It always puzzled me why exactly video game console emulation is so resource-intensive. Despite the systems themselves often being about as powerful as a severely outdated (at the time of the system’s release) PC, their emulators always require ridiculously powerful PCs to be able to run the games at full speed and native resolution. Why exactly is it so resource-intensive? I’m not looking for an explanation along the lines of “it’s resource-intensive cause it takes a lot of power to emulate the whole environment” cause it’s basically like answering with “it requires a lot of power cause it requires a lot of power”. I want to know *exactly* why I need a 4-core, 4.5GHz Intel i7 10th gen to be able to run a 2007 PS3 game in 720p, 13 years after its release.
In: Technology
It’s a bit like speaking through a translator. If you have a high-schooler that’s barely passed a couple Spanish classes, you’re likely going to have massive translation issues and it’s going to take a long time to get your message across.
Now hire a professional who knows every little intricacy of both languages and you can have a near-perfect conversation quickly without pissing anyone off because they said something they shouldn’t have 🙂
Usually with emulators, you’re dealing with two completely different hardware architectures and you can’t just run an instruction meant for Processor 1 on Processor 2. It has to be translated, and much like verbal languages, it’s usually not word for word – it has to be put in the “dialect” to be understood correctly. That takes time, and the faster the machine runs, the easier it’ll do it in real time.
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