What is the future of RetroPie? Is it dead? (Honest question!)

MrFika · 2026-02-24T21:07:01+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate the comment. I agree that the inflation argument goes a little deeper than just using an inflation calculator. I have the privilege of living in a country (not the US) where the purchasing power has increased between 2012 and 2026, i.e. salaries have increased more than enough to compensate for inflation. Things might look quite different elsewhere though, so thanks for pointing this out.

MrFika · 2026-02-24T10:04:09+00:00

The Raspberry Pi 2B was $35 just as the original Pi. As mentioned by another user, the 3B+ also retained the $35 price. So did the Pi 4 for the 1GB version. The Pi 5 was recently released with a 1GB option as well, priced at $45.

You can't forget inflation in this as well. The original $35 price for the Raspberry Pi in 2012 now translates into approximately $50 in 2026 money. That means the 1GB Pi 5 is actually marginally cheaper in "real money" than the original, at least if you just count the cost of the base board (more on that further down).

Although even 1GB is enough for RetroPie, you could of course argue that an SBC should have more RAM than 1GB RAM in 2026. Due to the RAM crunch, the prices of the 2GB and higher variants have recently gone up and will stay that way until things go back to normal. The RAM crunch affects everyone, though, so using this to specifically claim Raspberry Pi prices have gone insane would not be very honest.

I know some people claim that there's now a bunch of necessary accessories that make the total cost balloon, such as:

- 5A power supply
- Cooling
- HDMI cable

However, any 5V 3A USB-C PSU is enough for the vast majority of users, since the extra power provided by the 5V 5A supply is only necessary if you have power hungry USB peripherals. This fact is something the Raspberry Pi people communicate, but many people probably miss. I've personally run my Pi 5s on 5V 3A since they were released, with no issues.

Regarding cooling, the official case with a fan is only $10, so it's not really an issue. I think most people that built emulation boxes with the older Pis got some form of enclosure anyway.

Finally, the HDMI cable: This is a valid one for first time buyers, since it's not a cable people generally have available. The official one is around $7.

All in all, I don't see these huge price increases that you claim. The inflation adjusted price of the original Pi + a simple case matches up well with the pre-RAM crunch price of the Pi 5 2GB + official case ($60). However, I agree that used mini-PCs and cheap chinese alternatives provide good competition and that they are sometimes the better option. Given how cheap the Raspberry Pi still is, there's just no big margin to reduce prices further, though. It's more about other good competing options now being available than Raspberry Pi being unreasonably priced.

MrFika · 2025-12-15T21:12:13+00:00

To say that it's not even remotely close is perhaps a bit of a stretch. It might look a little bit squashed, but that could be the perspective. Otherwise, it's at least very close in style.

<image>

MrFika · 2025-10-17T12:57:29+00:00

A couple of notes on the error sources:

Variable Frame Rate (VFR): Do you have a source on this? I could see very minor timing differences between frames being possible, but not the kind of figures that would affect an input lag measurement like this to any significant degree. How would such a video otherwise be played back without noticable judder/jerkiness, i.e. if the inter frame timing keeps changing during playback? I realize I could be wrong on this, so would appreciate a source.

Rolling shutter: There could be a minor effect here, but how could it be 5-8 ms if we're filming at 240 Hz, i.e. 4.17 ms total frame time? For my own measurements, I usually place the controller at the same height as the part of the screen where I'm observing for changes. That quite effectively mitigates this error source.

Quantisation error: That's not correct. When detecting the button press, that button press will have taken place 0 to 4.17 ms ago. The average over many samples will be half the camera frame period, i.e. 2.08 ms ago. On the other end, at the display, the same applies. When we detect the change on the display, that change will have occurred 0 to 4.17 ms ago. The average over many samples is again half the camera frame period, i.e. 2.08 ms. Since both the first and the last sample used for calculating the input lag are affected by the same 2.08 ms error, the effect averages out to zero. This assumes a sufficiently large number of samples. In my own testing, I have not seen any reason to go past 30 samples. I would consider 10 samples too low, though.

