Hello there, I would like to ask if it's possible to DMA games off the SSD with gaming systems like the N64/SNES/Genesis/NES? Is it possible to reprogram emulators to load the game like the original cartridge and not load the whole image into the ram. And please don't tell me this is pointless because of the huge ram in PCs. I would just like to know if SSDs have fast enough random access for that stuff. I've used emulators on the GBA to load games (NES) directly off the NOR flash,
SSDs and emulators
- Thread starter SgtThom
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Uh, what would be the intention of this? Anything is possible, if you have access to the source code you could certainly build such a thing. But why? Despite your request not to mention it, the games you're talking about could be loaded fully and comfortably into the ram of a computer from eight years ago -- there's no reason to page it directly from disk.
Cliffs Notes: what you're asking is possible, but makes no sense.
Cliffs Notes: what you're asking is possible, but makes no sense.
A modern PC SSD is probably one, or many orders of magnitude faster than the ancient mask-programmed ROMs from the 80s and mid-90s, depending on what exactly is measured (access time vs. bandwidth.)
Not sure what kind of benchmarks you're thinking of running, since a SSD doesn't behave anything like a ROM from a games console. The basic mechanics of accessing either are completely different; a SSD is a sector-based device with (today, typically) 4k block size that is accessed through a file system using OS function calls, while mask programmed ROMs often use simplistic DMA mechanisms, or maybe even CPU-driven copying to transfer data, with various more or less wonky restrictions and peculiarities, depending on the particular underlying hardware.
Not sure what kind of benchmarks you're thinking of running, since a SSD doesn't behave anything like a ROM from a games console. The basic mechanics of accessing either are completely different; a SSD is a sector-based device with (today, typically) 4k block size that is accessed through a file system using OS function calls, while mask programmed ROMs often use simplistic DMA mechanisms, or maybe even CPU-driven copying to transfer data, with various more or less wonky restrictions and peculiarities, depending on the particular underlying hardware.
I heard from ERP that N64 where slow for rom cartridges at the time. And Stated that even the PSX's CD-ROM drive is faster for small data transfers. This probably mean that even Hard drives are faster with dram caching enabled for game. Wonder if modern emulators will still load entire games into ram with the 3DS and PlayStation vita. 
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