Squidgesnes Performance Testing At 299 Mhz+

[Epicenter]

I've been testing the new SquidgeSNES release (hacked with Auto-Frameskip) as of late. With sound processor emulation enabled, and my ARM920T clock set to 299 MHz, I achieve a sustained 58-60 FPS in Super Mario World (average is 60 FPS.) Basically, 0 frameskip with full-speed operation. Megaman X, most stressful non-Mode 7 utilizing SNES title I know of, runs at an average of 36-38 FPS in stressful areas, and 50-60 FPS in non-stressful. In simpler environments like just running forward without the very unoptimized enemy AI MMX is full of, sustained 60 FPS.

Testing at 310 MHz-320 MHz is rather unstable, but it does usually operate for at least 30 seconds before crashing. One of the more stressful ROMs I have, "Street Racer" (which is Mode-7 heavy) obtains ~20 FPS, not bad considering. Mode 7, hardware scaling and rotation emulation is probably still unoptimized.

I intend to post some videos tomorrow or Friday. If anyone has game suggestions to try, I'll give them a shot.

P.S. On a related note, Metal Slug is running at a nice 50-60 FPS in GNGeo2x with 22050hz audio. Faster with a slightly decreased 68K clock and significantly decreased Z80 clock, to negligable emulated speed change.

 

[TelcoLou]

That's nice. My GP2X only goes up to 266

 

[Paradox]

i can overclock 285 and i get nowhere near those speeds with the same version, its like 20-30 fps on all games and very sluggish/unplayable! (with sound)

 

[Epicenter]

That's odd. Are you using the hack with auto-frameskip? .. It was tricky to find the right balance using manual frameskip settings as the average framerate liked to vary a bit.

 

[Paradox]

im using the last posted version, which is the autoframeskip one correct?

 

[SiIV]

I have a playable super mario world at ~45fps with only 200mhz

 

[Epicenter]

im using the last posted version, which is the autoframeskip one correct?

No, it was posted in a separate thread.

I have a playable super mario world at ~45fps with only 200mhz

It's hardly the most stressful game on the SNES that doesn't use external hardware like a SuperFX processor. Megaman X is probably quite close. Even if it's just inefficiently coded.

 

[iignotus]

Yeah, SMW actually averages around 50-something fps at only 200mhz with sound on my machine. Is there really a reason to overclock a whole 100mhz more?

 

[DemonStar55]

and I was impressed at 266

 

[Epicenter]

Yeah, SMW actually averages around 50-something fps at only 200mhz with sound on my machine. Is there really a reason to overclock a whole 100mhz more?

Do you think SMW is all I play? :lol:

 

[iignotus]

Yeah, SMW actually averages around 50-something fps at only 200mhz with sound on my machine. Is there really a reason to overclock a whole 100mhz more?

Do you think SMW is all I play? :lol:

You mean there are other games?? :lol:

 

[zektor]

It's cool, but overclocking is not a solution. Too many people (myself included) do not have devices that can go over 266mhz. I got excellent results with SNES emulation on the Tapwave Zodiac....which only runs at 200mhz. The real answer is that the emulator must be optimized, and with Squidge's talent (I am a big fan of his Zodiac work), I'm sure we'll all be enjoying full speed SNES emulation down the road. Still neat hear what can be done with a massively o/c'ed gp2x however.

 

[BradN]

If you like SMW, check out Super Demo World - it's a hacked version with all new maps and even some engine modifications (a couple more block types, like ice blocks you can only break with fireballs, etc). There's a time attack video of it too, kinda interesting.

 

[PSyMastR]

My GP2X only goes to 249

 

[Radek]

I've been testing the new SquidgeSNES release (hacked with Auto-Frameskip) as of late. With sound processor emulation enabled, and my ARM920T clock set to 299 MHz, I achieve a sustained 58-60 FPS in Super Mario World (average is 60 FPS.) Basically, 0 frameskip with full-speed operation. Megaman X, most stressful non-Mode 7 utilizing SNES title I know of, runs at an average of 36-38 FPS in stressful areas, and 50-60 FPS in non-stressful. In simpler environments like just running forward without the very unoptimized enemy AI MMX is full of, sustained 60 FPS.

Testing at 310 MHz-320 MHz is rather unstable, but it does usually operate for at least 30 seconds before crashing. One of the more stressful

So it might overheat (easy to test) or sdram memory is starting to get higher probability of showing errors. Perhaps some extra voltage could fix it?

For memory the "MKI" is using (at least mine is):
em48am1684vta from Eorex. It has rating for 7.5ns so 133MHz (1000/7.5).

The "MKII" is using Hynix HY57V561620C(L)T(P)-H(I) what is rated also at 133MHz.

It's clear (assuming cpuclock = 0.5 * memclock) that anything over 266MHz will be overclocking memory too. So a next thing what can fail.

You are very lucky getting that 299MHz. Mine could go only to 274MHz but I have been using my GP2x only at 266MHz. And at quite a reduction of battery time.

 

[sand_man]

SMW runs 60fps for me @ 266. It looks like its FS0 but who knows.

 

[ste_167]

Could someone post a link to this auto-frameskip hacked version?

Personally, I think that 266Mhz is the absolute maximum acceptable overclock speed, I often run it at far lower speeds when running off batteries. If you set it at 200 and blink alot you can't tell the difference, although it does look like you have a twitch.

 

[z32fairlady]

299+... Mine never goes above 250...

 

[DARKGATE]

BAh is unsless speak of emulation of snes to 280 or more mhz, the emu is good when is optimized to 200Mhz.
My gp2x go max to 250 Mhz, and i hate use the powesupplies for play.

Excuse me for my english. =)

 

[Epicenter]

So it might overheat (easy to test) or sdram memory is starting to get higher probability of showing errors. Perhaps some extra voltage could fix it?

For memory the "MKI" is using (at least mine is):
em48am1684vta from Eorex. It has rating for 7.5ns so 133MHz (1000/7.5).

The "MKII" is using Hynix HY57V561620C(L)T(P)-H(I) what is rated also at 133MHz.

It's clear (assuming cpuclock = 0.5 * memclock) that anything over 266MHz will be overclocking memory too. So a next thing what can fail.

You are very lucky getting that 299MHz. Mine could go only to 274MHz but I have been using my GP2x only at 266MHz. And at quite a reduction of battery time.

I'm sure it's not overheating; power consumption of the ARM9 is very low and the whole MMSP2 should put out negligable amounts of heat. Also it happens much too rapidly in many cases to be gradual heat buildup. However, I do suspect RAM is the issue. At 320 MHz, the RAM clock is 160 MHz! That is a BIG overclock for RAM, which rarely handles abuse as well as a CPU will.

There truly needs to be a bit of software (enhancements to the CPU/LCD Tweaker?) to allow modification of the CPU to RAM ratio and which components run off which PLLs-- so the 920T can be isolated to ONE PLL, and when it is raised, other components will not be overclocked too. It's absolutely not the 920T that is drawing all that extra power to produce a major battery impact (ARM rates the ARM920T as using 0.25mW per MHz with cache utilization; at 200 or 320 MHz, it's still just thousandths of a watt power consumption. Barely ANYTHING!)

As for optimization.. I fully agree. Regardless some things will never run at full speed at 200 MHz. Like Quake.