thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Okay so this is a quite different thread than what I usually post, because I'm actually asking if anyone else has information. Specifically, is there anyone here who knows about the performance capabilities of the Fujitsu MB8696 GPU chip?
In case you're wondering, this is one of the last GPUs Fujitsu made (mid/late '00s) before leaving that market and refocusing on other things. I've been conceptualizing a mock '5th-gen like' gaming platform (mainly just for fun right now), as in something made today targeting performance of 5th-gen consoles and arcade hardware out around that time, like the SEGA Model 2. In fact, I've been doing a lot of research on the Model 2 in particular, and SEGA apparently had a strong partnership with Fujitsu for components in that board (for virtually all of its steppings) and even into the Model 3 era.
WRT the MB8696, I have official documents and have been reading them the past few days, trying to get a wrap around its setup, its clock settings, memory support, its 2D and 3D functions, its video input feature, etc. Finding actual benchmarks on, say, its polygon rate per second for culling and rasterization, with various effects turned on, etc. has been INCREDIBLY difficult however. The only such metric I've managed to find is in relation to a likely similar chip (Fujitsu apparently made many variants, some with the Geometry Processor removed, 3D functions removed, PCI interfacing with CPUs (the MB8696S I'm looking at is such chip; some of the others can only interface with very specific Hitachi/NEC/Intel CPUs through host interface on the external bus), etc.) called the MB8692, with a drawing pixel fill rate of 800 Mpixels/sec.
However, I don't know if that's just the raw pixel fill rate, or the fill rate with polygon rasterization, or with polygons & texturing/lighting applied, etc. Or even if that's in reference to 4 bpp, 8 bpp, 16 bpp, 24 bpp, or 32 bpp (the MB8696S can support all five). The reason I'm trying to find this out is because the mock system I'm conceptualizing, I want it to seem like a realistic product that could've existed in the market during that time period. Even things like the Model 3, which was the most advanced gaming system during its time, "only" provided ~550 or so Mpixels/sec with 4 bits per pixel, and that's an arcade unit costing $20,000 when it was new.
The mock system I've been wanting to design, I was thinking would be more like a "3D Neo-Geo" for that time period, as in having a standard spec component and easy-to-swap-in multi-game support, rather than doing what SEGA or even Namco did during the mid '90s having specific cabinets for every Model 2/Model 3/System 11 game. That's part of the concept, anyway, so I figure with something pitched as releasing in 1995, it could have performance between a Model 2B-CRX and Model 3....I just need to find a good enough GPU in good enough real-world supply (whether active or obsolete doesn't matter, though I believe the MB8696S is still manufactured by Kage Fei America, who I guess purchased the GPU segment of Fujitsu's business years back) that can work with the chosen CPU (MIPS II) and DSP (21161N, which is similar to the 21601N DSPs the SEGA Model 2B-CRX actually used)).
For a while I was considering a GPU IP called D/AVE 2D HD on an FPGA, but the type of FPGA I'd need to implement that seems like it'd be quite expensive ($150+) and I also wasn't able to find many demos online showing off its performance. I've read its spec sheets though and it seems very capable, plus customizable (i.e ROPs, which for this design I'd consider having at least half of them removed). But that's a whole other topic....anyway, if anyone has any performance benchmarks and clarification on the Fujitsu MB8696S (or MB8696, as it's the same chip....the MB8697 however is very different and much more powerful, so I can't use its benchmarks as reference), such as its pixel fillrate for 2D and 3D (raw polygons, textured polys, lighting applied, 4/8/16/32 bits-per-pixel rates etc.), its polys per sec capabilities, # of ROPs (I'm assuming it's 8 going off the MB8692's 800 Mpixels/sec @ 100 MHz clock) etc.
I feel fairly confident about the chip otherwise...there's tons of supply, the price is very affordable/cheap, it supports a good amount of external RAM...guess the only thing I'd prefer is if I could clock it under 100 MHz but from reading the documentation I haven't seen anything suggesting that's possible (I could be wrong). If anyone's got information on the GPU, or info on the TES D/AVE GPUs (2D, HD, 3D specifically), etc., I'd super-appreciate it.
