Brief Answers to the Big (Pyra) Questions

[levi]

The question was about graphics. As far as I know there's only one SGX core regardless of how many CPU cores there are on the die. The PS Vita's screen only has 540 lines (it's quarter 1080p) while the Pyra has 720 lines though, so it's not directly comparable in my book.

 

[God Ginrai]

The question was about graphics. As far as I know there's only one SGX core regardless of how many CPU cores there are on the die. The PS Vita's screen only has 540 lines (it's quarter 1080p) while the Pyra has 720 lines though, so it's not directly comparable in my book.

No, as @elvissteinjr stated, the Vita's SGX has 4 cores of its own that are not CPU cores, but GPU cores, and the Pyra's has 2.

-God Ginrai

 

[TrashyMG]

The question was about graphics. As far as I know there's only one SGX core regardless of how many CPU cores there are on the die. The PS Vita's screen only has 540 lines (it's quarter 1080p) while the Pyra has 720 lines though, so it's not directly comparable in my book.

Yeah like the others said, sure there is only one SGX die as it were as it's literally built into the SoC of the OMAP5, but there are two GPU cores on the OMAP5 configuration of the SGX. The vita has the SGX543mp4 variant, we have the SGX544MP2 in the OMAP5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerVR#Series5XT_(SGX)

 

[traylorpark]

Cool!
I'm not very programmery, so I am quite beholden to any game engine and its capabilities (likely godot in gles2 mode). But that said, I am super interested in experimenting with the graphics capabilities to see what's the prettiest image I can get on the hardware, while running at a playable frame rate.

How does the memory on the Pyra work? Does the GPU have seperate Vram or is it shared with the main 2gigs? That is one area the Pyra has an obvious advantage over the Vita's 512 ram/128 vram. I'm thinking a possibility of higher res textures, especially things like baked lightmaps and baked ambient occlusion.

 

[levi]

IIRC from the Pandora, the GPU doesn't have dedicated or dual-port RAM like PCs do. Instead, when you use the SGX the kernel allocates a chunk of memory for it, and the SGX writes back its rendering into those pages.

 

[RZR]

Alright, here's a silly question:
Regarding general graphical capabilities, which console would the Pyra be most similar to?

I've been wondering the same thing, so I did a bit of math I'll leave here for future reference; regarding raw graphical processing power:

The Pyra packs a SGX544MP2 at 533MHz -> 34.112 GFLOPS
->PS Vita: 28.4 GFLOPS
->XBOX: 20 GFLOPS
->PS2: 6.2 GFLOPS
->Wii: 12 GFLOPS
->Pandora: 0.88 GFLOPS
->Pandora 1GHz: 1.6 GFLOPS
->iPad 2: 16 GFLOPS
->iPad 3: 32 GFLOPS
->N3DS: 4.8 GFLOPS
->PSP: 2.6 GFLOPS
->Dreamcast: 2.1 GFLOPS
->GameCube: 9.4 GFLOPS
->Switch undocked: 157.2 GFLOPS
->PS3: 228.8 GFLOPS

So regarding floating point operations per second the Pyra is X times more capable than...:

->1.2 times the PS Vita
->1.7 times the XBOX
->5.5 times the PS2
->2.8 times the Wii
->38.8 times the Pandora
->21.3 times the Pandora 1GHz
->2.1 times the iPad 2

For other SOC floating point performance info: https://gflops.surge.sh/

This reading the leaflet, real performance will depend on thermal management and other considerations. You will need to benchmark a retail Pyra to get real data.

 

[levi]

GFLOPs aren't graphical; they're still maths. They are thousands of millions of floating point maths operations. Sure, they can be used to do 3d maths. They aren't an artefact of the GPU, they come from the CPU core, with it's (these days) intrinsic FPU. It you want to measure the GPU you need something like millions of vertices per second I think.

 

[traylorpark]

[Amazing Data]

Let's mark that down as one of the most useful posts ever! GFlops don't tell the whole story of course, but it does help add to it.

As a little aside, I'm playing Mario 3D All Stars, and checking out Mario Galaxy for the first time. What strikes me is that, while the game is not super modern by visual standards, its still attractive and a joy to play. Good art and good controls go a very long way in making a game timeless. I hope someone will take the time to make something like that on the Pyra, because it certainly has enough power to do it.

 

[levi]

Super Mario Galaxy is a great game, but it takes more than raw computing power to make something like that. Critically it takes the design nous of Miyamoto-san, and many months of professional coding. I wouldn't expect anything that pretty and enjoyable to play from an open source project to be honest. But luckily there are plenty of fun open source games that perhaps aren't quite as original and pretty to look at.

