Oh wow the 7770 is sitting at a nice price point.
Long Draw, on 17 April 2012 - 08:48 PM, said:
Here's what I have in my custom build from last April:
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System Information
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Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (Free license from DeVry Enrollment)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: H67A-UD3H-B3
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.7GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM (Patriot G5 Series 4GB Modules x4)
Page File: 3625MB used, 28975MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
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Display Devices
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Card name: Intel® HD Graphics
Chip type: Intel® HD Graphics Family
Display Memory: 1696 MB
Dedicated Memory: 64 MB
Shared Memory: 1632 MB
Current Mode: 1600 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: SyncMaster P2770HD/P2770(Digital)
Monitor Id: SAM05ED
Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.000Hz)
Output Type: HDMI
D3D9 Overlay: Supported
DXVA-HD: Supported
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
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Sound Devices
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Logitech 5.1 X530 Surround System (previously purchased)
Description: SyncMaster (Intel® Display Audio)
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DirectInput Devices
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Device Name: WingMan Force 3D
Attached: 1
Device Name: American Power Conversion USB 900VA UPS
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Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
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Drive: C:
Free Space: 303.3 GB
Total Space: 953.8 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: WDC WD1002FAEX-007BA0 ATA Device
Drive: D:
Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS50 ATA Device
Note that I did not install a graphics accellerator in my computer, yet my system is able to run PS2, PS1, N64 and SNES emulators running games simultaneously while playing music in Win Media Player and with over 100 IE tabs open at the same time (one of them running CastleVille on fb at the time).
Now, my system cost me $3300 for all new parts and case including the purchase of the monitor and 3 year replacement warranty on all components and the monitor. Oh, and my suggestion is to check if you have a Micro Center near you because they'll price match newegg, Fry's Electronics, Best Buy, HH Gregg, Walmart and lots more stores. I actually got employee pricing at Micro Center on everything I bought minus the case which was $20 more than EP and the memory which was $20 lower than Micro Center's EP at the time.
Yeah, this machine is very powerful (it'd be great for the GIS work I'm doing in school now

), but for gaming it's pretty lopsided. You're going to have to fix the $3000 computer with $15 video card thing

Note that using console emulators is almost completely CPU-bound; the GPU requirements on emulation don't begin to approach PC gaming; I doubt SNES9x and the like even
use the GPU, and your PS1 emulators only barely use it.
I'm guessing the absolute minimum to physically run the game will be met with the newer
Intel HD graphics, but we're talking playing at minimum settings at an unacceptable framerate. Vulpes has cited a card that could be considered a good minimum for a machine like that.