I got this exact machine with the GT 1030 ddr5 version. Highly recommended it for the price It can even handle most Wii u games like Mario Kart and Mario 3D World
@@gvanderlee2703 xbox emulation has come a long way in that last year or so.... I was just wondering how well such a pc would run xbox nowadays. Thanks anyways :)
@@john6982 honestly don't know. I've been a console gamer since the early 90s, so emulation is all I care about. But I think it is safe to say you should be able to run most games from 2010 and below at 720p with respectable frame rates. There should be TH-cam vids out there.
I love these old off lease machines. They're cheap and you can get a lot of bang for the buck. Add in some more ram, an ssd, and a budget graphics card and you've got something that'll serve most people's needs.
@@merciless972 Mine came with 8 gigs of ram, but could be bumped up to 16 (May do that just because I come from a time when a gig would have been unimaginable overkill much less sixteen.) Mechanical drive though and the move to SSD was a real and measureable game changer on the sort of gains made along wit hgeneral quieting of the system.
Dude you are just cranking these videos out! I love it. Your channel has always piqued my interest what with my fascination with emulation since I was a kid and now is the perfect time to get into it with the techpocalypse happening still. I hope your channel is doing great, it’s a good time for cheaper emulation systems to thrive.
I was trying to find the best way to repurpose old parts from an old build and this is perfect. Thanks for the video. I just lucked out and picked up an open box 450W PSU and an open box GT 1030 (DDR4 sadly), for just over $100. Super excited to get it up and running
Awesome build. I recently used the same case (but the 7010 version). Installed an SSD drive. Swapped the processor to a 3770K. Upgraded the ram to 16gb DDR3 1600 MHz running in dual channel, and threw in a GeForce 1050ti. My build cost didn’t land on 100 bucks though. But maaaaan. Im so impressed. Besides emulation that puppy can run modern games at 1080p with a solid 60 FPS or higher. Even on medium to high settings. It’s nuts.
Im sitting right in front of that same machine typing this comment! It was given to me for free! Had already been modded and transplanted into a new case too so had all the hard work cut out for me too! Had it for almost 2 whole years now. It does fl studio, streaming, facebook and everything elce nicely.
Really cool to see this, I more or less made this build a few years ago. It works pretty well, but PS2 is a definitely struggle depending on the game. Gamecube and wii are a breeze, though, probably owing to Dolphin being awesome. Mine is running linux, too, so it doesn't have access to the same opengl features, which probably doesn't help.
@@alfiegordon9013 it's been awhile but I don't think I was able to use Vulcan for some reason. with how rapidly Vulcan is advancing it might be an option now
So after purchasing and testing the GT 730 that was recommended in this video, I can say that Batocera was not actually using the GPU during your tests. When you install an NVIDIA GPU in Batocera you have to enable the drivers over command line and then plug the cable through the GPU. In the menu it will show NVIDIA instead of MESA in the OPENGL System Information Line. When I enabled the GT 730 I saw noticable performance drops in even the menus and Gamecube/PS2/Wii were not playable at all. When running integrated graphics on my system, GCN/Wii run at 1x and PS2 at 2x resolution just fine. Just a heads up for anyone who was thinking about purchasing one of these cards. Don't waste the $30 and get a more powerful card or better CPU.
@@EricCartman056 How much does the power consumption really matter if it's only on when you're using it to play games? The low power consumption of the pi is only a real advantage if you're using it as a server and running it 24/7
I picked up a nice Dell Optiplex 960 from a refurbishing shop for $80 w/ a Core2Quad 2.66GHz and 4GB of memory that runs Ubuntu really well. I replaced the old 500GB spinner hard drive w/ a 64GB SSD and installed an old PCI-E AMD graphics card and a wi-fi card.
I got one from my old library with an i5-4570 for free. I upgraded to 8GB, controller, and a 1TB using used parts in my bin. I spent $60 for a RX550. ChimeraOS, Runs even Shadow of Mordor at 60FPS high. Plus I can stream from my main PC.
That opening with the robot at the end of the bed, dimly lit room and the dark rain filled sky always hits a spot with me. Hits me right in my feels...
Great advice. You could even save more by going to a big office building and ask one of the maintenace or cleaning managers for access to the electronic recycling container. I find clients with i5-4460s and 8GBs all day. Just as many Xeon workstations (wich have really great power supplies), monitors and cables. All the cables. I made a Batocera box and could give some frinds small client sized PCs for when their kids are there.
I did just upgrade my main system, so thanks to this video, I still have a use for my old i7-6700k with 16GB of RAM and a 4GB Radeon 380x. It'll probably knock the PS2 emulation out of the park.
Have the same PC but with i7-4790 processor and no graphics card. PS2 works fine at 2x res but some GCN/Wii games slow at 2x. Did not realize there were cards so cheap. Bought one and going to test if any improvement.
Back in late 2019, i bought 4 of these for a total of $120, 320gb mechanical drives, 4gb ram and i3 3220. Upgrading to dual channel allows them to play some gamecube at full speed, though they don't support graphics cards, they're the usff models.
Golden eye impresses me to this day, not sure why just feels like they shrunk down a bulky sega virtua game from the arcades into a tiny box, still boggles my mind even though we have progressed well beyond that.
I remember er being able to get used gtx1650s for 130 bucks and putting them in these machines and people still sayi g "1650 is too weak.....get a 580 amd card for less and upgrade power." Shit I'd killed for a 1650 at launch retail price.
I doubt it will handle Valkyrie Profile 2 very well unless you use a 1030 or 1050. The latter could be a shoe horn fit though depending on the model. That game was a slide show on a G3258 and an AMD R5, but an i5-4670k and a 1050 makes it very playable.
@@TogonzoMedia Thats a good one IMO. In my experience, The Getaway, Shadow of The Colossus, Area 51, and a few others are the hardest games to run on PCSX2. Run those fine, and youre golden since over 90% of games are now playable according to the compatibility charts.
Hey ETA PRIME, could you do a video someday showcasing your recommendations for every emulation software you use? Like which course to use, Vulcan or Directx, settings, etc? I think that'd really help the community you've built with emulation setup!
I guess to explain better: if you were setting up Batocerra, which settings and cores would you use for each emulated system? That kind of explanation video. Thanks!
