Retroarch Performance on new breed of mini pcs?

RetroArch General
#1

Hello, I have been looking at the new rush of “mini pcs” and was curious if any of them would be able to run retroarch n64 or snes full speed with some less intensive crt shaders?

Trying to keep the price low:

This this one would be at the top of the mini pc chain at the moment. (http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i3050-3000BLK-Desktop-Celeron/dp/B015P3SL3Y) [Celeron CPU]

And something like this at the bottom (http://www.amazon.com/ShowTop-Windows-Bluetooth-Android-Streaming/dp/B010LVS6BW) [Bay trail CPU]

Does anyone have any experience with units like these and retroarch?

#2

Neither of those will be great but either should be passable, I think. Snes9x should run on either one, not sure about n64. Either one should be able to run crt-easymode, at least.

#3

Interesting, Thank you hunterk. Would you happen to have a good mini box recommendation?

Maybe the odroid xu4 is still the way to go, or that new wetek core if there is a lakka.tv build for it?

#4

The Nvidia Shield tablets are pretty great for RetroArch but they’re stuck with Android (at least for now; fingers crossed that Nvidia will release a vanilla linux build for them eventually). They cost a bit more but the Intel NUCs with an i3/i5 would be much more flexible than the x86 mini-PCs.

#5

I was looking at the Shield TV. Although I’m trying to keep the build under $150 USD if it’s possible. I would be running retroarch exclusively. No other emulators.

#6

You might also consider checking craigslist, you might be able to find a decent older computer with a good GPU used for the price of a weaker new PC.

#7

I got an Odroid-XU4 for this purpose, it works like a charm (except for PSP games) and would be within your budget.

#8

This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. :slight_smile:

#9

As an added bonus, it can boot from either eMMC or MicroSD (selectable with a switch on the side). So, you can have a setup like I’ve got where you have Lakka on one memory, and Ubuntu on the other; flick the switch to change between an emulation console and a more-or-less full-fledged Linux PC.

#10

I did notice that as well. How is the fan noise? Have you upgraded the fan to the silent Noctua NF-A4 x10 5V?

#11

No, I’m using the stock fan. The noise (when the fan runs; it doesn’t always stay on) is noticable but not even close to disruptive. I also haven’t noticed any overheating problems (using stock case; the standard one, not the Cloudshell one); after prolonged usage the bottom of the case is warm to the touch but not hot, while the fan outlet remains cool.

The fan does tend to turn on and off, which might bother you. I think it’s possible to configure it so that it always stays on; if it’s constant, it might not be as noticable. I don’t know how safe it is to permanently turn it off, but if you wanted to try that out, you could probably just unplug the fan’s power cable from the board.

One thing to keep in mind is that wireless Dualshock 3 doesn’t seem to work, whether genuine or counterfeit (but genuine ones, and some counterfeits (but not others), do work wired), at least using the official Odroid bluetooth adapter. I have no idea about Dualshock 4 or any Xbox controllers (obviously you’d need a Microsoft dongle, not a bluetooth adapter, for Xbox controllers). I posted a topic asking about this but haven’t got any response so far.

#12

[QUOTE=whiteninja79;33306]No, I’m using the stock fan. The noise (when the fan runs; it doesn’t always stay on) is noticable but not even close to disruptive. I also haven’t noticed any overheating problems (using stock case; the standard one, not the Cloudshell one); after prolonged usage the bottom of the case is warm to the touch but not hot, while the fan outlet remains cool.

The fan does tend to turn on and off, which might bother you. I think it’s possible to configure it so that it always stays on; if it’s constant, it might not be as noticable. I don’t know how safe it is to permanently turn it off, but if you wanted to try that out, you could probably just unplug the fan’s power cable from the board.

One thing to keep in mind is that wireless Dualshock 3 doesn’t seem to work, whether genuine or counterfeit (but genuine ones, and some counterfeits (but not others), do work wired), at least using the official Odroid bluetooth adapter. I have no idea about Dualshock 4 or any Xbox controllers (obviously you’d need a Microsoft dongle, not a bluetooth adapter, for Xbox controllers). I posted a topic asking about this but haven’t got any response so far.[/QUOTE]

Interesting. I keep reading how people seem to think the fan is disruptive and overly loud. I found this fanless solution that looks interesting. It’s an aluminum passive heatsink case design for the XU4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvqoWKBJDsA

My preferred controller is the ps4/dualshock4.

#13

I don’t own a Dualshock 4 to test it with (and likely won’t get one until if/when I get a PS4), so I can’t tell you how well it will or won’t work.

I believe the criticisms of the fan noise mostly relate to the Odroid-XU3 rather than the XU4.

