MiSTer FPGA Forum

Hi everybody,

sorry, I have a dumb question here. Does anyone have measured the DE10-Nano temperatures while using this core?
Will this "impossible" core stress the board enough that we require to add an active fan?

Thank you!

Whatever heat you get is from the ARM part of the chip and it should remain constant regardless of which core you're using.

Temperature is not a hazard at all on MiSTer cores, but you can probably convert your FPGA to boil eggs for you, if you need to: https://groups.uni-paderborn.de/pc2/pub ... config.pdf

No problems here. I was doing some power usage measurements recently and saw maybe a small amount of higher power usage with the PSX core, but nothing significant (power usage ~ heat).

Eh I recall people having stability issues in AO486 or Neo-Geo? when they had no heat sink. I'm not sure if that was the chip actually getting hotter or just more complex cores being more sensitive to the temps.

edr wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 3:18 pm No problems here. I was doing some power usage measurements recently and saw maybe a small amount of higher power usage with the PSX core, but nothing significant (power usage ~ heat).

I'm interested to know your results. This is a fpga thing a lot of people don't cover or seem to care about - that fpga uses a LOT less power than emulation, so it's more environmentally friendly. Every little helps.

caffeinekid wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:10 pm his is a fpga thing a lot of people don't cover or seem to care about - that fpga uses a LOT less power than emulation, so it's more environmentally friendly. Every little helps.

Right until half of us hook it up to our damned CRTs.

Although there are surprising # of people who do that even with software emulators. Not just Wiis but analog Pi hats and old Radeon PC cards.

My oled 65” is new and is rated G on the energy efficiency rating here in the UK

FoxbatStargazer wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:13 pm

caffeinekid wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:10 pm his is a fpga thing a lot of people don't cover or seem to care about - that fpga uses a LOT less power than emulation, so it's more environmentally friendly. Every little helps.

Right until half of us hook it up to our damned CRTs.

Although there are surprising # of people who do that even with software emulators. Not just Wiis but analog Pi hats and old Radeon PC cards.

CRTs typically draw less power than modern televisions.

caffeinekid wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:10 pm I'm interested to know your results. This is a fpga thing a lot of people don't cover or seem to care about - that fpga uses a LOT less power than emulation, so it's more environmentally friendly. Every little helps.

(thanks to https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electr ... lator.html)

MiSTerAddons digital system w/ 2x 128 RAM modules
LaserBear LCD, VESA mount

Tested with Fluke -
87V digital multimeter
322 AC current clamp, volts, ohms
i30s AC/DC current clamp, high sensitivity (100 mV per amp)


AC current measurements
-----------------------
@125 Vac

Measured w/ Fluke 322 clamp


MiSTer alone (w/PSX core loaded & game) .07 Amps -> 8.75 Watts
MiSTer + LaserBear LCD at med/low brightness .14 Amps -> 17.5 Watts
MiSTer + LaserBear LCD at max brightness .21 amps -> 26.25 watts


DC current measurements
-----------------------
@5 Vdc (MiSTer), @12.2 Vdc (LaserBear LCD)

Measured w/ Fluke 87V DMM + i30s clamp


MiSTer alone, main menu (@5 Vdc): 130 mV DC -> 1.3 Amps DC -> 6.5 Watts
MiSter alone, running PSX game (@5 Vdc): 140 mV DC -> 1.4 Amps DC -> 7 Watts

LCD alone, med/low brightness (@12.2 Vdc): 63 mV DC -> .63 Amps DC -> 7.7 Watts
LCD alone, max brightness (@12.2 Vdc): 128 mV DC -> 1.28 Amps DC -> 15.6 Watts

Also verified results with w/ 87V direct in series current measurement, no clamp and they are similar - a bit more current but lower 4.5 Vdc voltage for the MiSTer due to what I assume is 0.5 Vdc drop caused by passing the current through the 87V.


Believe most or all of the reason the watts measured via DC are lower than watts measured via AC is that AC->DC power supplies are not 100% efficient - more like 75-85% efficient, depending on the model.

For the minimal power needed to light up a very dim incandescent bulb, we can instead sit in a darkened room playing most of the best games ever made. The choice is obvious.

C-R-T wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 6:32 pm CRTs typically draw less power than modern televisions.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/led-ole ... icity-cost

55 inch LED is ~55-60W
55 inch OLED is ~90-100W

14 inch Commodore 1084 CRT is ~75W
21 inch Sony G500 CRT is ~145W

Thank you guys.

I was worried that it would be a very dumb question but I got a lot of answers.

So basically we won't have to fear anything, there won't be an "hotter core", even if it seems "unreal" like the PSX one.

MISTer continues to amaze me and us.

I would not expect MISTer to run much hotter on PSX core than on typical core.
Chip is not clocked all that high in this core. It currently uses two memory sticks so power draw might be higher due to that and overall temperature but otherwise FPGA chip should not be super hot. I would expect something like Ao486 which runs 90MHz to get MISTer hotter

kalach.x wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:50 pm I would expect something like Ao486 which runs 90MHz to get MISTer hotter

Believe FPGAzumSpass references that Ao486 maxes the capabilities of the MiSTer in this good RetroRGB interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5lAv7bFF1U
If anything is going to cook eggs, Ao486 has the best shot but in reality probably runs similarly to other cores in temperature.

Also interesting - discusses the PSX GPU in some detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMZVp48SMps

7W, that is impressive. I wonder how much power the MiSTer pulls while powering a playing mt32-pi.

caffeinekid wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:10 pm I'm interested to know your results. This is a fpga thing a lot of people don't cover or seem to care about - that fpga uses a LOT less power than emulation, so it's more environmentally friendly. Every little helps.

"emulation" has a lot of definitions, and at least one of those definitions being those retro handhelds that can do PS1 emulation (like the RG351MP) and run on a phone battery for something like 4-5 hours. MiSTer is awesome and I love it, but let's not make blanket statement like "fpga uses less power than emulation" when there are so many ways to run software emulation.