Bigbox vs Normal mode

[Smilator]

Hey everybody,

I am building a "new" computer only for emulating - I did take all the components from everywhere and it is turning out as a pretty functional Frankenstein's monster.
Anyhow, considering the build is not really performing (but it can actually play ps2 games) i would really like to use the most lightweight frontend ever. 
As i tried other frontends, I couldn't help but notice that Launchbox is really the easier and kinda fun to use even though not the lighter.
Next thing i wanna do is use the controller to navigate my games.

I understand that i have to buy the big box mode for the controller thing, but before i get it i wanted to ask: is the bigbox mode a lot heavier than the normal one?
Still, can you suggest me one of the simpler themes? I really don't like all the flashy-ones, just the simplest and lighter like this one

(i guess if the theme is simpler it is also faster, right? )

 

 

Thanks!

Edited September 6, 2017 by Smilator

[Lordmonkus]

BigBox is certainly not the most lightweight front end out there, that title belongs to AttractMode in my experience. However that doesn't mean that @Jason Carr is not working on improving it though it will never be as light weight. Jason is working on performance all the time and his goal right now is to get it running nicely on GPD Win portable device. There are some things that can be done though to keep its performance at an acceptable level. To start out try and keep your collection somewhat under control. This doesn't mean you cannot have a lot of games but if you are one of those people that has to have every single game for every single system then you are in for a rough time. Around the 10,000 - 15,000 games mark is where things tend to take a bit of a hit, depending on your system of course. You can also tweak some things in BigBox to help it along, set image quality to medium (you won't see a difference compared to the highest setting). Turning off the transition and the reflection effects will also help it along.

We have a thread here with some helpful tips to improve performance as well as specs on both of my systems and how well it performs for me.

As for what theme to use, I just use the default theme with text lists instead of clear logos. It really suits my tastes and performs great, much like you I don't like the flashy stuff though the Switch theme is very nice. Basically the less art and videos a theme has to display the faster it should be.

[neil9000]

I won't repeat @lordmonkus as he covered all the most pressing points. I will however recommend another theme, it's from the same developer of the switch theme his name is @Grila and it's called fundemental, it's lightweight and looks good.