 

[matzesu]

I was quite scared when (i put my sword in the air and shoot: By the Might of Greyscal, i have the power !!!!), and nothing happens ^^

i opened my USB Stick and my Pyra Voucher TXT wasnt there, i know i have the file on my DADs Windows 8 PC, but if not: I also found the Email when i searched for "Voucher" in Thunderbird, could it be that its the "Thanks" from 2017? Whit the Voucher worth of 400 €, And dos this code ends whit a "." ? 123525. (not the actual Number), as i cant open the whole Email yet

 

[levi]

Yes, all of my voucher codes are in emails with the subject 'Thanks!" I think.

 

[matzesu]

I noticed that Microsoft put an Embargo on Unboxings on its XBOXes last week,
Do whe have something also on the Pyra?

And how do i do this: is it recomendet to do this on my Desctop, or should i use our bigger Stativ and make this on the floor so i could use the Camera from above?
I know i have to cover the Shipping Sticker, but what is whit the EMEI on the Device itself? , when make a Real Unboxing Video, then the Camera sees the same as i see for the first time.. so i should know what of the content in the box are for the puplic..

 

[levi]

You'll probably in practice have to take the device out of the box to begin with to plan everything out. I'd expect the IMEI on the device itself to be under the battery near to the SIM slot, but I don't know to be fair. There's limited things people on the internet can do even if they know your IMEI; they can't contact you easily using it, and they can only knock you off the network by driving up to your house and parking outside, or if they had a good contact inside your mobile provider, they might be able to knock you off the network that way. I can't think why anyone would go to that effort, but then people on the internet are strange. Probably just best to put a sticker over it anyway.

In terms of embargos, as far as I know that mainly means they won't send you any more review units. For something like Microsoft consoles there are multiple retailers who will gladly sell you a unit if you've got the money. ED could ban you from placing an order at the shop, but I've never seen him being that petty.

 

[matzesu]

The problem is when I take the device first out of the box, it’s no unboxing on the video, but fake,
On a Unboxing Video, you need to see the joy the buyer have when he unbox..
It’s my first unboxing on camera, and I ditnt inform me how to make this,..


Send from something, i guess ^^

 

[levi]

The only 'unboxings' I see on video that aren't fake I suspect are Dave Jones opening his mail on the mailbag segment, because he tells you when he already knows what's in the box and is often confused about what he's got when he doesn't. Everything else has struck me as having been rehearsed before hand, including stuff from the Phawx.

But you can do it without opening the box before hand if you've your wits about you. Observer on which side the IMEI is on the box and keep that side away from the camera and then insert the battery off to the side of the scene. That ought to be enough.

 

[pyrat]

The problem is when I take the device first out of the box, it’s no unboxing on the video, but fake,

We need more honest people like you, man.
All videos are fake. Some more, some less. They're creative works, narrations, they're not reality.
Most people today are sophists, like Gorgias "There is no truth. If there was truth, we couldn't know it. If we could know it we wouldn't be able to speak of it"
And he likely shied away from saying "If we could speak of truth, nobody would care to listen to us." not because he didn't know that, but because
it wasn't fashionable back them, it wouldn't have brought him any audience. In a few centuries (5-10) a few monoteist prophets would take the last notion more mainstream,
but in V BC I suspect information overload was more under control in the Mediterranean so people were not so worried about nobody listening to them.

Do as you want, but I would advise to strive more for privacy than absolute realism.

 

[matzesu]

Well, I don’t want to put the Battery in in this video, this is just the unboxing, and some showing of the Box, and the Pyra itself,
So I just have to cover the Emei Sticker on the Box ...
hopefully it’s under the bottom.. or I just put a finger over the emei

I think I will make the unboxing and then make the installation off camera,
The next will then when I’m more experienced whit the Debian, and when I have some games on it to show..


Send from something, i guess ^^

 

[gpsqueeek]

You could also blur the video before posting on the imei sticker area I guess, couldn't you?

 

[matzesu]

No I can’t as I don’t have that much knowledge about my Filming techniques,
I put my phone on a Tripod, push the video record button, make my things and then put this whiteout any cutting to YouTube ^^


Send from something, i guess ^^

 

[matzesu]

Whit the first few Pyrae around the Corner:
I watched some of the Pyra Prototype Assembly Video yesterday, and at this stage it wasn’t shure which DPAD to use:
Rubber which is just put between Keymat and Case, or Plastic which will be glued on the Keymat??

And do whe know if the Stylus is less streachy than on the Pandora??
I can remember that my Stylus was quite sharp out of the box.. and if the Screen was not clean, it scratches a bit..


Send from something, i guess ^^