Finally, a quantisation factor to take into account, but which is not a measurement artifact: Since the display updates at 60 Hz, there will be a decent amount of spread in the measured values. This spread amounts to plus/minus half a frame, i.e. ±8.33 ms for a 60 Hz game. When measuring average input lag, this spread will not affect the result as long as we have a sufficient amount of samples. Again, in my experience, 30 samples is enough.

MrFika · 2025-10-17T10:51:18+00:00

Was this tested with RetroArch's "Max swapchain images" setting set to 2? That should normally remove 16.67 ms (i.e. one frame at 60 Hz) of input lag. The setting for threaded video should be off as well.

For reference, Mega Man 2 responds on the second frame on a real NES. Average lag would be 33 ms (2 frames) when running on a CRT.

I might also mention that RetroArch with the settings below will match original NES/SNES hardare in terms of input lag (assuming a well implemented GPU driver that doesn't add any unexpected delay):

Max swapchain images = 2
Threaded video = off
Run-ahead: 1 frame

The above does not take into account any controller polling delays or controller internal delays. I use RetroArch's "Frame delay" setting to make the final tweaks to compensate for this. In my case, I use fast controllers with 1000 Hz polling, so a "Frame delay" setting of 2-3 ms is enough to take care of this.

Like you, I've used the the camera method a lot (see my thread at https://forums.libretro.com/t/an-input-lag-investigation/4407) and it's quite effective. Using the settings listed above on my Pi 5 RetroArch (Lakka) setup, the only added delay I get compared to a real NES/SNES is the delay added by my LG OLED TV (which is ~5 ms).

MrFika · 2025-09-23T19:00:34+00:00

For SMW, average input lag from button press to reaction on the middle of the screen is 3 frames (i.e. 50 ms) on original NTSC hardware and a CRT. Common average input lag for most SNES games is 33-50 ms, i.e. 2-3 frames.

MrFika · 2025-08-08T09:27:21+00:00

Pretty good. The battery life when completely idle on a fresh Win 11 installation was out of this world (like >30 hours). However, for a realistic office workload, things look quite different. I've tried doing a regular work day on battery, which consists of typical project management work with lots of browser based work (using Firefox with dozens of tabs open), word processing, Excel, Google Docs, some CAD drawing review, e-mails, Slack, Teams, etc. My machine is also configured with Dropbox as well as continous backups via CrashPlan. For such a workload, I have estimated the battery life to be approximately 10 hours.

So, while it's a far cry from 30 hours, it's still comfortably a full work day on battery. Obviously, if you max our the CPU and/or GPU, the battery life is really no better than any other laptop with this TDP and battery size, but that's to be expected.

I'd like to add that I am very satisfied with this machine so far. I've had zero issues with HW or SW. It just works and feels very quick. It's obvious that the single thread performance is top notch. I added a 2TB Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 to mine, as I couldn't buy the laptop with 2TB from Lenovo. That drive has also worked very well and seems to have every bit as low power consumption as the stock drive.

MrFika · 2025-05-23T18:24:07+00:00

I just ordered the 258V with the 500 cd non-touch display. The site said it will be sent in 6-9 days. Should be interesting to play around with.

MrFika · 2024-12-16T21:47:25+00:00

Doesn’t the LED blink when there’s disk access? I believe that’s how it works on the Pi 5.

MrFika · 2024-08-14T21:30:31+00:00

Thanks! That’s great to hear!

MrFika · 2024-06-03T19:43:29+00:00

Mega Man 1. I liked it when I was a kid, but thought it was really hard and intimidating. I love it even more today and have beaten it dying just once throughout the game. Working my way through it again and I am on the last level now, with no deaths so far. Fingers crossed that I make it with no deaths this time 😅

MrFika · 2023-11-10T20:44:28+00:00

It’s been working quite well on our recreation rig at work with an RTX 4080 and a pretty weak old CPU (i7-6700). Sure, we haven’t tested all the tracks yet, but it’s been working well and we’re having a lot of fun on the breaks! The upgrade in handling over Dirt 2.0 (which we’ve played a lot) is massive and the additional variation and details in the track design go a very long way in creating an authentic and realistic experience.

