PI3+ and gamecube Emulator

drake999

Specs wise, the Pi3+ is only marginally better than the original Pi3. I personally think the addition of a dual-band WiFi radio is the best upgrade. The CPU is exactly the same as the original Pi3, just with a slight clock increase. The upgrade is simply not enough of a jump to really do much of anything more than the original Pi3 in terms of performance. Probably the most significant detail affecting emulation is it is still using the same "old and busted" GPU. A GPU upgrade is sorely needed for emulators of systems more advanced than PSX. It is unlikely that even a Pi4 we might see in 2020 will be enough to touch GameCube emulation at a level that is playable. I was initially intrigued by the Pi3+ but after reviewing the specs it's really not even worth it for me to upgrade at this time, as I already have my Pi3 boards running at 1350 MHz. 50 more MHz is not enough of a jump for me to justify upgrading personally. Continuing to wait patiently to see what they come up with for the Pi4.

quicksilver

@drake999 I wonder how overclockable (is that a word?) The pi3b+ will be or if they have already pushed it as far as it will go.

This is what the press release said about the GPU:

"Are you still using VideoCore?

Yes. VideoCore IV 3D is the only publicly-documented 3D graphics core for ARM‑based SoCs, and we want to make Raspberry Pi more open over time, not less."

That statement worries me, I really hope there is an alternative when/if the rpi4 ever comes.

mitu

@quicksilver said in PI3+ and gamecube Emulator:

That statement worries me, I really hope there is an alternative when/if the rpi4 ever comes.

It's the VideoCore V - https://archive.org/details/lca2018-Broadcoms_Open_Source_Graphics_Stack

drake999

@quicksilver Yeah they can stick a 3.0 GHz CPU in there but if that VideoCore IV is still present emulation will still be severely limited for systems beyond PSX. That statement worries me as well. I mean the Pi3 is awesome, and I'm grateful that the Raspberry Pi foundation created these little wonder devices. However, for something that is emulation focused, I find myself considering an x86 based micro-PC (no bigger than a small Blu-Ray player) with a modest GPU so I can cover more systems at this point. I will say that the Pi3 is adequate for almost everything 2D and that's great.

quicksilver

@mitu so that seems to directly contradict what the RPI press release. Wonder whats the deal with that?

drake999

@quicksilver Yes I went straight to the horses mouth and confirmed VideoCore IV as well.

mitu

@quicksilver Is there any press release about the PI 4 ?

drake999

@mitu Not that I am aware of. They are pretty tight-lipped about the Pi4, probably because they haven't finalized specs yet. I suspect we will have to wait until 2019 or 2020 for anything Pi4.

mitu

Well, my speculation is that VC 5 is the GPU that will be included in PI4, since - as @quicksilver quoted - the selection of GPUs for ARM based SoC with open source and upstream support is quite limited.

drake999

@mitu Well if that is the case it gives me hope for the Pi4, but I still doubt it will be able to touch GameCube and Wii though. I'm just hoping for nice and stable N64 and PSP emulation at HD resolutions. We all need to manage our expectations for these devices I think, lol. Like I said, I'm thinking of going nuclear on this and just building a small x86 PC with an AMD APU.

quicksilver

An interesting thread on videocore on the RPI boards with comments from a RPI engineer:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=189231

I know we have derailed the OPs thread but I think that it has run it's course. Should we start a new thread?

mitu

@quicksilver I think we could use the PI 4 speculation topic if we'll continue with the VC5 discussions.

KN4THX

What are the incremental advancements in GPU since the Pi 1? Has it been mostly just CPU jumps?

barbudreadmon

@thedatacereal i think the gpu is actually the only thing that never changed since the first rpi

mike831

Isn't the retropie more powerful than the gamecube? At least on paper. Why can't it handle gamecube or supersmashbros? Please don't just comment and say "it works on mine" that's great, but unfortunately it doesn't work on everyones, so if you're not here to help please don't comment.

BuZz

@mike831 because you have to emulate all the systems hardware and complicated timings. Google a bit about how emulation works.

Eg. Considering the SNES - https://www.tested.com/tech/gaming/2712-why-perfect-hardware-snes-emulation-requires-a-3ghz-cpu/

(Can have higher level emulation - which works bit differently - for some systems, and that's the only reason some N64 games are playable on the RPI. Wii is beyond the capabilities).

Did you read the whole thread? I'm sure I'm just repeating stuff that has been said here before.

tywood

You maaaaaaaayyyybbbeeeeee with the libre computer board at a higher clock speed run game cube games. But it's double the price and doesn't really have much software support... but maybe here's the link if you want to look into it: https://www.amazon.com/Libre-Computer-AML-S905X-CC-Potato-64-bit/dp/B074P6BNGZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

tywood

sorry wrong link just look for the 4gb of ram model

tywood

@drake999 dooooitttttt pllzzzzz XD

Ecks

@barbudreadmon said in PI3+ and gamecube Emulator:

@ecks said in PI3+ and gamecube Emulator:

Have to agree with him on that one and the only way we could see more emulation like Gamecube, PS2 and high graphic mame games that uses CHD files is if they come out with a Pi 4 that i would assume need to be like 1.8GHz and double the GPU power.
Edit: Oh and would have at least 4GB DDR2 memory.

Lol. I have a 2.56Ghz cpu with 8Gb ram, it won't run those, it won't run Sega Saturn either, it won't even run the "performance" version of bsnes. If you want to see those systems on rpiX, wait for a 3Ghz cpu, or find a good c/c++ developper willing to write dynarecs for those emulators.

I know i am a little late on this but having a PC that has 2.56GHz and 8GB of memory you need a good GPU as well because i have an old system which is using a Athlon 5350 with 8gb memory and a HD 7750 and i am able to emulate Gamecube and PS2 games perfectly fine and also the Athlon 5350 is clocked in at 2.05GHz quad core which is why i believe if they would make a Pi 4 it should be able to handle 2.5D PS2/Gamecube games and higher graphic mame games without any problems.