Best PC build for emulation 2022 (N64, PS1, PS2, Switch, Wii, Xbox 360)

Building a gaming PC specifically for emulators has become much more popular than you may think. Well, not you specifically – you’re the one searching that exact term. But in general, it’s something that has slipped under the radar when it comes to custom PC building.

Despite that being the case, there is still a tonne of individuals that look to create the best gaming PC for emulators in 2021. Well, look no further, the following build has been tailored for the best gaming experience for emulators. Whether you’re looking to emulate N64, PS1/2/3, XBOX360, Wii, or Switch, you name it, this thing will be capable of handling whatever emulations you throw at it.

What You Get For Your Money

Let’s be honest, we could have probably built a gaming PC for emulators at a slightly cheaper price point. However, it wouldn’t of showcased anywhere near as much ‘bang for your buck’ as this particular build.

That being said, we still tried to keep it as cheap as possible and consider $700 an excellent price for this particular usage.

Performance

From a performance standpoint, this PC will handle pretty much every emulator you can throw at it. Most emulations require good single-core performance, so most people opt for an Intel CPU. However, the CPU we’ve opted for still has more than enough power to handle the most demanding emulator scenarios.

Furthermore, as we’ll discuss shortly, we’ve opted for a standalone GPU for this build – even though it doesn’t really require one. That being said, having a standalone GPU allows you to play both emulations and PC games – something other PC builds for emulations can’t boast.

How We Choose

Our team has years of experience behind them building PCs for a range of needs and budgets. All this knowledge combined with hours of research, user feedback, and onsite benchmarking is what goes into choosing the best components for all of our builds.

We look for value for money, how the components perform together and focus on gamer’s needs to make sure our builds are the best your budget can buy.

We build all these PCs ourselves, in-house, so trust us when we say we want to make them as good as possible. We actually use all these builds ourselves day-to-day in the WePC offices.

How We Test

We build each of our selected PC’s from scratch to make sure all the parts we recommend work well together, fit into the selected case, and provide the best performance possible for the price range.

Once built, the PCs are used in the office for everyday work as well as a range of games from light to heavy-duty. While we test, we also run benchmarking tests to see how well our builds perform, all while keeping an eye on the temperature of the components themselves.

We tested our AMD builds against their Intel counterparts and found that these CPUs performed better across the board, and for a lower price. This is why we only recommend an AMD version.

NOTE: Due to the ongoing effects of the global coronavirus pandemic, some retailers are experiencing stock issues. WePC constantly updates our pages to reflect current availability, so if the PC or part you want shows as out of stock, check back later or check out these alternatives.