My first retropie construct

Retrus

Hello guys,
first of all, sorry for my english :) I would be grateful for help.
I plan to make mi first retro console with old, good ROMs.

Raspberry Pi 3 would be enough or better buy Pi 4 ?

Where i can buy best retro cases ? I found retroflag.
Controlers from 8bitdo, model sn30-pro-g-classic.

Guys, what do you think about this config:

Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Quad Core 1GB RAM
SUPERPi CASE -> http://retroflag.com/SUPERPi-CASE-J.html
2x sn30-pro-g-classic -> https://www.8bitdo.com/sn30-pro-g-classic-or-sn30-pro-sn/
Micro SD, what size/space ? Better is few small cards or one big. How it looks ?

That SUPERPi CASE not support Pi 4 ? I only found this for Pi 4 -> NESPi 4 CASE, from retroflag too.

I will appreciate any suggestion and tips from more experience folks likes you :)

Retrus

Hop hop :)
Really want buy something today...
Any advices , anybody ? :(

Zering

@retrus I would say go for the Pi 4, it opens up so many options. Dreamcast runs really well on the Pi 4. N64 and PSP too, if you care to tinker with it. There are options for Saturn, 3DO and other systems that simply weren't viable for the Pi 3.
As far Micro SD, I would say get a small card for RetroPie, and run roms from an external hard drive.

sirhenrythe5th

Second this, the Pi4 is the better choice.
Dreamcast runs good indeed, including the arcade spin-offs NAOMI & Atomiswave.

i just tried N64 and was very dissapointed, but maybe i am the wrong person to ask because i use a real N64 with an Everdrive64 and therefore see and feel every difference and issue.
I used "lr-mupen64-next" and "Mario64" and "MarioKart64" and had hick-ups, the sound did cut off for a second and so on....far away from beeing perfect.
I guess you have to tweak a lot to get them running well, but i remember that 22 years ago Nemu and UltraHLE did a better job on a Pentium2 400MHz out of the box without changing anything.

But in the end the Pi4 is a great piece of hardware and is capable to run a lot more things than the Pi3B :)

Zering

@sirhenrythe5th N64 does require a lot of tinkering. But compared to the Pi 3, which had massive issues with that system, the Pi 4 is at least ten times better.

sirhenrythe5th

@zering thats what i thought.
Maybe this is also the Emulator itself.
During my Windows-Episode (Win3.1 - WinXP / 2007) i used Project64, Daedalus, Nemu and UltraHLE.
They all did not require to tweak a lot to run games.
During that time "Mupen" was also available, but was the weakest of all N64-Emulators, so i never tried it on any system.
I could imagine that N64 Emulation on the Raspberry Pi will further improve in the next couple of years, maybe also with the introduction of other alternative emulators.

Zering

@sirhenrythe5th Yes, I would think so. The leap in N64 performance from RPi 3 to 4 was already very impressive.
I think, at the end of the day, we're talking about a computer that costs 35 pounds. But I also think that if you manage your expectations, a RPi 4 is still full of possibilities that can surprise you.

Retrus

Thanks for all advices. So, i would buy Pi 4 for sure.

32GB SD card for Retropie and hard drive for ROMs 128GB or 256GB would be good ?

I want buy retroflag nespi4 case and instal hard drive in that included cartridge.

http://retroflag.com/nespi-4-case.html

2x 8bitdo SN30 Pro controllers.

That setup looks good Guys ? :)

Zering

@retrus Hard drive depends. What are you aiming to do with the Pi? Play a few games? Build up collections? If you mainly want to play fifth generation consoles, I'd look at a bigger hard drive. I've got a thousand PS1 roms and they take up 400 GB. But I'm a bit of a nutcase. Just thought I'd give you this as reference.

sirhenrythe5th

I like to have it as small as possible and prefer bigger Micro-SD-Cards.
I am using a 512GB right now, and will propably buy a 1TB when the Pi5 is released and can run dolphin (GameCube) at full speed :D
It is a personal thing of course(!), but i dont like the idea to attach external hardware on that small cute Raspberry.

But however: your System Setup sounds great so far! The Joypads from 8BitDO are awesome too! ;)

Retrus

@zering
size of hard drive can be bigger of course. I want play as many games i can. From atari to PS1. That titles i remember from childhood and new ones :)

That setup retroflag nespi4 case + SSD hard drive in cartridge works good ?
I ready few bad opinions 'SSD board causes massive interference with bluetooth gamepads"

That retroflag looks very nice and be honest i dont find alterntive.

Zering

@retrus You're going to want to get micro Hdmi cables, a fan and heat sinks too. I assume you're getting the official pi 4 power supply?

Retrus

@zering i find this from retroflag store:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001314848842.html?spm=a2g0o.placeorder.0.0.63d01de1FB3e4i&mp=1

I can buy better hdmi cable and power supply. Included fan looks fine but probably i 'know nothing' like Jon Snow :)

Zering

@retrus Seems fine, but I would get an official power supply from pihut or some such. It doesn't seem to be included here.

Retrus

@zering @sirhenrythe5th thanks for feedback Gents, I really appreciate it.
My one and only misgiving is that SSD hard drive in included cartridge dont works good with bluetooth gamepads :/ I hope it work at distance about 3m

Clyde

@retrus said in My first retropie construct:

@zering
I want play as many games i can. From atari to PS1.

You won't need a fan and heat sinks for that. Those are only necessary if you overclock your Pi, and the Pi 4 can play all 8 and 16 bit consoles as well as most PS1 and even Arcade games up to the early 2000s perfectly fine with with its stock clock speed of 1.5 Ghz (maxmum, as the Pi will dynamically change its speed based on demand, running normally only at 600-800 Mhz). In my experience, N64 is 50:50 with stock speed, whereby a good number of games may require overclocking.

That said, my Pi 4 can handle moderate overclocking to 2 GHz in its passively cooled aluminium case Argon Neo. The same company offers another case called Argon One that can be cooled passively as well as actively with a fan. Both got many positive reviews.