Pandora's Closest Rival Cpu Speed Wise?


jaycee900

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Was looking on DC Emu and came across this new little machine.

"Although Oppo's fresh S11 likely has SmartQ's latest beat in the attractiveness department, the 4GB T5-II is the unanimous champion in terms of sheer utility. Not only can this handheld handle MP3, OGG, WMA, FLAC, APE, AAC, WAV, AVI, XviD, DivX, MPEG and MP4 files (just to name a few), it also features a video output, SDHC expansion slot, six-band equalizer and a 600MHz processor. Furthermore, you'll find a 3-inch 320 x 240 resolution display and a built-in emulator that handles GBA and even NEO GEO titles. Not too shabby for $174.99"

DC EMu

Now obviously its features are a lot less than the Pandora no kb, wifi, GPU etc, BUT the price is nearly half and the base CPU speed is the same I don't know if its the same processor and can be overclocked but right now is this the closest rival in terms of pure CPU speed for emulation?

I'm not saying I'm getting or want one but now that these processors are coming out for lower priced handhelds do you think since maybe N64 emulation will hit these other machines down the line it will take anything away from the Pandora's market share?

Esp interested in someone like Chads opinion as I know he likes GBMicro sized emulation machines, maybe this will float his boat!?

Edit: Found the processor it uses, its a 'ADI Blackfin BF547 Processor'
ADI BF547
 
Some specs...

Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SmartQ
Screen Size . . . . . . . . . 3.0'
Screen Type . . . . . . . . . LPTS 16 Milions Colors
Resolution . . . . . . . . . . 320x240
Screen Format . . . . . . . 4:3
Main chip . . . . . . . . . . . ADI BF54x
Audio Codecs . . . . . . . . MP3, OGG, WMA, FLAC, APE, AAC,WAV(PCM,ADPCM), CUE
Video Codecs . . . . . . . . AVI(XVID/DivX3.11), RM/RMVB, FLV , WMV,ASF,3GP , MPEG , DAT,MP4
Other supported formats . JPEG, GIF(including GIF89a), BMP, PNG
Expansion slot . . . . . . . . SDHC
Max memory card size . . .8GB
FM Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . Yes
Fm Recording . . . . . . . . . Yes
Recorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . Voice recording
Line In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No
Built-in Speaker . . . . . . . . .Yes
Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Yes
Ebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Multi-line text display (TXT)
Languages . . . . . . . . . . . .English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese
Audio Playback (hours) . . .20
Video Playback ( hours) . . 6
USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . USB 2.0 High Speed
Headphone Output . . . . . . Standard 3.5mm
Tv-Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yes
Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . 112×58×13 mm
Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100g
Accessory included . . . . . . USB Cable, Manual, AC charger


(Source: http://www.b4tech.com/mp4-players/smartq-t5-ii.html)

...I'm not qualified to weigh in on the discussion though. :)
 
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It sounds more like the JXD to be honest. I believe the consensus with that was that it was potentially quite a good machine, but more in the region of a Super GP2x than Pandora.

I can't remember how Blackfin processors compare to ARM ones archetecturally, but I have an inkling that it's not fantastic, although probably not too bad. In particular, though, this CPU has no hardware acceleration, which really will stop it outperforming Pandora.

It also looks like it's lacking some of Pandora's other features that make it as cool as it is. In particular, there's no wifi, no full USB port (though I don't know whether the mini port there is supports host or not, and for that matter, whether if it does, that host is powered), a lower res screen (nothing wrong with 320x240, but it won't be as detailed as 800x480), and no touchscreen from the look of the video.

Oh, and if it's anything like the JXD, it'll need a SDK hacking for it before you can dev on it, which afaik hasn't happened yet. Of course, they might provide one, but equally, they might not.

I'd expect this, as I say, to fall in the region of superGP2x rather than the powerhouse that the Pandora will be. It is, however, significantly more affordable, and I'm sure some will prefer that aspect, at least if it opens up enough to offer people the chance to code for it!
 
This is a JXD clone and it's worth remembering that so far not one blackfin machine has stayed in production for more than a few months, also this one seems rather expensive.
 
Say, anyone try using SmartQ firmware on their JXD 301? There appears to be a d/l link here.

GBA emulation seems to have improved a lot over the X760 and 301.
 
jaycee900 said:
Was looking on DC Emu and came across this new little machine.
Cute. The Blackfin, while a capable ARM core variant for mobile phones and embedded telemetry devices, isn't the same beast as an OMAP3. It's not using the Cortex-A8 or Cortex-A9. While it's a zippy device, the closest rival CPU-wise would be something more like the N800 if you're talking performance for watt consumed and more like one of the high-end Atom units for raw speed.
 
