Is it a good idea to build a CPU heavy living room PC to exclusively run emulated games?

Is it a good idea to build a CPU heavy living room PC to exclusively run emulated games?

Steam Big Picture has this neat feature where you can close windows directly with the controller from the overlay, which works great with a bunch of emulators.

So technically, I could build a simil-steam machine, set up all the emulators and games, then get them to work and then just use it like an all in one console for the living room.

Is this a good idea? What specs would you guys suggest?

It really makes you think.

Sorry?

I'd suggest you look at something like retroarch for your emulation needs.
In fact, you could get one of those nuc computers and set it up with something like lakka, entirely separate from your windows game machine.

Well I'm looking for something slightly more powerful. At least able to handle Gamecube and PS2 too.

I think even emulated games make use of graphics cards. Also, why would you limit this setup exclusively to emulated games? There are some PC games that are playable with controllers as well.

I second Lakka. It's pretty much the reference distro for retroarch.
If you want a small form factor and solve the problem by merely throwing money at it, look at Intel NUCs. Also, since you want to stream, nVidia drivers for GTX 650+ models support setting the Windows WM executable as a stream source, so you could basically stream your whole desktop.
If you want to build one yourself, consider the Antex ISK 110/300 or the Fractal Design Node 202 as base.
The former are tiny and don't accommodate a dGPU. The 110 is designed for a max TDP of 65W, so good luck cooling an i7 in there. Internal PSU also offers a measly 90W draw. The ISK 300 offers 150W in a slightly bigger form factor. Cost point ~80 bucks for both.
The Node 202 is currently GOAT for (m)ITX builds, but you'll end up with a lot of useless space since you're opting to eschew a dGPU. Cost point of ~80 bucks. The limitation to SFX PSUs might pose a problem, but there's a model with a builtin 450W PSU, Bronze certified, for about 70 bucks more. Comparable PSUs cost a similar amount, so choose either.

You can use Kodi with your PC instead of Steam if you want. I think Kodi is also very similar to Netflix due to being able to watch shows and movies easily but I don't think you need a subscription for Kodi unlike Netflix.

There are but they're kinda shit an nowhere close to console games.


The main problem with that would be that it doesn't give me the opportunity to turn off/reboot and everything SteamOs would offer straight away from bootup.

I'll try it though.


I don't want to stream though? Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
I'll check out your suggestions, thanks user

DOS games still have a lot of games that are good for this. Outside that the platformer, beat 'em up, and side-scrolling shooter genres still take well to controllers. Divinity Original Sin is a recent PC RPG that supports controllers last I checked. Rocket League is an oddly popular game that supports controllers.

The IGPUs on modern CPUs aren't that bad anymore. I could run a lot of GC and PS2 games at full speed with increased internal resolution before I got my graphics card, and that was with a 3570k which is a few years old now.
You may even be able to get away with some newer PC games at low-medium settings, too.

Reply was for

why not put your computer in the living room and build another for normal desktop use?
why not connect the controller to a phone or a wireless sender/receiver and run a video cable through your home?

Because I'm not gonna waste my beefy rig in my living room

Why would I ever do that

I ran a 3570K with a Radeon 6850HD myself. Emus and games ran smooth as fuck.

Sure, i dont see why not. I dont see why you should, either. The wii gives you emulation for everything up to SNES, and plays some N64 games and all gc/wii games. A fat PS3 will give you psx and ps2 games along with ps3. This pretty much covers the whole spectrum, and will cost less than a powerful CPU alone. Besides, you already have a powerful CPU in your current rig, right?


Kodi is a linux distro made for media centers. It works best if you already have the files, there are very few options for streaming from the internet

Why CPU heavy? Most emulators have pretty mature opengl plugins and 3D renderers.

retard

Consoles bind me to what is available on them and the emulators for the wii are not great.

Not to mention the ps3 doesn't actually do ps2 games. And I would have to homebrew it, which is a huge pain in the ass.

Also I'm looking to play arcade titles, since they're the most fun to play in coop.

With a pc emulator I can just have everything in one and only use one controller for evertything.

The first models play ps2 and ps1 games.

This, all via a chip. And it does a better job than the digital PS2 games you can download from PSN.

If I recall correctly Wii homebrew can be kind of a bitch. If you're playing homebrew games you have to have separate cfws for wii and gamecube, and I'm not sure what the emulator scene is like on there.

It doesnt, the emulation barely works in all the models that do it.

Also you can't download ps2 games for the psn, only remasters.

Gens Plus GX worked well on my GameCube. It even looked like accurate. Sound is purported to be the closest.

Of course this was like 7 years ago.

You have no idea what you're talking about.
Retard.

If you know anyone that has a steam controller please try it out first, as it's not as good as it first seems.
Any game you want to use the steam controller with has to be run from steam, which is a huge fucking pain- also you can only change controller settings via steam as well.

I wouldn't use a steam controller. Knowing the shitty dpad it has its pretty worthless for emulation

Oh nah man, I was referring to how painful it is to setup, the quality of the controller is fucking the best- that is if you get it setup correctly.

I mean it might be good, I don't know, but it's just too different from normal console controllers.

Lakka

The touch pads are really nice, you'll have to find someone that has one so you can try them out.

Wii homebrew is really easy, probably the easiest of any console. Once you got it installed it's a matter of copypasting files to a folder and using the homebrew channel's interface

Maybe >>>Holla Forums can help more with this.

user, if you don't have a hardware accelerated renderer, how do you render things? What are you forced to fall back to?

Emulators feel best on a laptop.
Don't ask me why.

Unless you are on babbys first prebuild and so do not have any, using your lastgen PC parts is more than enough for emulators and movieplaying.
A case that you can stow away without risking overheating and maybe some wireless controllers is really all you need in addition. But try it out before you spend money on it, for me living room shit just isn't as comfy as my battlestation.

I don't have any spare parts, I was forced them to leave them to my sister when I left home.

Kodi fucking sucks at subtitles, meaning you cannot have the funs with your animus and Chinese intrigue films.

Try it with the SNES, Mega Drive and other older consoles first. Don't bother building a PC for that until you have a setup that works the way you want it to.
As for the Steam controller, it's god tier for emulating Gamecube games but I wouldn't use it for games that require a Dpad. I can play Sonic CD with it just fine, but haven't tried anything more demanding. Get the Wii U Pro instead, with it's Mayflash adapter.

there's no reason it wouldn't work, but you could also just build a rig for your desk that can emulate and play modern games and set it up in the living room when you wanna sit on the couch i guess?

I don't really want to move a whole tower around my flat and having to deal with connecting everything each time. It's just very annoying.

then go ahead if you got the time and cash