I built almost the exact same machine. I went with the HDMI low profile card and 2x4gb of ram. Little 3010s do pretty decent. Also added a Xbox360 adapter and bluetooth usb so I could use old 360/ps3 controllers. I'd say it cost me $50-$60 total. It does struggle to play things like Star Wars Rogue Squadron II for Gamecube. I wanted to get the gt 1030 but they're hard to find for a decent price. Solid little machine tho.
Hi ETA, Thank you for doing this. I just picked up an Optiplex 7010 i7 for $120 and I wanted to see how it would perform emulators. I think I will be ok now :)
Brilliant vid. I got a i5 7400 with 8gb dd4 FREE from my local computer shop he was throwing it out. Still works now 3 years later. I put in an SSD but wondering what graphics card to use. Would a 1030 be ok and be ok for power as my pc is a sff
Another fun emulation Optiplex video! I own both a Opt 9020 and 7010 ssf with the GT 1030 gpus and they go a long way when it comes to game emulation. The 1030 is a viable option . I can also play Steam games like The Takeover , etc. While i like the Batocera UI, I'm more partial to Retroarch.
I know this kind of defeats the purpose of a budget but if one wants to have the maximum power of that Dell omniplex they do have a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5 low profile out there as far as I know that's the most powerful GPU that you can cram into those small form factors
In times like these with stupid high GPU prices these systems are heaven sent. I love emulation and since you can do it on lower end hardware I'm giving the finger to price gouging e-sellers and scalpers while still enjoying gaming.
im currently running an optiplex 7020, Intel 4790 ith integrated graphics and 8gb ram. I have it hooked up to a crt monitor. Im good for emulating all the 16/32bit games. I have steam games running too, all the 2d indie games i have work well. My setup came with a dvd drive and hard drive loaded with windows 10 for £90 and the crt cost me £30, its a great little setup.
@@main_tak_becus6689 Just had a quick play and Shantae Riskys Revenge plays at 60fps, also Gunvolt, Mushihimesama and Wonderboy Dragons Trap are all 60fps. I tried Ikaruga On Gamecube through Dolphin and it held 60fps too. Bear in mind that im running games at 1024x768 resolution. I would say for any 2d pixel art games you will be fine.
@@ThatGamingGuyfromthe70s woah thank you for the good news! I don't mind lower resolution (480p widescreen), as I play PS1, PS2, SNES, GBA, NDS, and 3DS games a lot. I had a gaming PC but early this year sold it because of financial issue. It's not been a year but I really miss pc gaming. I plan to play Far Cry 1/2 and many older games on integrated gpu. Not interested in newer AAA anyway
An important point to consider: Getting into retro gaming is expensive; buying one console in good condition can be pricey (e.g. an N64 is $100) plus a line doubler for another $60+. One can easily spend $200 just for one console and a few games. Or, do this and have many consoles and many games over HDMI natively!
Hi ETA Prime, My batocera emulation build is a dell optiplex 7020 sff with the power supply of a dell optiplex xe2 sff (255w -> 315w), i7 4790k (4 cores / 8 threads, 4.0 ghz up to 4.4 ghz), 16gb ram (4 × 4gb), ssd with 240gb, hdd with 4tb, wlan card and a low profile gtx 1650 from msi. I laid the 1650 outside in a printed housing and plugged it into the pcie 16x slot with a riser cable for full performance. The housing of the 1650 is attached to the top of the optiplex. No problems with heat or power consumption and the optiplex runs perfectly. Most of the wii u games run at 2k, most of the gamecube/wii games at 3/4k and most of the ps2 games at 2/3k.
I’m very tempted to buy one of these 730s for my SSF i5, don’t want to spend the money on one tho it’s gonna kill me as I’ve got a few 8gb and 12gb card sitting in mining rig. I’m happy paying £600+ for gpus to mine but won’t pay £30 for one to game on 🙈
Thanks for your videos. You have inspired me to repurpose my old laptop into retro gaming machine instead of purchasing ARM based retro gaming consoles which may not run as good x86 machines. I've installed Windows 10 lite with Retrobat and works really well.
I'm running a slightly better setup with the Core i5 3470 and an RX 550 which I built for about $140. It runs Metroid Prime on Dolphin great and it runs the games I want on PCSX2 (WWE games and Tekken 5). Solid setup for sure and it doubles as a good home office PC.
i have loved loved your tutorials for years. can you please make a tutorial on how to use mame version we own to implement and run in batocera. many of us dont want to use many versions of mame for somewhat working sets as most frontends now use for retroarch like 2003 plus mame.. please we have been dying for this and only trust you! THANKS SO MUCH..!!!
I love the Optiplexes. Mostly toolless design, clearly designed for ease of maintenance. Extremely affordable used and most of them come in excellent condition. For not a whole lot more it's easy to get some of the Optiplexes running 32GB of RAM, and any of them can of course take a SATA SSD (even the model in this video can take two SATA SSDs by replacing the optical drive with a caddy for a second SSD). Most of the Dells and HPs and such that we're seeing for sale are off-lease or discarded business/university/etc. machines and most are even in great condition because of this. Kinda cool to think of giving these machines a new life - they likely spent the prime of their life running Word, Excel and Outlook, and especially with Win 11 they're "unsupported", so uses like this let them "retire" into a life of fun. :-)
My OptiPlex I5 build is great, I made it after seeing one of ETA PRIME's video's just before Covid kicked off. I added a low profile GPU before all the prices went through the roof. I was lucky, I got a as new machine that was never used and came with windows 10 and a warranty (because it was from a bulk reseller / refurbisher). Y'all will probably have better luck with barter / local trading sites.... now that people have caught on to how good old office OptiPlex's are.
I got a i5 4570 with 8 gigs of ddr3 memory for 40 dollars and 40 dollars for a gt 630 2gb model, and my pc runs great. I use windows though just because it's easier for me as it had open gl and good compatibility for emulators
I picked up an Acer Aspire XC-605, and has a 4th gen i5 (4460 I believe), and it has 8gb DDR3 ram, and 16gb is maximum. I also picked up a Nvidia GT 1030 2gb GDDR5. It's a pretty small PC, and the GT 1030 is low profile. This should be a pretty decent emulation box, right? Do you recommend I run Batocera on it? I also am a lifetime member of both Launchbox and Hyperspin.
