Raspberry Pi 4 - does ram matter?

Stuffu

Hi

Thinking of buying a RPI 4 but not sure what version to choose.

When RetroPie for RPI 4 is released, will 1gb be enough, or maybe the only option?

Or will there be a 1gb, 2gb and 4gb versions? Any disadvantages choosing one over the other?

Thanks

sirhenrythe5th

1GB will be enough for Retropie
there will be no different Versions of Retropie for the different Ram-Sizes in the Pis (@Buzz & @Mitu: correct me if i am wrong in this point)
there is no disadvantage using a 2GB or 4GB Unit.

retropieuser555

@sirhenrythe5th Thanks, this is one of the points I've been curious about, if the RAM will make any difference.

I'll probably wait for the official release and then buy the 1GB version unless there's some improvements on the Saturn, N64, Jaguar that require more RAM.

sirhenrythe5th

@retropieuser555 you are welcome.
I am also waiting for an official release before buying a Raspberry Pi4, i dont want to mess arround with unofficial crap or nightly builds.
But i allready decided to go for the 4GB-Version.
Not for the emulators, i doubt that any emulator will profit from more than 1GB, even Saturn, N64 or Dreamcast.
But maybe it will give some benefit to emulationstation.
As example: loading of images and their maximum size.
I dont use scraped Images, i use my own.
And i had often the problem of "white screens" when the pictures takes >=2MB of space.
You could tinker with vram to get them displayed, but then ES itself struggles.
This is something that i want to play arround with the Pi4...VRAM=2000MB and see what happens :)

But even if it does not change anything, the price-difference between 1GB and 4GB is so small that i will get the "big" one :)

nightbirdmedia

Yes and the same is likely true for the 0.1 increase in GHz processing power over the Pi 3+. That isn't going to mean much for running the current emulators.

I don't think the Raspberry Pi 4 is worth it if someone plans on using it solely for a retro gaming machine.

mitu

@nightbirdmedia Given that the CPU on the Pi4 is different, the benchmarks - and the user's tests - show quite a difference

Raspberry Pi 4 is built around BCM2711, a complete re-implementation of BCM283X on 28nm. The power savings delivered by the smaller process geometry have allowed us to replace Cortex-A53 with the much more powerful, out-of-order, Cortex-A72 core; this can execute more instructions per clock, yielding performance increases over Raspberry Pi 3B+ of between two and four times, depending on the benchmark.

So yes, the new CPU is much better than the old one and it will significantly help emulation.

Stuffu

Hehe 1gb is enough but everyone is waiting for official before buying one to see if it benefits from having more RAM :) hmm, I guess I also will wait a while then. Thanks for the replies. Really eager but I’m also waiting for official version!

nightbirdmedia

@mitu

Hmm. the price for the 4 is cheaper than I thought. Thought it sold for well over $100 which is why i said it wasn't worth it for the average person.

Anyways, I haven't run into a game that seems to cause me any trouble yet in terms of processing. But I heard some of the Dreamcast games lag

I recently received a pre-loaded SD in the mail and instead of Reicast it had Flycast installed. Is that better? I saw initially it had no place to set up VMUs? Is the save function built in?

BJRetro

@nightbirdmedia no one is going to have any idea how to completely answer a question about a preloaded sd card and what it has and what options it has without more info. Have you been able to use it yet? I loved a previous version of reicast I still have installed on my unit and have not updated because recently the new software version seems to have a lot of issues, an odd initial menu that is new and problems setting up controls. So hopefully the card you have preloaded has the older version on it not the new one. What I would say is if you load it up and the games and controls generally work with reicast I would not try messing with it based on all of the recent forum posts. If it doesn’t work, try updating and installing lr-flycast and see how that goes.

nightbirdmedia

Yes the new Reicast had issues for me on 2 other SD cards (one pre-installed and one a fresh install by me) And I was replying to @mitu because in another post I already mentioned my issue to him, but it looks like it is widespread so nothing I did wrong or seem to able to fix easily. I even tried to use an old version of Reicast but it gave me the same results.

