WHAT KIND OF PC DO I NEED?
One of the first questions new users ask is "Can I run HS on my HP blablabla laptop" or whatever named desktop. This is a really open ended question and pretty hard to answer accurately. It largely depends on what systems you want/expect to run. Early arcade classics and early cartridge based consoles (NES/Genesis) will run on a Raspberry Pi so yeah, your laptop is probably "good enough". As you get into newer systems and media used (CD/DVD), the need for more powerful PC's scale accordingly.
IMO you really do need some sort of dedicated PC just for this purpose. Not your "everyday" PC or a laptop. I actually advise against ever using a laptop period. They are just not built to run with high load for extended periods like desktops. They will overheat! OK maybe high end gaming laptops but then your into extreme dollars for less powerful CPU's, less RAM, less, less, less. Just don't do it. As far as desktop PC's, we've already established that a single board Pi will get most of the systems in my list to some playable state. So really any desktop will be better just by the virtue of being able to add a video card.
Here are some basic things to consider:
Operating System (OS): As far as HS/RL are concerned, you must be win7 or higher (no XP). Other dependencies include .Net framework 4.x and Visual C runtime variables.
Central Processing Unit (CPU): Clock speed generally means more than number of cores. For example, a 3.5Ghz i3 will outperform a 2.5Ghz i7. Not saying either of those actually exist, just want to give you an idea. An emulator might use 2 cores. Whether you have 5 or 7 in your system won't really matter. What will matter is having 4Ghz instead of just 3Ghz.
Random Access Memory (RAM): You can probably get by with 8GB. You really don't need any more until you get to the very newest emulators that want to unpack HD texture packs into memory. Get 16GB if you can afford it just for peace of mind's sake.
Hard Disk Drive (HDD): I won't say you need it, but I will say Solid State Drives (SSD) are superior in pretty much every single way. If you can afford TB's of these things to store everything, I say go for it! For those of use on a budget, I would recommend getting at least one for your "Windows" drive. It doesn't need to be that big in a project like this either. 100GB would probably be ok since we really won't be installing much of anything! Everything else is fine on internal SATA or USB drives. How much TB's do you need? That goes back to the question about what all you want to include. You can fill a 3TB drive with just US region PS2 games. Start with two 4TB drives. Download full sets to one drive (a backup let's say) and the other drive will house everything needed in our "rig".
Video Card: Ok this is the hard one. Some of the newest PC's on the market today probably have "on-board" video card's that are "good enough" for the retro systems. And that's a testament within itself because that's something I've never been able to suggest til pretty recently. But good enough is not what we're shooting for here and the market for used cards is really good these days. I won't recommend any specific models because new ones come out fairly frequently. Find a modern PC gamer who is willing to sell you his so he can buy the "latest and greatest" hehehe. Needless to say, if you have to "overspend"on any of the components in this list, make it this one! Adding a video card not only handles the display better, it frees up CPU and RAM for the emulator to use.
The more powerful you can make each component in the list, the less likely to encounter any issues like massive frame drops or stutter (both video and audio) when actually playing these games. You'll be able to apply some cool effects as well without degrading gameplay any.
Beyond the PC, be sure to pick up 2x wired xbox360 or PS3 gamepads. I only mention "wired" because, although the wireless ones seem to configure properly, they have a nasty habit of turning themselves off. This re-orders the windows ID's and P1 and P2 may or may not be swapped. Or HS/RL may no longer even recognize them til you restart HS. Besides, this is a retro rig, there was no such thing as wireless back then!
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Just for full disclosure here are my specs:
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Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
AMD FX 8350 Eight-Core 4.00GHz
32 GB RAM (irronically Win7 can only use 16GB)
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB)
240GB SSD
5TB USB 3.0 HDD
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*Overkill for this builds current description. But this is my main rig and it might go beyond the scope of what's written here. I have lots of open USB ports...
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Please go to "SOFTWARE"