"Specific" minimum cpu required

Hi people.
I have read the quick start guide and done a lot of searching, but all seems very conflicting, and of course each game and RPCS3 version have different performance, just to make it easy XD.

Please read and stay with me just a second and read this bibble.
I have the bad luck of leaping generations on PC stuff so although I try to stay on date I don't really have a real grasp on something like "Ryzen 1 gen vs intel 7 gen" my pc history is like this: 286, K6-II 500, Athlon XP 1300, Athlon 64 x2 6000 (not even the Athlon II), FX-6100, you can see the huge gaps XD, I don't have the solid knowledge of how old/new/good/bad a i3-8300 (just an example).

My FX-6100 (2º hand on 2017, yep I was "gaming" on a 2008 cpu till 2017, leading edge XD) is almost done (probably the MB is the culprit, but I have no spare parts to test them).
Clearly I need to buy a new PC, thank god not a new GPU, I scored have a used GTX 1650 Super a couple of years ago (I used the "double GPU" trick to make the MB accept such a new GPU until I tried a Beta BIOS).
But I have "no money", the fact I am writing this on a FX-6100 and have no SSD should be enough proof, yeah baby SATA2 600 Gb mechanical hard drive FTW.
I want this "new" machine to be able to play PS3 at 720p, not asking for 4K 60fps or nothing fancy, just want to play "all" the games I bought for my 60gb YLOD  so I need to know what is really the cheapest CPU I "need".

I know the specs are listed on the web, but I saw a lot of variation on the performance declared with different CPUs on various games (I know that is normal on this kind of software) just asking for the cheapest "all rounder"
As an example 10-11-12 gen i3 have pretty good performance on new PC games, some say a 12gen i3 is incredible better than a 10gen i5... there is the "AVX-512" on the 12gen thing too, some 6C 12T cpus are "bad" for running rpcs3 or just a little step up makes it run way better (ryzen 5 3400 vs 3500 as a random example), even found a guy declaring that is laptop i5 8gen runs it perfectly.

Im totally lost on this. just want some help, like "the i5 10400 is very bad", "the ryzen 5 3600 is cheap and good but not the G version!!!", "avoid anything bellow a i9 on 7gen" (just random examples I pulled of my hat) so I can discard and "OK" some cpus models...

Thanks in advance, sorry for this "bibble" and the trouble.

Without a budget we can't guess. If you just want to stick to Playable titles, the i3-12100 is enough, but you should buy a 12400F instead.

Without a...

Thanks for the response.

Well, the budget is more or less 0.
I live on southern Spain, tech is very expensive, summers here are "desert" hot, electricity is super expensive, yes the super inflated prices USA residents are experiencing on 2022 were our usual prices on pass years. What I mean is I take in count power consumption and heat generation.

What I understand atm is:
--Gen 10 i3 are "barely acceptable" but the cheapest ones, depending on the particular game and genre it will be playable -example: you wont loose on a RPG because it runs at -30 fps or have stutter, a fighting game needs to run ok to be played.
--Gen 10 or 11 i5 should be pretty good, but have an already "limited" and known upgrade path.
--12 gen i3 is the minimum intel option with upgrade path, but not the absolute cheapest one.
--i5-12400 is a safe bet for good performance, with upgrade path but not the cheapest by any means.

What are the AMD alternatives?
For what I understand gen 10-11-12 sadly "wipes the floor" on price/performance value compared with the AMD alternatives.

If you are looking to upgrade from an FX-6100 then you will have to change your motherboard and RAM anyway for an upgrade that's actually worth your money
For best value, get either an i3-12100f or i5-12400f
I personally would not recommend buying an AMD Ryzen chip unless you are able to get a decent discount on it as the Intel chips run RPCS3 way better than most Ryzen chips, but if you must buy one then get one that has at least 6 cores with SMT, so a Ryzen 5 3600 at least

If you are ...

Thanks.

I know I need new mb and ram, thankfully my 2007 PSU "Tacens valeo pro 600W" is still working ok, I guess the overkill 600W was a good choice after all XD.


I will add the R5 3600 as "minimum" amd alternative to my list.

Ok my pc is now dying for good, 3 freezes on the last 12 hours and like 15 minutes of turning it on-off (at psu level) so the MB actually initializes (at cold start).

Sorry for the long post, I only try to make clear all the info I have so 1 post is enough and vague questions and misunderstandings are avoided.

Here is my final ask for advice:
----Ryzen 5 5500
prize 137€
cheapest MB -100€
Ram DDR4
----I3-12100f
Prize 123€
Cheapest DDR4 MB -100€
Cheapest DDR5 MB +200€
Specific Ram selected as place holder, I will get 16G minimum
Cheapest 8G DDR4 2666mhz 30€
Cheapest 8G DDR5 4800mhz 50€
AVX-512 most likely disabled.
what is the performance penalty then? (probably newer production and therefore totally disabled at hardware level)

12400f jumps +200€, so discarded (or maybe not, keep reading)

I only found one video about the R5 5500 on portugese it looks ok but I have no idea how the i3 will be affected by AVX512 being really disabled at hardware level. Performance on normal PC games is better on the Intel one, but what I want is RPCS3 not 30 FPS more on whatever modern pc game.
Im not sure if DDR5 is the good choice here, MB are super expensive and the future gen 13 compatibility is unknown, at least DDR4 can be carried over.
Probably the 12400f using DDR4 is a better choice than the 12100f with DDR5 at the "same" price, maybe for "future" upgrades to gen 13, because at least DDR4 will be still compatible.

Prize:
----
i3 12100f DDR4
+16€ (practically the same prize)
Ryzen 5 5500
+73€ (for me it is a hefty spike)
i5 12400f DDR4
+18€
Ryzen 5 5600
+12€
i3 12100f DDR5 (probably not the best option, yep i3 with ddr5 is more expensive than i5 using DDR4)
+++

The minimum I "need" is so at least I can replay MGS-IV but with a stable and better frame rate (no 4k or weird things).

The i5 12400f is looking more and more appealing, but the 5500 is a 6C 12T and cheaper (almost same prize as the i3) but the performance info with RPCS3 is vague, if the i5 is well worth those extra +70€ it should be the best hands down or the ryzen 5600?.


Thanks in advance.

If you put any computer parts on a PSU as shady as something called "Tacens valeo pro 600W", you are risking just ending up with another dying PC

5500 doesn't hold a candle to 12400F. Don't waste your money and just grab the 12400F. And get yourself a PSU that's at least Tier B in a PSU Tier List.

If you put any computer

Thanks Im gonna buy a 12400 non f (for power consumption and diagnostics reasons), my actual GPU is a gtx 1650 super OC

My PSU is not shady, is old AF (15 years in a week) XD 89€ on 2007... she delivered like a champ

Where is a good tier list for PSUs? LTT? "Cheap" ones I cant go crazy on the "0" budget

T

> My PSU is not shady

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1116640-...t-rev-148/
It's a Tier E PSU for "dangerous", there's literally no worse tier

This are the parts I ended up ordering:

-i5-12400 (Igpu for diagnostics and less power consumption than the GTX)
-Corsair Veng LPX 3200 2x8GB CL16 CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 (specific model supported by the MB web site, double side chips and less latency than a "similar" model)
-Cooler Master V650 Gold V2 80 Plus Gold 650W Modular (Tier A and "yellow" name on latest tier list from "cultists.network" only 93€, unbelievable)
-Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut
-Asus Prime B660M-A D4
-DeepCool AK400

GPU MSI GTX 1650 Super AERO ITX OC (Already had it)

Thank you very much RPCS3 ppl for all the help and advice