Computer specifications

[Richy]

Hi everyone I’m a noob,

 

im looking to purchase a mini pc with windows 10 I looked on launch box website and found no documentation regarding what processor speed or how much ram is recommended for the pc. Thanks.

[Lordmonkus]

Any modern CPU is fine, it really doesn't matter for Launchbox but more ram and a graphics card that is not Intel on board video is highly recommended. For ram I would recommend at least 8 gigs minimum, some themes can use  a lot of memory while others are very light. A dedicated video card is highly recommended and preferred but an AMD Ryzen G series CPU/APU is fine but anything with Intel on board graphics is not recommended at all. 

[scooter1974]

I'm running a Ryzen 5 2400g and just using the on-board video (roughly the equivalent of a GT 1030) with 16 gigs of ram. Launchbox/Bigbox runs silky smooth.

Edited October 31, 2019 by scooter1974

[DOS76]

I have a 4th gen i5 laptop and it runs both well with a Intel GPU.

[Wally]

I think that the hard disk speed is more crucial factor than the CPU/GPU (regarding Lunchbox and its artwork/videos - not the actual emulation)

I had opted for a 5400rpm (slooooow)  hard disk until I had reached my emulation project to a certain level. I needed a disk that can endure all the tests, the overwrites etc.

Now that I have reached that level,  I am not sure whether I must go for an SSD or a 7200 hard disk.

Will the SSD make a significant difference in loading the artwork and videos?

Edited November 1, 2019 by Wally

[Kondorito]

Yes. No doubt about it. I did that switch some time ago and the difference is abysmal.

My minipc takes only 5 seconds to startup and trigger Bigbox automatically, whereas before with an HDD it took like 30-40 seconds for Windows, and then another 40 seconds in the BB intro before reaching the main category. Same with cached images from the wheels in terms of speed of scroll and instant display.

If its any help, I have the Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB. Got it for 100 bucks I believe. Black Friday/Cyber Monday is a good time to update your technology.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Kondorito

[DeadVoivod]

I bought a mini PC, the Hades Canyon, mainly to use with LB.
The Intel NUC Hades Canyon i7-8809G is an Intel NUC Kit with 8th Generation Intel Core Processors and has a Radeon RX Vega M GH graphics (4GB, 8M Cache, up to 4.20 GHz) which supports up to 6 displays. Graphics outputs are 2x Mini-DP 1.2, 2x Thunderbolt 3, F+R HDMI 2.0a. 

Other connections like USB are Front: USB3, 2x USB 3.1g2 (Type A and C); Rear: 4x USB3, 2x Thunderbolt3 (USB3.1g2); INT: 2x USB2, 2x USB3, so plenty of them. 

Unfortunately it doesn't come with memory or storage, so I bought that separately, as memory I bought the Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 2x16GB 2.666Mhz DDR4. Storage wise I bought a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB M.2 NVMe SSD for OS, and a Crucial MX500 1TB (3D NAND, Sata M.2) for games and such. 

Furthermore I'm using an external 5TB for my ROMs collection for LaunchBox, which should be enough. 

Edited November 1, 2019 by DeadVoivod

[Lordmonkus]

7 hours ago, Wally said:

I think that the hard disk speed is more crucial factor than the CPU/GPU (regarding Lunchbox and its artwork/videos - not the actual emulation)

I had opted for a 5400rpm (slooooow)  hard disk until I had reached my emulation project to a certain level. I needed a disk that can endure all the tests, the overwrites etc.

I have a very old system and I have detailed it in the BigBox Performance thread but it does have a semi decent GPU in it (1 gig DDR5 vram) and BigBox runs reasonably well with it if I tweak it for performance. The system only has 2 gigs of ram and a very old AMD CPU.

Also, Jason has said many times that a GPU is beneficial in BigBox.

Now of course the entire system as a whole does matter but a shitty system with a reasonable GPU will work fine.

[Kondorito]

6 hours ago, DeadVoivod said:

I bought a mini PC, the Hades Canyon, mainly to use with LB.

That's a sexy beast right there

[DeadVoivod]

13 hours ago, Kondorito said:

That's a sexy beast right there

It is indeed, plus it perfectly fits into the living room, as it’s not even half the size of f.ex. a PS4. 

[Richy]

Thank you guys so much for all the input I think I have a good start now.