Im building an emulation/media PC out of a HP 6000 pro sff with a core 2 quad 9550. I'm using an old 1gb 7470 right now and it works fine and will even do some gamecube semi decently. Wanna get my hands on a gddr5 gt730 but i'm not finding them at reasonable price. I miss the days of complaining about gtx 1650s being over priced at $150.
I once found about a truckload of these dumped from a business that was closing down. There they were, all stacked higher than a skyscraper next to the shitty old rusted typewriters and the ugly orange sears adding machines. Took about 15 of them home and turned them around for a quick buck referbished. People are so wasteful. We live in a throwaway society and Im glad I was able to save them and find them a good home.
Picked up almost exactly the same build for the same purpose but my card turned out to be the gddr5 one. Performs pretty good for a total price under 100$AU
Love your videos man. I found a deal in my area that looks pretty great. What fő you think about i5 750 with Ati Radeon hd 4550 and 4 gigs of ram for roughly 58 bucks?
The idea isnt bad. Once the gpu market normalizes, it could handle a lot of pc games too. These can run up to i7-4790 and if 3050Ti low profile ever comes out, these will at least beat ultrabooks that also feature 3050ti :D
@@ryecatcher25 I am not even sure whether a desktop 3050Ti will be faster than 1080 ... also there arent any low profile 1080 cards .the most powerful low profile gpu atm is a gtx 1650 so even if 3050ti causes a slight bottleneck, it might still be worth it
Just a little insight nitpick (sorry). You test ps2 game and i think u should go more hardcore, like for example saying that BR will work nicely is nice, but u know how bout games like Dark alliance or DA 2 or like champions of norrath, etc. these games need more then a powerful gpu if u want them to look good, those need vram as well. So its a bit deceiving stating its good for ps2 emu. Most games sure, but i found some that need that extra vram, more vram then 2, 3 and more is a good choice for if u want ps2 emulation. If u want to address all possible scenarios. Many ps2 games will run nicely even on a core2duo like Drakan ANcient Gates, runs great on e6600 not even ocd. I know I know, im nitpicking here. U dont need to do that of course, but would be nice, to see some option i might have, that i wasnt even considering that can run those games, i quite like them, and well those week ass 1gb or 2gb cards wont run all of them, not 1080p that im aiming for. Sure 720 or native probably, but then whats the point of emulating, i could buy a console for 20 € and im fine, i have the games, but i dont want to go back to original ps2 hw, even though there are ways to enhance a bit the experience, still, its no 4k and i can live without some effects here or there, dont make the game less desirable in my eyes. So please, if u reading this and u at least might consider going for those hardcore games (in terms of hw needs) would be appreciated even if like from standpoint of seeing both ends of the spectrum. Low vram usage ones, high res. or low res. games that can be run on certain gpus. Or if nothing else, just mentioning it etc. But its up to u. Either way i like ur vids, thats why im here and subbed, not because u do something wrong or anything like that. Im grateful btw that u included, here and there with emulation testing also xbox emulator, cxbx at least. Xemu less so. So its really not optimized for low end hw, those two. games run baddly on anything but higher end stuff. I mean ifu upscale. Anyway again, please consider, changin up games. I agree though with auto modelista. I wasnt sure, so i tried it myself and yeah, its pretty taxing that game, but i can run it 1440p, even 4k but well there are dips here or there, so 1440p safe bet ona 4c 4ghz cpu. with 1060 6gb
I am trying to build the same thing with an old DELL OPTPLEX 7010SFF 4th GEN I5. I have bought the 16 Gigs of DDR3 memory and I also purchased a 1TB SSD for the build. I am only still looking to purchase a GPU to install in the 7010. I have been searching for a reasonably priced GTX1610 LP but damn they are still so expensive. I may look at a GT950 or 1050TI to get me by until the GTX1650 come down to reality in price sometimes in 2022..
The 3010 SFF are actually pretty good candidates for case swaps, though you need to do a bit of hacking on the front panel connector on the motherboard to avoid the "front panel unplugged" error. But yeah, throw it in a different case, and you can run most any video card you want on it.
I got really lucky in that I bought and upgraded my current pc just before the pandemic/scalping ruined the market... Ryzen 5 1400 with an RX 5600xt. I bought a 2nd M.2 NVME 500gb drive and put all my emulation on it. Not only do I get to run everything up to RPCS3 with full speed (for most of the ps3 stuff anyway) but I can also play modern titles. with ALL my gaming both retro/modern on M.2 drives, the load times even on the PS3 are so much better than their native hardware counterparts. I love it. It's like having the PS5 super fast load times with all the previous generations. Question @ETA PRIME. Do you think 1st gen Ryzen coupled with a decent GPU like mine will end up being able to run PS4 emulation okay if they ever figure that out?
What I *_HATE_* about these Dell SFF computers is the fact that most I've seen (7020 and up) have the pciex16 slot right up against the power supply. In other words you cannot put a low profile 2 slot gpu like the 1650 in on the board unless you pull off the heatsink. Even something as new as the 7080 does the exact same thing! But then again, these are work computers not gaming I guess.
Would like to see a setup like this running Virtual Pinball (for something like AtGames pinball cabinet. Would need to upgrade graphics card to have 2 HDMI out, one for table screen 1080p @60fps, and the other for back box screen.
eBay or Second Hand Stores are amazing. Just buy a new hdd or some used but better graphic Card or even SSD. Perfect for Linux Lite Body Mint MX or Google os. Even win 10 works
It won’t be too long until these videos feature ex office 6th and 7th gen i3s and i5s, they seem to be nearly as cheap as the 3rd gen desktops at the moment
I can assure you that if you also just take the cpu up to 4th gen also with that 1030, you will be able to play cemu, citra even some switch and ps3. And anything on ps2
It is probably not uncommon to find PCs of this caliber whilst dumpster diving. You may even find a laptop with a cracked screen that would work great for emulation. I would put your findings in a black garbage bag in direct sunlight outside for a couple of days to kill any critters that maybe inside before bringing it inside your home. Black garbage bags absorb more light/heat than white garbage bags.
These pc parts cost way more than $100 in my country. Build up pcs with i5 4570 is around $125 to $150. I wonder if intel HD 4600 is capable of playing dolphin, saturn, xbox games.
