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Most emulators tend to be CPU-dependent in general, meaning that their performance is greatly affected by the CPU's speed. The GPU on the other hand, mostly serves as a graphics enhancer by allowing for higher resolutions, anti-aliasing, etc. If your CPU isn't fast enough, you will most likely be not able to emulate a system at full speed. At the very least, a Core i5-2500K or a Ryzen 3 1300X or better is recommended for high-end emulation (e.g. [[PlayStation 2emulators|PS2]], [[Wii emulators|Wii]]). This page will explain and state other possible choices to take, provided that the above choices are not feasible.
==CPU==
Whenever a CPU has a high clock speed (Pentium 4 HT 672 @ 3.8 GHz), it does not always necessarily mean that it is powerful.<ref>http://www.computer-hardware-explained.com/megahertz-myth.html</ref> This is usually a common misconception, that stems from lack of detailed information on how a CPU works. However, it is true that a higher CPU clock speed guarantees improved emulation performance. While it is true that a high clock speed is one of the main factors for good CPU performance, it is not always the sole determining factor. For example, a Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz will nearly always outperform a Pentium D 940 @ 3.2GHz.<ref>http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2097</ref> Even though the Pentium D 940 is clocked significantly higher, the Core 2 Duo E6600 is faster due to the reduced amount of pipeline stages and a wider execution unit. This improves the amount of instructions it can output per cycle, which means better performance at a lower clock speed. In other words, the particular architecture of the CPU itself matters more than the clock speed.
AMD's Bulldozer-derived CPUs also follows the aforementioned Pentium 4 (NetBurst) example, which has the same issue that the NetBurst-derived CPUs suffer from. They also similarly share the same high clock speed traits, which might cause confusion and misleading performance conclusions. Because of this, it is therefore recommended to completely avoid Bulldozer at all costs. The single-threaded performance of Bulldozer is somewhat slower when compared to an equally-clocked Phenom II or a Core 2,<ref>https://www.overclock.net/photopost/data/1501987/b/b1/b16fb0b4_ScreenShot005.jpeg</ref> though the multi-threaded performance of Bulldozer far exceeds the fastest Phenom II or Core 2 offerings.<ref>https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Phenom-II-X6-1100T-vs-AMD-FX-9590/2004vs1812</ref> The real problem here is Bulldozer's under-average single-threaded performance that will not help in high-end emulation that uses 4 or less fewer cores, and the fact that Bulldozer has a shared FPU between 2 cores. What this means, is that a FX-4350 would have 2 FPUs (1 FPU per 2 cores), and a FX-9590 would have 4 FPUs (1 FPU per 2 cores x 4). This will lead to weaker performance in floating-point heavy calculations, and this is another reason why it is not recommended. If you are still not convinced, have a look at the benchmarks.<ref>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AunYlOAfGABxdFQ0UzJyTFAxbzZhYWtGcGwySlRFa1E#gid=1></ref><ref>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AunYlOAfGABxdFQ0UzJyTFAxbzZhYWtGcGwySlRFa1E#gid=0</ref><ref>http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-CPU-Benchmark-designed-for-PCSX2-based-on-FFX-2?page=107</ref><ref>https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-new-dolphin-cpu-benchmark-no-game-required?page=15</ref><ref>https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-new-dolphin-cpu-benchmark-no-game-required?page=15</ref><ref>http://translate.google.com/translate?act=url&depth=1&hl=pl&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.pl&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://pclab.pl//art55934.html</ref><ref>http://wccftech.com/ultimate-cpu-gpu-floating-point-performance-battle-amd-intel/</ref><ref>http://www.anandtech.com/show/7711/floating-point-peak-performance-of-kaveri-and-other-recent-amd-and-intel-chips</ref><ref>http://vr-zone.com/articles/ivy-bridge-e-i7-4960x-vs-amd-fx-9590-battle-2013-flagships/54295.html/2</ref><ref>http://www.extremetech.com/computing/159619-5ghz-showdown-overclocked-5ghz-amd-haswell-ivy-bridge/2</ref>
===AMD vs. Intel===
Emulators generally only utilize 2 cores, or with hacks, sometimes 3 or 4 cores. Thus, owning a 6 or an 8-core CPU, or one equipped with Hyper-Threading/Simultaneous-Multithreading, won't give you an advantage over a similar quad-core CPU. Although, certain exceptions such as newer system emulators (e.g: RPCS3) can utilize more cores and threads by emulating the system's thread scheduler, which allows it to use as many cores and threads as much as the game makes threads.
