PS2 emu beta

PPC

http://thecpy.emulation64.com/code/emu_psx2_pcsx2.htm

Kairo

Already mentioned here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45745

Nothing to get too excited about..yet.

All the same, it is nice to know some bit of work is being done.

Shinji

I had a brief look at that project... Basically what they've done is taken a freely available MIPS emulator (the PS2 EE core is a MIPS CPU running at 300mhz), made some minor changes and bolted on a small bit of VU0 emulation.

It's a good start. If you're writing a PS2 emulator, it's certainly the right place to start. However, what this represents is about 5% of the work you'd need to get the full functionality of the PS2 emulated, and it's the easy 5% at that.

Interesting figure for you. It's safe to say that it takes about 10x the CPU power of a given CPU to be able to emulate that CPU at full speed; it takes a 1ghz machine to emulate a 20mhz StrongARM at full speed without glitches. MIPS isn't quite as good, bangs per buck, as StrongARM, but it's close; do the math on how powerful your processor needs to be to emulate that chip. Current generation PC CPUs won't manage it - you're *probably* looking at about 7 - 10ghz before it's cracked. I'd err on the upper edge of caution here and say 10ghz, because the MIPS core is an utter, utter fcuker to emulate on an x86 core - it's a 128 bit processor, while x86 is just coming to terms with 64 bit stuff. That causes a big performance hit.

And that's just the CPU core! Then you've got VU0 and VU1 - both astonishingly fast vector units which the PC has no equivalent of, so you'd need to emulate them in software. AND you'd need to tie them in with the EE core, because the PS2 hardware is entirely reliant on the precise timings between those devices.

And then you've got the GS. There's the absolute nail in the coffin of PS2 emulation on the PS2 within the next two years or so - right now, there is no PC graphics card which comes anywhere near having the raw fillrate of the PS2. There's no way around that - the PS2 is just a hell of a lot better at fillrate than any PC product, by an order of magnitude.

Even if these guys manage to churn out an emulator that runs PS2 stuff perfectly within the next two years, it'll probably be a good three to five years more before the PC that'll actually emulate the PS2 at full speed will be built. I wouldn't hold my breath, in other words.

Keeks

Couldn't have said it better myself Shinji. There definately won't be a workable version available for quite a few years...and by then there will be a bigger, better (?) console available. Still nice to see it.

Stephen

What console is StrongARM from? I know feck all about how consoles work, but I'd like to learn more. Anyone got any interesting links?

Stephen

Google is the master.

How a bunch of different consoles work

Shinji

Mmm, I do warn you that the descriptions there are pretty horribly simplified. The PS2 one completely lacks any mention of the IO system (which is powered by an original PSone chipset!) or the Vector Units, which are the real heart of the machine, for example.

What console is StrongARM from?

ARM/StrongARM is a British-produced range of CPUs, they started off life in the Acorn RISC PC range but can now be found in everything from the GBA to the iPaq range. They rock, frankly - astonishingly cheap and very, very powerful. Compaq iPaqs run them at up to 300Mhz, at which speed they're about equivalent to an 800-1000mhz Pentium 3 at certain tasks.

Celt

I've had a ps2 emu since september although i dont use it because i have a ps2.

So pcsx2 isnt the first psx2 emu like it says on the site

Shinji

I've had a ps2 emu

No, you haven't. It can't be a PS2 emulator if it doesn't emulate a PS2, now can it? PCSX2 isn't a PS2 emulator either, it's a MIPS emulator with a small amount of VU functionality.

chernobyl

Isnt X86 Architecture kinda exhuasted?
Can it really be pushed to 10Ghz?

Keeks

Originally posted by chernobyl
Isnt X86 Architecture kinda exhuasted?
Can it really be pushed to 10Ghz?

Try telling that to Intel....there sure as hell are trying hard to get it to 10Ghz

PPC

Originally posted by Celt
I've had a ps2 emu since september although i dont use it because i have a ps2.

So pcsx2 isnt the first psx2 emu like it says on the site

was it called ekaF??
The PS2 trojan emulator

Celt

Originally posted by Shinji


No, you haven't. It can't be a PS2 emulator if it doesn't emulate a PS2, now can it? PCSX2 isn't a PS2 emulator either, it's a MIPS emulator with a small amount of VU functionality.

Ok, I've had an emulator that can play ps2 games, that better? :rolleyes:

Shinji

Ok, I've had an emulator that can play ps2 games, that better?

No, because now you're just outright lying as opposed to being incorrect