I'm amazed at how cheap those machines are in the US. Here in Brazil the same Optiplex goes for about US$ 330, and the GT 730 for US$ 130. At US$ 460, this setup costs the same as an Xbox One S here. Also, how about Wii performance with the 730? Is it playable?
I got a 3070 recently with an i5 9400 but I don't know what decent and affordable GPU I can use. I seen a few gt 1030 but don't know if they will bottleneck. I only want to play PS2 and GameCube.
GT1030 will be fine for GameCube and PS2 although it will be the bottleneck vs. the i5 9400. The only reasons to use a 1030 are if it's all you need, all you can afford, and/or all you can fit. Otherwise I don't recommend them in 2021. I bought mine in 2019 because that was all that would fit. Also it only draws 30W so it doesn't require extra power connectors. That's another concern. Without knowing what form factor case you have it's hard to say, but I would guess that you probably don't have any GPU power connectors with that system. I will say that you probably paid too much, though. The 3070/9400 costs a lot more than the class of system he's talking about in this video (3010/3rd gen i5).
Great video, thx. Will it also run fine with PS3 emulation? If it doesn't run well is it because of the cpu or gpu? I have an i5-3550 + gtx 1060 that may be good for this purpose.
occasionally you can find the low profile 750 ti for less then $100 and it has a little more raw performance then the gt 1030. So if you find a GT 1030 or a 750 ti for less then $100 and it fits your budget for this type of build, go ahead and scoop it up
@Derrick Finzer I have used low profile GT 1030, gtx 1050, 1650 and radeon Rx 550 and WX2100. The card compatibility depends on the slot orientation of your optiplex. If you have a full tower or mini tower it should be fine. If you are using an SFF model of the 3010 you will need to check where the PCIE x16 slot is located. Some of the SFF optiplexes have the x16 in the first slot so you can use dual slot low profile cards. IF your optiplex has the x16 slot NEXT to the power supply you will need to use a single slot GPU. There are single slot & low profile GPU versions for the GTX 750/ti the GT 1030 and several quadro cards like th quadro P400, P620, T400 and T600. Check your hardware in person or online to find out if your slot spacing and hard height is appropriate for the card of your choosing.
It seems the SFF model of the 3010 CAN use a single OR dual slot half height/ low profile card. If you have a regular size desktop "tower" version then it will work fine with a full height bracket so you can use nearly any card that is supported by your power supply. 75 watt cards with NO supplemental power will work on just about anything with a x16 PCIE slot
A couple weeks ago i bought a prebuild lenovo pc i5 3470 with single stick 8gigs, dvd rw, 280w psu, 500gb hdd for $105, idk if the price is decent or not, this is the cheapest prebuild with i5 3rd gen i can find, anything else is expensive af (prebuild i5 3rd gen no gpu price in my country can get up to $150 especially the dell optiplex, ridiculous)
Warning for those buying a GT 730 - it's going legacy. Batocera doesn't have official legacy nvidia driver support. I would like to see the performance of amd cards, r7 250, HD 8590, V3900 and similar, they seem as a nice alternative.
@@-r-3542 nvidia driver isn't baked into kernel, it has to be downloaded separately. They won't provide it in a few days. There is an unofficial build with legacy drivers, but it's based on batocera 24, while the current one is 31.
hell yeah you can! but i don't think that ps2 is too much for that gpu, i'm able to get decent performance on ps2 on my 2010 server with an old 1gb nvidia card. also, you can build retro arena / ares on ubuntu/linux distros on pc!
OMG! I've got the EXACT SAME setup and been rocking this machine for a little more than two years now. Best bang for the bucks.
I got this exact machine with the GT 1030 ddr5 version. Highly recommended it for the price It can even handle most Wii u games like Mario Kart and Mario 3D World
Have you tried xbox emulation as well?
@@joaofilipin7509 No, I haven't touched this pc in a while, and at the time Xbox emulation wasn't really available.
@@gvanderlee2703 xbox emulation has come a long way in that last year or so.... I was just wondering how well such a pc would run xbox nowadays. Thanks anyways :)
What about PC games?
@@john6982 honestly don't know. I've been a console gamer since the early 90s, so emulation is all I care about. But I think it is safe to say you should be able to run most games from 2010 and below at 720p with respectable frame rates. There should be TH-cam vids out there.
I love these old off lease machines. They're cheap and you can get a lot of bang for the buck. Add in some more ram, an ssd, and a budget graphics card and you've got something that'll serve most people's needs.
Some even come with 8 gigs of ram and ssd
@@merciless972 Mine came with 8 gigs of ram, but could be bumped up to 16 (May do that just because I come from a time when a gig would have been unimaginable overkill much less sixteen.) Mechanical drive though and the move to SSD was a real and measureable game changer on the sort of gains made along wit hgeneral quieting of the system.
get a 4th gen i7 model with 16gb of ram and slap in a 1650 gddr6 gpu and boom youve got a really nice 1080p machine
@@JudeTheTH-camPoopersubscribe Those were my exact thoughts but the 1650 will cost more than the entire system. At least with current pricing... =[
@@singletona082 I remember my first SSD. It is a game changer.
Dude you are just cranking these videos out! I love it. Your channel has always piqued my interest what with my fascination with emulation since I was a kid and now is the perfect time to get into it with the techpocalypse happening still.
I hope your channel is doing great, it’s a good time for cheaper emulation systems to thrive.
There's so, so much fun to be had doing emulation on a PC and dedicating it to ONLY doing retro gaming. Super rad idea
I just want to put together a living room emulator for PS1/Ps2/ps3, but it seems like i have to build a full scale PC for all that.
I was trying to find the best way to repurpose old parts from an old build and this is perfect. Thanks for the video. I just lucked out and picked up an open box 450W PSU and an open box GT 1030 (DDR4 sadly), for just over $100. Super excited to get it up and running
Awesome build. I recently used the same case (but the 7010 version). Installed an SSD drive. Swapped the processor to a 3770K. Upgraded the ram to 16gb DDR3 1600 MHz running in dual channel, and threw in a GeForce 1050ti. My build cost didn’t land on 100 bucks though. But maaaaan. Im so impressed. Besides emulation that puppy can run modern games at 1080p with a solid 60 FPS or higher. Even on medium to high settings. It’s nuts.
Im sitting right in front of that same machine typing this comment!
It was given to me for free!
Had already been modded and transplanted into a new case too so had all the hard work cut out for me too!
