PS2 emulation on 13" MBP

[Blues003]

Morning people!

I've been thinking of getting a MBP 13'' when the next revision comes out, which, I'd assume, will keep the Intel 3000 HD as its IGP. Because this GPU is relatively similar to the 320m, I assumed it'd have a similar performance all-around, including when emulating Playstation 2 games, with the PSCX2 software. I intend to have my future laptop do a lot of tasks, one of them being emulating PS2 gaming.

However, after some research, it appears that that might not be true. While the data is scarce, I'd like to know what have been the experiences of Mac-users with their MBP 13'', for those who emulate Playstation 2 on their laptops. I know that it works fine on the NVidea 320m (there's youtube proof of that); even on the MBA 13'' 2010 it runs decently!

(For the sake of discussion, let us assume there is no dedicated GPU coming on the MBP 13'' revision.)

Keep in mind I do not care if you resort to OS X, or Bootcamp Windows. I have no trouble Bootcamping if I ever need a specific software to be run, or performance to be achieved. What I'd like, however, to know, is how well the Intel HD 3000 has been treating you in this particular department!

Cheers,

Blues003

 

[-tWv-]

Not sure about ps2 games, but I had no problem emulating N64 games on my 13" unibody macbook when I had it. I used the app sixty force and it worked great. FYI, this had the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 2.0ghz C2D.

I'm pretty sure any of the newer macbook pros will handle PS2 games just fine, but maybe someone else has experience that they could share.

 

[TSE]

Intel is targetting 30% improved CPU performance with 20% improved GPU performance for Ivy Bridge, which will be in the next revision.

From what I know, emulators are all more CPU intensive than GPU intensive. If the nVidia 320m performs PS2 emulators well with a Core 2 Duo, the current MacBook Pros should do it just fine.

 

[sporadicMotion]

I tried PS2 emulation for OS X and I found it was pretty unstable and too buggy for regular use. This was about 8 months ago so maybe there's been some advances in software. This was on a 2009 15" MBP w/9600m GT.

 

[Blues003]

Not sure about ps2 games, but I had no problem emulating N64 games on my 13" unibody macbook when I had it. I used the app sixty force and it worked great. FYI, this had the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and 2.0ghz C2D.

I'm pretty sure any of the newer macbook pros will handle PS2 games just fine, but maybe someone else has experience that they could share.

Thanks for your input. However, I am particularly looking at reports from the Intel HD 3000. I know the Nvidea 320m works fine, for example. You can see Youtube proof at youtube.com/cunykurosaki91 It's the data on Intel HD 3000 that's making me afraid.

Intel is targetting 30% improved CPU performance with 20% improved GPU performance for Ivy Bridge, which will be in the next revision.

From what I know, emulators are all more CPU intensive than GPU intensive. If the nVidia 320m performs PS2 emulators well with a Core 2 Duo, the current MacBook Pros should do it just fine.

I'd think so too. While the data is scarce, however, it does not point that way.

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-on-Macbook-Pro-2011-with-HD-3000 (OP mentions gaming is "very laggy")

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Is-This-A-Good-Laptop-To-Run-Pcsx2 (Not directly about a MBP, but about a laptop with Intel HD 3000; overall idea is that this IGP will stop him from playing "many games")

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Lenovo-T520-and-PCSX2 (same as above; notice how one user says the INtel HD 3000 is "crap for PCSX2")


I'd rather not rely on what Ivy Bridge might or might not deliver when making my decision to buy a laptop. Curious how a 2010 model will probably deliver better...

 

[TSE]

Could be driver issues with the PS2 emulator... I remember when the PS1 emulator was fairly new and specific drivers had to be installed with your computer depending on what graphics card you had... I think I had an ATI Radeon 9200 or something like that. Really long time ago..

Anyways, enough of my tangent.

I would honestly see if there is a driver issue with the Intel HD 3000, and if there is, ask if they will update it to accomodate it. Otherwise, you might have to get a discrete graphics card.

 

[linkandzelda]

I would like to turn your attention to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQDQWifb9Ow

It's of PCSX2 running Kingdom Hearts on a MacBook Air 2010 13" with 1.86ghz and 4gb ram. The emulation was done using a virtual machine of windows 7 and the machine only was give 1 core to play with, and only 733mb of ram.

I believe this shows that when PCSX2 is configure correctly, it can run like a beast.

 

[Blues003]

I would like to turn your attention to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQDQWifb9Ow

It's of PCSX2 running Kingdom Hearts on a MacBook Air 2010 13" with 1.86ghz and 4gb ram. The emulation was done using a virtual machine of windows 7 and the machine only was give 1 core to play with, and only 733mb of ram.

I believe this shows that when PCSX2 is configure correctly, it can run like a beast.

While impressive, there are a number of factors to consider in. KH might not be the most demanding of games... and also, it is running on 320m, right? I wonder how good/bad it'd be with Intel HD 3000. The previous poster might have hit it right on the spot with the driver question...

Anybody here with a 2011 MBP 13'' and some PS2 game to test this out?

 

[TSE]

I did some additonal research since I am interested in this too, and the Intel 3000 HD is only ~10-15% slower than the 320m so it has to be driver issues.

 

[Blues003]

I did some additonal research since I am interested in this too, and the Intel 3000 HD is only ~10-15% slower than the 320m so it has to be driver issues.

Could I get your sources? Also it'd be interesting to check the performance on OS X vs the performance on Windows. I heard that drivers on OS X are actually better than the 320m's, which could mean that weirdly enough, PCSX2 would perform better on OS X?