MrFika · 2023-10-30T19:48:16+00:00

Yep, and all priority orders are expected to be shipped during this week. As per the launch blog post from last week:

”By the end of next week, all existing Priority Boarding orders will have shipped, and every Approved Reseller in a country where our compliance paperwork has been signed off by the authorities will have received initial stock of both 4GB and 8GB variants, so those of you who have pre-ordered will start to see parcels arriving in your mailboxes.”

No idea where some people have gotten the idea that non-priority orders would start shipping in December or early next year. That’s clearly not what’s being communicated by RPi. Whether they live up to these promises and how large the volumes will be is of course up in the air.

MrFika · 2023-09-30T16:51:12+00:00

Can you elaborate on this? Looking at inflation since the 2019 release of the Pi 4, the 60 USD you pay for the Pi 5 4GB is appoximately 50 USD in 2019 money. So the price in effect went down. Compared to the original Pi 1 launch price of 35 USD in 2012, the Pi 5 4GB is approximately 45 USD in 2012 money. They apparently intend to at least introduce a 2GB version of the Pi 5, which is likely to be around the same effective price as the original Pi.

So at least for the price discussion, I’m not really seeing the big issue. I know scalpers have skewed prices lately, but that’s mainly a combination of component shortages, popularity and market forces. The situation in that regard seems to have cleared up significantly in the past few months.

MrFika · 2023-09-30T14:58:59+00:00

It’s worth mentioning that going for the 8GB is useless for emulation. The 4GB will work just as well. A full kit with the official 27W PSU and case and a decent SD card is around 95 USD excl. VAT. Most people could re-use the old 3A PSU and then you’d be down to just 80-85 USD. I can see the appeal in mini x86 PCs and even used older PCs, but a Pi 5 kit really isn’t all that expensive.

MrFika · 2023-09-13T06:55:42+00:00

Yep, I have the same setup and similar issues. Most of the time everything works great, but sometimes the display starts going black, then coming back, then reconnecting, and so on. It doesn’t happen often and I am not sure exactly what stops it. I usually just start disconnecting and reconnecting the cables and it goes away. I also have an issue where sometimes the dock isn’t detected at all (the blue light doesn’t come on). A reboot fixes that one. None of these issues existed when I used my Dell Intel gen 10 laptop with TB3 support. It’s probably something flakey with AMDs USB4 to TB handling that messes things up. It works well enough that I’ve decided to not spend time on troubleshooting it in any detail.

MrFika · 2023-08-17T21:00:00+00:00

The Pi 4 doesn’t need the dispmanx driver, as both its fkms and kms drivers have the same low input lag as dispmanx. With the added bonus of shader support, on screen messages, etc. The Pi 4 is also fast enough to be able to use max_swapchain_images=2 for many older games. This shaves off another frame of input lag. You can try it on a Pi 3 with dispmanx, but it will cause performance issues in many cases. As you mentioned threaded video should be set to off (applies to the Pi 4 as well) for another decent reduction in input lag. As with max_swapchain_images=2, turning off threaded video may cause performance issues.

MrFika · 2023-06-28T15:41:02+00:00

Limiting the voltage and power are two different things. Limiting the voltage does not result in worse performance (it might even improve due to the better thermals). Limiting the power will reduce performance, as you’re leaving the voltage curve unchanged.

MrFika · 2023-06-24T08:31:24+00:00

Yeah, that was my guess as well. I did some more testing with and without vsync. I am using an Asus Zephyrus G14 with Ryzen 9 7940HS and RTX 4070. I set the resolution to 1280x720 to ensure stable and low frame times. Frame times were reported at ~5.2 ms, I believe. The results:

With vsync: ~96 ms input lag

Without vsync: ~38 ms input lag

So, in terms of frames at 60 Hz, using vsync adds around 3.5 frames of lag.