Had it for almost 2 whole years now.
It does fl studio, streaming, facebook and everything elce nicely.
I put an i7 3ghz in it too.
Thanks ETA Prime. My fav videos are budget builds for emulation up to PS2 and PS3.
Really cool to see this, I more or less made this build a few years ago. It works pretty well, but PS2 is a definitely struggle depending on the game. Gamecube and wii are a breeze, though, probably owing to Dolphin being awesome. Mine is running linux, too, so it doesn't have access to the same opengl features, which probably doesn't help.
Does pcsx2 not have Vulcan in Linux? I could never get it to compile so idk lmao
@@alfiegordon9013 it's been awhile but I don't think I was able to use Vulcan for some reason. with how rapidly Vulcan is advancing it might be an option now
@@Akerfeldtfan fair, I’ll have to see if I can get make to play along now lol
So after purchasing and testing the GT 730 that was recommended in this video, I can say that Batocera was not actually using the GPU during your tests. When you install an NVIDIA GPU in Batocera you have to enable the drivers over command line and then plug the cable through the GPU. In the menu it will show NVIDIA instead of MESA in the OPENGL System Information Line. When I enabled the GT 730 I saw noticable performance drops in even the menus and Gamecube/PS2/Wii were not playable at all. When running integrated graphics on my system, GCN/Wii run at 1x and PS2 at 2x resolution just fine. Just a heads up for anyone who was thinking about purchasing one of these cards. Don't waste the $30 and get a more powerful card or better CPU.
So a gt 730 is worse than integrated?
@@FatButtFlaps yup I had same issue too, not sure why but same dell 9020 optiplex actually ran worse with a gt 730... go figure
@@hybridshift in most emulators intergrated is better than discrete for some reason
the x86 cpu crushes the rpi4's arm based cpu. This is a nice budget build
and the power consumption also crash the rpi4 too
@@EricCartman056 yup
It's a x64 cpu though.
@@GeorgeWPush x64 architecture is also called x86-64.
But I was just comparing it xD
Games run so well on x86 and they have better compatibility.
@@EricCartman056 How much does the power consumption really matter if it's only on when you're using it to play games? The low power consumption of the pi is only a real advantage if you're using it as a server and running it 24/7
I picked up a nice Dell Optiplex 960 from a refurbishing shop for $80 w/ a Core2Quad 2.66GHz and 4GB of memory that runs Ubuntu really well. I replaced the old 500GB spinner hard drive w/ a 64GB SSD and installed an old PCI-E AMD graphics card and a wi-fi card.
I have to be honest, I love videos like this.
I got one from my old library with an i5-4570 for free. I upgraded to 8GB, controller, and a 1TB using used parts in my bin. I spent $60 for a RX550.
ChimeraOS, Runs even Shadow of Mordor at 60FPS high. Plus I can stream from my main PC.
That opening with the robot at the end of the bed, dimly lit room and the dark rain filled sky always hits a spot with me. Hits me right in my feels...
Great advice. You could even save more by going to a big office building and ask one of the maintenace or cleaning managers for access to the electronic recycling container. I find clients with i5-4460s and 8GBs all day. Just as many Xeon workstations (wich have really great power supplies), monitors and cables. All the cables.
I made a Batocera box and could give some frinds small client sized PCs for when their kids are there.
I would love a comparison of graphics cards in this range so we know what to look for on eBay.
I did just upgrade my main system, so thanks to this video, I still have a use for my old i7-6700k with 16GB of RAM and a 4GB Radeon 380x. It'll probably knock the PS2 emulation out of the park.
Have the same PC but with i7-4790 processor and no graphics card. PS2 works fine at 2x res but some GCN/Wii games slow at 2x. Did not realize there were cards so cheap. Bought one and going to test if any improvement.
Back in late 2019, i bought 4 of these for a total of $120, 320gb mechanical drives, 4gb ram and i3 3220. Upgrading to dual channel allows them to play some gamecube at full speed, though they don't support graphics cards, they're the usff models.
You are one of the TH-camrs that I press the Like button prior to watching the video... and have never regretted doing so 😎
Golden eye impresses me to this day, not sure why just feels like they shrunk down a bulky sega virtua game from the arcades into a tiny box, still boggles my mind even though we have progressed well beyond that.
I remember ETA Prime getting setups and performance like this for $20 a couple years ago. Man, inflation sucks
I remember er being able to get used gtx1650s for 130 bucks and putting them in these machines and people still sayi g "1650 is too weak.....get a 580 amd card for less and upgrade power." Shit I'd killed for a 1650 at launch retail price.
So this was actually powerful enough to emulate upto PS2 really surprised 😳
I doubt it will handle Valkyrie Profile 2 very well unless you use a 1030 or 1050. The latter could be a shoe horn fit though depending on the model. That game was a slide show on a G3258 and an AMD R5, but an i5-4670k and a 1050 makes it very playable.
@@TogonzoMedia Thats a good one IMO. In my experience, The Getaway, Shadow of The Colossus, Area 51, and a few others are the hardest games to run on PCSX2. Run those fine, and youre golden since over 90% of games are now playable according to the compatibility charts.
@@TogonzoMedia even so, the advantage is that it can play PC games as well.
@@TogonzoMedia An i5-3570 + 1050ti runs Valkyrie Profile 2, no sweat.
@@PacketWrangler Awesome!
Hey ETA PRIME, could you do a video someday showcasing your recommendations for every emulation software you use? Like which course to use, Vulcan or Directx, settings, etc? I think that'd really help the community you've built with emulation setup!
I guess to explain better: if you were setting up Batocerra, which settings and cores would you use for each emulated system? That kind of explanation video. Thanks!
Built 1 of these from a Lenovo M900. Wanted a smaller form factor since it sits on top of a wall unit. Working great so far!
I built almost the exact same machine. I went with the HDMI low profile card and 2x4gb of ram. Little 3010s do pretty decent.
Also added a Xbox360 adapter and bluetooth usb so I could use old 360/ps3 controllers. I'd say it cost me $50-$60 total.
It does struggle to play things like Star Wars Rogue Squadron II for Gamecube. I wanted to get the gt 1030 but they're hard to find for a decent price. Solid little machine tho.
