I need a decent handheld for emulation and I think steam deck is the best choice out of all the options available, the other option I had in mind was the retroid pocket 4 pro but for that price (200 dollars) I might as well save up for another week and get a steam deck (500 dollars).
My problem is I don’t really like spending money at all, I have three issues with spending
1.) Money makes me horny
2.) Money can go to my savings account where it would be safer
3.) Stannis Baratheon crack pipe
I have been enjoying my miyoo mini plus but the system maxes out at PS1 and ideally I want to be playing PS2 emulation
With aethersx2, you have to use a device with a high end Snapdragon processor and Adreno GPU for it to work properly on OpenGL and Vulkan. Exynos and MediaTek processors with Mali GPUs, even the lastest ones, will perform terribly, especially in OpenGL. The graphics drivers for the Mali GPUs are missing key features. Snapdragon 865 is the minimum needed for full speed emulation. Then you can use most of the same settings and hacks you'd use on PCSX2, and the games work, mostly.
I have an 888+, 8 gen 1 and 8 gen 3 device and even the 888+ struggles just about hitting 100% speed with frequent dips on a lot of games. The gen 1 and 3 chip run it at what I'd deem smooth but at that point the steam deck is just a better option
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that the 888 and first batch of the 8 gen 1 have worse sustained performance than the 865 due to thermal throttling, caused by the inferior Samsung process. It was a massive deal back when the phones with the 888 first came out.
Yeah that true, at the same price, obviously the steam deck is the far better option.