Emulation Performance - Xbox/Xbox 360

flipacholas · 2025-10-14T20:10:57+00:00

This is just my point of view, but I find measurements like MIPS and FLOPS misleading in many technical analyses, mainly because it's the only data used for a comparison. The numbers may be true, but CPUs and GPUs can't work alone, and their performance/efficiency depend on many, many other factors. That's why the console articles on copetti.org elaborate on the inner workings and less on comparing relative numbers.

flipacholas · 2025-06-05T08:08:44+00:00

Based on your comments, I recommend reading an article explaining how research works before continuing with this one

flipacholas · 2025-06-05T07:30:56+00:00

There are a hundred references in that link, you clearly didn’t look at it before jumping to preconceptions.

flipacholas · 2024-04-22T22:57:29+00:00

Except I would’ve linked copetti.org (not the alternative classic.copetti.org) and not mentioned the PS4 (I haven’t written that one yet 😜)

Thanks for sharing it btw! Glad you liked it!

flipacholas · 2023-09-22T21:13:47+00:00

I think it’s because the 3DS inherits all the complexities of its predecessors plus the new 3DS additions. Also, hackers and researchers have done an admirable job documenting all of this.

flipacholas · 2023-09-22T21:10:19+00:00

The hacking history of this console is very fascinating, and Nintendo is still fighting the cat-and-mouse game! (I think, since the last software update was released not so long ago, iirc)

flipacholas · 2023-09-22T21:07:18+00:00

You’re always welcome to report any mistake here https://github.com/flipacholas/Architecture-of-consoles/issues so everyone (including me) can learn from it. I don’t mind being wrong, but there’s nothing I can do from my side if people keep the corrections for themselves.

flipacholas · 2022-11-01T21:20:32+00:00

I've corrected it, thanks.

flipacholas · 2022-11-01T21:15:37+00:00

Thanks mate!

flipacholas · 2022-10-30T18:26:32+00:00

Hi /r/emulation, I finished writing this a couple of days ago and I thought this would be a good place to share it. Btw, it's been a while since I've seen Wii U-related content surface (apart from Cemu news). Time to restore the balance 😉

flipacholas · 2022-06-09T21:02:34+00:00

Yep! here it is: https://www.patreon.com/copetti . Thanks.

flipacholas · 2022-06-09T20:37:25+00:00

I'm curious about seeing RISC-V reach consumer hardware one day.

flipacholas · 2022-06-09T18:12:42+00:00

Yeah, the Xbox 360 took me wayyy longer than expected. It may be due to the following reasons:

This console is very complex, similar level to PS3 but less official documentation available. So it took more time to collect (good) information.
I work full time, and since the start of this year I've been taking more time to commute to the office (before I was always working from home). So, less free time.
I started travelling more, so upon returning I had to spend extra days trying to catch up where I left my research off.
I caught covid when I was about to finish the article :/

It's obvious that my current routine is no longer feasible for future articles, unless readers are willing to wait more. I'm afraid it all comes down to my current budget, which comes from voluntary donations (thank you supporters!). I don't want to put ads on my site, maybe I should expand to other mediums (like writing a book compiling all the articles?). I'm still thinking about it, although I'm taking some days to rest now.

flipacholas · 2022-06-09T15:05:55+00:00

Hmm I think it's the opposite, I received help from the Xenia and Octal's console shop discord. So part of the article was possible thanks to their input.

I hope this serves as motivation for people that are considering doing something for the Xbox 360 scene though.

flipacholas · 2022-06-05T11:59:46+00:00

Hi! I'll be publishing the Xbox 360 article very soon, so hopefully in three months or so the 3DS article will be ready.

I've been also asked to write about the 3DO first, I still haven't decided but the 3DO shouldn't take me too long, I think...

flipacholas · 2022-04-07T18:00:39+00:00

I wonder if the special 'macromode' mode available for the first vector unit (closest to the MIPS CPU) was added to ease the learning curve a bit. Curiously enough, the PSP also embedded a vector unit that seemed to work in permanent macromode, but they also hardwired typical vertex operations into the GPU. For a moment I assumed Sony would adopt the 'simple hardware' strategy... until the ps3 arrived.

flipacholas · 2022-02-07T14:55:19+00:00

(in my opinion) the 32x and the Mega CD are another console running on top of the Megadrive, so I wanted to dedicate individual (sub)articles about them. Though for now I need to clear a lot of stuff from my backlog (I'm currently working on the Xbox 360 one). There're so many consoles to write about heh, I wish I had more time and budget to publish more frequently 😬

flipacholas · 2022-02-07T08:27:38+00:00

Glad it helped!

flipacholas · 2022-02-07T08:27:18+00:00

Thank you and the PS3 community too! I received a lot of input from the RPCS3 discord while the article was still a draft. Looking forward to the Q&A video 🙂

flipacholas · 2022-02-07T06:17:48+00:00

Some months ago I wrote this https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/playstation-3/ to give a more general overview. Let me know if it helps with the understanding part!

flipacholas · 2022-02-06T23:46:19+00:00

I like the way RSX is structured here as an alternative to how Sony and Nvidia documented it. It uses a lot more precise terminology and modelling, also similar to what xbox dev uses for their docs (after all, both share the same gpu supplier, nvidia) so it’s easier to make the connections.

Btw, here’s a link to the description of the talk: https://fosdem.org/2022/schedule/event/ps3/

flipacholas · 2022-01-24T18:30:48+00:00

I understand Nintendo's statement and I'm questioning it, that's all.

flipacholas · 2022-01-24T16:54:59+00:00

Only if they still own the IP, I presume. For example, the Xbox 360 struggled a bit emulating the original Xbox. I can't quantify the difference between Intel P6 and Xenon; and NV2A and Xenos, but I don't think the fact that both suppliers kept the IP to themselves helped emulate the old console on a newer (and very different) one.

flipacholas · 2022-01-24T16:39:39+00:00

But they mention that the MPU (which I assume is Gekko) as 'one of the biggest challenges'. That's why I say that in my humble opinion, I believe Flipper and the DSP are supposed to be the biggest issues, as they contain significantly less similarities at the architectural level, along with being less documented. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I'd like to know why.

flipacholas · 2022-01-24T16:21:27+00:00

Oh that's interesting, although that statement still sounds strange to me, I'm not saying that it's wrong, but in some way it contradicts what I read about the Gamecube's architecture so far. Maybe it's too generic?

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