rpcs3 and dolphin emulation on an Intel Core i3-10100F processor
rpcs3 and dolphin emulation on an Intel Core i3-10100F processor
This chip is a good fit for your budget. You're moving from an i5 4460 with a 1050 Ti and 16GB RAM, so it should offer solid performance without breaking the bank.
I used a 10100 with IGPU and a GTX 970 featuring 16GB RAM. It handled Demons Souls and Last of Us at 720p smoothly—no need to go for 1080p.
at 30 fps i didn't play it too long since it was before the big update for rcps3 that made most games run smoothly. it had a lot of artifacts and stuttering, but they seem fixed now (or maybe my settings were off). demons souls was great, though—it only lasted half because it started crashing. i think they probably fixed everything now. lou is a tough game to run because it uses the real PS3 architecture, making emulation harder compared to other cross-platform titles like rdr 1. keep an eye on that; i should have updated it, but i only managed to play demons souls well.
10100 performs exceptionally well with Dolphin. It may not be ideal for RPCS3, though. The admin of r/RPCS3 shared a CPU tier list comparing the i3-10100 to the stock i7-6700K, noting it sits in the lower C-Tier. Games listed as "ingame" there could be challenging to play. MGS4 is clearly on the "ingame" list and not recommended for casual use.
I used to run my old CPU, a Xeon E3-1231v3, which is essentially an i7-4770 with a 100MHz reduction. That puts it around 600MHz overall, making it probably a low C Tier or high D Tier machine. My RPCS3 sessions were smooth with 2D titles like Odin Sphere, Leifthrasir, and Dragons Crown, as well as some simpler 3D games such as Catherine. Titles like RDR1 and TLOU didn’t match the PS3 experience at all, though Drakengard 3 performed better than a real PS3. It was likely a year ago when I last played RPCS3 on that setup.