My Base Model M4 MacMini - How Does It Run PlayStation 2 (AetherSX2 and PCSX2) And Win98 (86Box)?

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lactobacillusprime

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Published on January 11, 2025 6:12:11 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kItkhl4ByDU

Game:

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001)

Duration: 0:00

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7

#m4macmini #pcsx2 #86box

Imagine you're comparing two sports cars: the M1 Mac mini is like a sleek, reliable sedan from a few years ago, while the M4 Mac mini is like the latest, turbocharged sports car with all the bells and whistles.

The M4 Mac mini is smaller and lighter than the M1, making it a perfect fit for tight spaces. It's also faster, thanks to the new M4 chip, which is built using a more advanced manufacturing process. This means it can handle more demanding tasks with ease1. Plus, it has more ports for connecting all your gadgets, and even supports the latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards for faster, more reliable connections.

In short, the M4 Mac mini is like the M1's younger, more powerful sibling, ready to take on whatever you throw at it with style and efficiency. 🚗 💨

RACE CARS
So what else is there to do than see how the M4 Mac Mini runs Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec with PlayStation 2 Emulation? There are two variants: the older AetherSX2 (an ARM-coded fork of PCSX2 v1.5) and the up-to-date port of PCSX2 2.3.100 Nightly build. While AetherSX2 runs natively on ARM CPUs, PCSX2 2.3.100 is a Macintosh Intel app that needs the Rosetta 2 translation layer.

ARM computers, like the M4 Mac Mini, can't natively run x86_64 code intended for Ryzen, Intel, and other x86 chips. Both Windows ARM and macOS use precompiled software, requiring translation layers to run any app, be it Intel or ARM-based. While running a translated app slows it down compared to a native one, Microsoft's and Apple's translation layers are fast enough to play games and time-critical apps as if they were running natively.

AetherSX2 was necessary on M1 for decent emulation speeds, but on the M4, it underperforms. Is it due to a worse Rosetta 2 translation layer on the M4 or something else? It might be more about the PCSX2 team's progress in speed and compatibility since AetherSX2. The M4 is much faster, and combined with the newer, streamlined PCSX2 version, it runs better than AetherSX2.

Are we observing emulation improvement, the M4's better Rosetta 2 performance, or a combination?

HOW ABOUT WINDOWS98 AND RETRO PC-GAMING?
PCEM and its newer fork 86Box emulate many PC systems up to Pentium II/Celeron, including a lot of hardware, in a cycle-exact manner. This differs from virtualization in VirtualBox, VMWare, and the QEMU hybrid solution. New builds of 86Box combined with the M4 Mac Mini base model produce a speedy result for Windows 98 and 3D Voodoo3 graphics (including Direct3D).

Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:00:09 - AetherSX2 1.5 ARM fork of PCSX2 1.5 (2023)
00:00:23 - Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec PAL on AetherSX2 60fps native resolution
00:05:37 - the AetherSX2 version and build nrs.
00:05:44 - PCSX2 2.3.100 (Intel) x86_64 running Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec (PAL) 50fps upscaled
00:10:57 - PCSX2 2.3.100 (Intel) x86_64 running Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec (NTSC) 60fps upscaled
00:16:41 - PCSX2 2.3.100 (Intel) runs well on M4, is there a need for AetherSX2 on the M4?
00:17:02 - Checking whether the PCSX2 2.3.100 application is Intel, or Intel/Arm or Arm
00:18:02 - 86Box, originally a fork of PCEm but it has diverged from the original into something even more
00:19:43 - Running part of the 3DMark '99
00:24:57 - Heretic (MS-DOS) on Windows on 86Box on M4 MacMini
00:26:17 - Quake (MS-DOS) on Windows on 86Box on M4 MacMini
00:27:01 - C64s (MS-DOS) one of the first solid C64 emulators, this one by Miha Peternel
00:27:56 - Final remarks

Thanks for watching - LactobacillusPrime

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NOTICE 1:
The Soundtracks / Music used in this video have all been licensed from Epidemic Sound

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