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TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Posted by Ryan on 22 February 2013, 01:30 GMT

This is not a full review of the TI-84+ CSE, and should not be treated as such. While my opinions of the upcoming model are largely congruent with those previously mentioned, a more complete editorial is forthcoming.

As was reported in previous news, there is a lot of information flying around pertaining to the new TI-84+ Color Silver Edition. One of the primary concerns that prospective programmers currently have is with regards to the speed of the calculator and how it will handle simple and complex software alike. The ticalc.org staff would like to show you a simple speed comparison between the upcoming TI-84+ CSE and older members of the 83/84+ family.

We programmed two simple pieces of test software, then ran them on side-by-side TI-84+ CSE and TI-83+ (emulated at 100% speed on WabbitEmu) calcs. You can watch a very poorly shot video of the performance comparison demonstration. As you can see, the 84+ CSE runs BASIC code at a noticeably slower speed. When started at the same time, the TI-83+ completes the first simple TEST program approximately 5 times more quickly. While not shown in the video, drawing functionality with regards to the graph screen is similarly slowed.

It is important to keep in mind that this model of TI-84+ CSE is a review model and may not accurately reflect the final version of the product that hits retail this Spring, as optimizations and OS tweaks are most certainly forthcoming. The speed limitations may put constraints on programming techniques that have been used in the past, especially for TI-BASIC software that is heavily reliant upon calculations and use of visual displays.

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The comments below are written by ticalc.org visitors. Their views are not necessarily those of ticalc.org, and ticalc.org takes no responsibility for their content.


Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
KermMartian  Account Info
(Web Page)

Unfortunately, I must point out that the first program is measuring MathPrint's slowdown, not the TI-84+CSE. Try turning it from MathPrint to Classic mode, and you'll see the difference. I did some speed tests on my TI-84+CSE with Output and friends with results here: http://cemete.ch/p200193 . I tested the speed of graphscreen fills earlier in the thread, as well. Great effort, though, and nice test methodology!

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 02:57 GMT


Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Ryan Boyd Account Info
(Web Page)

Actually, I experience *nearly* no difference regardless of MP or CL mode. I uploaded the better of the videos that I shot for the news article, but I ran multiple tests. Here is an even poorer quality classic mode test of the same program:

http://youtu.be/CqLHsDInKn

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 03:12 GMT

Re: Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Ryan Boyd Account Info
(Web Page)

Scratch that last link, I pasted it wrong.

http://youtu.be/CqLHsDInKnI

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 03:18 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
KermMartian  Account Info
(Web Page)

Ah, that one I can see. My bow towards your accurate tests remains; your criticisms are certainly valid.

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 03:20 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Travis Evans  Account Info

That speed (for the 1 to 500 Disp test) is rather depressing. I do hope TI will consider some optimizations to help the display I/O bottleneck.

Fun fact: this is about the speed that the old TI-99/4A would print lines in its built in TI BASIC, IIRC. :-)

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 04:20 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Ryan Boyd Account Info
(Web Page)

Travis, I just can't help myself:

oldcomputers.net/pics/ticosbyad.jpg

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 05:23 GMT


Re: Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
KermMartian  Account Info
(Web Page)

Although I wasn't able to see that view, I see your point. Since there are so many more pixels on the TI-84+CSE, and the CPU is not appreciably faster, the more pixels you need to change, the slower the TI-84+CSE is going to be than its brethren. Cheers again on quite a good video, self-castigation aside. ;)

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 03:18 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Ryan Boyd Account Info
(Web Page)

I agree. I'm still very eager to see what differences exist between the current models floating around and the ultimate retail models. Additionally, I look forward to seeing the usual host (and of course, the new faces) of talented programmers finding ingenious ways of making ASM and BASIC performing at maximum capability :)

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 03:23 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
KermMartian  Account Info
(Web Page)

Seconded; I'm confident that this will help renew programmers' interest in finding new and amazing ways to make limited hardware do their bidding. I know that many among us enjoy a good challenge, which is exactly what this device presents. You have a more optimistic view than me about what's going to change between this model and the retail model, but I hope you're right.

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 03:31 GMT

Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
elfprince13 Account Info
(Web Page)

Being heavily reliant on computations shouldn't get any slower, it's graphics I/O that will almost certainly be the new bottleneck.

Reply to this comment    22 February 2013, 03:39 GMT

Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Anthony M.  Account Info

I wonder if programmers can turn pixels a certian color...

Reply to this comment    24 February 2013, 23:43 GMT


Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Ryan Boyd Account Info
(Web Page)

BASIC programmers definitely will be able to do this on the graph screen, although I believe that the homescreen does not allow for this. ASM programmers will likely be able to bend time, space, and reality, assuming that there is enough available RAM.

Reply to this comment    25 February 2013, 00:54 GMT


Re: Re: Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Dapianokid Account Info

This won’t be a challenge for most of the prospective programmers who have their hands on it already. I mean, Kerm Martian already got a nice picture of his face on one of these, how hard will the homescreen be?
Of course, I’m pretty sure he’s part Time Lord :P

Reply to this comment    27 February 2013, 01:16 GMT

Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
DWedit  Account Info
(Web Page)

I was posting on Slashdot earlier, calculating the number of pixels on the screen, and the speed of outputting bytes to an IO port on a Z80. I came to the calculation that it would be between 3 and 4 frames per second to redraw the entire screen.
From here, I can see that scrolling the screen is a complete redraw, and it looks like it's running between 3 and 4 frames per second. Looks like I totally called it.

So this means that any games running on this thing would need to use dirty rectangles in order to minimize drawing time, and scrolling would be very slow.

Reply to this comment    25 February 2013, 16:46 GMT

Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
Dapianokid Account Info

I’m afraid for what this may mean. Hopefully retail versions will be a much bigger improvement?

Reply to this comment    27 February 2013, 01:13 GMT

Re: TI-84+ CSE Speed Demonstration
AllYourBass  Account Info

I think this is the classic "built in system routines are unoptimized" syndrome we've seen on all TIs.

Asm programmers will write their own much faster routines I am certain.

I really wish they switched over to the ez80 processor (like they were supposed to do originally)-everything would be so much faster and (presumably) without compatibility issues.

Reply to this comment    6 March 2013, 22:39 GMT

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