Therefore, the general recommendation is to go for a higher-clocked 2/4-core CPU, as most emulators currently can not cannot fully utilize 6 cores or more. Examples include the Core i3-7350K, and the Core i7-7740X.
===Overclocking===
Not all CPUs can be overclocked, and the motherboard's BIOS must be additionally capable of supporting overclocking. The CPUs in particular that can be overclocked are the usually the ones that are labeled: OverDrive, FX, Extreme Edition, Black Edition, K, and X. Also, certain engineering or qualification sample CPUs that AMD or Intel has manufacturered manufactured may also be overclockable, since they were used for testing purposes and were not meant for sale. If you are not sure what kind of a CPU you have, check if it has these overclocking labels. For Intel CPUs, their overclocking labels are OverDrive, Extreme Edition, K, and X. For AMD CPUs, their overclocking labels are FX, and Black Edition.
Although, special processors such as the Pentium G3258 and any Ryzen with the exception of the PRO variants, are overclockable. But keep in mind that you have to be running the CPU on a motherboard that supports overclocking. The motherboards that tend to support overclocking features, comes with a chipset that also supports overclocking, which is required for the CPU to be overclockable. However, this only applies to the newer motherboards, not the older motherboards as they tend to vary from being overclockable to not overclockable. For Intel, the overclockable chipsets' name starts with an X or a Z. The other chipsets that were not mentioned, are not overclockable (B, C, H, and Q). For AMD, the overclockable chipsets' name starts with an X or a B. The other chipsets that were not mentioned, are not overclockable (A).
For older desktop motherboards with older chipsets, there might be overclocking available in the form of a front-side bus setting. Use that setting with caution however, as the front-side bus clock speed gets raised, so does the rest of the other components on the motherboard (which causes instability, data corruption, etc). Unless the motherboard has a PCI/AGP lock, it is advised not to use the front-side bus setting to overclock the CPU. In further depth, there is a safer setting that can be used to overclock without suffering from instability. Called the 'CPU BSEL Select' or similar, it was intended to manually select the proper front-side bus clock speed of the CPU. Though, by this, it allows us to exploit that feature and use it to overclock while staying within the factory specifications of the motherboard. This does not affect the rest of the other components on the motherboard, as the front-side bus is not overclocked and is only following the rated speeds it can achieve. Therefore, it is safer than the dangerous front-side bus setting. Also, be aware that once the CPU has hit a certain clock speed, it can no longer overclock due to voltage issues. The reasoning behind this is because of how higher clock speeds require more voltage, and these non-overclockable motherboards have a high chance of not having the ability to modify the input voltage to the CPU.
However, if there is no 'CPU BSEL Select', proceed with the front-side bus setting with caution. As a safety precaution, do whatever it takes to not allow the PCI bus' clock speed to reach above 40 MHz. As anything higher than the 40 MHz mark will have a very high chance of inducing instability and possible data corruption, or worse. This is why the front-side bus setting is only recommended for motherboards that are equipped with a PCI/AGP lock, since they prevent the other components on the motherboard from being overclocked. Also, be aware that your motherboard can only supply a limited amount of current before it hits its limits. This is due to the voltage regulator modules not being rated to supply a large amount of current to keep the CPU and the rest of the other components stable, which is common for motherboards that are not meant for overclocking. The CPU's potential overclock may also be limited by the power supply unit, so a better power supply unit with better efficiency and wattage rating may be required.
If you have a laptop, overclocking will be severely limited. Most laptops in circulation do not support overclocking, and may not be capable of handling the extra heat produced from an overclocked CPU. For the few laptops that can be overclocked through the BIOS, it is more or less the same as how a desktop would be configured to overclock the CPU. For the majority that do does not officially support overclocking, it may be possible to overclock it in a different manner or method.
A common method to overclock your laptop's CPU is to use third-party applications, such as ThrottleStop and CPUMSR. However, these applications only work with CPUs with an Extreme Edition/Black Edition/K/X label. Sometimes, special CPUs such as an engineering sample or a qualification sample may also be overclockable. And always remember this, do not overclock your laptop if you are not confident in its cooling system. If you are able to force the cooling system's fan to always run at its maximum speed, it is strongly recommended to do so. Avoid hitting temperatures higher than 100C/212F at all costs, even if the CPU is rated for a maximum of 105C/221F at the transistor-junction level.
*RAM: 256 MB or more
===[[Higanhigan]]===
;Minimum:
*Windows: 7 with Service Pack 1 (32-bit) or later
