New user looking to create their first Launchbox PC

[Velvetfog]

Hello all,

I just recently joined the forum, but have been doing research on setting up my first emulation computer. My question has to do with setting up Launchbox on a brand new PC. 

I bought a bare-bones Dell Optiplex 790 (Small Form Factor) on EBay to start with ($100).

Intel Core I7 2600 3.4 Ghz

8 GB memory

500 GB hard Drive

on-board video

OEM Power supply (225 or 250 as I remember)

I will be adding a new install of Windows 10 to this PC. I have several spare Video Cards here that I might add, but that would require that I upgrade the power supply. No a difficult task, but one that I need to research first since the Dell motherboard may not have a standard power harness hookup. If I do upgrade, it seems that 600 watts should be plenty.

my question has to do with software installation order for Launchbox. Obviously I need to set up the OS first ( win 10 home vs pro - I'd guess there is no difference on which one I use?). Th n I plan to install Launchbox Premium following your well done YouTube videos. Besides game Roms, do I need anything else to be installed? It sounds like I can set up a pretty bare system if I intend to just use it as an emulator machine.

i tried locating this info and generally only found minimum system requirements, or moving Launchbox to a new PC.

Thanks in advance.

Jim Reed

 

[Lordmonkus]

If you do decide to upgrade the video card you don't need to go overboard with anything super fancy. Something with only 1 gig of gddr5 vram is plenty enough and extremely cheap so look for something cheap and lower power draw. A GPU will help Launchbox performance but again you don't need anything super fancy, in my HTPC I have an old Radeon 7800 series card and it handles any shaders I throw at it.

27 minutes ago, Velvetfog said:

win 10 home vs pro - I'd guess there is no difference on which one I use?

Nope, no difference.

27 minutes ago, Velvetfog said:

Besides game Roms, do I need anything else to be installed?

Just the emulators themselves. Anything beyond that is purely optional such as other 3rd party software such as RocketLauncher, Controller Companion (or Xpadder) or anything else you might want for extra functionality.

[Velvetfog]

Thanks for the quick answers. Thanks to my recent layoff from a job of 35 years, I'll have time to start working on this later in the week! 

I think what I like about Launchbox and this foram is that you can get a system set up and going pretty quickly, but can spend a ton of time and research if you want to personalize it to your liking !!!

thanks again

 

[Lordmonkus]

No problem, feel free to ask anything you want on here or on the discord channel.

[Velvetfog]

 I just started looking around for Radeon 7800 graphics card. What kind of price range should I expect? For an older card, I'm seeing some prices in the $300s and that seams really high.

[Lordmonkus]

That is insanely high, you can get far better cards for 100$ or less.

[Velvetfog]

That's what I thought ! Any suggestions for a model I could get on Amazon or Newegg? Models and prices are all over the place!

Again, I appreciate your assistance.

[Lordmonkus]

For emulation only and maybe some lower end modern PC games all you really need is 1 gig of gddr5 vram. Though gddr3 might be just fine but the price difference is negligible and the gddr5 will give you better 3D performance if needed.

Something like this here will be just fine

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133542

If you plan on playing more advanced modern PC games then you might wanna look into something else depending on your budget.

 

[Velvetfog]

Ok, I'm an analyst, so there is something called "Paralysis by Analysis". I am definitely at this point in t,he project.

i've been looking into the PC I'm using and discovered some intersting. With the Micro ATX board installed, it appears that the GPU cannot draw more than 35-40 watts.  So, I have a limited power supply (225 watts) and a limit on how powerful a video card I can use.

Decision time.... Here are the options as I see them.

1. Use the PC as is, with the integrated graphics.. Don't sink any more money to this computer.

2 .Just add the low power graphic card and run with the system from there.

3 . Replace the Micro ATX motherboard and Power Supply. This would probably also require the Memory to be updated, and the whole thing would need to go in another PC case. Only the original CPU would be used .

4. Dump the PC, build a mid-level gaming PC from scratch and start from the beginning. Repurpose my dell as a server for the house.

 

So, while I need to make the final decision, I'd like to get your thoughts. As I'm recently laid off, I don't have too much money to put this together.  I just don't want to spend good money if I'm heading down a potential dead end with this PC. 

 

Thanks - Jim

Edited July 16, 2017 by Velvetfog

[Lordmonkus]

I would suggest using it as is and use it as a learning experience.

Upgrading the GPU wouldn't change any of the emulators you could use, it would only change some of the graphical options such as resolution scaling and shaders.

Use the computer as it sits to get used to setting up emulators and Launchbox and to decide what games you want and don't want. Once you learn more about it all you can use that knowledge to then decide just how far you want to take it.

[Rincewind]

Totally agree with keeping it as it is to start with and as with all things there is a learning curve even tho LaunchBox is very easy to setup. Also in the process you will learn which way to go with your pc in the future.

 

[ckp]

I would also agree to run with it as is. I think once people get into this, they want the power for everything, including modern PC games, and end up with multiple computers.  You'll find out if that's you or not in this process.  Have fun!