More powerful raspberry alternative for GameCube games

glsck

Hi,
right now i have the raspberry pi 3 B, it's not powerful enough for most N64 games, and especially not good enough for GameCube games, since i don't know a lot about PC's i wanted to ask, what is a good raspberry alternative, that is powerful enough for GameCube games.

I found this on amazon, but before buying, i wanted to make sure this suits my needs.

I know i could just buy a used PC of ebay, but i didn't want it to be too big.

Thanks in advance.

UDb23

@glsck I'd suggest a mini pC (USFF) with at least an i5 4th gen; even better i3 or i5 8th gen as integrated gpu (630) is quite better than previous. Still some more complex GC games will not run at full speed (read:Star Wars Rogue Squadron II).
On ebay you can find reasonable prices for used.

glsck

@UDb23
Thanks for the fast reply,
i seem to be too stupid to find a i5 with 630 integrated graphics.
the best i found was with an i5-6500T wich only has Intel® HD-Grafik 530 :( and thats still priced at 299€, wich is quite expensive

If i would spend 300$ what about something like this? Even the i3 version has a 620 in it, and 8GB Ram and 120SSD would be enough !?

UDb23

@glsck I recently bought an i3 8100 (630 graphics) on the bay for about those 300$: Hp g4 400 mini. Lenovo and Dell also offers similar mini PCs. 8 GB are ok (possibly 2 memory modules of same type to get better performance) as is the SSD. You can always add more storage externally or replace the SSD in the future.
Benchmarks say i3 8th gen is slightly faster than i5 7h gen (and cheaper).

glsck

@UDb23
300 is quite something for only retropie gaming, especially for a present for my older brother :( i have to reconsider, or find a old pc from mywork place or similar

UDb23

@glsck You're right it's expensive if you're only going to use it for retropie.

tpo1990

You could also go out and buy a used Nintendo Wii console and use it to play GameCube games. They should be cheap and available anywhere since many people have bought them ever since it first came out. They work great with GameCube games and it is also able to run homebrew if softmodded. The console supports using original GameCube controllers. This option might be cheaper than buying an x86 mini PC.

mitu

@tpo1990 .. not to mention you'll be able to play also Wii games. A modded Wii is a good alternative, the only downside is the N64 emulation - which is incomplete.

tpo1990

@mitu Yes of course. There are also some good Wii games out there as well. I know N64 emulation is also hit and miss like RetroPie's N64 emulation. I have tried it out myself. The other emulation options that runs best is SNES, NES, Mastersystem and Mega Drive on the Wii.

I did buy an used Wii last year to give it as a Christmas present to my nephews/nieces and softmodded it. It was a good feedback i got from them. They were very happy.

It costed me like 29,86 USD / 26,77 EUR for the Wii console + 2 Wiimotes, 2 nunchuck and 2 Wii games

UDb23

@tpo1990 said in More powerful raspberry alternative for GameCube games:

It costed me like 29,86 USD / 26,77 EUR for the Wii console + 2 Wiimotes, 2 nunchuck and 2 Wii games

That's areal great deal! Unfortunately for us europeans shipping and taxes would alone cost more than the item ...

StarshipKnight

Have you considered an Odroid H2?

mitu

@UDb23 I think you can find a similar package for around 40-50 EUR easily in your country. @tpo1990's deal sure it's a snag, but an old Wii system it' easy to find.

tpo1990

@UDb23 Yes it was a good deal. I bought it locally from a flea market/store. Wii consoles are pretty common these days and you should be able to find a wii with a reasonable price in your local area.

For me it was quite easy since Denmark want's to make a positive change in climate and more reuseable items gets sold. Now we have flea stores that we always can visit just like a normal store. :-)