Choosing Cores - Please Advise

RetroArch Windows devices
#1

Hello. I know this question comes up a lot and it’s mainly because of the sheer number of core choices available for certain systems. SNES alone has 11 to choose from, each offering its own pros and cons. However I’d like some advice on choosing which cores would be best for me. I’d like to know which are the most accurate cores I can run on my system. My system is pretty beefy, though not enthusiast grade hardware. Here are my PC specs.

CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K (OC to 4.4GHz) GPU: nVidia GTX970 (Gigabyte G1 Gaming OC) RAM: 16GB DDR3 1866MHz Motherboard: Gigabyte G-Z97N-WIFI

I would like to know which are the most accurate cores that will still perform at full speed on the hardware above for the following systems.

NES SNES GB and GBC GBA TurboGrafx 16 Genesis/Mega Drive Game Gear Neo Geo Master System Arcade (There are several MAME cores and I don’t know which is best or if I should use one of the FB Alpha cores instead) Dreamcast Playstation 1 PSP N64

I’m aware that some of those systems have only 1 core, however the others have several choices and I’m not sure which ones would be most accurate and still run at full speed on my hardware. Also I would like to know if there are any known issues with any of the cores for N64, PS1, PSP and Dreamcast. Should I use the cores available for them or should I use standalone emulators for those systems?

Many, MANY thanks in advance for any advice offered.

#2

Nestopia bsnes-mercury-accuracy (but really, accuracy is only marginally better than balanced and only affects like 2-3 shitty games, so you’re just wasting CPU cycles) gambatte mgba mednafen-pce or mednafen-supergrafx, depending on what you want to run genesis plus gx genesis plus gx MAME or FBA, it’s pretty much a wash; I prefer FBA genesis plus gx MAME or FBA; I use FBA when possible, MAME when not reicast (only option; still very much WIP but it works well enough; NullDC or SSF or whatever may treat you better /shrug) mednafen/beetle-psx (they’re the same thing; just grab whatever’s on the updater; very good vs epsxe, etc) PPSSPP (only option; in good shape but standalone is, too, so whatever) mupen64plus (only option; can be buggy, but so are standalones, tbh)

Whether you want to use RetroArch or a standalone is up to you.