Hi ETA, Thank you for doing this. I just picked up an Optiplex 7010 i7 for $120 and I wanted to see how it would perform emulators. I think I will be ok now :)
Brilliant vid. I got a i5 7400 with 8gb dd4 FREE from my local computer shop he was throwing it out. Still works now 3 years later.
I put in an SSD but wondering what graphics card to use. Would a 1030 be ok and be ok for power as my pc is a sff
Another fun emulation Optiplex video! I own both a Opt 9020 and 7010 ssf with the GT 1030 gpus and they go a long way when it comes to game emulation. The 1030 is a viable option . I can also play Steam games like The Takeover , etc.
While i like the Batocera UI, I'm more partial to Retroarch.
I know this kind of defeats the purpose of a budget but if one wants to have the maximum power of that Dell omniplex they do have a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5 low profile out there as far as I know that's the most powerful GPU that you can cram into those small form factors
In times like these with stupid high GPU prices these systems are heaven sent. I love emulation and since you can do it on lower end hardware I'm giving the finger to price gouging e-sellers and scalpers while still enjoying gaming.
im currently running an optiplex 7020, Intel 4790 ith integrated graphics and 8gb ram. I have it hooked up to a crt monitor. Im good for emulating all the 16/32bit games. I have steam games running too, all the 2d indie games i have work well. My setup came with a dvd drive and hard drive loaded with windows 10 for £90 and the crt cost me £30, its a great little setup.
Do you play indie games? I'm interested in i5 4570, I'd be happy if the integrated gpu can play metroidvania games (Shantae series and others).
@@main_tak_becus6689 Just had a quick play and Shantae Riskys Revenge plays at 60fps, also Gunvolt, Mushihimesama and Wonderboy Dragons Trap are all 60fps. I tried Ikaruga On Gamecube through Dolphin and it held 60fps too. Bear in mind that im running games at 1024x768 resolution. I would say for any 2d pixel art games you will be fine.
@@ThatGamingGuyfromthe70s woah thank you for the good news! I don't mind lower resolution (480p widescreen), as I play PS1, PS2, SNES, GBA, NDS, and 3DS games a lot. I had a gaming PC but early this year sold it because of financial issue. It's not been a year but I really miss pc gaming. I plan to play Far Cry 1/2 and many older games on integrated gpu. Not interested in newer AAA anyway
An important point to consider: Getting into retro gaming is expensive; buying one console in good condition can be pricey (e.g. an N64 is $100) plus a line doubler for another $60+. One can easily spend $200 just for one console and a few games. Or, do this and have many consoles and many games over HDMI natively!
Hi ETA Prime,
My batocera emulation build is a dell optiplex 7020 sff with the power supply of a dell optiplex xe2 sff (255w -> 315w), i7 4790k (4 cores / 8 threads, 4.0 ghz up to 4.4 ghz), 16gb ram (4 × 4gb), ssd with 240gb, hdd with 4tb, wlan card and a low profile gtx 1650 from msi. I laid the 1650 outside in a printed housing and plugged it into the pcie 16x slot with a riser cable for full performance. The housing of the 1650 is attached to the top of the optiplex. No problems with heat or power consumption and the optiplex runs perfectly. Most of the wii u games run at 2k, most of the gamecube/wii games at 3/4k and most of the ps2 games at 2/3k.
These OEM systems are actually really good for building budget gaming PCs
Very good as always, good work Eta.
My Gt730 plays PS2 very well here in 2024. RPCS3 and Xenia still haven't checked, but it's holding up so far. Even overclocked it a bit
These are just so my kind of videos. buildung old pc from scrap parts is basiclly my only hobby.
currently i have 7 pc´s in my room. xD
what's you gonna do with all that pcs ?
Give me one😭
I’m very tempted to buy one of these 730s for my SSF i5, don’t want to spend the money on one tho it’s gonna kill me as I’ve got a few 8gb and 12gb card sitting in mining rig. I’m happy paying £600+ for gpus to mine but won’t pay £30 for one to game on 🙈
I used to play PS2 in a 'worse' machine than this and it was really fine. Doing 2x in a lot of games. Was playing on windows though
Thanks for your videos. You have inspired me to repurpose my old laptop into retro gaming machine instead of purchasing ARM based retro gaming consoles which may not run as good x86 machines. I've installed Windows 10 lite with Retrobat and works really well.
I started with Batocera on my emulation box, but I found Windows 10 + Big Box to have a lot more options, especially with PS2.
I'm running a slightly better setup with the Core i5 3470 and an RX 550 which I built for about $140. It runs Metroid Prime on Dolphin great and it runs the games I want on PCSX2 (WWE games and Tekken 5). Solid setup for sure and it doubles as a good home office PC.
i have loved loved your tutorials for years. can you please make a tutorial on how to use mame version we own to implement and run in batocera. many of us dont want to use many versions of mame for somewhat working sets as most frontends now use for retroarch like 2003 plus mame.. please we have been dying for this and only trust you!
THANKS SO MUCH..!!!
I love the Optiplexes. Mostly toolless design, clearly designed for ease of maintenance. Extremely affordable used and most of them come in excellent condition. For not a whole lot more it's easy to get some of the Optiplexes running 32GB of RAM, and any of them can of course take a SATA SSD (even the model in this video can take two SATA SSDs by replacing the optical drive with a caddy for a second SSD). Most of the Dells and HPs and such that we're seeing for sale are off-lease or discarded business/university/etc. machines and most are even in great condition because of this. Kinda cool to think of giving these machines a new life - they likely spent the prime of their life running Word, Excel and Outlook, and especially with Win 11 they're "unsupported", so uses like this let them "retire" into a life of fun. :-)
Biggest problem is proprietary PSU port on motherboard . Now, there are some cables-adapters to allow them to use regular PSU but these are iffy.
My OptiPlex I5 build is great, I made it after seeing one of
ETA PRIME's video's just before Covid kicked off. I added a low profile GPU before all the prices went through the roof.
I was lucky, I got a as new machine that was never used and came with windows 10 and a warranty (because it was from a bulk reseller / refurbisher). Y'all will probably have better luck with barter / local trading sites.... now that people have caught on to how good old office OptiPlex's are.
Bookmarking this for later. Got my hands on an older Optiplex from work.
I think we knew the bottleneck in PS2 was the GPU just by looking at the usage nu
mbers at the bottom.