That case looks very nice, but I do notice it doesn’t seem to leave the boot device selection switch exposed. I do tend to change between the two sometimes (as I have Lakka on the eMMC and Ubuntu on the MicroSD; I primarily use Lakka but do use it for Ubuntu once in a while). If you were wanting it solely as a dedicated Lakka machine, and were using MicroSD to boot it (so that you could remove the MicroSD if/when you wanted to update Lakka), I think this wouldn’t be a problem.

At any rate - the Odroid-XU4 ships with the fan included, it isn’t an extra (which I find strange, considering that even a case for it is extra), so there’s no harm in trying the stock one before changing out for something else if it doesn’t suit.

#14

My vote would be for the Shield TV. The 16 GB model runs for $200 so it’s a bit more than what you’re looking at, but it does work fantastic for the PSP core and BSNES core. It’ll also run the Mupen64 Core excellently as well.

#15

I’ve Tronsmart Ara x5 and the result are average

Snes Genesis and arcade work great with fast crt shaders N64 works OK on some games like mario64 & Mario kart, but too slow on goldeneye Psx is far too slow because mednafen core asks far too much ressources… I miss Android pcsxr rearmed core!

#16

I’m using the ODROID XU3-lite which was replaced by the XU4 with wired xbox 360 controllers. I have a 32 GB emmc running cyanogenmod lollipop with my various apps including Retroarch, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime, Plex, Popcorn Time, Hearthstone etc. I also have the Ouya App Store side loaded which allows me to play TowerFall and other Ouya games! Back to RetroArch…I have a 64 GB microSD card loaded to the brim with all of my roms. I’ve found that the device plays everything I want up to N64 which is the era of games that I run in to problems with. Street Fight 3 third Strike on FBA core plays like a charm. I use easymode crt shader which seems good on everything that I play. I use the cheap air mouse that they sell on ameridroid to navigate android from my couch. Thats my set up and I’m generally pretty happy with it. Hope that helps. If I were to do it all over again I might have just bought the Nvidia Shield TV.

#17

Ive backed one of those new PINE A64 devices, should be out in March time. Im hoping it will run RA with Shaders…

#18

[QUOTE=whiteninja79;33325]I don’t own a Dualshock 4 to test it with (and likely won’t get one until if/when I get a PS4), so I can’t tell you how well it will or won’t work.

I believe the criticisms of the fan noise mostly relate to the Odroid-XU3 rather than the XU4.

That case looks very nice, but I do notice it doesn’t seem to leave the boot device selection switch exposed. I do tend to change between the two sometimes (as I have Lakka on the eMMC and Ubuntu on the MicroSD; I primarily use Lakka but do use it for Ubuntu once in a while). If you were wanting it solely as a dedicated Lakka machine, and were using MicroSD to boot it (so that you could remove the MicroSD if/when you wanted to update Lakka), I think this wouldn’t be a problem.

At any rate - the Odroid-XU4 ships with the fan included, it isn’t an extra (which I find strange, considering that even a case for it is extra), so there’s no harm in trying the stock one before changing out for something else if it doesn’t suit.[/QUOTE]

Can you verify how well the n64 core plays on the XU4 with medium graphics settings on an 1920x1440 internal core resolution?

#19

Okay. I’ve tried, using Super Mario 64. (I will note - I don’t know if this is a ROM issue or a core issue, but some games - in particular, the Gex games - seem to have problems. Super Mario 64 seems to be fine.) Results below are with no shaders, and with the dynamic_recompiler CPU core.

The audio is a bit glitchy at some points at these settings, usually when also drawing a lot of graphics (although it also happens during one fairly low-intensity splash screen). It’s definitely playable, but not ideal. Frame rate seems to sit at about 48fps most of the time in-game.

I tried knocking it down to the next highest setting - 1600x1200 - and this gave an almost-consistent 60fps in-game; the pause screen and menu screens dropped to around 48fps.

Dropped it again to 1280x960, and this seemed to hold >59.5fps (and mostly 60.0 exactly) at all times during gameplay; some minor (but not noticable, at least to me) dips during menus and pause still.

Do note that by “in gameplay”, I only tested walking around the starting area a bit. :slight_smile:

I decided to try one last thing - 640x480 (I think that’s the internal resolution of an actual N64?) with a shader, instead of a higher resolution. xbr-lv2-c resulted in similar framedrops to using the 1920x1440 internal resolution; crt-royale (I think I recall you asking about this one elsewhere on these forums?) worked perfectly fine.

In case it matters, my actual display output resolution, as configured in the bootloader INI, is 1080p. I don’t believe Odroid-XU4 supports any higher than this, so 1920x1440 is probably not worthwhile anyway since it’s higher than the Odroid can output; 1600x1200 or 1280x960 is probably a better choice.

#20

Here is another option that caught my eye, early reviews of the new Intel stick say they are actually worth a damn now. Not sure what the performance would be like though with Windows hogging up resources compared to a more slimlined linux or droid box but at the least it could offer more flexibility for things like Hyperspin and easier tinkering in the backend.