Anyways, when I received the new SD card I was surprised it was using Flycast. I tested out a game or 2 and they seem to work fairly well. Flycast uses Retroarch which is really a plus over Reicast which doesn't use it so that has me leaning toward continually using it instead of trying to get reicast to work. Already spent 3 days trying to get it to work. Will wait until the creator(s) figure it out.

tpo1990

I think it depends on what usage the Raspberry Pi 4 will be used for. I chose the 4gb version as i am into getting source ports to work and want the full package when it comes to performance. I compile, test and make scriptmodules for RetroPie such as the Return to Castle Wolfenstein port. Also i hope it will make emulationstation a much more smooth experience when it comes to using it with themes.

But for the average user with emulationstation, 2gb version should be more than enough.

Overall emulation should hopefully improve and provide an even smoother gameplay as comparing to what we have today.

At the moment i use my Raspberry Pi 4 4gb with a stable official Lakka release and it works great as far as i have tested. NES, SNES and even PSX works well.

Efriim

I saw this post on reddit a couple hours ago.
redream on RPI4

I just got a RPI4B-2GB in the mail today. I got the $35 Argon One case with it, happy I already had a micro-hdmi and ample micro-sds. I'm installing snes9x and some others right now. I'll install ppsspp in a couple hours when my internet is no longer throttled.

I think I'll try Dosbox first, hoping I can find a cache of my old dos-pi files.

nightbirdmedia

@tpo1990

It definitely depends on the usage. especially for the average person who just wants to play the old school games. I haven't ran into a game that lags for me to justify buying a new pi. What games for the raspberry pi 3+ are laggy? I want to test them out to see how bad some games can get.

As with the themes, might be related to power as well. And I played around with the VRAM and it is finicky when it comes to some of the larger themes, but SuperDisplay works for me flawlessly and so does Star Wars now. Crossing my fingers for the star wars theme. Just got it working seamlessly. Lol

mitu

@nightbirdmedia said in Raspberry Pi 4 - does ram matter?:

What games for the raspberry pi 3+ are laggy?

Dreamcast/Saturn games, some N64 games or arcade demanding games (rtypeleo, firebarr).

nightbirdmedia

Yeah I figured the Dreamcast games would be. And I read that Saturn wasn't a great system to install due to its experimental nature. Same with the Atari Jaguar. Must be the nature of those systems isn't easily emulated?

It's surprising that N64 would be laggy. They average under 64 MBs. The 545 Games I have are under 7 GBs. lol

So the good news is that most of the systems I don't have or play may experience lag. ;-)

MetalManTN

@mitu I find all N64 games to be laggy on 3b+. None run at full speed or without hitches/stutters. Mario 64 and Mario Kart run well on the non-lr emus, but not 100%. I don't overclock, so doing this might improve it some...

tpo1990

@nightbirdmedia Yes exactly N64 and some Arcade games can be very demanding. Not only those two, but hopefully improving the compatibility with roms from other systems as well. ex. SNES which already runs great where as the performance can only get better with a RPI4B. As for source ports, we could see more potential for running games such as Half-life or Diablo 2.

As for the themes on a RPI3B . if you choose a theme like the tronkyfran theme that use a wallpaper for each system, a noticable lag appears when navigating between the different systems. This is where i hope that the extra RAM and CPU power a RPI 4B has, will provide a better and smoother UI in Emulationstation.

nightbirdmedia

yes, I just started trying out a few N64 games and noticed the lag. But I'm also not using an official raspberry pi power cord, the power cord that came with my pi was a micro USB to regular USB that plugged into a Power Adapter. But the plug doesn't fit snug into the adapter. So I directly plug my cord into a surge protector with a built in USB port. I'm getting a better power cord in the mail today to try out. Power consumption definitely effected my lag in Dreamcast, N64, and PSP games. But PSX always plays falwlessly. That doesn't make sense. Lol.

And yes I had that Tronkyfan theme before. Tried out alot of them. Superdisplay is one of the best ones for any newbie I believe. It allows you to see individual themed collections artwork and you can view 7 systems at once which is superior to most of the themes I've seen. The Star Wars theme though let's you see 9 systems at once and has run fairly well for me recently and with the new movie out now I just have to keep it.