I got a i5 4570 with 8 gigs of ddr3 memory for 40 dollars and 40 dollars for a gt 630 2gb model, and my pc runs great. I use windows though just because it's easier for me as it had open gl and good compatibility for emulators
These are the videos I love. Informational and entertaining as always thanks for posting!
Hoot!
Another great video. thanks for all the info. luv it
It is what it is.It's still a great value pc.I knew with the gt 730 it won't run ps 2 but even the gt 1030 here are over priced.
All my PC's and kids PC's are old Optiplex machines, with a good GFX card, they are pretty good low budget PC gaming.
My LAN machine is one of these dell's. I5 3470, 16gb ram, and a 1050ti. They smash it
I picked up an Acer Aspire XC-605, and has a 4th gen i5 (4460 I believe), and it has 8gb DDR3 ram, and 16gb is maximum. I also picked up a Nvidia GT 1030 2gb GDDR5. It's a pretty small PC, and the GT 1030 is low profile. This should be a pretty decent emulation box, right? Do you recommend I run Batocera on it? I also am a lifetime member of both Launchbox and Hyperspin.
really nice i work with a optiplex 980 i painted all black i reallly like it
Im building an emulation/media PC out of a HP 6000 pro sff with a core 2 quad 9550. I'm using an old 1gb 7470 right now and it works fine and will even do some gamecube semi decently. Wanna get my hands on a gddr5 gt730 but i'm not finding them at reasonable price. I miss the days of complaining about gtx 1650s being over priced at $150.
I once found about a truckload of these dumped from a business that was closing down.
There they were, all stacked higher than a skyscraper next to the shitty old rusted typewriters and the ugly orange sears adding machines. Took about 15 of them home and turned them around for a quick buck referbished.
People are so wasteful.
We live in a throwaway society and Im glad I was able to save them and find them a good home.
Love seeing videos like these.
Thank you for this ETA Prime you're the Man
Great little computer but the failure point is the power supply. I've had 2 of these computers and both times the psu crapped out.
Because of you i am a computer horder now i have no shame
LOVE ur vids bruv, dope stuff as always
This is better than an rpi4 because it can also play PC games from 2014 or before (maybe even newer games).
Picked up almost exactly the same build for the same purpose but my card turned out to be the gddr5 one. Performs pretty good for a total price under 100$AU
Love your videos man. I found a deal in my area that looks pretty great. What fő you think about i5 750 with Ati Radeon hd 4550 and 4 gigs of ram for roughly 58 bucks?
The idea isnt bad. Once the gpu market normalizes, it could handle a lot of pc games too. These can run up to i7-4790 and if 3050Ti low profile ever comes out, these will at least beat ultrabooks that also feature 3050ti :D
3050ti would be overkill because the gpu would be wasted compared to cpu and mother board. I7 4790 pairs best with 1080.
@@ryecatcher25 I am not even sure whether a desktop 3050Ti will be faster than 1080 ... also there arent any low profile 1080 cards .the most powerful low profile gpu atm is a gtx 1650 so even if 3050ti causes a slight bottleneck, it might still be worth it
A GTX1030 4gb would work great in a build like this.
excelent review. this pc are very usables in 2022... and more
Altered Beast was my very first game :) Nice intro
Just a little insight nitpick (sorry). You test ps2 game and i think u should go more hardcore, like for example saying that BR will work nicely is nice, but u know how bout games like Dark alliance or DA 2 or like champions of norrath, etc. these games need more then a powerful gpu if u want them to look good, those need vram as well. So its a bit deceiving stating its good for ps2 emu. Most games sure, but i found some that need that extra vram, more vram then 2, 3 and more is a good choice for if u want ps2 emulation. If u want to address all possible scenarios. Many ps2 games will run nicely even on a core2duo like Drakan ANcient Gates, runs great on e6600 not even ocd. I know I know, im nitpicking here. U dont need to do that of course, but would be nice, to see some option i might have, that i wasnt even considering that can run those games, i quite like them, and well those week ass 1gb or 2gb cards wont run all of them, not 1080p that im aiming for. Sure 720 or native probably, but then whats the point of emulating, i could buy a console for 20 € and im fine, i have the games, but i dont want to go back to original ps2 hw, even though there are ways to enhance a bit the experience, still, its no 4k and i can live without some effects here or there, dont make the game less desirable in my eyes.
So please, if u reading this and u at least might consider going for those hardcore games (in terms of hw needs) would be appreciated even if like from standpoint of seeing both ends of the spectrum. Low vram usage ones, high res. or low res. games that can be run on certain gpus. Or if nothing else, just mentioning it etc. But its up to u. Either way i like ur vids, thats why im here and subbed, not because u do something wrong or anything like that. Im grateful btw that u included, here and there with emulation testing also xbox emulator, cxbx at least. Xemu less so.
So its really not optimized for low end hw, those two. games run baddly on anything but higher end stuff. I mean ifu upscale. Anyway again, please consider, changin up games.
I agree though with auto modelista. I wasnt sure, so i tried it myself and yeah, its pretty taxing that game, but i can run it 1440p, even 4k but well there are dips here or there, so 1440p safe bet ona 4c 4ghz cpu. with 1060 6gb
I am trying to build the same thing with an old DELL OPTPLEX 7010SFF 4th GEN I5. I have bought the 16 Gigs of DDR3 memory and I also purchased a 1TB SSD for the build. I am only still looking to purchase a GPU to install in the 7010. I have been searching for a reasonably priced GTX1610 LP but damn they are still so expensive. I may look at a GT950 or 1050TI to get me by until the GTX1650 come down to reality in price sometimes in 2022..
very tasty! nice swap out too, love it ^_^ i think i want one...
The 3010 SFF are actually pretty good candidates for case swaps, though you need to do a bit of hacking on the front panel connector on the motherboard to avoid the "front panel unplugged" error. But yeah, throw it in a different case, and you can run most any video card you want on it.
I got really lucky in that I bought and upgraded my current pc just before the pandemic/scalping ruined the market... Ryzen 5 1400 with an RX 5600xt. I bought a 2nd M.2 NVME 500gb drive and put all my emulation on it. Not only do I get to run everything up to RPCS3 with full speed (for most of the ps3 stuff anyway) but I can also play modern titles. with ALL my gaming both retro/modern on M.2 drives, the load times even on the PS3 are so much better than their native hardware counterparts. I love it. It's like having the PS5 super fast load times with all the previous generations. Question @ETA PRIME. Do you think 1st gen Ryzen coupled with a decent GPU like mine will end up being able to run PS4 emulation okay if they ever figure that out?
