Raspberry pi 4 for TV and retro gameing.

[JohnMc45]

Thinking of getting of getting a Raspberry Pi to stream TV and run as a emulator/ DOSBox.  What one should I get 1, 2 or 4gb model? 

[SpiralTTGL]

4gb model is very sold out everywhere, Id recommend getting the 2gb and no less if you want to retro game as emulators will most likely use the extra memory

[goto10]

i kept reading that one shouldnt buy that pi yet, no proper support for the gpu on some emulators and for some video playback that needs acceleration from gpu

 

having said that, try to go for the 4 gbs one, dont bother with the 1gb one

[SpiralTTGL]

2 minutes ago, goto10 said:

i kept reading that one shouldnt buy that pi yet, no proper support for the gpu on some emulators and for some video playback that needs acceleration from gpu

 

having said that, try to go for the 4 gbs one, dont bother with the 1gb one

emulation is already similar or better then 3b+ with the nightly build of lakka in some cases, It is quite a journey tho my 4gb model is OC to 2ghz so my results might be a bit sewed

 

However that is without any specific optimizations yet for pi 4

[goto10]

18 minutes ago, SpiralTTGL said:

emulation is already similar or better then 3b+ with the nightly build of lakka in some cases, It is quite a journey tho my 4gb model is OC to 2ghz so my results might be a bit sewed

 

However that is without any specific optimizations yet for pi 4

those are great news, how are you cooling the overclocked pi? i really want to buy one to run pure linux, tools, disk management and that sort of stuff one misses when using windows only

[mariushm]

Why not get some refurbished desktop or laptop for 75-100$?

 

ex

55$ for Dell Latitude 2120 - Intel Atom N550 1.50 GHz - 2 GB RAM - 250 GB HDD - [ N/A ] - Windows 7 Professional: https://www.newegg.com/black-dell-latitude-2120-everyday-value/p/1TS-000A-00YY1?Item=9SIAD0K7DD3516

add a 64-120GB ssd and 2 gb of ram and you're golden

 

70$ for HP 6470B Probook 14" B-Grade I3-3110M 2.4GHZ 4GB 320GB Windows 7 Professional (No Webcam) : https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-000D-02CW5?Item=9SIA6A373F5106

 

[SpiralTTGL]

25 minutes ago, goto10 said:

those are great news, how are you cooling the overclocked pi? i really want to buy one to run pure linux, tools, disk management and that sort of stuff one misses when using windows only

Custom solution had an old roughly 20mmx20mmx15mm heatsink I slapped on with a thermal pad and a 20mm fan I put above it

 

it still will reach 80c very slowly good enough since nothing will ever pin all cpu's to 100% for long periods of time

[SpiralTTGL]

 

Eta prime with the perfect timing

his OC is only

CPU: 1750ghz

GPU: + 650mhz

 

 

[JohnMc45]

1 hour ago, SpiralTTGL said:

4gb model is very sold out everywhere, Id recommend getting the 2gb and no less if you want to retro game as emulators will most likely use the extra memory

Not in a rush. Probably hold out for a 4gb model then. 

1 hour ago, goto10 said:

those are great news, how are you cooling the overclocked pi? i really want to buy one to run pure linux, tools, disk management and that sort of stuff one misses when using windows only

Can't remember who makes it or where I seen it for sale. But someone makes a proper CPU cooler for. Heat pipe fin stack and little fan.  

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

Why not get some refurbished desktop or laptop for 75-100$?

 

ex

55$ for Dell Latitude 2120 - Intel Atom N550 1.50 GHz - 2 GB RAM - 250 GB HDD - [ N/A ] - Windows 7 Professional: https://www.newegg.com/black-dell-latitude-2120-everyday-value/p/1TS-000A-00YY1?Item=9SIAD0K7DD3516

add a 64-120GB ssd and 2 gb of ram and you're golden

 

70$ for HP 6470B Probook 14" B-Grade I3-3110M 2.4GHZ 4GB 320GB Windows 7 Professional (No Webcam) : https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-000D-02CW5?Item=9SIA6A373F5106

 

I might do that for home as I can probably build something out of parts on hand. But will be much bigger then the Pi already have to much stuff in and around the TV stand.

Second would be nice to travel with it sometimes.  

[SpiralTTGL]

The performance of linux can't really be measured atm since the 64bit image of raspbian still in development it doesn't run bad now but there is some issues with video playback and usb boot. I think once usb boot is fixed running linux will be a smooth and snappy experience with the added speed over usb3.0 then a microsd card could offer