Apple Silicon: Performance?

[MFarhadi]

Hey ya'll,

I hope everyone's doing great.
During the next month, I'll be moving to a new place and I'm planning on leaving my old i7-7700K and GTX1060 machine behind and buy a Mac laptop.
I was considering a M2 Pro 10-core CPU 16-core GPU as the refurbished ones provide the best performance/value indices. My qauestion was:

- How good does the PSX run on Apple silicone with comparable configs? (as it's not a native "ARM" process)
- How much RAM do I need? is 16GB enough?
- How dependant the PSX is on GPU performance?


Best,

[Marian]

It works quite well on my 2019 MacBook Air M1 8GB. No maximum FPS but typically 50-60 FPS. I don't hand fly on my laptop, just rotation and initial climb using the trackpad. For this the performance is certainly good enough.

I'm pretty sure the M2 will be fine, 16GB RAM probably not even necessary.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

PSX is a 2D program; the 3D effects are painting by Hardy. So it does use the 2D part of the GPU only. Pretty much anything out there today has 2D accelleration.

Hoppie

[MFarhadi]

It works quite well on my 2019 MacBook Air M1 8GB. No maximum FPS but typically 50-60 FPS. I don't hand fly on my laptop, just rotation and initial climb using the trackpad. For this the performance is certainly good enough.

I'm pretty sure the M2 will be fine, 16GB RAM probably not even necessary.

Dear Marian,

Recently I tested the PSX with an M1 Max and got terrible results (FPS between 10-20) which looked and felt awful. You have any insights on why this might occur?

[United744]

Install the Intel version. It will run under Rosetta, if I'm not mistaken.

[Marian]

Dear Marian,

Recently I tested the PSX with an M1 Max and got terrible results (FPS between 10-20) which looked and felt awful. You have any insights on why this might occur?

I have no idea why that is and I'm actually surprised about that.
Try updating Java.
Are you running the normal laptop screen resolution or a higher resolution on an external monitor?

[MFarhadi]

I have no idea why that is and I'm actually surprised about that.
Try updating Java.
Are you running the normal laptop screen resolution or a higher resolution on an external monitor?

Yep, using a 16" M1 Max with Studio Display

Dear Marian,

Recently I tested the PSX with an M1 Max and got terrible results (FPS between 10-20) which looked and felt awful. You have any insights on why this might occur?

Alright; Now using a 14" M3 Pro with 18GB of RAM, getting between 60-65 FPS which is pretty odd while M1 Air gives 50-60. Anyhow, not complaining anymore Thanks everybody for helping out and giving insights.

[Jamie]

Yep, using a 16" M1 Max with Studio Display

Alright; Now using a 14" M3 Pro with 18GB of RAM, getting between 60-65 FPS which is pretty odd while M1 Air gives 50-60. Anyhow, not complaining anymore Thanks everybody for helping out and giving insights.

Sorry for reviving an older topic, but I'm having the same issue. Is there a recommended (Intel?) Java version I should install on my MacBook Air M4? Performance is pretty bad at the moment during flight ~10-20fps to around 20–30 fps max, whereas my Mac Mini M4 stays around 40–50 fps. I'm currently running Azul Java 11.

What was your solution Mohammadreza?

[Hardy Heinlin]

Hi Jamie,

it might help if you install the x86_64 (Intel, not ARM) version of Java version 8 from Oracle.

https://www.java.com/en/download/

When you're on that Oracle page, don't click the ARM link; look further down and find the link x86_64 version of the JRE.


Regards,

|-|ardy

[Jamie]

Thanks Hardy, I tried them all.

So far Azul Zulu11 seems the best version. Tried:
- Oracle Java 8 (x64, installs login items?)
- Zulu 8 (x64, 215mb)
- Zulu 11 (x64, 325mb)
- Zulu 11 (aarch64 thus no sound)

I guess I keep it with Zulu11. Currently investigating why I have a steady 10fps in some situations.

[Hardy Heinlin]

How did you change the versions?

[Jamie]

The easy way: they install in /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines and uninstalling is just a sudo rm -rf command. Swapping versions is a matter of deleting the old jdk and installing another one.
Only the Oracle ones you need to uninstall with the .pkg.

Currently running on 12.02. Non LTS so not updated anymore. Just for fun, that's the Oracle one.