Hacking Does the 3DS have enough firepower to run a PS1 Emulator?

[WaffleWafer]

Obviously I'm not asking for one, but it may be a possibility

PSP:
Sony proprietary GPU - 166mhz 2MB VRAM
64MB RAM

3DS:
PICA200 - 400Mhz 6MB VRAM
128MB RAM

Now before you call me out, here's a thing, I've read an article on Eurogamer.net on how the PSP plays PS1 games. It actually emulates the whole game! The "downloaded code is actually 100% identical to the titles that were released on CD all those years go, with the PSP itself completely emulating the base hardware."

So what do you guys think?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

The 3DS CPU is only 266mhz, which isn't a lot. The PSP shares the same architecture as the PSX IIRC (MIPS) and that makes it far easier since a dynarec isn't needed, and many instructions can be executed as-is at no performance loss, however the 3DS is ARM so things are a lot different and that means many CPU instructions cannot be translated 1:1, meaning more CPU time is needed to execute the same code.
It might be doable, but just barely. It would take a lot of effort to make it run at playable speeds, and there might not be enough interest to make that happen.
Even a n3DS won't give much of a speed improvement, as it's highly limited how well emulators can take advantage of multiple cores, you run into sync issues pretty quickly if you try emulating a single core multithreaded, causing crashes and such. The best you could do would be to emulate the CPU, GPU and audio each on their own thread.

 

[rewrewrew123]

I though the same thing that you write...but I didn't say :/
BTW, I think that is possible to emulate, I think that maybe is possible emulate not only PSX but PSP too...
Maybe the controls will be a bit difficult to program...

 

[froggestspirit]

PSP:
Sony proprietary GPU - 166mhz 2MB VRAM
64MB RAM

3DS:
PICA200 - 400Mhz 6MB VRAM
128MB RAM

So what do you guys think?

I'm thinking these specs arn't entirely accurate.

I though the same thing that you write...but I didn't say :/
BTW, I think that is possible to emulate, I think that maybe is possible emulate not only PSX but PSP too...
Maybe the controls will be a bit difficult to program...

About as difficult as it is to program controls on a touch screen device like android

 

[JFizDaWiz]

PSP is 333mhz, I know that much for sure

 

[rsc-pl]

There is no good PSP emulaotors for high-end ARM processors on Android phones (yes, there is PPSSPP but it is slow in most gemes even on hi-end devices), and you want it for 3DS?

 

[Fire_Slasher]

There is no good PSP emulaotors for high-end ARM processors on Android phones (yes, there is PPSSPP but it is slow in most gemes even on hi-end devices), and you want it for 3DS?

Huh I think he's talking about PS1 emulator, not PSP. It's pretty much what jdbye said, the 3DS might be more powerful in terms of raw power but raw power alone isn't enough to make things better in that case.

 

[rewrewrew123]

There is no good PSP emulaotors for high-end ARM processors on Android phones (yes, there is PPSSPP but it is slow in most gemes even on hi-end devices), and you want it for 3DS?

I use PPSSPP on Android on a mid powerful phone...it works without any lag and all the games that I played works (except AC:BL and PSX eboot)

 

[duwen]

I'd quite like a port of the Zinc emu on the 3ds - possibly more achievable than a PS1 emu, but technically based on the same hardware requirements.
...Rival Schools United By Fate!

I need to remember to take a look and see if a Zinc port has been sugested in the 'sugest a homebrew' thread...

 

[WaffleWafer]

There is no good PSP emulaotors for high-end ARM processors on Android phones (yes, there is PPSSPP but it is slow in most gemes even on hi-end devices), and you want it for 3DS?

I was talking about PS1, not PSP. And no I do not 'Want' it, I was just asking if the 3ds can handle it.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The 3DS CPU is only 266mhz, which isn't a lot. The PSP shares the same architecture as the PSX IIRC (MIPS) and that makes it far easier since a dynarec isn't needed, and many instructions can be executed as-is at no performance loss, however the 3DS is ARM so things are a lot different and that means many CPU instructions cannot be translated 1:1, meaning more CPU time is needed to execute the same code.
It might be doable, but just barely. It would take a lot of effort to make it run at playable speeds, and there might not be enough interest to make that happen.
Even a n3DS won't give much of a speed improvement, as it's highly limited how well emulators can take advantage of multiple cores, you run into sync issues pretty quickly if you try emulating a single core multithreaded, causing crashes and such. The best you could do would be to emulate the CPU, GPU and audio each on their own thread.

Oh sorry bout that, it was the 3DS's GPU which is PICA200 @ 400mhz. The cpu is 268mhz dual core

 

[The Catboy]

Actually the PSP has a 333 MHz MIPS R4000, it does come underclocked by default though, but it's not hard to correct the clock speed.
3DS has ARM11 Processor Core: ARM11 2x MPCore & 2x VFPv2 Co-Processor 268MHz
New 3DS 4x MPCore & 4x VFPv2.
As well as an ARM9 CPU clocking in at 134MHz on both.

The PS1 had a MIPS R3000A-compatible 32-Bit RISC CPU with 5KB L1 cache, running at 33.8688 MHz. The fact that they are both using the same CPU architecture is basically the reason the PSP can emulate PS1 games so well. Now trying to emulate it through ARM isn't impossible since the Raspberry Pi (both 1 and 2) can do it almost flawlessly, but 3DS just doesn't seem to have the horsepower to actually do it, at least not at a playable level.

 

[dubbz82]

Does it have enough power? Sure...although we would need someone incredibly skilled to have this hit the light of day outside of a proof of concept.