EDIT: Ignore the "MB9696" mentioned in title; there is no MB9696 AFAIK. Meant to say MB8696S. Stupid keyboard.
In case you're wondering, this is one of the last GPUs Fujitsu made (mid/late '00s) before leaving that market and refocusing on other things. I've been conceptualizing a mock '5th-gen like' gaming platform (mainly just for fun right now), as in something made today targeting performance of 5th-gen consoles and arcade hardware out around that time, like the SEGA Model 2. In fact, I've been doing a lot of research on the Model 2 in particular, and SEGA apparently had a strong partnership with Fujitsu for components in that board (for virtually all of its steppings) and even into the Model 3 era.
WRT the MB8696, I have official documents and have been reading them the past few days, trying to get a wrap around its setup, its clock settings, memory support, its 2D and 3D functions, its video input feature, etc. Finding actual benchmarks on, say, its polygon rate per second for culling and rasterization, with various effects turned on, etc. has been INCREDIBLY difficult however. The only such metric I've managed to find is in relation to a likely similar chip (Fujitsu apparently made many variants, some with the Geometry Processor removed, 3D functions removed, PCI interfacing with CPUs (the MB8696S I'm looking at is such chip; some of the others can only interface with very specific Hitachi/NEC/Intel CPUs through host interface on the external bus), etc.) called the MB8692, with a drawing pixel fill rate of 800 Mpixels/sec.
However, I don't know if that's just the raw pixel fill rate, or the fill rate with polygon rasterization, or with polygons & texturing/lighting applied, etc. Or even if that's in reference to 4 bpp, 8 bpp, 16 bpp, 24 bpp, or 32 bpp (the MB8696S can support all five). The reason I'm trying to find this out is because the mock system I'm conceptualizing, I want it to seem like a realistic product that could've existed in the market during that time period. Even things like the Model 3, which was the most advanced gaming system during its time, "only" provided ~550 or so Mpixels/sec with 4 bits per pixel, and that's an arcade unit costing $20,000 when it was new.
The mock system I've been wanting to design, I was thinking would be more like a "3D Neo-Geo" for that time period, as in having a standard spec component and easy-to-swap-in multi-game support, rather than doing what SEGA or even Namco did during the mid '90s having specific cabinets for every Model 2/Model 3/System 11 game. That's part of the concept, anyway, so I figure with something pitched as releasing in 1995, it could have performance between a Model 2B-CRX and Model 3....I just need to find a good enough GPU in good enough real-world supply (whether active or obsolete doesn't matter, though I believe the MB8696S is still manufactured by Kage Fei America, who I guess purchased the GPU segment of Fujitsu's business years back) that can work with the chosen CPU (MIPS II) and DSP (21161N, which is similar to the 21601N DSPs the SEGA Model 2B-CRX actually used)).
For a while I was considering a GPU IP called D/AVE 2D HD on an FPGA, but the type of FPGA I'd need to implement that seems like it'd be quite expensive ($150+) and I also wasn't able to find many demos online showing off its performance. I've read its spec sheets though and it seems very capable, plus customizable (i.e ROPs, which for this design I'd consider having at least half of them removed). But that's a whole other topic....anyway, if anyone has any performance benchmarks and clarification on the Fujitsu MB8696S (or MB8696, as it's the same chip....the MB8697 however is very different and much more powerful, so I can't use its benchmarks as reference), such as its pixel fillrate for 2D and 3D (raw polygons, textured polys, lighting applied, 4/8/16/32 bits-per-pixel rates etc.), its polys per sec capabilities, # of ROPs (I'm assuming it's 8 going off the MB8692's 800 Mpixels/sec @ 100 MHz clock) etc.
I feel fairly confident about the chip otherwise...there's tons of supply, the price is very affordable/cheap, it supports a good amount of external RAM...guess the only thing I'd prefer is if I could clock it under 100 MHz but from reading the documentation I haven't seen anything suggesting that's possible (I could be wrong). If anyone's got information on the GPU, or info on the TES D/AVE GPUs (2D, HD, 3D specifically), etc., I'd super-appreciate it.
EDIT: Ignore the "MB9696" mentioned in title; there is no MB9696 AFAIK. Meant to say MB8696S. Stupid keyboard.
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