Dreamcast Emulation on latest SOC's


I don't know about next gen atoms, but I can tell you about my Viliv S5 (which is a Windows XP PC about the size of a Pandora, that I use with an iControlPad) :

I've tested PCSX2 on it, and surprisingly, after some tweaking, it can run simple 2D games fullspeed ! (Phantasy Star Generation 1 & 2).

More demanding 2D games like Odin Sphere runs at 30 fps.

What surprised me is that this is one of the oldest Atom, the Z520 (2008 according to intel website).

I must precise that I had to overclock it a bit, from 1.33ghz to 1.6ghz.

Also, note that what is slowing down this machine is not the CPU but the GPU, the GMA 500. i had to use a 100% software renderer because in GPU mode it is actually 2x slower, and full of glitches !

All this to say, that if the next gen atoms are at least 4x faster than the z520, we should get fullspeed PS2 emulation for simple games (and at the same time N64, Saturn, Dreamcast and DS -.- maybe even GC and Wii).

And if you're wandering, at its stock 1.33ghz, this thing can last for 6 hours ;) (I actually even underclock it, as I'm mainly playing native japanese games for XP, that don't require much performance).
 
You can find exceptions for lots of emulators, simple games that are much less demanding than average. Keep this in mind when someone shows off Puzzle Bobble..

Since relatively few games on PS2 are 2D I don't find that especially representative for a claim about how the system emulates on average.

Next gen Atoms aren't going to give 4x the single threaded performance of a Z520, that's for sure. How much PS2 emulation is distributed among multiple cores is an unknown to me. I do know with Gamecube/Wii emulation you get 2 heavy threads dominated by the CPU emulation thread.
 
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PCSX2 is faster with more cores, dual cores can give almost 2x more performances than single core (as I remember when I got my first Core2Duo PC many years ago), I suppose in software mode that even more cores can be used, as there is an option specifically for software mode : "extra rendering threads" that can be set to any value...

Anyway, I think that a dual core Atom with 2x more performances in single core than the z520 for each one would be perfect :) This is very faisable, there is already 2 ghz + atoms... I personally got my z520 stable at 1.8 ghz, but it get very hot and it is not necessary anyway for my utilization...
 
slaeshjag said:
Here's something you should know about the AMD C-50 APU: It is crap for linux. Utter shit. Garbage. Etc.
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well thats not true, it doesnt work well with gnome 3 based stuff(aside from the open source driver) but for the others it works, I have tried, fedora(gnome, xfce),ubuntu(unity, gnome),sabayon(xfce, kde),archbang,bodhi(e17),mint(cinnamon),puppy and even pcbsd 9(gnome 2), the performance is also better to what I get on windows with the only real problem being(besides mediocre performance of the oss gfx driver)is the lack of uvd support so video decode isn't accelerated. I can get ~20fps on certain maps with xonotic maxed out @ 720p using proprietary drivers.
 
Yes, the graphics driver is the main problem. I haven't gotten anything OpenGL smooth on it. Even a spinning triangle is jerky. It's hardware accelerated and all, but it isn't in any way smooth.
 
kamui_kun said:
PCSX2 is faster with more cores, dual cores can give almost 2x more performances than single core (as I remember when I got my first Core2Duo PC many years ago), I suppose in software mode that even more cores can be used, as there is an option specifically for software mode : "extra rendering threads" that can be set to any value...

Anyway, I think that a dual core Atom with 2x more performances in single core than the z520 for each one would be perfect :) This is very faisable, there is already 2 ghz + atoms... I personally got my z520 stable at 1.8 ghz, but it get very hot and it is not necessary anyway for my utilization...
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I'm quoting myself -.-

Well, it seems there is now a dual core Atom at 2 ghz, and it is intended for smartphones : http://blog.laptopmag.com/lenovo-unveils-ideaphone-k900-worlds-first-intel-clover-trail-powered-smartphone

If only it could run windows -.- coupled with a icontrolpad2, that would be perfect B)
 
So Intel releases a mobile processor called Clover Trail that runs on tablets, and has two cores at 1.8GHz.


Now Intel releases a newer processor but manufactured on the same process called Clover Trail+. It has a better GPU (that can use more power, of course) along with two cores running at 2GHz but is meant for phones.

What is wrong with this picture? Basically Intel has now resorted to only listing turbo frequency, where in the past they listed base + turbo. We don't know how much those two cores are really meant to run at 2GHz simultaneously.
 
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Exophase said:
So Intel releases a mobile processor called Clover Trail that runs on tablets, and has two cores at 1.8GHz.


Now Intel releases a newer processor but manufactured on the same process called Clover Trail+. It has a better GPU (that can use more power, of course) along with two cores running at 2GHz but is meant for phones.

What is wrong with this picture? Basically Intel has now resorted to only listing turbo frequency, where in the past they listed base + turbo. We don't know how much those two cores are really meant to run at 2GHz simultaneously.
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well, intel is so passé, besides that amd is a little more straight forward. amd a4-a6 ulp apu will be better than any intel atom(for now)
 
@Exophase:

Surely Intel are cheating with this smartphone, and in practice it will never go near 2 ghz in dual core mode. But, this is a smartphone. If this soc was used for a Pandora 2 and its huge batterie, I can tell you that you'll get dual core at 2 ghz (maybe more overclocked) and 100% gpu for between 5 and 10 hour of gameplay, and that is all I need ;)

BTW, even cheating, this smartphone is toping everything on android in benchmarks.
 
kamui_kun said:
@Exophase:


Surely Intel are cheating with this smartphone, and in practice it will never go near 2 ghz in dual core mode. But, this is a smartphone. If this soc was used for a Pandora 2 and its huge batterie, I can tell you that you'll get dual core at 2 ghz (maybe more overclocked) and 100% gpu for between 5 and 10 hour of gameplay, and that is all I need ;)


BTW, even cheating, this smartphone is toping everything on android in benchmarks.
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Can you backup your claims here?

Edit: Also, do you want to fry some eggs on your future Pandora? Or rather have a fan or heatsink sticking out of it?
 
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The Lenovo is much bigger and if you look inside I bet you will find a large heatsink. It also might not use the full cpuspeed like Exo pointed out.
 
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mcobit said:
The Lenovo is much bigger and if you look inside I bet you will find a large heatsink. It also might not use the full cpuspeed like Exo pointed out.
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Greetings, Mr. Mco,  Diablo 2 runs nice and slowly on a 1ghz pandora.  Do you think with a much powerful soc, P2's QEMU will be capable of running Win 98 pre-3d-period games with ease? 

I'd love to know, this alone is a deal maker to me. :wub:
 
Who knows. There is no spec for a P2. So nobody can answer this. The only option right now is to try qemu on one of the most recent socs available..
 
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