Hardware Advice

[km782]

I am hoping I can get some advice on the best hardware to use. I am hoping to keep it $100-150 but will go as high as $300 if necessary. At a minimum I want to be able to play N64 and PSX smoothly so the Raspberry Pi is out. I would also like to be able to play Dreamcast, Gamecube and PS2 games. Wii games would be great.

I was looking at the Rockpro64 since there is a beta release currently out for Recalbox. I am having a hard time comparing the performance of the ARM chips to x86. I've read that it plays the N64 games well but how will the more demanding systems perform?

The site for the Odroid H2 says that it can play the Wii games but it is out of stock unless you want to get it off of eBay. It also seems like it might have driver issues since it is new.

I also looked at the NUC6CAYH (https://www.amazon.com/INTEL-NUC-Kit-Component-BOXNUC6CAYH/dp/B01MSZTD8N/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=intel+nuc&qid=1550280825&s=electronics&sr=1-5). Would this be a good option? How do you think this compares to the Rockpro64?

Any help would really be appreciated! Thanks in advance

[voljega]

@km782 AFAIK Gamecube and PS2 are emulated on x86/x64 only.

as for price, you won't be able to get guaranteed good GC/PS2 emulation for 300 dollars, you need at least a 3Hgz processor and a graphic card.

So that's more between 450 and 600 euros when I searched (I'll let you do the conversion)

[joinski]

@km782
If used parts come into question, then you could buy a cheap system with an older i5 or i7 with at least 2.5 or better 3GHz from ebay or your local market place, classifieds /craigslist or whatever it is called.
Does recalbox have PS2 emulation already? For batocera i know it supports PS2.
I would also go for a nvidia GTX 750 Ti (should be available for 50 bucks or less, if used), as it has better performance for PS2, 3DS and Gamecube/Wii as old intel IGPUs.

[Zing]

@km782 As @voljega said, I find it hard to get great performance on the GC / PS2 for $ 300, and as @joinski mentions, the best option for this is to buy an old core i5 or core i7, plus a video card.
But, Recalbox does not run PS2, and if there is not a Ps2 emulator with open source code will probably never be implemented.
The BETA version of Recalbox is much more compatible with the new video cards, but I do not know which models are compatible today, so I can not indicate any.
The Odroid H2 still has a driver problem, and Rockpro64 is still in Beta, and I do not know how much the performance of the latter is superior.
The compatibility information is on the links:
https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Board-Compatibility-(EN)
https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/PC-compatibility-(EN)
But the current BETA is more compatible than wiki information, as far as I know.

[km782]

Thanks everyone for the responses. The list of board compatibility with the different emulators is very helpful.

Does anyone know what the driver problem is with the H2? I've searched and can't find anything on it. I'm a little puzzled because people have been able to install Ubuntu on it with no problems and the company's web site shows them using the Dolphin emulator on Ubuntu and everything appears to be working fine. Thanks

[sag508]

How is is the Raspberry Pi 3B+ when it comes to emulating N64? I am thinking of upgrading to it, since there are a few games that don't run well on the 3 but work flawlessly on X64.

[voljega]

@sag508 well if you compare specs it is not that much of an upgrade, I doubt it makes a difference