I've been following the retro-handheld scene for a while and it seems that at the moment when it comes to sub-70$ devices we have a choice of four...
This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/sbcgaming by /u/axelgarciak on 2024-07-17 20:09:05+00:00.

I’ve been following the retro-handheld scene for a while and it seems that at the moment when it comes to sub-70$ devices we have a choice of four (decent) SOCs: Rockchip rk3326, Allwinner h700, Allwinner A133 Plus and Rockchip rk3566.

In terms of CPU architecture -> Cortex-A55 > Cortex-A53 > Cortex-A35.

Current devices from least to more powerful:

  • rk3326 28nm (4x ARM Cortex-A35 @ 1.5 GHz)
    • used in: r36s
  • Allwinner h700 28nm (4x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz)
    • used in: anbernic RG28XX H, RG35XX plus/H/2024, RG40XX H (>70$)
  • Allwinner A133 Plus 28nm (4x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz)
    • used in: Trimui Smart Pro
  • rk3566 22nm (4x ARM Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz)
    • used in: RGB30, rk2024, X55 (>70$)

The interesting point here is that in theory the Trimui Smart Pro is close to rk3566 level of performance as it has a similar processor frequency, however the A53 architecture is less performant and it gets hotter to reach the same frequency as the rk3566 so the rk3566 still wins this one.

Do you agree with the ordering? If not let me know in the comments below. :)

Evaluation criteria

When it comes to performance there are several factors such as:

  • CPU performance (e.g: processor type, speed, cache size, extensions, cores, lithography)
  • GPU performance (e.g: speed, cores)
  • Memory type being used (e.g: DDR3 vs DDR4)
  • Thermal efficiency (if the SOC cannot dissipate heat well, it will throttle)
  • Kernel/Software support (bad drivers, software -> bad performance)

I focused on the theoretical performance. Ignoring thermal efficiency, kernel/software support.

The GPU is more important for upscaling than it is for overall performance. They all have a decent GPU so I ignored that for the comparison.

The memory, while important, is not the most important bottleneck. The most important bottleneck for emulation is the CPU which is what I focused on. The CPU extensions (e.g: NEON) are also important but all the CPUs in the comparison, have similar extension support.

Other SOCs not considered for comparison. Semi-sorted by performance

  • Allwinner A64 (4 x ARM Cortex A53 @ 1.15 GHz, used in: Retro Pixel Pocket)
  • Allwinner A33 (4x ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.5 GHz, Miyoo A30)
  • Rockchip rk3126 (4 x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz, used in: M17)
  • SigmaStar SSD202D (2 x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.2GHz, used in: Miyoo Mini Plus)
  • ATM7051 (4 x ARM Cortex A9 @ 0.9 GHz, used in: PowKiddy X70/X39 Pro/X51)
  • Ingenic x1830 (1x MIPS32 XBurst @ 1.5 GHz, used in: GKD Pixel)
  • Allwinner K3S (1 x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz, used in: Anbernic RG Nano)
  • Allwinner V3S (1x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.2 GHz, used in: FunKey S, Powkiddy Q36 mini)
  • AllWinner F1C200S (1x ARM926EJ-S @ 700 MHz, used in: TrimUI Model S/PowKiddy A66))
  • AllWinner F1C100S (1x ARM926EJ-S @ 700 MHz, used in: Powkiddy V90/Q90/Q20)
  • HCSEMI B210 (1x @ 918 MHz MIPS, used in: DataFrog SF2000, GB300 and other frog-family devices)