buying decision

General Off-Topic
#1

Hi, I would like to start a discussion on what is a good hardware choice for a dedicated RA box which can be in the range of up $150 but has more power than a Raspi 3, for example. Currently, I’m thinking about buying a NUC of the current gen like NUC7PJYH2 for example. Or the 2-core variant of it. What can I expect from it? Goal is to use it for PSX, everything more would be a nice welcome. But then again, PSX on x86 does lack dynarec as I heard so it’s potentially not the fastest core. This is a different case for an Android device, like for example a FireTV. These also offer 4 cores and PCSX-ReArmed but runs on Android so how do these two compare, for example? Which would you go for? The machine would be only for RA and retrogaming, I don’t really care if it is Android or Linux, only if one of these has a major disadvantage over the other.

Thanks!

1 Like
#2

For excellent performance, you can get an NVIDIA Shield TV for a little bit more ($170). I would recommend that since it has been around for a while, is well known and generally gets a lot of support from app developers.

In my experience, Raspberry Pi 3 B for PSX is generally OK. There are other boards that have better specs, but I’m not sure you can get the same level of support for them if you have issues.

#3

Perhaps it wasn’t so clear but I’m also interested to get a status of whether arm or x86 is currently the best to go for. Let’s say I also want to emulate Dreamcast, what would be better?

#4

Multi core may sound good but from an emulation point of view its not. Emulation tends to use single cores all way. So you best bet is to get the better single core speed. Most small boards (RPi) do a great job but do lack in performance.

I believe there is a new AMD Ryzen board coming out soon which is about 2 credit cards in size, maybe 3. The specs look fantastic but you are look at around $229. There is also the UP board which is an Intel version but currently available now. The price does start at $89 but for a good one you will be looking near $200 again.

https://www.up-board.org/

IMO these two options would be the best.

#5

The udoo board sounds interesting but it’s not out yet, is quite expensive and will most likely be cooled actively and thus be louder than a Nuc. The up board also seems nice but I don’t see any advantage over the Nuc, to be honest. It’s smaller, yes, but the Nuc can be extended better with ssd and ram.