Questions about smartphone performance

RetroArch Android devices
#1

I’m going to get a new mid-ranged android phone and it’s performance should be somewhere between the Galaxy S6 and S7 (closer to S7 i think) and the antutu benchmark is at the 123.000 mark (it’s the A7 2018 version). A friend of mine can get it for me for a great price (220 euros) so i pulled the trigger.

My question is, what can i expect when it comes to RetroArch performance? What are the most demanding cores i will be able to run full speed at this tier? I would like to be able to run Beetle PSX and BSNES balanced but that’s optimistic. Not sure what phones other users have who report they can. Also, is there a phone that can run Beetle Saturn full speed?

Lastly, what MAME version should i aim for? You think this phone will be able to handle something like Mortal Kombat and NBA JAM in MAME 2010? I’d like to avoid the older 2003 version.

My current phone is an old Galaxy S3, according to antutu scores the A7 should be 5 times faster.

#2

Unfortunately, 5x faster in benchmarks won’t equate to 5x faster in RetroArch. Only the very highest-performing phones can run Beetle-PSX full speed and I don’t think any get full speed with Beetle-Saturn.

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#3

I currently have a GS7 (Snapdragon variant) and can tell you exactly what I can run. Sega Genesis is an absolute breeze to run. Nintendo with Nestopia also runs very well. SNES using SNES 9X 2010 runs pretty well though it can slow down slightly if the phone’s cpu temporarily gets busy. MAME is very hit or miss for me. Games like Metal Slug run very well for me using MAME 2014 while games like Strikers 1945 II and Rayforce don’t run well at all. For MAME I still use MAME4Droid that can be downloaded from the Play Store. You will need to do alot of experimenting with MAME and all of its cores on a per game basis. Playstation actually runs extremely well using the PSX rearmed core and still runs Bettle PSX good too even though you can get some slowdowns. Bettle PSX is more accurate than rearmed though it’s often not worth the tradeoff for me to have slow accuracy than to have full speed with minor graphical glitches. Nintendo 64 in Retroarch for me is straight up not usable. It looks fine but it’s just too slow right now. For Nintendo 64 I use the very excellent Mupen64Plus FZ. It is the finest emulator I’ve used for N64 on ANY platform even Windows. I never have any issues with speed whatsoever in games that are not known to have issues. It can’t run Gauntlet Legends for example. I must reiterate, download the one that ends with FZ! Don’t download any other Mupen64Plus like AE or anything else because they all run like garbage and have ads. FZ is the only one on the Play store that is legit and is updated often. Also please donate if you like the emulator because it really is amazing. I hope this helps.

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#4

Beetle-saturn needs at least 1 core with high cpu frequency, even with a 3.4Ghz i7 i have a few slowdowns when using it. And while i want to say Kronos might run ok, with the numerous reports of the heavily arm-optimized YabaSanshiro not running that well on powerhouses like the nvidia shield, it might be too optimistic.

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#5

Thanks, very helpful replies. I got the phone and tested only a few cores so far but reading the comments I now know what to expect, more or less, from my device since it’s a little slower than the GS7 (but close enough).

Beetle PSX is too much for it but it seems like SNES9x (current, not 2010) runs fine from the few games i tested. I’m also happy that i can use the game boy shader without slowdowns, although i need to figure out how to scale it properly. Next i’m going to look for the FZ mupen, thanks for this i didn’t know it existed.

#6

Let me know how YabaSanshiro standalone performs on it, i’m interested in enabling its dynarec as a core option in Kronos if it allows it to run at decent speed on those kind of devices.

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