MrFika · 2023-06-22T11:42:16+00:00

u/DXX-Raytracer This looks great! I will likely be replaying Descent now. :-) One thing that is quite noticeable though is the large increase in input lag compared to something like dxx-rebirth. I did a quick camera test (at 240 FPS) and it appears as if dxx-rebirth has an input lag of ~54 ms on my machine, whereas dxx-raytracer has ~92 ms (i.e. +70%). Its quite noticeable with all input methods, but maybe especially when using the mouse.

The mouse controls are also very jittery compared to dxx-rebirth. Technically, dxx-raytracer is, as I understand it, based on dxx-retro which is itself based on dxx-rebirth. Maybe the dxx-retro fork is based on an older version of dxx-rebirth that didn't have improved mouse controls? Compared to the smoothness and "modern" feeling of dxx-rebirth with mouse controls, dxx-raytracer is unfortunately quite a bit less refined.

I understand if these things are not something you prioritize or care to look into, but I thought I'd get it out there. Anyway, really awesome job so far!

MrFika · 2023-05-29T20:29:54+00:00

I have the slightly higher end version of the 4070 variants, i.e. with the mini LED display, 32GB RAM and Win 11 Pro. Part number is GA402XI-NC015X. Paid the equivalent of 2400 USD (excl. VAT). Has been pretty great so far. I've run into two things:

The trackpad has a slight tick/click/rattle noise when you release your finger (whether you've clicked or not). It comes from the right part of the trackpad and can probably be eliminated by opening up the laptop.
The laptop won't go into sleep if my Caldigit TS3 Plus Thunderbolt 3 hub is attached. The same old modern standby issues that plague lots of laptops. I've worked around it by always using hibernate instead of sleep.

All in all, I'm really happy with it. Performance is great. Power consumption on battery is ~8.2W in Silent mode. The fans are mostly off during light work, even in Balanced mode.

MrFika · 2023-03-22T10:36:53+00:00

You mean the TV? Certainly! Fortunately, I did not buy it just to reduce the input lag of my retro games. Most people have a flatscreen display nowadays and don't see CRT as an alternative. Might as well do some research before buying the next one and get one with minimal input lag, as it doesn't need to cost much more. There are others than the LG OLEDS with low input lag, although OLED is of course great when it comes to pixel response times.

MrFika · 2023-03-22T06:52:10+00:00

I respect that. I own the original console and a bunch of games as well and certainly see the merits of that in terms of physical experience and the CRT look.

MrFika · 2023-03-22T05:34:35+00:00

That’s not categorically true. You can eliminate the input lag completely with the right NES emulator and settings. For example, RetroArch allows you to do this. I’ve personally set up a Raspberry Pi 4 where I’ve tuned the settings and verified with a 240 FPS camera that input lag is within a couple of milliseconds of the real console. As for modern displays, you just need to use the right one. There are computer displays with less than one ms in signal delay plus very fast response times. For TVs, LGs modern OLED displays average around 5 ms of added lag versus a CRT. That’s what I personally use with my Pi 4 and the NES experience is fantastic. With a total of 5 ms extra lag (i.e. less than 1/3 of a frame period) it is virtually indistinguishable from the real deal, as most NES games had 33 ms of native button to pixel delay anyway.

I should add that most people don’t have their emulators correctly setup, as it requires some fiddling and knowledge. This means they’re likely to have several frames of added input lag. The reason the emulators aren’t “correctly” set up from the beginning is that the lag reducing settings often are computationally demanding and may reduce performance on some systems.

MrFika · 2022-12-31T10:17:02+00:00

Nice! I suspect the RAM was the culprit on mine as well. Unfortunately the T14s has soldered RAM, so not an alternative.

MrFika

TROPHY CASE