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Firefox said:
The Blackfin isn't an ARM variant. It's a funky RISC/DSP hybrid. :)
It's a fusion of the SHARC and XScale, developed by ADI and Intel as a joint project.

Note the "XScale"- that's an ARM, for all intents and purposes. ;)

To be sure, it's not going to be able to straight run the ARM code, but anything written for ARM is liable to run on Blackfin with a recompile or minor mods in the assembly code. Moreover, even though it combines ARM and DSP at the same time, it's not going to be even remotely in the same class as the Cortex machines. They're not even remotely superscalar right at the moment.
 
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Nah, the programming model's not even vaguely like the ARM. They might have used the ALUs or something out of the XScale, but nothing higher level than that.

I'm not knocking the Blackfin, mind. It's a pretty cool chip. But it's not really a relative of the ARM.
 
Blackfin is a DSP first and CPU second. They're great DSPs and do compare to the Coretex, but they're just not meant for these kinds of applications. AD's DSP lines are in whole better suited for High BW solutions such as Networking.
 
Svartalf said:
It's a fusion of the SHARC and XScale, developed by ADI and Intel as a joint project.

Note the "XScale"- that's an ARM, for all intents and purposes. ;)

To be sure, it's not going to be able to straight run the ARM code, but anything written for ARM is liable to run on Blackfin with a recompile or minor mods in the assembly code. Moreover, even though it combines ARM and DSP at the same time, it's not going to be even remotely in the same class as the Cortex machines. They're not even remotely superscalar right at the moment.
It has nothing to do with ARM or XScale, except perhaps Intel used its XScale knowledge to help Analog Devices develop it.
Its instruction set is completely unrelated to any ARM, even the register file is completely different :)

BTW if you took the information from Wikipedia, read the warning at the top of the page:
QUOTE
It reads like an advertisement and needs to be rewritten from a neutral point of view. Tagged since March 2008.
 
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I thought the point was there wasn't a close competitor cpu-wise that was pocketable.
And had a touchscreen, keyboard, wifi.
And gaming controls. B)

PDAs have the touchscreen keyboard and wifi and phones can have keyboard and wifi. The eeepc and the other umpcs coming out have power but then so does my laptop.And I didn't think there were other games consoles coming close? Perhaps I could attach a BeagleBoard to my PDA. And then the screen is only 320x240.
 
Tobriand said:
Oh, and if it's anything like the JXD, it'll need a SDK hacking for it before you can dev on it, which afaik hasn't happened yet. Of course, they might provide one, but equally, they might not.
Well Orkie has said that he may be completeing the necessary libaries for Blackfin development this summer after he aces his exams. So there still might be hope for the Blackfin family line of PMP players.
 
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Just remember the blackfin is very slow per MHz. Much slower then the ARM9 in the GP2X. I'm sure one of the most overclocked GP2Xs would outperform it. (In non-multimedia tasks)

The blackfin is like a dream machine for cheap Chinese OEMs. It's cheap, energy efficient, accelerates MP4 player functions and you can claim 600 MHz to fool customers.
 
icurafu said:
Just remember the blackfin is very slow per MHz. Much slower then the ARM9 in the GP2X. I'm sure one of the most overclocked GP2Xs would outperform it.

I'm ot saying blackfin is bad, because its cheap and energy efficient, which makes it perfect for chinese devices. That need perfformance in ways not available though a DSP.
Strangely, a totally unoptimised port of snes9x to the JXD301 runs very well, even with all the graphical effects turned on. The same can't be said for the GP2X.
 
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icurafu said:
Just remember the blackfin is very slow per MHz. Much slower then the ARM9 in the GP2X. I'm sure one of the most overclocked GP2Xs would outperform it. (In non-multimedia tasks)

The blackfin is like a dream machine for cheap Chinese OEMs. It's cheap, energy efficient, accelerates MP4 player functions and you can claim 600 MHz to fool customers.
When compared for General Purposes compared to a General Proc such as an ARM yes. If you compare to the ARM9 in DSP activities, the Blackfin will smoke the ARM9. I wouldn't say they are slow per mhz, but rather not suited for a general activities.
Analog Devices is a DSP company. Their 'attempts' at MCUs and MPUs have always been lackluster due to the fact they are DSPs in disguise.


Edit:
Icurafu, it's not that an FPU has a massive effect on unoptimized software. It is more the fact that you don't have to emulate FLOPs as well as the system hardware. Graphics operations benefit from this more then anything else, although I don't know how much of the system power is in the GPU for the Snes.

Most Embedded Proc's are benchmarked in terms of Int OPs(DMIPs,etc.), while DSPs are benchmarked in FLOPS. Which re-itterates my point that the Blackfin line is a DSP first and CPU second.

Also, ARM procs of similar MPU performance have been much cheaper for large orders. That and the fact that the ARM Tool chain is more advanced and cheaper.
 
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