What I *_HATE_* about these Dell SFF computers is the fact that most I've seen (7020 and up) have the pciex16 slot right up against the power supply. In other words you cannot put a low profile 2 slot gpu like the 1650 in on the board unless you pull off the heatsink. Even something as new as the 7080 does the exact same thing! But then again, these are work computers not gaming I guess.
Would like to see a setup like this running Virtual Pinball (for something like AtGames pinball cabinet. Would need to upgrade graphics card to have 2 HDMI out, one for table screen 1080p @60fps, and the other for back box screen.
eBay or Second Hand Stores are amazing. Just buy a new hdd or some used but better graphic Card or even SSD. Perfect for Linux Lite Body Mint MX or Google os. Even win 10 works
Genial como siempre, creo que una buena PC para emulacion ya debe correr PS1,2,3 emulators y xbox, así sí vale la pena adquirirla
It won’t be too long until these videos feature ex office 6th and 7th gen i3s and i5s, they seem to be nearly as cheap as the 3rd gen desktops at the moment
Yeap, and will only continue to go down as they won't support Windows 11.
@@booboo699254 I hope all the folks selling 8th gen i3s 8100 based desktops cheaply aren’t listening 😉
Cool video. Can you use a Nvidia Quadro GPUs for emulation?
seen one with same specs and gpu for £40 colection only rip such a good deal
I can assure you that if you also just take the cpu up to 4th gen also with that 1030, you will be able to play cemu, citra even some switch and ps3. And anything on ps2
It is probably not uncommon to find PCs of this caliber whilst dumpster diving. You may even find a laptop with a cracked screen that would work great for emulation. I would put your findings in a black garbage bag in direct sunlight outside for a couple of days to kill any critters that maybe inside before bringing it inside your home. Black garbage bags absorb more light/heat than white garbage bags.
These pc parts cost way more than $100 in my country. Build up pcs with i5 4570 is around $125 to $150. I wonder if intel HD 4600 is capable of playing dolphin, saturn, xbox games.
I'm amazed at how cheap those machines are in the US. Here in Brazil the same Optiplex goes for about US$ 330, and the GT 730 for US$ 130. At US$ 460, this setup costs the same as an Xbox One S here.
Also, how about Wii performance with the 730? Is it playable?
I got a 3070 recently with an i5 9400 but I don't know what decent and affordable GPU I can use. I seen a few gt 1030 but don't know if they will bottleneck. I only want to play PS2 and GameCube.
GT1030 will be fine for GameCube and PS2 although it will be the bottleneck vs. the i5 9400. The only reasons to use a 1030 are if it's all you need, all you can afford, and/or all you can fit. Otherwise I don't recommend them in 2021. I bought mine in 2019 because that was all that would fit. Also it only draws 30W so it doesn't require extra power connectors. That's another concern. Without knowing what form factor case you have it's hard to say, but I would guess that you probably don't have any GPU power connectors with that system. I will say that you probably paid too much, though. The 3070/9400 costs a lot more than the class of system he's talking about in this video (3010/3rd gen i5).
Great video, thx. Will it also run fine with PS3 emulation? If it doesn't run well is it because of the cpu or gpu?
I have an i5-3550 + gtx 1060 that may be good for this purpose.
occasionally you can find the low profile 750 ti for less then $100 and it has a little more raw performance then the gt 1030. So if you find a GT 1030 or a 750 ti for less then $100 and it fits your budget for this type of build, go ahead and scoop it up
@Derrick Finzer I have used low profile GT 1030, gtx 1050, 1650 and radeon Rx 550 and WX2100. The card compatibility depends on the slot orientation of your optiplex. If you have a full tower or mini tower it should be fine. If you are using an SFF model of the 3010 you will need to check where the PCIE x16 slot is located. Some of the SFF optiplexes have the x16 in the first slot so you can use dual slot low profile cards. IF your optiplex has the x16 slot NEXT to the power supply you will need to use a single slot GPU. There are single slot & low profile GPU versions for the GTX 750/ti the GT 1030 and several quadro cards like th quadro P400, P620, T400 and T600. Check your hardware in person or online to find out if your slot spacing and hard height is appropriate for the card of your choosing.
It seems the SFF model of the 3010 CAN use a single OR dual slot half height/ low profile card. If you have a regular size desktop "tower" version then it will work fine with a full height bracket so you can use nearly any card that is supported by your power supply. 75 watt cards with NO supplemental power will work on just about anything with a x16 PCIE slot
Awesome dude😁😁😁😁
would you ever to your top 10 games per each system and arcade. That would be amazing!!!
Hey, which background are you using on Batocera? It's really nice.
How would the i3 perform? Even worse on the ps2 games I’m assuming?
When you get a machine like this you do a repaste etc ou use right away. Thanks for the videos.
A couple weeks ago i bought a prebuild lenovo pc i5 3470 with single stick 8gigs, dvd rw, 280w psu, 500gb hdd for $105, idk if the price is decent or not, this is the cheapest prebuild with i5 3rd gen i can find, anything else is expensive af (prebuild i5 3rd gen no gpu price in my country can get up to $150 especially the dell optiplex, ridiculous)
Warning for those buying a GT 730 - it's going legacy. Batocera doesn't have official legacy nvidia driver support. I would like to see the performance of amd cards, r7 250, HD 8590, V3900 and similar, they seem as a nice alternative.
Most people with this card will just need to use old versions with old kernels..so it's not a giant problem.
@@-r-3542 nvidia driver isn't baked into kernel, it has to be downloaded separately. They won't provide it in a few days. There is an unofficial build with legacy drivers, but it's based on batocera 24, while the current one is 31.
I just picked up a lenovo p300 i5-4590 gonna mess around with it soon for emulation.
gt 730 alone costs more than 100 usd in my country. It's unfair what happened to graphics card prices.
hell yeah you can! but i don't think that ps2 is too much for that gpu, i'm able to get decent performance on ps2 on my 2010 server with an old 1gb nvidia card. also, you can build retro arena / ares on ubuntu/linux distros on pc!