What spec is required to run a pcsx2 (PS2 Emulator) these days?

[The Stig]

I've been away from the emulation scene for a while, never bothered to care about them post NintendoDS era.

I was wondering what spec is required to run a PS2 Emulator (pcsx2) reliably and run a game smoothly?

The homepage recommends:

Recommended
* Windows Vista / Windows 7 32bit/64bit
* CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.2ghz or better
* GPU: 8600gt or better
* 1gb RAM (2gb if on Vista / Windows 7)

I'm skeptical. Even if recommended that seems awfully low/easy and I'm sure others have experienced it differently.

Naturally I had the following in mind, but I do ponder if it's sufficient -- not overclocking for now but I'm selecting the CPUs that support it easily so I can later on:

(Stock) i5 2500k/i7 2700k (saving a bit of money here as the slightly newer variants, the performance is neglible)
8gb RAM (up to 16gb)
ATI Radeon 7850/Nvidia GeForce GTX 670m

(I may have quoted the wrong Nvidia GPU here but I think those 2 are the rivals in that bracket)

As you can see the parts are on par with each other more or less. I am not religious towards ATI/Nvidia. I'm simply looking for the best all around setup that would allow me to run PS2 games as close to as a PS2 as possible!

So if you play on a PS2 Emulator regularly, and have no issues, share spec!

[Jojimbo]

Either of those will work well if not max out most of PCSX2, however HD 7850 is $200 while GTX 670 is $400 (not 670m, that's a laptop GPU) they are not in the same bracket, an OC'ed HD 7950 ($300) is on par with a 670. I would consider going 3570k though, it does have a few features over a 2500k and is better at stock (higher clock and better per clock performance), it's only $15 more.

[The Stig]

Oops, not sure how the "m" got in there, but yeh I forget which CPU pairs up with the 7850 in that bracket lol.

The 3570k is only $15 more? Odd, I'll triple check my prices, in the UK it seemed to be £50~ more unless I was totally tired at the time!

As we're here, are -ALL- games supported more or less? I was thinking of Zone of the Enders, FFX, FF12 (not played 12! and not willing to invest in a PS2 either!)

[Jojimbo]

I know I've played FFX and FFXII, never tried Zone of the Enders though.

Sorry, I default to US prices now. 3570k is £10 more (£175 @ CCL) than a 2500k (£165 @ CCL), what's the overall budget?

[The Stig]

Thanks!

I have no specific budget, so don't worry too much about that. Just "planning". But I also am not looking to go crazy, but don't worry, I don't see much of a point of going right down to the detail. We know our PC parts and performance being on par

This is why I'm being vague. Those 3 parts are the parts that matter. (Actually RAM might be somewhat neglible too, I'm not looking for benchmark records lol). You can probably tell I'm aiming for slightly above average GPUs but not extreme GPUs.

[hey]

The only thing that matters almost all is your cpu. Any video card you would ever have in 2012 will be far more than sufficient, and ram makes no difference at all. Emulation is all about cpu power, and you need quite a bit of it for ps2 emulation.

The reason those recommended specs are so low is because ram and gpu don't matter at all, and emulation only runs on 1-2 threads anyway, so difference between an older core2duo and an i7 ivy bridge isn't as much as you might expect.

You could get a 2500k, and with some modest overclocking you could definitely run every single ps2 game (as well as gc/wii if you care) at full speed or faster. You could probably run some/most games at full speed without overclocking, but i'm not familar enough with pcsx2 performance to say for sure.

I'm simply looking for the best all around setup that would allow me to run PS2 games as close to as a PS2 as possible!

Yeah...about that. Ps2 emulation is still pretty poor.

[Jojimbo]

Well, depending on what you are doing on the PC an i7 and 16GB may go unused as you won't be able to use HTing or the extra 8GB during gaming or general but only with specific programs (16GB can although windows to load more onto RAM, but you won't actually be able to use all 16GB at one time during average usage). i5 3570k is pretty much the way to go atm though, it's cheap enough to fit into most budgets and among the strongest gaming CPUs you can get, everything after it is roughly on par +- a few % depending on the game. Current AMD CPUs don't factor into high end builds, and the only reason they might be considered at all for low end gaming is because their cheaper chips OC whereas i5 3570k is the cheapest intel chip that does so and their i3's are all locked. Pretty sure PCSX2 is limited to 2 cores, but I can't remember exactly.

GPU is pretty much dependent on budget, for this gen nVidia vs AMD depends on resolution and whether you want to OC. For 1080p AMD beats nVidia at most price points if you are willing to push the AMD cards to their limits, nVidia wins at stock clocks though. For higher resolutions AMD cards take a larger lead due to memory bandwidth and vRAM issues nVidia cards are running into for instance under certain circumstances a stock HD 7870 can beat a 660Ti when you turn MSAA up, even at 1080p, and the 3GB 660Ti are performing worse than their 2GB versions unless over 2GB vRAM is required. HD 7850 is the lowest I'll consider unless on a very tight budget.

[The Stig]

Thanks hey, didn't see that list on my initial run.
I assumed since it's been maybe 3 years since I tried looking for a PS2 emulator that it might've been perfected by now haha

Jojimbo: Yup thanks for that little tidbit. I'm on the right track anyway it seems, so no worries!

[hey]

I assumed since it's been maybe 3 years since I tried looking for a PS2 emulator that it might've been perfected by now haha

hahahahahahhahahahahahhahahah

There is still no n64 emulator that isn't absolute shit. And while ps2 emulation isn't that bad, it's still nowhere near as accurate as emulators for nes, snes, etc, or even gamecube/wii. I wouldn't expect a really good ps2 emulator for at least a decade or two.

[The Stig]

I thought it was a safe assumption to make! =p

I forgot about GC, I'll go check it out. Nice to hear that you rate it above PS2 and I've got a couple of games I wouldn't mind trying on GC.

[hey]

I forgot about GC, I'll go check it out. Nice to hear that you rate it above PS2 and I've got a couple of games I wouldn't mind trying on GC.

Dolphin is actually a pretty great emulator. Probably because it's easier to get developers to work on it when it's not just being used for convenience and easy piracy, but because it's actually vastly superior to playing brand new games on the actual console. As a result though, dolphin is a lot more demanding. You won't get great performance is most games without overclocking a fair bit. 4.5 ghz on a 2500k should get full speed on most every game, at this time.

[freddy gomez]

am i able to run on these?
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU N3520 @2.16GHz
Installed memory (RAM) 8.00GB
System type 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Pen and Touch N/A
(windows 8)

[pcjoeyd]

am i able to run on these?
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU N3520 @2.16GHz
Installed memory (RAM) 8.00GB
System type 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Pen and Touch N/A
(windows 8)


Your cpu is nowhere near as good as it should be to run pcsx2. You want to use at least a dual core cpu running at least 3.2-3.3ghz to run it acceptably. To run games at full speed I would recommend a core i5 cpu overclocked to at least 4.3ghz. And you will also need a discreet video card (you didn;t mention if you have one in your pc)...recommend a geforce gtx 260 or better (or at the very least an 8800GTX).
8gb of ram is fine, as well as your operating system. But the MOST important factor is your cpu (and not just with pcsx2 emu, but ALL emulators in general). To run dreamcast (nulldc), ps2(pcsx2), or Wii/Gamecube (dolphin) emus, you need a powerful dual or quad core cpu running at least 3.3ghz. Hope this helps you.