I'd rather not rip them all or fuss about sourcing them for download, also asking to borrow his entire PS2 collection might be somewhat of a red flag! LOL

I agree the PCSX2 is a fantastic emulator and I use it on my own desktop but I've never seen the memory go that high, it usually takes about 4.5gb RAM and 1gb VRAM? Of course I've no idea how a APU would use the memory, whether it would be reactive or if it just glomps a set amount.

The processor I was looking at was the 2200g but by the sounds of it I'll need to look more at the 3200g or higher. Trying to get my head around AMD model numbers after being an Intel boy for years is a nightmare! ;)

I did have a look at the ASUS PN50, it's a pretty sweet bit of kit but lacks the support for optical, plus it's so dang small he'll probably end up losing it!

The best case option I've been able to find so far is the Silverstone ML03 which is about the right size, has the optical bay and even fits an ATX power supply.

Cheers,
Hap.
 
Nahhhhh - I can see a slim DVD drive sitting nicely with that Asus mini thing. I was also envisioning it tucked away in a TV unit, rather than an ornament anyway lol :p

Anyway, glad you decided OP anyway and found a plan forward :)
 
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