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Need Advice / Help on a Dedicated Emulation Build

#1

Hi all, ok so I am looking at doing a RetroArch build, namely as a backup for my collection and to try games I may look at getting. What I mean is, that I have a large collection, but the consoles I have for it are getting old and parts are getting harder to find. So to make them last longer I am looking to do a RetroArch build for me to game on.

So with that all said, I am running into issue in my research on what hardware to use and OS. I understand that most emulators are optimised for Single Thread use, which means my best bet on stability and stutter/lag free playing is an ARM or RISC CPU build. Sadly that is the furthest I have gotten. If Possible I want to keep this Open Source for OS I use, but I am finding conflicting information on that front when dealing with what Cores I can use for Emulation and stability.

My next set of questions is, will RetroArch work on Powerpc hardware or RISC-V hardware, or am I locked-in on using ARM and x86/x86-64? What about the Tegra TX2 boards? I ask because with this build I am looking to build a full powered machine that can run all the Cores.

Thanks for your time, I hope this post is not a mess to work with.

#2

Unless you’re doing Wii or PS2 emulation you don’t need something that powerful at all and can get away with using something like a raspberryPi in terms of performance.

PowerPC is only good when stuff is made for using that architecture. If you’re doing emulation then no its the furthest from being optimized for it.

For the OS I would stick with some form of linux as its much easier to get stuff compiled and a smoother experience for that. Have you looked at Lakka?

#3

Lakka is Retroarch based, but yes I have and if I go Linux, I was going to use Lakka, also I am going to do PS2 and Wii emulation.

#4

pi3 can’t do 64 flawlessly (some games are down-right unplayable, as far as framerate and stuttering). Not sure on PS1, either, but i know 64 has issues. but SNES and prior, yeah, pi is fine

#5

Okay then you can get a cheapo Ryzen 3 build with a 560/570 and you should be good.